Johns Chapel AME Church celebrates 131st anniversary

Johns Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church celebrated its 131st church anniversary on Sunday May 17. The church was founded in 1889 when Enterprise was a forest and farm area with a total population of less that 400. Three of those farms were owned by blacks: the Fleming, Grant and Johns families.

The first church organized in the area was New Zion AME Church, which is located in the present day Coppinville community off Highway 84. Meetings were held on the Grant property from 1883-1889. In 1889, a Quarterly Conference held at New Zion granted permission to some members of New Zion to withdraw for the purpose of forming a new A.M.E. congregation nearer to their residence on what was then and is now Geneva Road (Highway). Members of the Johns Family were in the group authorized to organize a new church. The Johns family invited those members that left to meet on their property. Jason “Jake” Johns gave two acres for the new congregation to build Johns Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church.

All AME churches in those early years were in the Alabama Annual Conference. Johns Chapel was accepted by the conference in 1889 and made part of the circuit. The first pastor was Rev. W.L. Lewis. The South Alabama Annual Conference was organized at Johns Chapel in 1914 with Rev. W. M. Pyles as pastor and Rt. Reverend J.H. Jones as bishop.

The first building was destroyed by fire and the second building was destroyed by a storm.

The third building lasted through four pastors. The members expressed their desire for a brick building and construction of a brick building began in 1922. The final cornerstone was laid in 1928.

Many modern upgrades from several pastors were added to Johns Chapel between 1920-1982. In 1982, the church building was completely destroyed by fire. The pastor at that time, Rev. Roy Peters, had a vision of the church building being large enough to serve the people of Enterprise and the Wiregrass area. One of the many things the members wanted for Johns Chapel was a basement, however, members were told the building sits on top of a lake that passes under the highway.

The sanctuary’s seating capacity was estimated to be 500 with a full fellowship hall and kitchen, office space, classrooms, a library, Sunday School rooms, conference room, a small chapel, and multi-purpose rooms on the two floors of the building. Due to Rev. Peter’s failing health, he retired after having a stroke while working on the church. He never preached in the sanctuary he designed. However, his funeral was held in the church sanctuary in 1987 as a tribute to him.

After Bishop James L. Davis was appointed to the Ninth Episcopal District (State of Alabama) in 2008, he reorganized the conferences, and Johns Chapel is now assigned to the Southeast Alabama Conference, Ozark Troy District. Rev. Cleophas A. Guice Sr., who was assigned Sept. 20, 2014, is the presiding elder. Presiding Elder Guice also served as pastor of Johns Chapel from 1992-1997 and led the church in a Jubilee Season with many advances in the congregation, both spiritual and temporal. The current Presiding Elder is Rev. Johnny Rutledge and the current Presiding Prelate is Bishop Harry L. Seawright, who was appointed to the Ninth Episcopal District in 2016 at the General Conference in Philadelphia, Pa.

The church family strongly feels that God has smiled on Johns Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church down through the years. Over 30 pastors have served at Johns Chapel, with Rev. J. F. McCloud serving the longest tenure of 12 years.

The current pastor, Rev. Willie White, Jr., was appointed Nov. 3, 2018 and oversees some 30 ministries in the church. Pastor White is focused on bringing the members of the Body of Christ together and then leading them to greater heights. He is consistently positive and leads by the example of Christ. He has a constant smile and an encouraging word, and wants to keep the church vibrant, fun and effective. He has a particular love for youth and is a spiritually charismatic leader who has a goal of leading Johns Chapel to be all that God intends her to be.

He takes advantage of all available methods to win souls to Christ, e.g., traditional evangelism methods such as personal contact, class leader system, etc., as well as social media, texts and e-mails. At this writing, 18 months since his appointment, the church has grown by leaps and bounds in spirituality and unity, as well as numerically in new members and guests. Since his arrival, the church has purchased a 24-passenger bus, completed extensive ceiling repair in the sanctuary, initiated several new and productive ministries, established on-line giving opportunities, as well as many other accomplishments in the name of the Lord.

Through the years church anniversary celebrations have focused on the art of storytelling, singing, bonding of generations, and sharing the history with our children, ensuring that it is passed down to future generations. At this writing, many of those celebration venues and events cannot be experienced due to the Coronavirus/COVID-19 pandemic, a virus that has caused unprecedented worldwide disruption, illness, and over 300,000 deaths.

Due to restrictive mandates to slow the spread of the virus, the congregation has not gathered in the sanctuary for worship since Sunday, March 15. During those two months, Pastor White has incorporated alternative methods of worship and fellowship via conference calls, parking lot worship, etc., in order to keep the congregation focused on God our Father, Christ our Redeemer, The Holy Spirit our Comforter, and Mankind our Family. His sermons have focused on reminding the congregation to pray without ceasing and “remain faithful in a dark place,” while looking forward to God’s deliverance in His time.

For the 131st Anniversary Service in cars in the church parking lot, Pastor White’s sermon title and text were “This Too shall Pass” from Deuteronomy 28:1 “And it shall come to pass if thou shall hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day that the Lord thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth.”