West Rome Baptist Church

History :

On March 12, 1893 thirteen believers in Christ gather together in a small school building on the east side of North Division Street, near the Southern Railroad. Seeing the need to minister to the west side of Rome, Georgia, the believers established themselves as West Rome Baptist Church and were led by Rev. J.N. Whitehead.

At the turn of the twentieth century, the church purchased a lot across from the school currently the site of the West Rome Piggly Wiggly. At this location, the church built a one room framed structure with no foyer, baptistery or choir loft.

In 1914, under the leadership of Rev. C.L. Conn, the church building was rotated and moved to Shorter Avenue, the current site of Eckerd Drugs. The church began to grow with a Woman’s Missionary Union formed in 1915, a youth ministry formed in 1916, and the addition of Sunday School rooms added in 1918.

Though the Great Depression and World War II plagued the world, the church grew in structure and in membership. In 1934, Rev. P.N. Pentecost became the church’s first full-time pastor, and he had a vision of growth. The church built an annex of twelve rooms that were used for Sunday School classes, an outreach program for poor children, fellowships, a nursery, and sewing classes.

By 1945, the church had grown to 405 members with a Sunday School enrollment of 244. The year marked the beginning of Rev. Melvin Smith’s tenure as pastor that lasted for the next 24 years. It was also the year that the church purchased land on the corner of Shorter Avenue and Elm Street. In 1950, the old church building was sold, and a new educational building was established on the present-day site of the church. Lack of space prompted two morning services in the 1950’s until a new sanctuary was completed in 1959. The new building added space for 300 more in Sunday School and provided a 700 seat auditorium.

In 1968, at a size of 1,070 members, the church called Rev. Jerry Vines as its pastor. Again, space was a problem, and in 1972, a new building was constructed which contained a larger auditorium, a choir suite, a library, offices, and classrooms. Those facilities have been remodeled and currently are used for Adult Bible Study Classes, the youth, and the nursery.

By the end of Rev. William A. Smith’s tenure as Pastor in 1979, the church had grown to 2,589 members. At the centennial of the church in 1993, the church was led by Rev. Larry Draper and had grown to 2,918 members.

In September of 2001, Rev. Glynn N. Stone, Jr. became the pastor of the church, which has grown to be the largest church in Floyd County.

Blessed by God over its 110 year history, West Rome Baptist Church has grown from 13 charter members to more that two thousand. It has also expanded from a small room to mulitiple buildings on several acres of land, but most importantly, it is a place where Christ is exalted, the Bible is preached as the truth, and souls are won for the Savior.