Mercy Seat Baptist Church

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Back in 1894, Reverend J. L.

Lawson and a group of community members came together and organized the Mercy Seat Baptist Church. The place they called home was Graball, and they put up that original church building on property south of where the congregation stands today. Now that right there is the kind of beginning that doesn't make headlines, just people deciding something ought to exist and making it so.

Decades passed. The 20th century rolled on. And then in 1953, the membership looked around and decided it was time for something new.

They took a vote, and here's the part I love: every single member committed to paying one dollar per month into the building fund. One dollar a month. Not a pledge drive, not a capital campaign with a fancy brochure.

Just folks putting in their dollar, month after month, until the thing got built. That new church went up, and the congregation kept going. Then 1981 brought another chapter, when the rear addition of the existing church was constructed, and the very next year they bricked the whole building.

The place was taking on permanence, the kind you can feel when you run your hand along a brick wall. Now here's what the marker wants you to sit with. Graball declined.

The community that gave this church its name and its earliest members faded. But Mercy Seat Baptist Church did not fade with it. It kept on, active through festivals and outreach programs, scholarships and mission trips, serving the Washington area right on into today.

Some things outlast the towns that built them. This church is one of them.

What the marker says

Reverend J. L. Lawson and community members organized the Mercy Seat Baptist Church in 1894. Located in what was then called Graball, the original church building was built on property south of the current location. In 1953, the membership voted to build a new church, with each member paying one dollar per month for the building fund. In 1981, the rear addition of the existing church was built and the whole building was bricked the next year. The church has been active in the community with festivals, outreach programs, scholarships and mission trips. Mercy Seat Baptist Church thrived throughout the 20th century even after Graball declined and it continues to serve the Washington area today.