Mountain Brook Baptist Church celebrates 75 years

Huge trees grow from tiny seeds.

When Mountain Brook Baptist Church was founded in May 1944, there were fewer than 20 people who attended services at the new church, which began its life in the old Crestline School building.

Within just a few months, attendance had nearly tripled, and the church began meeting at a house on the corner of Jackson and Vine. It was there that the church was officially dedicated and chartered on Sept. 3, with 58 members in attendance.

The church’s rapid growth would necessitate another move just two years later, as the congregation pooled its resources and purchased the plot of land at its present location: the corner of Overbrook and Montevallo roads. Today, the church has more than 2,000 members, with about 500 or so being active at one of MBBC’s two services each week.

“Over these last 75 years, Mountain Brook Baptist Church has been a force for God and good,” MBBC Senior Pastor Dr. Doug Dortch said. “Our heart has been to better our community and our world by living out our faith in concrete, tangible ways. As we celebrate our past by acknowledging those who have gone before us on whose shoulders we stand, we hope to find the courage and inspiration to seize the good future that lies ahead of us and to have even more of an impact through all we are about for the cause of Jesus Christ.”

MBBC has benefited from consistent leadership as it has grown throughout its 75 years. Only four others besides Dortch have held the title of senior pastor at the church: founding pastor J.O. Colley, William E. Waterhouse, Dr. Dotson M. Nelson and Dr. James Moebes.

Waterhouse spent 11 years with MBBC, overseeing the construction of a new chapel and seeing membership grow from 85 to 619. Moebes, who retired in 1981, was the longest tenured of MBBC’s leadership.

“I haven’t really been here that long when you compare me to some of the other pastors who have come before me,” said Dortch, who has been at MBBC for nearly eight years. “That pales in comparison to some of my predecessors. This is a church that appreciates stability and steadfastness.”

It’s also a church where people put down roots. Take Susan Ray, a Birmingham-based marketing professional, for example. She grew up in MBBC. Before her, her parents and grandparent attended the same church, and her children — one in college and one in high school — attend services there, too.

“Growing up in a church like this was really important to me, and raising my children in church was, too,” Ray said. “To me, your faith gives you the basis for who you are. It’s gives you a foundation and purpose for your life.”

For all the physical changes that have taken place at MBBC, Ray said the real way the church has found its purpose has shifted as well.

“The church has really grown and evolved as the needs of the world around us have changed,” Ray said. “We have grown in the way that we communicate and interact with others, and that’s allowed us to be better witnesses and servants, I think.”

MBBC has found ways to be of service to the surrounding community, including hosting classes for Crestline School when the original building burned. The church does traditional outreach but is also constantly looking for ways to embrace and serve the surrounding community.

Members such as Jesalyn McCurry have found ways to practice their faith and calling through MBBC.

“I’m involved in one of our international missions organizations, which focuses on sharing the love of Christ to women in the Arab world,” McCurry said.

McCurry and her husband, Matthew, have been members since 2012, and they attend services with their three children. Each has found a purpose and place where they feel at home.

“You know, it’s funny, because my husband is in the adult handbell choir. Originally, it wasn’t something that he thought he’d be interested in doing, but when the opportunity came, he just said yes,” McCurry said. “He’s gotten a lot out of it, and he’s gotten to meet and become friends with people he probably wouldn’t have met otherwise.”

In September 2018, the church published a book by Joe O. Lewis, former consulting minister, titled “Sacred Space and Sacred Story: A Guide to the Windows of Mountain Brook Baptist Church.” In addition, each Sunday’s church bulletin since September has included a personal story from a church member. The yearlong celebration concluded with a Sept. 29 brunch at the church and with a marker from the Jefferson Historical Association.

“As the congregation of Mountain Brook Baptist Church celebrates 75 years in service to the gospel of Jesus Christ, we are also appreciative that concurrently the Jefferson County Historical Association is recognizing the historical significance of our location,” said Baker Crow, chairman of deacons at MBBC. “We have treasured our long-standing relationship with and service to the residents of the city of Mountain Brook and Jefferson County. We believe God has called us to be exemplary. We are prayerfully and passionately seeking to execute His vision daily in order to continue to have a positive impact locally and across the globe.”

For more information about MBBC, its service times, programs and outreach, go to mbbc.org