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History

Pinnacle Baptist Church was started as a brand new church plant on August 17, 2014. The church was organized in the kitchen of John Murray, a Baptist deacon, and his wife Mary who had a burden to start a Baptist church in the area of Locust Grove and Griffin. The church was literally begun from ground zero with a small handful of individuals who were of like mind and faith. The church was officially organized as Pinnacle Baptist Church on September 21, 2014 with 16 charter members, including both children and adults who were already saved and baptized, signing the church covenant and formally adopting the name Pinnacle Baptist and electing our founding pastor. The church was organized as a fundamental, independent Baptist church from its inception.

For the first month, the newly organized church continued to meet in the Murray’s home, saving money and looking for a building to rent. Then, on Sunday, September 28, 2014, the church held its first services at 89 Pine Grove Rd in Locust Grove, Georgia, occupying a small two-room suite in Park 42 business park. One room served as the sanctuary and adult Sunday school classroom; and the second room served as a place of fellowship with one restroom while also serving as two Sunday school classrooms on Sunday mornings… one half of the room for the children and one half of the room for the youth, with a curtain pulled between the two. The church ordained two additional deacons to assist Bro. John Murray who was elected chairman of the deacons. A black congregation which met in the adjoining suite in the business park made the decision to officially close their doors and, in the process, offered Pinnacle a large number of items which added considerably to the comfort and convenience of our services including a public address system with mics, soundboard, keyboard and stand, new congregation chairs, a large wall-mounted television, and folding tables for fellowships. Additionally, the daughter of Mary Murray donated to the church a large, traditional upright piano which immediately proved to be a blessing to the music ministry of our young church.

Over the next two years, there were both adults and children saved through the ministry of Pinnacle Baptist Church; but although new members joined, others left because of the crowded space in the small two-room suite. Additionally, even though a young church, Pinnacle Baptist was forced to exercise church discipline in the life of one of the two men who had previously been ordained a deacon; consequently, the deacon, his family, and two other families left the small, still growing congregation, leaving the size of the church near what it had been when the church moved into the business park.

As the church began to earnestly pray and seek God’s will about a permanent home for the church, the Lord once again used John and Mary Murray; and He Providentially led them to the then-empty campus of the former Midway United Methodist Church where Pinnacle Baptist Church is now located. Midway UMC had been sitting empty for exactly one year when the Lord supernaturally made it possible for our church to move onto the beautiful campus of six acres with a fellowship hall, educational building, pavilion with a kitchen, outdoor basketball court, and a truly beautiful sanctuary. Only God could have worked out the miracle that He did in allowing our young church with no funds in the bank to acquire such a beautiful place to serve God. The local Methodist association was more than generous in the terms of the rent-to-buy agreement; and Pinnacle Baptist exercised the purchase option on the day that the original lease was signed and began to pay on the 30 year note with 100 percent of the lease each month applied to the principle for the unheard of zero interest loan. Only God could have worked things out in such a wonderful way!

Midway UMC had originally been chartered in the early 19th century, with the earliest known record of members joining the church as far back as 1827. At that time, the church was located at an unknown location on Walker’s Mill Road about five miles from the church building’s current location. Then, sometime in the 1880’s after the late unpleasantness between the States, the original church building was taken down and moved piece by piece to its present location where it was put back together and still stands today, albeit with numerous improvements and renovations inside and out. Some of the graves in the cemetery bear dates which reflect this same time period.

Along with the beautiful campus of the former Midway United Methodist Church came a handful of members of that former church who had, some of them, spent their entire lives worshipping in the same building and now became part of our congregation and church family. God has knit our two church families together as one since that time, and both groups now serve the Lord together and love each other as a single church family.

Pinnacle Baptist Church is an unapologetically fundamental Independent Baptist church standing upon the timeless Word of God.