Dawson Family of Faith
Dawson Family of Faith (formerly Edgewood Baptist Church and Dawson Memorial Baptist Church) is a large Baptist church, affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention, located at 1114 Oxmoor Road in the Edgewood neighborhood of Homewood.
The church was first established in 1920 at a meeting at John Coker's house on Knob Hill, across Oxmoor Road from the present building. It went dormant during the 1921 depression, but was reorganized in 1925 with Lemuel Dawson as its first full-time pastor. When Dawson died in 1938 the church had more than 400 members, who voted unanimously to rename it in his honor.
According to figures compiled in 2005 by the Hartford Institute for Religion Research, Dawson's average weekly attendance approximates 2,500.
Pastors
- Samuel Heath (1920)
- Lemuel Dawson (1925–1938)
- James H. Chapman, interim (1938)
- J. Ivey Edwards (1938–1947)
- William M. Vines, interim (1947–1948)
- Edgar Arendall (1948–1984)
- Landrum Leavell (1984–1987)
- James A. Newell (1987–1990)
- Ralph Langley, interim (1990–1991)
- Gary Fenton (1991–present)
References
- Schnorrenberg, John (March 1996) "The Churches of Edgewood" walking tour notes. Birmingham Historical Society
- Atchison, Ray M. & Doris Teague Atchison (1999) Light in the Valley: History of Dawson Memorial Baptist Church. Birmingham: Dawson Memorial Baptist Church
External links
- Dawson Family of Faith website