Friendship Missionary Baptist Church

November 17, 2016 by Karen Flint
section: Interviews
Friendship Missionary Baptist Church was organized in 1890.  The following people are included in this recording

Part I

Part II

Tape Log

Oral History Interview with Friendship Missionary Baptist Church

Interviewed by Kathryn Well

Time Description of Interview Contents
Time Count (Minutes) Description of Interview Contents
0.0 Beginning of interview.
0.03 Introduction by Kathryn Wells.
0.18 Introduction from Sister Mary McGill.
1.57 Introduction from Deacon Walter “Buck” Kennedy.
2.17 Introduction from Sister Dorothy Shipman. “When you’re talking about Brooklyn, you are really talking about a section that was made up of the ‘have’ and the ‘have nots’.”
5:13 Reading of Church Mission Statement and Question #1: I want to ask, has this always been a part of the focus of Friendship Church and how did this drive community involvement in Brooklyn?
7:51 Sister McGill: “Friendship has really been instrumental in helping everybody as long as I’ve been in that church.”
7:56 Question #2: Can you tell me about some of the functions that you did within the community to help … things to minister to the community while you were in Brooklyn, and then maybe how that’s changed overtime to today?
10:48 Question #3: What are some of your earliest memories of the Church? Deacon Kennedy: “I’ll always remember Bishop Dale. He had a gas station right next to the Church and we would slip over there and spend, not all of it, but some of our Sunday School money, getting cookies or sodas or something like this. Then here come Brother Hemphill or someone, and run us back over.”
14:39 Question directed at Deacon Kennedy about Boy Scouts.
15:03 Question #4: What are some of the individuals that you looked up to in the Church and in the community?
17:09 Sister McGill discusses her first recording album with Deacon Kennedy and Rozena Nicholas.
18:12 Deacon Kennedy discusses the Church Broadcast over WGIV – one of the first in the area broadcast through the telephone to the radio station.
19:30 Question #5: When the Church body learned that it had to leave Brooklyn do you remember how it affected them? Deacon Kennedy discusses the 30-day service held in response and what was involved.
20:46 Question #6: Do you remember how you felt when you learned you would have to leave? Sister Shipman – “Sad, very, very sad.” – Same response from others.
21:00 Question #7: Did you try to change the course of what was going to happen? Deacon Kennedy: “Well, you couldn’t change the course, because it was already there because that’s what they wanted to do. Urban renewal came and wiped out everything because they wanted something else. But I can say one thing that I’m very proud, the Church didn’t split up because of that; the Church stayed together…”
22:40 Question: Tell me about the transition from Brooklyn to the high school – the services there, how were they, and then about looking for the land. Deacon Kennedy: “Well, when we left Brooklyn we thought things were going to just fall off, but when we got to Northwest, it just picked up and the Church started growing.”
25:10 Question: Do you remember the dedication service or the groundbreaking service here at this Church? Deacon Kennedy talks about digging sidewalks and how the Church members did much of the physical labor to build the Church on Beatties Ford Road.
26:14 Question: What are some of your favorite functions that you’ve been involved in since you’ve been at this site? All individuals discussed the choirs and Sister McGill referenced the daycare center.
29:50 Deacon Kennedy discusses the “Brotherhood”
30:35 Discussion of 100 Year Anniversary Service
32:15 Question: Looking back, from the move from Brooklyn to here, what are some of the positives and what are some of the negatives that you think about? What are some good things or bad things, or things you might miss?
36:35 Sister McGill: “I can’t think of anything that I really miss in being over there, to tell the truth, because it’s a little more convenient over here…”
37:25 Question: Do you think that community of Brooklyn, not just the Church community, has kept ties together? Do you think because of what you went through with urban renewal it’s made you keep ties? Deacon Kennedy: “Most of us moved to this side of town … so we’re still right around each other.” Sister McGill: “Those who weren’t in Cherry (neighborhood) moved over to this side anyway.”
38:57 Question: Tell me about your building project for the new Church. All the individuals expressed their hope to live long enough to see the new facility.
41:15 Question: If there is something that I haven’t asked that you can think of to add, just go ahead. Deacon Kennedy discusses the prayer meetings in peoples’ homes. Sister McGill talks about tithing in the Church.
47:34 Break.
00.04 Question: We have asked for some funny stories about the Church and the people in the Church. All individuals told a funny story about the Church or about being in Brooklyn.
8:26 Question: What would you like to see for the new Church, what is your vision for the new Church? Answers centered on the physical building and the plans in place.
11:01 Thank you and closing.

Transcript