EDITOR’S NOTE: February is Black History Month
By Diana Chandler
Baptist Press
NASHVILLE — Nashville First Baptist Church was willed an enslaved 16-year-old Nelson G. Merry in 1840, and by 1853 had baptized, discipled, freed and ordained him to pastor the First Colored Baptist Mission, a First Baptist church plant.
That church plant became First Baptist Church Capitol Hill, a majority black Nashville congregation led by senior pastor Kelly Miller Smith Jr. He participated Sunday (Feb. 16) in Nashville First Baptist’s yearlong bicentennial celebration, preaching the morning sermon and answering questions on race relations and civil rights during a luncheon afterward.
“Our congregation was born at a time when slaves were just being freed after the Emancipation Proclamation,” Smith told Baptist Press. “From the time of inception, Nashville First Baptist seemed to understand the value and importance [of] former slaves having their own identity and approach to worshiping and serving God. It is evident in our shared history.” [Read more…]