The history of Calvary Baptist Church began July 4, 1908 when thirteen people met in the home of Mrs. R.J. Gilbert in downtown Columbus for the purpose of organizing Jordan City Baptist Church. The church began as a mission of Rose Hill Baptist Church to reach a new area of the city which developed around the Jordan Mill built that same year.
In 1925, the church relocated to a building on 31st Street and was constituted under the name Calvary Baptist Church. Dr. B.H. Glaze assumed the pastorate of Calvary Baptist Church March 15, 1948 and served the church for 27 years.
In 1974 he brought a young minister from Birmingham, Alabama named Don Wilhite to Calvary to serve as co-pastor with Dr. Glaze until his retirement in 1975. Following the vision of their new pastor, the church, under Dr. Wilhite’s leadership in 1976, purchased 40.5 acres in North Columbus, the property where Calvary Ministries is now located. At the same time, Calvary Christian School was organized with14 students in K-4 and K-5 classes. Today Calvary Christian School provides for children K3 through 12th grade.
The church completed construction of the first building on the new campus in 1978, beginning a satellite ministry. For the next eight years, the church met in both the Thirty-Third Street and the Moon Road locations. The final service in the older location was held in 1985.
Through the years, Calvary’s property expanded to _____ acres. The abundance of ministry expanded also. The pastor’s vision for a nonprofit housing community for the elderly and handicapped saw construction of the first fifty units of Calvary Community in 1989. On July 4, 1990, a new Worship Center was completed without adding to existing debt. The second phase of Calvary Community, consisting of an additional fifty-eight units, was completed in 1992. The steeple for the new worship center was added in March, 1993. Aware of the growing need for affordable Christian counseling, Columbus Christians Counseling Center was organized in 1996.
To meet the desire to care for special need children, the Discovery School was established and in the fall of 2000 first classroom size portable building was installed to accommodate these students. Also in 2000, the M.A. Thomas Mission House was built for the purpose of housing families on furlough or those in need of a short term place to stay. It served as headquarters and as housing for the president of Hope Givers International for a few years. Calvary is an integral part of Hope Givers through its financial support and provision of educational, medical, and missionary teams to the work in India. Hope Givers has since acquired 10 acres located on Old Moon Road with a home converted to a headquarters building for US operations raising funds for orphanages and schools in India.
The need in Columbus for quality Christian care for the elderly led to the development of our assisted living home in 2000. The Gardens at Calvary is licensed for 100 residents and is considered the model for elderly care.
For years Calvary Ministries’ dreamed of direct access from Moon Road near the entrance of Calvary Gardens. In September, 2005, the new entrance became a reality. The Moon road entrance provides easy access to all of the Calvary ministries. Marking the entrance to the Calvary campus is a 55 foot bell tower paid for by memorial donations from church families and erected on May 16th, 2006.
On March 1st, 2007, a tornado passed through Columbus damaging every building on our campus. Our worship center and counseling center suffered the worst damage requiring that each be torn down and rebuilt. The counseling center reopened in 2008 but rebuilding the worship center brought opportunity to enlarge the seating capacity of the building. A giving campaign was launched with a commitment to build in phases as money was available. From the ruins of the original building enjoyed for 17 years, a new worship center slowly took shape.
In the wake of the storm, a building that was untouched provided cause for celebration. The Green House project, providing 24 hour care for 10 individuals in a home setting which encourages the elderly to thrive in an environment of respect and love, opened the first unit as a Memory Care Unit of the Gardens at Calvary in April 2007.
After 3 years of worship in our old gym, the new worship center was completed debt free. Our first Sunday in our new facility was July 4th, 2010 which was also Calvary’s 102nd anniversary.
Our newest expansion is the second Greenhouse which opened in April 2011, also a Memory Care Unit.
