HONORING FOURTH STREET MISSIONARY BAPTIST CHURCH ON ITS 126TH ANNIVERSARY

On 2026-09-28, Representative Sanford D. Bishop, Jr. (D-GA-2) delivered a floor speech titled "HONORING FOURTH STREET MISSIONARY BAPTIST CHURCH ON ITS 126TH ANNIVERSARY" in the House.

HONORING FOURTH STREET MISSIONARY BAPTIST CHURCH ON ITS 126TH ANNIVERSARY

Congressional Record, Volume 172 Issue 153 (Monday, September 28, 2026) [Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 153 (Monday, September 28, 2026)] [Extensions of Remarks] [Page E989] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [ www.gpo.gov ] HONORING FOURTH STREET MISSIONARY BAPTIST CHURCH ON ITS 126TH ANNIVERSARY ______ HON. SANFORD D. BISHOP, JR. of georgia in the house of representatives Monday, September 28, 2026 Mr. BISHOP. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Fourth Street Missionary Baptist Church of Columbus, Georgia, as its congregation celebrates 126 years of faithful service to God and to the people of the Chattahoochee Valley. A worship service to celebrate this momentous accomplishment was held on Sunday, September 27, 2026, at 2:00 pm. For me, this is not simply a tribute to a church; it is a tribute to my church home--the place where I sat in the pews for 24 years, where I was fed, corrected, comforted, and sent. Mr. Speaker, every great story has humble beginnings, and Fourth Street's story began under a fig tree. In 1900, a few devoted men and women gathered beneath a fig tree on Third Avenue in Columbus to worship God under the leadership of the Reverends John Bellamy and Willis Carter. They called themselves Mt. Canaan Baptist Church. They had no building. They had no pews. They had no steeple, but what they had was faith. The very next year, in 1901, Reverend Bellamy led fifteen faithful souls to worship beneath a bush arbor on Fifth Street--open sky above, wooden benches below--as the New Mt. Canaan Baptist Church. Later that year, the Reverend Pearson was called as pastor, and under his leadership that littLe band of believers did something remarkable. They bought a tract of land for 50 dollars. 50 dollars, Mr. Speaker. For people only a generation removed from slavery, that was not a small sum. That was a sacrifice. On that land they raised a humble shelter for worship, and that shelter became Fourth Street Baptist Church. The prophet Micah wrote, ``But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid.'' Those first saints sat under their fig tree. And for 126 years, Mr. Speaker, no one has been able to make Fourth Street afraid. In 1961, the Lord sent Fourth Street a young preacher from the Pumpkin Bottom community of Phenix City, Alabama--the Reverend Johnny H. Flakes, Jr. He would remain its pastor for 51 years, while also shepherding Good Hope Missionary Baptist Church in Phenix City for fifty-three. Dr. Flakes was a preacher, a teacher, an evangelist, and--as anyone who ever heard him will tell you--a soloist who could sing the Spirit into a room. But he never believed the Gospel stopped at the church door. He was a leader in the NAACP, a pivotal force in establishing the Urban League of Columbus, and a cofounder of One Columbus, which worked to bridge the racial divide in our city. He chaired the Board of Trustees of his alma mater, American Baptist College in Nashville. And when hate tried to make Fourth Street afraid--when the church was firebombed--Dr. Flakes did not flee, and he did not falter. He stood. He stood for Fourth Street, and he stood for every other church that faced the same terror. With his beloved wife, Mother Robena Gaines Flakes, at his side for 58 years, Dr. Flakes led Fourth Street's founding of Fourth Street Towers in 1972, bringing affordable housing to the families surrounding the church. The congregation raised its Christian Education Building in 1977. And in 1992 it opened the Fourth Street Day Care, with Mrs. Flakes as director--the first day care center in the State of Georgia to receive the Center of Distinction Award. Mr. Speaker, I must speak personally now. For 24 years, Fourth Street Missionary Baptist Church was my church home, and Dr. Johnny H. Flakes, Jr. was my pastor. Before many people knew my name, Dr. Flakes knew me. Through trouble or triumph, he was always available, and he always gave me wise counsel. And Mrs. Flakes--Mrs. Flakes was like a mother to me. When I think about the man I have tried to become, in public life and in private faith, I cannot separate it from the lessons I learned in those pews on Fifth Street. When Dr. Flakes went home to be with the Lord on November 12, 2012, a part of my own heart went with him. But I have learned, Mr. Speaker, that when God calls a shepherd home, He does not leave the sheep without a shepherd. Dr. Flakes encouraged his children not to be carbon copies of him, but to glean from his wisdom and follow the lead of the Holy Spirit. His son has done exactly that. The Reverend Dr. Johnny H. Flakes, III, was once a football standout at Tuskegee University--the school's all-time return specialist and a member of its Athletic Hall of Fame. Mr. Speaker, a return specialist, is the one who catches what has been sent to him and carries it forward--through traffic, against opposition, toward the goal. And that is precisely what Pastor Flakes has done with the mantle his father placed in his hands. He earned his Master of Divinity from the Morehouse School of Religion at the Interdenominational Theological Center, a master's degree from the University of Iowa, and a Doctor of Ministry from Mercer University's McAfee School of Theology. He pastored Mount Gilead Missionary Baptist Church in Atlanta and served as co-pastor alongside his father before taking up the pulpit at Fourth Street. Today, with his wife, Jacqueline, beside him, he chairs Fourth Street Towers and the Fourth Street Daycare and Academy, and he serves our community through the Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance, the John Amos Center Advisory Board, Historic Columbus, and so much more. The Word of the Lord declares, ``The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith the LORD of hosts: and in this place will I give peace.'' Under Pastor Flakes, the latter house is building on a glorious foundation. Mr. Speaker, 126 years ago, there was a fig tree. Then there was a bush arbor. Then there was a 50-dollar lot and a humble shelter. Today there stands a great church at 222 Fifth Street--with housing for families, a school for children, and a pulpit that has never stopped proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ. ``Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses''--Reverend Bellamy, Reverend Carter, Reverend Pearson, those first fifteen members, Dr. Johnny H. Flakes, Jr., and generations of saints who have gone on before--I believe that cloud of witnesses is looking down on Fourth Street today. And I believe they are well pleased. Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join my wife, Vivian, and I, along with the more than 765,000 people of Georgia's 2nd Congressional District, in congratulating Pastor J. H. Flakes, III, the officers, and the entire membership of Fourth Street Missionary Baptist Church on 126 years of faith, sacrifice, and service. May God continue to bless this house--my house--for generations yet to come. ____________________