Under the
leading and guiding of the Holy Spirit, Reverend James A. Jackson called a few
family, friends, and former church members to explore establishing a new church
within the local community of Stafford, Virginia. On April 21, 2007, fourteen (14) people
responded to Reverend Jackson’s call and met at the Golden Corral Restaurant,
located in Massaponax, Virginia. At the
meeting, Reverend Jackson explained to those gathered his calling of the Lord
to establish a new church and to obtain everyone’s views; everyone agreed that
Reverend Jackson should establish a new church.
Throughout the month of May 2007 (May 5, May 12 and May 26) follow-up meetings
were held at the residence of Brother Roscoe and Sister Edith Montague to
discuss how the church should be established, how often services would be held
and elect church officers. Brother and
Sister Montague graciously allowed the newly established, yet to be named church
to meet in their garage adjacent to their home located on Eskimo Hill Road, in Stafford,
Virginia. On June 2, 2007, the group met
to discuss the naming of the church.
Reverend Jackson revealed that after much prayer and communication with
the Lord, he was led to remember, it was a New Journey. The name touched the spirits of all who
gathered and the New Journey Baptist Church was named. The church began with a motto of “Journeying with Jesus”. Along with the church name and motto, the
church also started with eleven (11) charter members: Reverend James A. Jackson, Sister (Sis)
Dianna Jackson, Sister Mary Mason, Brother Earl Mason, Sister Janet White,
Brother Author Portis, Sister Melinda Portis, Sister Beverly Rocker, Sister
Melissa Jackson, Brother Linwood Smith, II, and Sister Renee Smith.
On July 22,
2007, New Journey Baptist Church elected its first officers: Church Clerk-Sister Renee Smith, Assistant
Church Clerk-Sister Melinda Portis; Chairman of Trustees-Brother Earl Mason,
Assistant Chairperson of Trustees-Sister Melissa Jackson; Treasurer-Sister
Melissa Jackson; Financial Secretary-Sister Mary Mason; Sunday School
Superintendent-Sister Janet White, Assistant Sunday School
Superintendent-Sister Beverly Rocker; Chairman of Ushers-Brother Author Portis;
and, Deaconess-Sister Mary Mason. These founding
members continued to serve in many additional offices as the church progressed.
The church
held its first worship service and Sunday school on June 10, 2007 at 10:30 a.m. Sunday school consisted of three classes:
Adults, Preteen and Primary. Reverend
Jackson taught the adults and Sisters Dianna Jackson and Renee Smith taught the
children’s classes. Reverend Jackson’s
first sermon for the newly formed New Journey Baptist Church was “Building the Church” referencing Matthew
16:13-19. Nine people attended this
service where the Holy Spirit filled the atmosphere.
On Sunday,
July 29, 2007, New Journey received its first candidates for baptism: Kelvin and Brittany Jackson, father and
daughter. The church held its first
communion on August 5, 2007, the same day that the first offering was
collected.
New Journey
Baptist Church was blessed to have two local churches provide support by
offering the use of their church and facilities to baptize candidates: Hearts Delight Baptist Church located in
Catlett, Virginia and Oak Grove Baptist Church, located in Stafford,
Virginia. In May 2008, the Lord blessed
us to purchase a portable baptistery which has been used frequently, baptizing
sixteen (16) candidates into the body of Christ and fellowship of the New Journey
family.
During
November 2007, New Journey began what has become a tradition for this small
group of believers; they held their first Thanksgiving Dinner as a way to
welcome friends and family. The dinner
was held in the garage of Brother and Sister Montague and was very well
received and attended. Through song,
prayer and praise, the church along with family and friends celebrated the joy
of the Lord’s blessing New Journey.
As the church
began to grow, we recognized the need to develop by-laws to guide us in the
proper conduct of the Lord’s business. A
by-law’s committee was established with five (5) members consisting of:
Reverend Jackson, Sister Dianna Jackson, Sister Mary Mason, Sister Renee Smith,
and Sister Janet White. The committee
met for several months in the home of Sister White and on July 12, 2008, the
by-laws and Church constitution were adopted by the Church. The Lord continued to bless New Journey and
on December 2, 2008, the church moved to its new location of 2066 Jefferson
Davis Highway in Stafford, Virginia. New
Journey occupied one of the smaller suites of the building. It soon became evident as the church grew
that a new home would be needed.
On April 5,
2009, after much prayer, physical labor, and financial expense to overcome the
obstacles set forth by the county zoning authorities, New Journey expanded to
include the entire first floor of the building.
Moving into the newly expanded area, members contributed to purchase new
chairs and the men came together to purchase new carpeting for the new area.
Through
prayer and obedience, New Journey continues to grow. On July 5, 2009, New Journey was blessed to
receive an associate minister, Reverend Norman Owens. On April 4, 2012, Brother Kelvin Jackson began
as the church’s first deacon-in-training and on June 29, 2013, he was ordained
as the church’s first Deacon. The Church
held its first Youth Ministry meeting on March 4, 2013 after selecting its
first Youth Ministry leader. From eleven
(11) faithful charter members, New Journey has grown to fifty-five (55) members
and has established the following ministries/auxiliaries: Missions and Benevolence Committee, Ladies’
Fellowship, Youth Ministry, Ladies’ Choir, and Men’s Choir.
Through God’s
direction and leadership, the Church continued to grow. In October 2013, thanks to Brother Wade
Green’s sincere desire to further the Church’s ministry and outreach, the
Church begun to build it’s first website informing the public of its services and
community commitment.
Our worship
services are: Sunday School, 9:30 a.m.,
Morning Worship Service, 10:30 a.m., Holy Communion, first Sunday, prayer
service and Bible study, each Wednesday, 7:00 p.m., and Friday Bible study at
7:00 p.m., as the Lord leads the Pastor.
Journeying
with Jesus
Except the Lord build the house, they
labour in vain that build it.
Psalms 127:1