Since 1866, our mission has been to prepare and equip Wake Missionary Baptist Association pastors, leaders, and disciples for 21st Century ministry and community service to win souls for Christ.  And, 

• To uphold and teach the doctrine of theBaptist Church, the true form of worship andthe policy of the Association; and
• To provide the arena and instrumentality for our member churches and auxiliaries to work corporately and cooperatively.

 

With its humble beginnings at the Blount Street Baptist Church, which is the present-day Tupper Memorial Baptist Church, in Raleigh, North Carolina, the Wake Missionary Baptist Association, Inc.  began as the Wake Baptist Association and is one of the oldest African – American church bodies in North Carolina.  When it was organized, four other counties in North Carolina – (Durham, Orange, Franklin, and Johnston) were associated with the Wake Baptist Association but in later years separated to form their own individual associations.

 

Much of the first twenty years of the Wake Association’s history was devoted to leadership within its member churches. Following these years, the Association began to expand and incorporated specific auxiliaries to minister to the needs of its members.  The Ministers and Deacons Union, Sunday School Convention, The Woman’s Auxiliary, The Woman’s Home and Foreign Missionary Union, and the Baptist Training Union were some of the first organized auxiliaries known to exist within African – American Baptist Associations at the time in which they were organized.

 

• In 1887, The Ministers and Deacons Union, (which was also known as the Union of the Wake Baptist Association), was organized.  Its primary objective was to physically and financially assist church “projects” within the Association.  The first “projects” the Union supported were - weak churches in need of assistance with their building programs, The Grant Orphan Asylum, Shaw University, support for theological students at Shaw University, and The American Baptist Home Mission Society.

 

• In July of 1898, The Wake County Sunday School Convention was organized at Saint Matthews Baptist Church, Raleigh, North Carolina.

 

• In August of 1920, The Woman’s Auxiliary of The Wake Association was organized at the Pleasant Grove Baptist Church in Wendell, North Carolina. 

 

• In 1920, The Woman’s Home and Foreign Missionary Union was organized at the Wakefield Baptist Church in Zebulon, North Carolina.  Its first name was The Sisters Union which was changed to The Woman’s Home and Foreign Missionary Union of Wake County in March of 1944.

 

• In 1928 The Wake County Baptist Training Union Convention was organized during the Mid-Session of the Sunday School Convention at Malaby’s Crossroads Baptist Church, Knightdale, North Carolina.   During this time, it was called The Wake County B. Y. P. U. (Baptist Young Peoples Union). Between 1937 and 1946 the name was changed to the Wake County B. T. U.  (Baptist Training Union), in an effort to include adults in the training program of the Baptist church.

 

• In July of 1952 Mrs. Gertrude Harris was appointed to take charge of the first Wake Association concert during the Twenty- fourth Annual Session of the B.T.U. Convention, held at the Riley Hill Baptist Church, Wendell, North Carolina,

 

• In 1952, the first James F. Wertz Oratorical Contest was held during the Annual Session of the B. T. U. Convention at the Riley Hill Baptist Church, Wendell, North Carolina.

 

As the Association pressed forward into the twenty- first century, it added more “firsts” to its rich history which included the installation of the first female Vice – Moderator, the Reverend Joyce Pulley – Hinton, Senior Pastor of the Loving Word Missionary Baptist Church, Raleigh, North Carolina in August of 2016, and the launching of the Association’s Facebook and Instagram pages on September 24, 2019.

 Between the years of 2017 and 2021, a major health issue of monumental proportions – Coronavirus disease – 2019, (COVID – 19), was radically shaking the hearts, minds, and lives of individuals worldwide.  The drastic effects and heart-wrenching impact of this pandemic brought a major shift in the life of the Wake Association.  Along with the ongoing drastic physical, emotional, and social pain of the global pandemic, the Association’s leadership and member churches were challenged to continue ministering to the needs of others with the reality of no individual face – to – face contact and the physical closure of its member churches.

 

While addressing the health issues associated with the effects of the global pandemic, the Association took physical action to ensure that the ministry of the church continued to flourish during these difficult times.  It incorporated new technologies that included various social media outlets to “reach the masses”. With the aid of the social media outlets, the Association had its first online Executive Board meeting, Mid – year Session, Union Session, Spring Institute, Oratorical Contest, Youth and Young Adult ministries, and individual auxiliary board meetings, that aided in ministering to the needs of the mind, body, and spirit of its leadership and member churches. 

 

For one hundred fifty-six years, The Wake Missionary Baptist Association has continued to build upon its rich history and mission of providing spiritual and physical resources for the ministries and servants within its member churches.

 

Humbly Submitted,

Reverend Doctor Anthony K. Hinton, WMBA Historian

 

Our Moderators – Former and Current

 

1938 – 1971 - Reverend Dr. George Stokes  

1972 – 1974 - Reverend Dr. J. D. Lockley 

1978 – 1980 - Reverend Dr.  W. B. Lewis

1981 – 1983 - Reverend Dr.  G. A. Jones, Sr. 

1984 – 1986 - Reverend Samuel L. Suit 

1987 – 1989 - Reverend P. R. Jones

1990 - 1992  - Reverend Howard Todd 

1993 – 1995 - Reverend Thomas B. Jiles

1996 – 1998 - Reverend Anthony F. Eaton

1999 - 2001 -  Reverend Otis G. Byrd 

2001 - 2003 -  Reverend Paul L. Anderson

2005 – 2007 - Reverend Daniel Sanders

2008 - 2010 -  Reverend Dr. Ronald E. Avery

2011 - 2013 -  Reverend Dr. William T. Newkirk, Sr.                                                                 

2014 - 2016 -  Reverend Dr. Marvin Connelly, Jr. 

2017 - 2019 -  Reverend Dr. Nathaniel J. Wood                     

                                                                                                  Current Moderator

2020 – present

Reverend Kirby Jones

Williams Grove Baptist Church