904 Washington St SE, Olympia, WA 98501
Black History Month
February is the month where we as a nation honor the legacy, influence and importance of African-Americans within the overall tapestry of the United States. Often these voices, people, influences have been silenced, forgotten or unnoticed.
For instance, we sometimes forget that part of our legacy here at Olympia First Baptist Church is that Festus Campbell served as Interim Pastor for a month or two in 1879.
A former slave, who had the good fortune of having some education, he stepped into the role of Pastor after becoming a member a few years before. Integrated as a member, not segregated, and called to be an interim pastor during a time of change and uncertainty.
Pop-Up Museum at New Life Baptist Church
When a good size contingent of folks from Oly First attended the Martin Luther King Jr., celebration at New Life Baptist Church in Lacey, we learned that New Life is hosting a “Pop-Up Museum” honoring African-American influence, culture, legacy, etc., here in Thurston County every Saturday in February, from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. The Museum is open to the public and many of the school districts will be taking field trips to expose and educate students on the accomplishments and influence by African-Americans.
We would like to take those who are interested on a Group Outing to New Life, on Saturday, February 22nd. We will meet at the church, in the parking lot at 1:00 p.m. and put together some car pools and then head over. For those who live much closer to New Life, you could meet us around 1:30. Then we can explore the museum together. Afterwards, those who have the time, we can go someplace to have a refreshment of some kind and talk over our experience, individually and shared.
By the way, we do have a history with New Life, especially when they were located on the Eastside on Puget Sound Street, when Dr. Obey was Pastor. We got disconnected when they moved the church to the outer limits of Lacey, at their current location of Pacific Avenue. Rev. Reeves, their current Pastor was an Associate Pastor at New Beginnings Christian Fellowship in the Kent/Renton area. New Beginnings is one of our Sister-churches within the Evergreen Association of American Baptist Churches.
It would be worthwhile and important to see if we could reconnect with them in some manner and/or capacity of support and shared ministry. Who knows? Plus, there are some us who have friends who attend New Life and who know about us as a church.
As we get closer to February 22nd, look for sign-up sheets for those who are interested in going on our group outing! We will give out reminders during Community Life moments in worship and through Thoughts and Things.
join us for virtual church on Facebook Live
To access the service, follow these steps:
- Log into Facebook.com or through the Facebook App
- Click on Groups (found in left-hand links)
- Once in Groups:
- If you're already in the OFBC group, click on link on left
- If you need to find the group, type: Olympia First Baptist Church into the search bar
Screenshots below for reference.
