Our History

On September 7, 1952,  Unity Baptist Church was constituded. We had 68 members on this day.  Fifty-three had letters, eight were under the watch care of the church until their letters could be obtained, and the remainder were candidates for baptism. Rev. Marcus Drake was our first pastor. The church had been meeting in a tent since banding together 4 or 5 weeks earlier. The tent was located where the parking spaces are in front of the present fellowship hall. The road was unpaved, the area was all wooded, and the hospital was still located in town. Trees were cleared in order to erect the tent and shavings were put on the ground so that we would not have to walk in dirt. At the organizational meeting of the church someone asked one of the charter members why on earth they were locating a church in the wilderness. The member very simply replied, "Because the Lord sent us here." At that time, little did we know that the medical community would come to us along with homes, and apartments, but we knew God put us here. The song "Dwelling in Beulah Land" expressed our knowledge of God's hand in the establishment of this church and has been sung every Homecoming thereafter. The week following our organizational meeting, we sent our Pastor Marcus Drake, Mr. R. R. Burleyson and Mrs. Agnes Bonner as messengers to the North Georgia Baptist Association to ask for membership in the association for our church. As a church we have been very active in the activities of this association ever since. Most of the charter members were tithers and that infant church raised $15,614.000 the first year. Today that does not sound like much, but in 1952 this was a substantial amount of money. Once the church was organized, we selected a building committee and immediately began building a permanent structure. During these early days, Sunday School classes were held under trees and in bad weather the classes were moved into automobiles in the parking lot. The first building was built as a future pastorium, leaving out the interior walls so that it could be used for worship services. This was completed during the winter and the church moved into this building which was to be our house of worship for several years. What is now the library area was used for classes, even though we still held many outside when weather permitted. The chapel was completed in 1956 with the laying of the cornerstone held 46 years ago on September 7, 1956. In 1959 we added an educational unit and then we again added this in 1964. In the summer of 1969 we began work on the third addition to the educational area and the construction of the present sanctuary. This building project was completed in April of 1970 at a cost of $142,000.00. The dedication for this building was held on September 6, 1970, and the church had grown to over 250 members. At this time, our annual operating budget was $36,000.00 In the late 1990's the Long Range Planning Committee for the church began trying to determine what we should do since the church had outgrown some of its fascilities. After much prayer we realized that God's direction for us was to remodel and rearrange the space which we had to better uitlize it. We began with refurnishing the Sunday School rooms, moving the church office and library to the present location and re-paving our parking lot. We then gave our sanctuary a complete face-lift and re-dedicated it to the glory of God in 2000. Some of the outstanding characterististics of Unity Baptist Church had been the willingness of the members to give of themeselves and of their money. We have always supported the Association, the Southern Baptist Cooperative Program, the Georgia Baptist Children's Home, and both North American and International missions. Unity Baptist Church began with a small group of God-fearing people who put their trust in the Lord and sought to do his will, and God has richly blessed us through the years. Like any church, we have had problems along the way, but we know that God is in control of all situations and He will continue to lead us in the paths He would have us take if  we continue to seek his will. Not only the charter members of our church, but each and every member who has been a part of this church body has played a part in who and what we are. We are thankful for each one who has been a part of our church family. You are all very special to us. May God bless each of you.

[Back to Unity's Home Page ]