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VOLUME SEVEN
NUMBER TWENTY-FIVE
A WINNING CHURCH IN ROME
Rev. A. B. Metcalfe Does Notable Work in the Hill City—Fifth Avenue Church a Thing of Beauty.
0 crown the workers and winners
has always been a delight to the
editor and the readers of The Gold
en Age.
This week we present in our pic
ture gallery a successful Roman
worker and his beautiful work
shop.
Rev. A. B. Metcalfe became pas-
T
tor of the Fifth Avenue Baptist
church, Rome, Georgia, less than a
year ago, and yet in these brief but
busy months he and his noble people
have accomplished as much as is of
ten done in a pastorate of several
years.
The addition of twenty new mem
bers is perhaps the least item of
progress. From the standpoint of in
gathering many “first years” have
been more notable —but the thing
that has counted most has been the
awakening of the church to its own
power. With all the faithful preach
ing and working that had gone be
fore, the church suddenly realized
that in A. B. Metcalfe they had
found just the type of wise, energet
ic, enterprising leadership for which
they were ripe and ready.
Pretty as a Dream.
With the growth of spiritual pur
pose and power came the conviction
that the house of the Lord must be
more inviting and commodious.
About $3,000 spent on the building
has made it look “as good as new”
inside and out, and walls, windows,
seats, floor and gallery—all together
—make the visitor feel like saying
“Whoop-ee!” and supplementing it
with the doxology. It is not showy
—it is just satisfying, and puts the
visitor and worshiper in a wholesome
humor with the church and the
world.
The Shorter Girls Will Come.
In this large and growing congre
gation great interest naturally cen
ters about the fact that the large
majority of the Shorter College girls
will hereafter make “Fifth Avenue”
their church home. The removal of
Shorter across the river to the com
manding eminence where the Greater
{Shorter buildings are now being erected, will
put that famous institution nearer Fifth Ave
nue church than any other, and the assurance
of such spiritual and intellectual food as A. B.
A MISSISSIPPI HERO ON CRUTCHES-Page Five
ATLANTA, GA., AUGUST 17, 1911
Metcalfe furnishes his congregations will make
church-going a Sunday delight to the college
girls.
Metcalfe Always A Winner.
In all his sixteen years as a pastor, A. B. Met
calfe has always been a winner. Serving, An
dalusia, Georgiana, Fayette and Albertville in
Alabama, he humbly rejoices in the remarka-
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Fifth Avenue Baptist Church, Rome, Ga.
ble record of having seen every church double
in membership during his pastorate.
Leaving Albertville over the tearful protest
of his devoted people—because he felt his
By WILLIAM D. UPSHAW, Editor.
heart would literally break if he tried to work
on in the home from which the lightning’s flash
carried his good wife to Heaven by fire, he
has begun at Rome what promises to be the
best work of his life.
With a beautiful family of consecrated chil
dren and a loyal church following his wise
and splendid leadership, Metcalfe and his roy
al Roman band are going forward “conquering
and to conquer.”
But this plucky, progressive
church is determined not to stop
with its present beautiful building.
More room is necessary to handle the
rousing Sunday school, and a large
annex is soon to be erected that will
serve not only as a modern Sunday
school workshop, but also be tribu
tary to the church auditorium. la
other words, they have practical
common sense at the Fifth Avenue
church in Rome —they don’t believe
in lost motion or lost space. It
seems positive folly to lock up thou
sands of dollars in a Sunday school
room which can not help out the
space of the church auditorium on
special occasions. While this vigor
ous Roman band can not be called
a church of wealth, it is rich in
grace and the spirit of sacrifice, and
with such a man as Metcalfe in the
pulpit it will more and more become
that rare combination of a “people’s
church,” as well as the altar of con
secrated culture.
Ablaze With Missionary Zeal.
It is not surprising that the Fifth
Avenue church should become es
sentially a missionary church when
its former beloved pastor was Rev.
Calder B. Willingham, who is now
on the foreign field —a son of the
great apostle of Foreign Missions,
Dr. R. J. Willingham; and when it
is also remembered that one of Pas
tor Metcalfe’s daughters has already
volunteered to witness for Christ in
the darkness across the seas.
Such preaching by the pastor and
such an example by his beautiful, ac
complished daughter will inevitably
exert a wholesome influence among
the young ladies of the congregation
and the college—and through them
upon the young men, for it is the consuming
purpose of the pastor to offer the youth of his
congregation a church life so attractive they
will not be won by the siren songs of the world.
ONE DOLLAR AND FIFTY CENTS
A YEAR :: FIVE CENTS A CORY