2006 RV - Doug & Crystal

This was a true highlight for me, we actually went inside the chapel, which a picture reflects below. Throughout its long history, Ebenezer Baptist Church has been a spiritual home to many citizens of the "Sweet Auburn" community. Its most famous member, Martin Luther King, Jr., was baptized as a child in the church. After giving a trial sermon to the congregation at Ebenezer at the age of 18 Martin was ordained as a minister. In 1960 Dr. King, Jr. became a co-pastor of Ebenezer with his father, "Daddy" King. He remained in that position until his death in 1968. As a final farewell to his spiritual home Dr. King, Jr.'s funeral was held in the church. In 2001, thanks to a Save America's Treasures Grant and the contributions of many individuals and corporations, the National Park Service began the restoration of historic Ebenezer Baptist Church. The restoration will be completed in two phases. Phase I included design and installation of major systems including, electrical, heating and air conditioning, and fire suppression. Structural repairs were made to the roof system and the historic exterior Ebenezer sign was repaired and lit for the first time since 1990. A chair lift was installed to provide accessibility to the sanctuary. The funding for Phase I involved a private and public partnership and cost $1,885,000. Phase II of the project will restore the appearance of the sanctuary and fellowship hall to the 1960-68 period when Dr. King served as co-pastor with his father.

This is the inside of the sanctuary. As we entered musice my Mahalia Jackson was playing and we stayed long enough to her the begining of the recorded speech Dr. Martin Luther King gave prior to his death.


Below is the New Ebenezer Baptist church, we didn 't go inside of this one. It is located directly across the street for the restored Ebenezer Baptist Church. This is a direct quote about the new church and their mission statement. "Our church has a long and rich history of serving the poor and downtrodden. Deeply involved in moral, social, spiritual, economic, environmental and political issues that positively impact the community, Ebenezer is called upon for help by more than 30,000 poor and indigent people annually.

"We believe very strongly that serving the community is what the church should be about. We are not a social work institution; we are not trying to duplicate other services, but until you can make the Parable of Hope real to someone, it's hard to preach it to them" "We believe very strongly that serving the community is what the church should be about. We are not a social work institution; we are not trying to duplicate other services, but until you can make the Parable of Hope real to someone, it's hard to preach it to them"