
Celebrating the merger of of Michigan Avenue Baptist Church and Parkway Baptist Church in Cleveland are the combined deacons along with the pastors, from left, back row, Terry Lewis, Joe White, Keith Lawson, Mickey Gaston, Kenneth Saffles; front row, Brendon Witte, interim pastor of Michigan Avenue, Geoff Ownbey, Jason Parker, Roy Williams, Rex Reagan and Joe White, former pastor of Parkway who will serve as pastor of merged congregations at Michigan Avenue Baptist. Not pictured is deacon Billy Belcher.
CLEVELAND — Members of Parkway Baptist Church and Michigan Avenue Baptist Church voted April 23 to merge the two churches.
With the vote, Parkway Baptist was dissolved and the two congregations met at Michigan Avenue Baptist for their first service as one church.
Organized in 1934, Michigan Avenue Baptist Church (MABC) has served the community for nearly 90 years.
As a church, they have given over $470,000 through the Cooperative Program, about $250,000 in associational gifts, and more than $1,000,000 in total mission gifts, according to their Annual Church Profile.
The church sits in the middle of the most populated areas of Cleveland/Bradley County, areas that need a strong church presence.
Phil Taylor, lead missions strategist for CrossNet Baptist Network, said, “We are celebrating what they have done thus far because they have been a dedicated church.”
The Annual Church Profile also revealed that MABC had a high attendance of 205 in 2005. However, since then, MABC has been in a period of decline.
Lacking children and youth and left with an aging population, MABC was down to about 35 members.
In a meeting with the deacons, Keith Lawson, MABC’s chairman of the deacons, asked Taylor, “Are we a candidate for a church merger?”
Less than two miles away from MABC’s property, Parkway Baptist Church was discussing how they would continue to grow. Overgrowing their building and parking lot, Parkway Baptist Church was landlocked from all sides, unable to physically expand and significantly hampering their ability to serve the community.

Trustees, from left, Keith Lawson, Terry Lewis and Dale Jordan sign a covenant agreement for the merger of Michigan Avenue Baptist Church and Parkway Baptist Church in Cleveland.
Parkway needed a bigger facility, and MABC needed a bigger congregation.
With a newly renovated church building and eight acres of undeveloped land on Michigan Avenue, the possibilities for the future of this merged church are exciting.
The covenant, or “marriage,” agreed upon by the two churches stipulated that the name would remain Michigan Avenue Baptist Church, as would the location and charter, but the church would then adopt the constitution, bylaws, and policies of Parkway.
This was also voted into effect on April 23. As of that date, Parkway Baptist Church ceased to be a legal entity and all assets were transferred to MABC.
This is an exciting development, not only for these churches, but also for the community as a whole.
“We wanted to call it a marriage because we didn’t realize how much we needed each other until now,” said Lawson. “It was clearly something that God had thought about.”
Brendon Witte, who served as the interim pastor for Michigan Avenue, came into the church, assessed its need, and played a vital role in preparing the church for the merger. Through his guidance, Michigan Avenue was able to understand its need for revitalization and the merger with Parkway.
Taylor observed that “the role of the interim pastor isn’t to maintain the status quo, but to guide the church in addressing their issues and making changes where they are needed.”
On April 2, Parkway’s pastor, Joe White, preached for Michigan Avenue and had a time of Q&A with the congregation — a time he said “went as well as it possibly could.”
On April 8, the churches hosted a joint Easter Egg Hunt at MABC and drew about 60 kids, even with the bad weather. Before the official vote, the churches held a joint service on April 16, at MABC, with White preaching.
“We are celebrating these churches as they move forward together, as one church in the body of Christ,” said Taylor.
“We believe the convergence of the two churches is definitely a God thing,” said White, who will now be the pastor of MABC. “By joining together, we hope to leverage the legacies of the past, maximize the facilities for the future, and ultimately reach more people with the gospel of Jesus Christ.”
Though the Parkway Baptist Church facility is now vacant, Michigan Avenue Baptist Church will oversee the property and its future. “We are presently in discussion and prayer to discover an ethnic group that could move into the facility,” Taylor said. B&R


