{"id":298297,"date":"2025-10-12T21:52:13","date_gmt":"2025-10-12T21:52:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/298297\/"},"modified":"2025-10-12T21:52:13","modified_gmt":"2025-10-12T21:52:13","slug":"south-dallas-church-celebrates-100th-anniversary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/298297\/","title":{"rendered":"South Dallas church celebrates 100th anniversary"},"content":{"rendered":"

New Mount Moriah Missionary Baptist Church in South Dallas celebrated its 100th anniversary Sunday with packed pews and a service vibrant with dancing, cheering and the love of family. <\/p>\n

Related<\/p>\n

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The church, which was founded in 1925 and is located on Marder Street south of Fair Park, has about 140 members, said the Rev. Bruce Fortner, who has led the church for the past 20 years.<\/p>\n

The church has remained resilient, serving its community through multiple wars, gentrification and changes in the neighborhood, and the COVID-19 pandemic, which posed a particular challenge to small churches without a large online streaming presence. <\/p>\n

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The church is home, members said, and the love they have for God and one another has held the church together for so many years. The church had about 300 members at its peak in the 1970s, and has moved buildings several times throughout its history. The church has been in its current location since the late 1950s, according to a booklet handed out during service.<\/p>\n

Longtime church members attended service in suits and sparkling sequin dresses, and bright-colored, wide-brim hats adorned with flowers. They brought additional family and friends with them. Members greeted one another with hugs and laughter, and during service, congregants were asked to \u201cbear hug\u201d new visitors. <\/p>\n

The choir led the room in joyful hymns. Dancing and clapping to piano and drums filled the small sanctuary. Two dancers performed a routine to \u201cTotal Praise,\u201d to cheers and a standing ovation. <\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The Rev. Bruce Fortner speaks to the congregation during the New Mount Moriah Missionary Baptist Church\u2019s 100th anniversary service on Sunday, Oct. 12 in Dallas. <\/p>\n

Christine Vo \/ Staff Photographer<\/p>\n

A church member read letters of congratulation from U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Dallas, and Dallas City Council member Adam Bazaldua. <\/p>\n

The Rev. Kentry Ellison, a guest speaker, delivered a sermon about God\u2019s provision and challenges for his people. Preaching from Joshua 5, he told the congregation the Lord called them to let go of things that were hindering their walk with God. <\/p>\n

God wants to bring healing to his people, said Ellison, who encouraged attendees to bring their pain and hurt to God, rather than hiding or masking it. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf you don\u2019t deal with your pain, your pain will deal with you,\u201d he said. \u201cYou\u2019ll end up bleeding on folk who didn\u2019t cut you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fortner closed the service by honoring longtime church members, including Sister Kathryn Burch, a church member of over 70 years who recently celebrated her 100th birthday. <\/p>\n

Related<\/p>\n

\"During<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all stand on the shoulders of somebody that came before,\u201d he said. The church\u2019s survival for so long was due to God\u2019s goodness and to the dedication to God of longtime members like Burch, he said. <\/p>\n

In an interview last week, Burch said she loves how close members of the church are. \u201cWe always just been family,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

Burch was born in Dallas and has lived in the city her whole life. She worked at a textile factory for over 30 years and has two children, three grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. <\/p>\n

Burch said members of the church have \u201cadopted\u201d her into their families, and she\u2019s done the same. A friend\u2019s daughter writes down the Scripture every Sunday so Burch can study it later, and Burch still prays for fellow members and sends them birthday and anniversary cards.<\/p>\n

\"Sister<\/p>\n

Sister Kathryn Burch speaks with the Dallas Morning News in her living room on Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2025, in Dallas. <\/p>\n

Angela Piazza \/ Staff Photographer<\/p>\n

Related<\/p>\n

\"Opal<\/p>\n

Burch used to sing in the church choir and loved ushering and greeting churchgoers as they walked in. \u201cIt was just a joy to me to see people,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

Sheri Rand, Burch\u2019s oldest daughter, grew up in the church. She said her mother has the kind of face that makes people feel welcome. And even a rock would talk to her. \u201cAnd I would answer,\u201d Burch said with a laugh.<\/p>\n

Mary Badger, 84, attended service Sunday with her son Mark Williams-Badger, 60, a professional pianist. Neither attends the church anymore, but they came Sunday to celebrate a place with so many good memories. <\/p>\n

Williams-Badger said he built his spiritual and musical foundation at New Mount Moriah. He was happy to see the church had held onto \u201cthe same commitment we had back in the \u201970s and \u201980s.\u201d<\/p>\n

Related<\/p>\n

\"Derrick<\/p>\n

Myesheia Leffall, 47, who works at UT Southwestern Medical Center, has been attending the church for about 10 years and agreed with Burch that it felt like a family. Leffall said that after her father passed away in 2018, she called Fortner, and he officiated her father\u2019s funeral and brought the church choir with him. \u201cThey showed up,\u201d Leffall said. <\/p>\n

The Rev. Marcus Jackson, 56, is a part-time pastor at the church and the COO of Medical City Las Colinas. He said the church has taught him what true faith looks like. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve seen more faithful people here than the people you see on TV \u2013 the big names, the celebrity pastors,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is a basic faith that just reminds me who Jesus was really interested in \u2014 people on the margins.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New Mount Moriah Missionary Baptist Church in South Dallas celebrated its 100th anniversary Sunday with packed pews and…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":298298,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5135],"tags":[5229,1596,11412,34158,14053,14054,358,3187,67,586,132,5230,34157,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-298297","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-dallas","10":"tag-faith","11":"tag-resilience","12":"tag-south-dallas","13":"tag-southern-dallas","14":"tag-texas","15":"tag-tx","16":"tag-united-states","17":"tag-united-states-of-america","18":"tag-unitedstates","19":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","20":"tag-uplifting-news","21":"tag-us","22":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115363417532768536","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298297","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=298297"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298297\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/298298"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=298297"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=298297"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=298297"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}