Sixty years ago George H. Lawrence, who was the first full-time pastor of old Mount Hermon Baptist Church in Chesterfield, adjusted his tie, cleared his throat and began to give a radio address over WXGI in Richmond.
He was broadcasting the history of the church. He told about its founding pastor, Samuel Dorset, who had led a small band of missions-minded Baptists to constitute a new church in 1835. He told about the beginnings of the church’s Sunday school, one of the first in that neck of the woods. He shared that, at first, it was held only in the summer; and by 1892, a separate winter school was added. He mentioned that the “Sewing Circle” was formed by women in 1883 and “later men were permitted to join.” He told the radio listeners that “only recently,” meaning about 1949-50, the Sewing Circle redecorated the auditorium.
Mount Hermon current building.
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The pastor turned poetic as he closed the radio message. “[Mount Hermon] stands today as a beacon light in the community with an invitation to all to come and meet the Father. ‘Here bring your wounded heart; Here tell your anguish. Earth hath no sorrow that Heaven cannot heal.’ ”
The wounded and the healed have been making their way to Mount Hermon for 175 years. Recently this columnist made a return to Mount Hermon himself. I was the anniversary speaker for the 150th and once again returned for the 175th. I gave fair warning to either get on my long-range schedule now or begin to look around for another speaker for the 200th!
I would like to at least be a visitor for the 200th in 2035. I would like to see how Mount Hermon and the neighborhood known as Moseley fared during the interval. In 2010 the immediate area still has a rural atmosphere; but locals predict that once the economy turns around, development will be at the church’s doorstep. Already happy sounds can be heard from a neighboring recreational park and it is a short jaunt from the church to busy highways which bring Mount Hermon closer to Richmond.
Mount Hermon’s people are posed for new growth. They have a splendid facility. The picturesque old church house built in 1859 is used occasionally for weddings and funerals. It keeps company with the church cemetery and its yard includes a sundial memorial to Samuel Dorset, founding pastor, and an imposing obelisk at the grave of David Winfree, a prominent minister of the 19th-century.
Mount Hermon's original building.
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Across the country road is the new church house dedicated in 2003. In contrast to the old building, the new worship center has movable cushioned seating. It was attached to an educational building built in 1960 which provided at least three good purposes: rooms for Sunday school, a place for fellowship and, after all those years, indoor “necessary rooms.” An enclosed picnic shelter is nearby and the overflow crowd on the anniversary Sunday relied upon the old-fashioned method of boards nailed between trees for those able to stand and eat. A children’s playground added in 2004 shows that Mount Hermon welcomes and provides for the upcoming generation. On the anniversary Sunday this columnist met a Latino father who was waiting with check in hand to enroll his daughter in a summer camp offered for the youth of the church. Mount Hermon is ready to embrace strangers and newcomers.
While open to others, the church is still blessed by many old-time families. Jo Ann Dorset Lind, a great-great granddaughter of the founding pastor, is an active member. Numerous members stood when a call was made for descendants of charter members; and after the dinner-on-the-grounds, families were decorating graves.
Old-timers are free with good memories. Levis Crump has witnessed the church’s development from “country” to suburban. He remembers coming to church in a horse and surrey. He also remembers that the seating of men and women was separated by a partition in the old church. “It was a change for the good when they took out that partition!” Marguerite Bailey Bendall, at age 90, remembers the trick used by the beloved and long-time pastor, Robert Henry “Bob” Winfree. “He would give us children candy if we were good and to entice us to come back,” she reveals with a laugh.
Bob Winfree remains a legend in Chesterfield. He followed his father, David, as pastor and served Mount Hermon for 52 years. Add the 30 collective years served by his father and the Winfree legend becomes understandable. They both were educated at the Baptist school, Richmond College. Together they baptized, married and buried many of the Chesterfield folks. Together they endeared themselves to generations.
George Fleming, pastor emeritus and Mount Hermon’s pastor from 1968-98, is not far behind Bob Winfree in terms of tenure and certainly not behind in terms of love and affection by the people. “I have been here 42 years,” says Fleming, “and in all that time people and pastor become like family.” A native of South Carolina, Fleming came to the Old Dominion in ’58 to serve as pastor of Perkins Baptist Church in Goochland. The Fleming family truly found a home at Mount Hermon. The new church’s steeple is dedicated to his late wife, Billie; and Lillian, his present wife, was busy helping to organize the anniversary dinner. George’s son, Ray, was helping pour beverages. His daughter, Monnie Kesler, and the grandchildren were enjoying the down-home fellowship.
Lee Ellison became pastor in 2004. Born in St. Louis yet reared in Richmond, Ellison has long been on the Virginia Baptist scene. He is a product of Bon Air Baptist Church and served as a pastor in Danville, Pearisburg and Richmond. He and his wife, Debbie, are experiencing the perennial graciousness of the Mount Hermon people. A century and more ago, David Winfree reported to a friend that he was receiving “cheerful and fully adequate support” and was “able to give himself wholly and without worry to the ministry of the Word.” The Religious Herald reported in 1884 that Mount Hermon people “stocked the larder with the fat of the land” for Winfree. “When Mount Hermon undertakes to do a handsome thing, she never stops short of a very handsome thing.” A gracious and generous spirit still reigns in Moseley, Virginia.
Fred Anderson is executive director of the Virginia Baptist Historical Society and the Center for Baptist Heritage and Studies, located on the campus of the University of Richmond. He may be contacted at [email protected] or at P.O. Box 34, University of Richmond, VA 23173.