Paul, the tent maker from Tarsus offered this confession to the faithful in Corinth, "By the grace of God I am what I am".  This is the honest testimony of those who claim allegiance to the almighty through Jesus, the Christ.  Certainly, this is the continuing testimony of God's children on the corner of Auburn Avenue and William Holmes Borders, Sr., Drive.  

In 1869, a band of believers left Friendship Baptist Church, with the blessings and goodwill of the congregation for the purpose of starting a church in closer proximity to where they resided in Atlanta.  Through their labors in 1869 and 1870, the dream that they had became realized and concretized in the formation of the Mount Pleasant Baptist Church, later to be renamed the Wheat Street Baptist Church.

Over the years, numerous souls have been saved, countless lives have been touched, and thousands of persons have made Wheat Street their spiritual home.  I am the proud successor to five outstanding God-picked "pulpiteers" who gave information and inspiration to a congregation that deemed it in order to follow them as they followed Christ.   Let their names be spoken with reverence and appreciation:

Andrew Jackson(1869-1874),

William H. Tillman(1875-1897),

Peter James Bryant(1898-1929),

J. Raymond Henderson(1930-1937), and

William Holmes Borders, Sr(1937-1988).

I have been standing on their shoulders of strength since September 1, 1989, when I officially assumed my pastoral duties here at "Gods Mighty Fortress on Auburn Avenue.