THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, March 22, 1996 TAG: 9603200182
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY NANCY LEWIS, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Medium: 95 lines
Sometime during the year 1856, a small group of men and women stood beneath a stand of pines in what is now the Creeds section of Virginia Beach, joined their hands in faith and fellowship and raised their voices in prayer.
According to the story that's been handed down, the little circle of foresighted slaves realized that in the not-too-distant future they'd likely no longer be joining their masters in Sunday services, sitting in designated sections of nearby Oak Grove Baptist Church. Some understood that before many years had passed, they would need a place to worship God together as Christians coming out of slavery.
It would be six years before President Lincoln issued his Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation - nine years before the Confederacy fell and the 13th Amendment was adopted, guaranteeing blacks freedom from slavery and the same rights already enjoyed by whites in a nation founded on the conviction that all men are created equal.
The auspicious gathering under the pines marked the beginning of one of the first black churches in Southeastern Virginia, Little Piney Grove Baptist Church. Its congregation has grown steadily over the years and spawned spiritual leaders for other churches.
The present pastor of the church is the Rev. Marion E. Thompkins of Chesapeake, who has served the church since 1983.
On March 10, the congregation, now numbering 200, linked hands to celebrate the church's 140th anniversary. They were joined by members of Mount Olive Baptist Church, whose new pastor, the Rev. Lamont Brown, preached a rousing sermon that had those present on their feet, swaying and clapping and echoing his words.
One of the celebrants was Eva Munden, 87, who traces her family history back to the beginnings of the church.
Munden's grandmother, Dizzer Lawrence, was a deaconess in the young church at a time when the building was but a crude log cabin. Her late husband, Harold Munden, was a grandson of Jane Munden, one of those prescient slaves who gathered beneath the pines that fateful day in 1856.
But for the help of her master, Jane Munden would not have been there that day. He helped her and her children to escape the fate of many other slave families of the time, ones who were sold off separately to plantation owners far from their home farms.
Eventually, her master gave her 45 acres of land, and it is this land upon which her descendants lived and carried on her traditions of worship at nearby Little Piney Grove Baptist Church.
Jane Munden lived to the impressive age of 118. Today, many of her progeny are proud members of the church she helped found.
When 78-year-old Wilbert Bell was a youth, Little Piney Grove Baptist was heated by two pot-bellied stoves and electricity came from a generator. The historic pines still stood, and church members gathered each August, as they still do today, for revivals.
There were fewer members then, recalled Bell, who has served as a deacon of the church for 35 years. One of Bell's forebears was a minister of the church during the late 1800s.
Built in 1884, the original log cabin church was replaced two years later by a white clapboard structure. Today, a spacious brick edifice, built in 1906, serves the burgeoning congregation. An annex, constructed in 1986, provides office space, a kitchen and an all-purpose room.
The most recent expansion was completed under Thompkins' leadership. He was also instrumental in launching Little Piney Grove Christian Academy, which helps church youth with academics as well as spiritual training.
``This is God's country,'' said Thompkins. ``People love each other.''
Brown's intonations reverberated throughout the church Sunday as he brought his sermon to a crescendo. ``Is your name written in the Lamb's book of life?'' he asked in a loud, gravelly voice.
``Yes!'' responded the congregation as he paused to take a deep breath.
``The show stops right here,'' intoned Brown three times on one lungful of air.
``All right!'' interjected the celebrants, swaying and clapping in unison.
``I'm so glad!'' boomed Brown.
``So glad!'' responded the people, some waving their arms in the air.
``Are you ready to be called up in a twinkling of an eye?''
A woman in a white blouse and black beret was dipping and dancing in time to Brown's rhythmic voice, his hand flourishes.
``Sign me up!'' demanded Brown.
``Sign me up!'' repeated the people.
The pines are gone now, felled a decade ago to make way for the church addition, yet the spires that reached heavenward and formed a natural cathedral for those soon-to-be-freed slaves 140 years ago still stand in the memories of Little Piney Grove Baptist Church members.
``The name keeps us humble, reminds us from whence we came,'' said Thompkins. ILLUSTRATION: Photos
The present pastor of Little Piney Grove Baptist Church is the Rev.
Marion E. Thompkins of Chesapeake.
Little Piney Grove Baptist Church as it looked in the 1950s.
by CNB