Central Baptist Church Lawrenceville

Church Background

During 1957, a small group of Christians became increasingly interested in beginning a new regular work of a Southern Baptist Church. With the help of the acting Field Worker of the Lawrenceville Association Dr. Scott Patterson, a retired Southern Baptist missionary to Africa, regular full-time services were started in the home of Mercer and Jeannette Harris on October 5, 1958.

On October 19, 1958, services were held in the Central Gwinnett High School building that became the regular meeting house until the church moved to its present location. the first business meeting was held on October 1, 1958, in the home of Jack and Rebecca Baggett with thirty people present.

The mission group known as the Central Baptist Mission desired to become a regular church working in full cooperation with work carried out by the Southern Baptist Convention. With nineteen holding letters of dismissal from other Baptist churches, they organized in Central Baptist Church on November 2, 1958.

Dr. Solomon Dowis led the Constitutional Service and was assisted by Dr. Scott Patterson. Eleven days after the church was constituted, seventeen others joined, bringing the total membership to thirty-six. Dr. Patterson served as an organizational interim pastor for two months. Dr. Dowis became the interim pastor on January 1, 1959. The first Vacation Bible School was held June 8-12, 1959, and a tent revival on the property was held from June 7-21, 1959. Dr. Dowis baptized those who accepted Christ during the tent revival in the City Lake of Lawrenceville. Central Baptist Church was received into the Lawrenceville Baptist Association on October 13, 1959.

On November 22, 1959, the first unit of the church was occupied. On Decemeber 20, 1959, four other members were ordained as deacons: Myron Boggs, Mercer Harris, L. H. Phillips, and J. T. Swanson, Jr. Dr. Dowis served as interim pastor until December 1959. By January 1, 1960, there were one hundred members with forty-one baptisms since the church was organized.