Our History

		Dr. T.L. Brown Pastor

Rev. W.H. Harlan Organizer

In November of 1949, a young minister named Rev. W. H. Harlan was inspired to organize a church. In his home with his wife, Sis. Thelma Harlan, his seven children and a young man who lived nearby named Delbert Crittendon, this inspiration became an actuality. He organized a church. The area where the Harlan family's home was located at the time was called Ervay Cedar, so the church was given the name Ervay Cedar Baptist Church. With one of the room's partition removed in order to provide extra space for members of the church, services were then held in Rev. and Sis. Harlan's home for a few months.

Then, the church moved to a Hatcher Street location where we shared the building with the Midway Baptist Church pastored by the late Rev. Barnes. After remaining there for awhile, the Lord blessed us and we were able to purchase a frame building located at 4609 Leland Street. Although it was a step forward for us, and we were certainly proud of our accomplishment, that building could have used some improvements. During the winter months we were cold, during the summer months we were hot. When it rained, we were rained on. We had to endure those minor discomforts for only a short period, because the Lord saw fit to let us build a new brick building in that same location. While waiting for completion of construction, we shared the building with Greater St. Luke Baptist Church, then pastored by the late Rev. Shaw and located on Warren Avenue in South Dallas. In 1958, the Ervay Cedar members entered their new church. The Lord had wonderfully blessed us. Not only did we have a new church building, but from the beginning to this time we had been blessed with a jewel of a membership.

There are many devoted members involved in the history of Ervay Cedar. On Leland Street, we happily remained until the Lord motivated us to make another change. In 1966, we moved to 2837 Prosperity Avenue which is our present location. Upon moving from South Dallas to the Oak Cliff area, we experienced a rapid growth in the membership. Many devoted members were guided our way. We grew spiritually and financially and we under went several building improvements. In early 1985, a house was donated to us which was renovated and added to our building to be used as a day care center. By this time, we were thirty six years old and very thankful for the blessings that we had been endowed with. In May 1985, a dark cloud engulfed Ervay Cedar. Fire burned our building beyond repair and it was necessary to rebuild. So plans for this project went into effect immediately. Meanwhile, we needed a temporary place to worship.

The Greater Shiloh Baptist Church, then pastored by the late Rev. Kizzee, did not hesitate to come to our rescue by letting us hold service in their Fellowship Hall. For two Sundays, we used the W.W. Bushman school auditorium and then returned to Greater Shiloh. After leaving there, services were held in the house that we purchased next door to the Ervay Cedar location. When the house had to be demolished to provide parking space for the church, Mt. Eria Baptist Church, pastored by Rev. W. T. Harlan, located on Myrtle street in South Dallas, and the Body of Christ Baptist Church pastored by Rev. Wicks, located in Joppa, accommodated us for several weeks. Meanwhile, the construction of our new church was advancing. After complicated months of waiting, on the 24th day of August 1986, we entered into the new Ervay Cedar edifice. God had wonderfully blessed us and had brought us a long, long way since November of 1949.

Onward we moved into the next decade with God adding to and subtracting from the membership as he saw fit. Among the ventures successfully completed was payment of the church mortgage. By this time, it was the latter part of 1995. We were certainly rejoycing and praising God for all of his blessings, but on December 31, 1995, Ervay Cedar had the most tramatic experience of it's forty six years of existence. Our founder, our leader, our only pastor, Rev. W.H. Harlan, of 46 years was called home to be with the Lord. His work here was finished.

How devastated we were. How anxious and frustrated we became! With the passing of Pastor Harlan, a void was left in our church and in our hearts that had not been there in our 46 years of existence. What would we do and how would we do it without Pastor Harlan to guide us was the question. While we were pondering, God already had the answer!!!

After eight months of praying for guidance and dealing with a few minor situations, our prayers were answered. The answer came in the form of a young minister name Rev. T.L. Brown. In August 1996, Rev. Brown was elected by a majority of votes. Sunday, September 8 1996, Pastor Brown took his place in the pulpit as the new Pastor of the Ervay Cedar Missionary Baptist Church. The Pastor's installation service was on November 10, 1996. Pastor Brown and his family joined the Ervay Cedar family a little more than seven years ago.

Since that time, they have certainly been an asset and a blessing to Ervay Cedar. This saying the least. Seven years ago, when the church history was read, an amendment date was added, that date being November 3, 1996, reflecting that we were serving under a new leader. At that time, it was so stated that the members of Ervay Cedar were looking forward to the future under the leadership and guidance of Pastor Brown as God leads and guides him. We acknowledged our appreciation to him for accepting the responsibility as Pastor of this church family.

Well, 7 years later, we have been blessed to live and experience part of the time that we refered to then as the future. Indeed God has been leading and guiding our pastor. Ervay Cedar has been greatly blessed under Pastor Brown's leadership. Our accomplishments have been many. Spiritually, numerically, and financially. Our pastor is a very caring, unselfish person. He is knowledgeable in many areas beyond preaching and teaching and doesn't hesistate to share this knowledge to help Ervay Cedar improve and advance. Seven years later, we can still say thank you Pastor Brown for accepting the responsibility as Pastor of the Ervay Cedar Church family and thank you for everything that you have done as you equipped us for the next level of ministry.

Under your leadership Pastor Brown, we have advanced to levels unforseen to us. Levels far beyond our expectations. Thank you for allowing us to share in your personal endeavors and accomplishments as you also move to another level. Thank for embracing God's plan for you and helping us in the process. We are so proud to refer to or address our pastor as "Dr. T. L. Brown, the author, the moderator, the national secretary", etc. Again, thank you Pastor Brown for everything. Our wish, our prayer, is for the best of everything for you and your lovely family.