Church History & Heritage

Immediately following the Civil War in 1865, the brush arbors began to spring up throughout the charred and desolate ashes of Atlanta.

African-Americans, newly emancipated, began to migrate to this railroad town formerly known as Terminus, and Marthasville and now called Atlanta, in search of their new "Promised Land."

In the shadow of the Civil War, a small number of African-Americans migrated to an area bordered by Boulevard, Wheat Street and Edgewood, Bell, Fort, Houston and Hilliard Streets, known politically as the Fourth Ward community. The area was mixed with numerous ethnicities including German Jews, Irish and African-Americans. After the renaming of Wheat Street to Auburn Avenue in 1893, the area became more concentrated with African-Americans.

The Greater Piney Grove Baptist Church had roots that extended deep into the city of Atlanta. The surrounding communities were filled with spiritually starved persons who desired the word from the Lord. Even though there were churches throughout the area, there was always room for one more "House of the Lord."
Born in the heart of the old Fourth Ward Community, nurtured by its surroundings, Piney Grove Missionary Baptist Church was born as a gathering of Christian souls who felt the need to organize a church for the continued nourishment of the Lord's word and for the edification of its people.

How did Piney Grove Missionary Baptist Church get from 101 Bell Street to 101 Boulevard and then to that great edifice on Glenwood Avenue in DeKalb County?

This history of Piney Grove is rich and the following story is told about its origin:

In 1914, a Rev. N. J. Jenkins organized the church in a three-room house at 101 Bell Street in the northeastern section of Atlanta. The small band of worshipers met on the 2nd and 4th Sunday even before Bell Street, the church met in a house on Edgewood Avenue.

Bell Street was a thoroughfare that intersected with several major streets and the church known as Piney Grove was founded in an effort to meet the needs of a distressed area.

 
Three years after its’ founding, the community suffered one of the worst devastations the city had seen, the Great Fire of 1917. Thousands of Fourth Ward residents' homes and personal property were destroyed, including some members of this newly formed church. Early on in this church's history, it had a sense of community outreach as it joined others in helping to aid those dislocated by the fire. Many of the burned out residents moved to the West Side of Atlanta near Hunter Street (now Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive).

Many schools located in the area included Morris Brown University and Sylvia Bryant's Preparatory School; medical needs were handled at Mercy Hospital just a few blocks away from where the second structure of Greater Piney Grove would be located. The building where Piney Grove moved into on Boulevard was once a Methodist church building.


Succeeded by Rev. Sims, Rev. Jenkins resigned due to ill health, but had planted a seed, which over the course of the next seven decades would sprout into a phenomenal institution of high worship. Piney Grove was nestled in a religious community that entered the decade of the Roaring Twenties committed to do God's will.

To continue his ministry and carry out his vision, Rev. Jenkins appointed Rev. J. D. Sims as pastor. Fifteen years after its’ founding, the church under his leadership moved from 101 Bell Street to 101 Boulevard in 1939.

Following Rev. Sims, who served from 1916 - 1941, came Rev. A. R. Barnette who served from 1941 - 1955. After he resigned, Rev. Frank Jones was elected. He led Piney Grove from 1956 - 1989. Rev. Jones along with his wife Montez Jones implemented great building and rebuilding of the church, physically and spiritually. He was a profound preacher, and administrator.