first african baptist church, savannah

a story of true faith and the power of non-violent love...

the first african baptist church in savannah was (calls itself... they may be others clambering for the title) the first african american congregation in the united states. the second pastor, rev. bryan, preached what he felt called by God to preach. at the time, though masters and other whites "allowed" slaves to preach, they heavily monitored the content of the sermons. of course, they did not want anyone to preach freedom. the rev. bryan preached what he wanted... and paid dearly for it. he was taken to franklin square in savannah and beaten publicly. he swore he would die before he would stop preaching the gospel. the judge in charge of his case was so moved that he allowed rev. bryan to preach whatever he wanted outside of the city limits. in order to not lose control, the judge still sent deputies to spy on his prayer meetings. when they deputies reported back, they said the rev. was praying for the men who beat him. as a result, the rev. bryan was given permission to preach in the city limits again.

this story, told within the walls of this historic church, bought with money slaves saved to buy their freedom and donated instead, built over four years by slaves who could only work at night, over a basement that housed slaves on the underground railroad, in front of a pulpit MLK jr. once preached from, gave me an entirely new perspective on what it means to be prophetic and faithful.