New Seasons Church turns over new leaf

ALBANY — When most might have quit, the New Seasons Church congregation allowed an incident with a different church to lead into a successful merger with Radium Springs Baptist Church. The leaders of both churches, Pastor Marcus Glass and Chaplain Rodney Stamey, said they plan to move the combined congregation forward in a more positive direction.

When Glass first started New Seasons Church, he said he did so with only eight members. Eventually, the congregation outgrew the available space in his home.

“When we got too many people to be doing it out of my house, somebody offered to let us come and worship with them a couple of months until we found our own place,” Glass said. “We weren’t going there to stay at their church; we just went to worship. We stayed there for about a month, and then we found our own building.”

Glass said he’d been leasing a facility for a few months before Ronnie Kinsaul, former pastor of Raleigh White Baptist Church, approached Glass.

According to Kinsaul, he reached out to Glass when Kinsaul saw Raleigh White’s membership waning. Kinsaul said his original plan was to bring New Seasons’ congregation into Raleigh White’s facility to make use of their building and turn the church over to New Seasons via the Mallory Baptist Association when Raleigh White membership got “to a certain number.” Kinsaul said he didn’t consider this arrangement to be a merger and said there might have been miscommunication between the churches.

“There were talks along that line, and proceedings going in that general direction,” Kinsaul said. “But when it came right down to it, the church said no. When I said the church said no, I’m not saying every member of the church, because there was a vote (in January). It was just a very thin margin of the vote that rejected it.”

After a series of incidents that Glass said ostracized his congregation, Kinsaul resigned from his position as Raleigh White’s pastor last December, and the Mallory Baptist Association’s executive committee held a special called meeting. On April 3, 26 of the association’s churches voted to remove Raleigh White from the group due to what it perceived as prejudicial actions.

“To me, it’s over with,” Kinsaul said. “Raleigh White has done what they were going to do, for whatever reasons, and New Seasons did what they felt like they needed to do. New Seasons is doing a great job and succeeding. I’m a friend of the pastor; I love him. And I love people at Raleigh White, too. Just because I didn’t see eye-to-eye on some things doesn’t mean I don’t love them, care for them and lift them up in prayer. I do (it for) both churches.

“I want nothing but the best for them. I did everything I believed God wanted me to do that was best for Raleigh White as their pastor and what was best for New Seasons, and to accomplish the goals that were being brought up. But it didn’t work out.”

At present, Raleigh White isn’t pursuing a path to reinstatement into the MBA.

Asked about the merger between New Seasons and Radium Springs, Kinsaul gave his well-wishes.

“I’m proud for them,” he said. “I’m glad the way God worked things out through all the disputes. I’m proud that God worked it all out in a positive situation for them and for Radium Springs.”

Seeing the New Seasons congregation without a church home, Stamey said four of his deacons at Radium Springs Baptist Church reached out to Glass through the MBA about integrating their churches. Glass said the deacons approached him through the association about a month after his congregation was looking for a new facility.

Stamey said Radium Springs’ membership was around 20-30 people at the time, and the church “had to do something or close the doors.”

“I think (New Seasons members) were very reluctant because of what they’ve gone through,” Stamey said. “Our members were probably reluctant because they didn’t know what to expect.

“Their church, of course, was at Raleigh White, and they were removed,” Stamey continued. “We don’t want to think about that. They did not have a place to go. Our church was at the point of knowing that we could not financially or realistically continue with the membership that we had, and something had to be done.”

Glass said the two congregations mingled before the merger, which led to a vote between the members in March to bring the churches together.

“When we voted to make the decision, there was one dissenting vote; and it was not a racial dissent, it was just the fact (of) the style of worship,” Stamey said. “This was a church that didn’t have the style of worship we have here.”

The churches made the merger official and became New Seasons at Radium Springs during the consecration service on Oct. 28. Stamey called the merger “the best thing that’s happened to us.”

“I thought it was a great idea,” Stamey said. “I have felt for a long time that what this church needed was a strong black pastor. I was so pleased that that’s what we were doing. I didn’t know how it was going to work out; but it has not only worked out, I think it’s been highly, highly successful. The strong black pastor that we have, our preaching styles are somewhat different, our beliefs are the same.”

Since then, Stamey added the two churches have embraced each other’s preaching styles.

“We have embraced them,” Stamey said. “Such as the prayer service we did not have. They do not use the hymnal, which we sort of miss, but we have embraced their style of worship. They have embraced our concept with the children’s sermon. … We’ve accepted them, but they’ve accepted us. We’ve modified, and they’ve modified. That’s good.”

Glass took on the role of senior pastor, and Stamey stepped down to become membership pastor. Stamey added that he feels no jealousy toward Glass and said he’s “very grateful that God is working this way.”

“I am overwhelmed at the relationship that I feel toward the people,” Stamey said. “I look out at my congregation, and it’s not the same congregation, but I don’t feel like it is anything but God’s people out there. And they are the warmest, most loving people I have ever encountered in my 53 years in the ministry. … This is the way it’s supposed to be.”

Glass also said the merger has gone over well with both congregations.

“Two churches — on the most segregated hour of Sunday morning — did not (say) ‘You meet at this hour, we meet at that hour so we can use your resources to keep our buildings open,” Glass said. “It was, we meet at the same hour. And you know what is phenomenal about that? That’s been done here in Albany, Georgia, but it’s always been done with a white pastor.

“They had 15 church members here,” Glass continued. “All of them joined our church under an African-American pastor, and a white pastor submitted to an African-American pastor. That makes a difference because it shows (that) in an area where racism came out of a root of racism and prejudice, you (can) have an African-American senior pastor. You name another church that’s got that around here. Not with that many people.”

Glass added that he’s interested to see what will come from the union.

“I don’t know what the future holds, but it’s going to work,” Stamey said. “There’s not any doubt in my mind that this church is going to survive and grow. Not because of me, not because of Dr. Glass, but spiritually. I believe this was God’s will for this to happen.

“And I believe this is the wave of the future for a lot of churches to incorporate. Some churches have opened their doors to blacks and tolerated (them), if you understand. ‘We’re open.’ What does that mean? Have you opened your heart? Have you really embraced? Have you really seen the love that you could have or what should be? And how many more years I can do this?”

Stamey shrugged: “But it’s a nice way to go out, that’s for sure.”

Jada HaynesJada Haynes