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The Four Chaplains Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. – John 15:13 On a frigid February 3, 1943, the US troop ship Dorchester was sailing through rough seas in a convoy out of Newfoundland bound for Greenland.  They were about 150 miles off the coast.  Down in the old converted cruise ship’s stifling hold, 4 US chaplains circulated among the frightened young men, some lying wide-eyed in their bunks, others nervously playing cards or shooting dice.  Chatting with the troops, the chaplains eased tensions, calmed fears and passed out soda crackers to alleviate seasickness. The troops anxiously looked forward to reaching Greenland the next day.  They knew that U-boats prowled their ship’s course.  They did not know that by morning nearly 3/4s of them would be dead, and that the rest would have their lives changed forever.  Nor did they know the magnificent way in which these four chaplains would minister to them. ...

 Certainly one of the most memorable stories of Grace Baptist Church is that of Hattie May Wiatt.  According to Robert J. Burdette in his The Modern Templars--A Sketch of the Life and Work of Russell H. Conwell  it all began one day in 1883 with a little girl, 6 years old, Hattie May Wiatt. The following version is easy to read, but read on to see Conwell's sermon on Hattie May for a first-hand account, as well as other details of the little girl who lives on in our history. Additional Info Hattie May was the daughter of Joseph and Harriet (Hattie) J. Ball Wiatt and they lived at 1917 Mervine Street in Philadelphia.  She died of diphtheria at age 7, which her younger sister also contracted and died just 5 days later.  They were originally buried in Monument Cemetery but were moved within the cemetery on May 11, 1904.  Two years later, they grandmother, Abbie P. Ball was buried with them.  Monument was closed in 1956 and on June 22 of that year Annie an...

On May 16, 1870, a group of young men from the Young Men's Christian Association of the Tenth Baptist Church of Philadelphia decided to establish a mission in a rapidly developing section in the northern part of the city.  They secured a hall at Twelfth Street and Montgomery Avenue and began meetings to determine how to attract more souls to Christ.  The outpost was known as The Kennard Mission.   Among the young men were Alexander Reed and Henry C. Singly who went on to become deacons at Grace Baptist Church.  Frederick B. Greul, D.D., became a pastor at the Berean Baptist Church.  Another, John A. Stoddart, was the first superintendent of the Sabbath, or Sunday school at Grace Baptist. The mission was formally organized on February 12, 1872 with 47 members.   The Kennard Mission flourished and on August 25, 1872, they moved out of the hired hall and built a tent with a seating capacity of 500 at the corner of Berks and Mervine Streets.  In ...

On October 18,  2020 Grace Baptist Church celebrated its music ministry.  This year was difficult to imagine as most years during our Music Sunday each of our music ministry programs is part of the Sunday program.  However due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are not meeting as usual (mostly on Zoom, but a handful of limited, safely-spaced indoor and outdoor services).  Instead, members of each of the programs spoke, and a short video from the past was shown.  Although much different from our typical Music Sunday, many found this particular Music Sunday especially touching and a great praise to God for helping us use the gifts he's given us. Children's Ministry Gene Stremme "Music is an important part of worship at Grace Baptist.  And, kids are an important part so music and kids just kind of go together.  We accomplish this through singing, ringing tone chimes, dancing.  Yes, we have dance--the Dobrovolec girls are really good!  We also clap, we...

For today's blog about the book I'll share one of the interviews I've done over the past few months.  Dwight and Barbara Bolick came to our church when they came to this area for Dwight's training (see below) and joined our church then, and subsequently left for Chile and economic development for the Mapuche indigenous people.  Our church supported their mission work over the years, and here's what they had to say: Whatever  you did for the least of these  brothers and sisters of mine.  you did  for me. ~Matthew 25:40.

 Hi, as many of you know I'm working on a book about Grace Baptist Church.  If I haven't yet interviewed you, and you'd like to share your thoughts and memories about the church, please contact me at gbcprayerwarriors@gmail.com.  When I began my research for the book, I started by looking over the materials at the church.  I found previous histories, the last being done about 30 years ago.  These histories reviewed how we started in 1872 as a mission, grew into a tent, and then a building, and then a massive church--at one time the largest Protestant church in America.  That building is today part of Temple University, its fine arts and performing center.  The histories would talk about previous ministers, our locations, etc.  What I was really curious about at times was the people of the church.  What were those original few that started the mission like?  What were they thinking?  What were the times like?  I've still not det...

 It's nearing the end of August, and this project I began 6 months ago is plodding along.  It's been suggested that I create this blog to give a view. Years ago talking to Bob Foell, a cherished member of the church who lived to be 103, I had the original idea of writing about our church.  Bob was a joy to talk to, and knew so much about our history and building.  Unfortunately work and family took my attention away from this concept, until now.  Recently several of us were at Larry Davis' daughter's memorial, and the people at the table were reminiscing about memories of the old church.  And Pastor Steve mentioned the upcoming 150th anniversary coming up in 2022.  Voila, the long-ago-concept finally got off the ground. I am still in the process of contacting current and near-current members for phone interviews, speaking to them about how they started coming to GBCBB, memories of the church downtown, other favorite memories, and anything else they'd l...