BARRAQUE STREET MISSIONARY BAPTIST CHURCH, 1800 W. Pullen St., will celebrate its 138th anniversary at 11 a.m. Sunday. The public is invited to attend. The theme is "A Church Founded and Fixed on Christ." The guest minister will be the Rev. Chris Jones, former Arkansas Democratic gubernatorial candidate and a native of Pine Bluff. Jones earned physics and math degrees at Morehouse College. At NASA, he interned under an astronaut and worked on a plasma rocket ship, and at MIT, he earned two master's degrees --nuclear engineering and technology and policy -- and a Ph.D. in urban planning, according to a news release. Jones has been an assistant dean for Graduate Education at MIT, run the community-based Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative at Boston and led the Arkansas Regional Innovation Hub's maker space. He recently published a 30-day devotional, Quantum Pearls. Jones has been married 20 years to Dr. Jerrilyn Jones, an emergency medicine physician, and they have three daughters.
AMOS CHAPEL MISSIONARY BAPTIST CHURCH, 1307 W. 16th Ave., will host a Back to School Prayer and Pizza for all children on Sunday from 2-3 p.m. Local pastors and supporters will be present to pray for the children. Immediately afterwards, pizza will be served as everyone departs. "Calling for children, parents, educators, the entire community, let's unite together. Prayer changes things," said spokesman Dee Clay. The Rev. Robert Willis Jr. is the Amos Chapel pastor. The event sponsors include Dr. Martha A. Flowers, Jeremy's Body Shop, attorney Efrem Neely, and state Rep. Ken Ferguson, District 16.
ELM GROVE BAPTIST CHURCH, 3114 S. Mississippi St., will commemorate its 180th anniversary at 10 a.m. Sunday. The church has been called historic because of its early origins when enslaved Africans built the first church in Arkansas and named it Elm Grove Baptist Church in 1843, according to the pastor, the Rev. Jesse Turner.
PILGRIM MISSIONARY BAPTIST CHURCH, 2507 Hill St., will celebrate its anniversary at 3 p.m. Sunday. The guest speaker will be the Rev. Kirby Gulley, pastor of Eight Avenue Missionary Baptist Church of Pine Bluff. The theme will be "Connected in love through Christ; thanking God from generation to generation" (Psalm 79:13). The community is invited to come celebrate with the church. Pilgrim's pastor is the Rev. Kevin L. Crumpton Sr.
LIBERTY HILL MISSIONARY BAPTIST CHURCH, 6300 U.S. 79 South, will celebrate Family & Friends Day at 3 p.m. Aug. 20. The guest speaker will be the Rev. Darren Edgerson, pastor of St. Peter's Rock Missionary Baptist Church. Liberty Hill's pastor is the Rev. Aaron L. Johnson.
ST. BETHEL MISSIONARY BAPTIST CHURCH, 4508 S. Main St., will celebrate its 147th anniversary at 3 p.m. Aug. 27. The public is invited to attend. The theme is "St. Bethel, Down through the years, an Eternal House of Worship, Praise and Fellowship" (Psalm 122:1.) The guest speaker will be the Rev. Kevin Crumpton Sr., pastor of Pilgrim Missionary Baptist Church. The Rev. Louis E. Williams Jr. is the pastor at St. Bethel.
ST. JOHN AME CHURCH, 1117 W. Pullen St., will present its annual Men's Day Worship and Praise Services at 3 p.m. Aug. 27. The Rev. Chestine Sims, Jr. is the pastor. The service will feature the Rev. James R. Hooper Sr., the presiding elder of the Pine Bluff-Helena District, in the East Arkansas Conference and senior presiding elder in the Twelfth Episcopal District of the African Methodist Episcopal Church and President Pro-tem of the Presiding Elder's Council. The public is invited to attend in person or virtually on FACEBOOK LIVE @ https://www.facebook.com/St.JohnPineBluff/
NEW COMMUNITY CHURCH, 321 N. Birch St., will commemorate the 20th anniversary of the pastor/apostle Patrick Lockett and wife, Janice Lockett, on Sept. 10. At 11 a.m., the guest speaker will be the Rev. James Barnes Jr. of New St. James Missionary Baptist Church. At 3 p.m., the featured speaker will be Christopher Davis Sr. of St. Paul Baptist Church in Memphis, Tenn.
Church news is printed in The Commercial on Fridays. The deadline to submit church announcements is noon Wednesdays. Pastors, ministers or others interested in writing for the Devotional Page may also submit columns for consideration. Column writers should have connections to Southeast Arkansas. Articles are accepted by email to Sandra Hope at shope@pbcommercial.com or shope@adgnewsroom.com. Details: (870) 534-3400, ext. 5.