TABERNACLE OF PRAISE
Seventh-day Adventist Church

Fundamental Beliefs of the Seventh-day Adventist Church
Seventh-day Adventists accept the Bible as their only creed and hold certain fundamental beliefs to be the teaching of the Holy Scriptures. These beliefs, as set forth here, constitute the church's understanding and expression of the teaching of Scripture. More >>
                                                                      

Our Mission 
 

The mission of the Tabernacle of Praise Seventh - day Adventist Church is to proclaim to all peoples the everlasting gospel in the context of the three angel's messages of Revelation 14:6-12, leading them to accept Jesus as their personal Savior and to unite with His church, and nurturing them in preparation for His soon return.

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C. Sampson Myles was the pastor of the Berean Church in St. Louis, Missouri during the time the church was founded. In the summer of 1960, as a part of a missionary effort he held a series of tent meetings in the Kirkwood area. From his efforts and that of a working nucleus which included Lucille Mitchell, Delbert Mitchell, Marye Thomas, Moses Barrett, Cleo Barrett, Grace Taylor all from Berean ("the Mother Church"), 10 were baptized and the Kirkwood Mission was formed. Later, to help keep the group going more Berean members came out: Mary Alice Hicks, Roosevelt Smith, Lucy Smith, Thomas Phipps, Arika Phipps, Maryse Mercan, Sylvester Little, Florin Evans, Willie Pulliam, Paul Robinson, and John Gathright. It wasn't until February 1961, did the church formally organize. Vivian and Magnolia Harris joined the group in 1963 .

W. W. Fordham was president of Central States Conference at this time. It was his suggestion that Elder Myles resume fulltime responsibilities at Berean and ask the church school teacher and principal, Ronald Smith to become pastor of the group in Kirkwood. He also suggested that they make an offer to rent the one room building on Alsobrook Street in Meacham Park, which was complete with a pot-bellied stove and an out house in the back. In that "church," we used folding chairs and a small orange table that was positioned up front to be used for Holy Communion. We sang from paperback books entitled "Gospel Melodies," not the "Seventh Day Adventist Church Hymnal" because there weren't enough funds to get them; but someone had donated an upright piano.

In 1964, we moved from the building on Alsobrook to a church building on Fillmore. This was a much nicer facility.  The walls were covered with polished cedar panels.  We also had indoor plumbing, but it was still so small.  We stayed there until December 1982, when we moved to a church on McKinley which seated about 125.  In December of 2006 we took a vote to merge with another Adventist congregation (Ebenezer of Berkeley) to start a new church in a new area.  This will be a new beginning for both of us.

These are the ministers that have come and gone over the years: 1961 Ronald Smith (shared with Kinloch), 1965 Harold Brewer (shared with Northside), 1967 Harvey Kibble (shared with Northside), 1970 Perry Jennings (shared with Kinloch), 1972 James White (shared with Kinloch), 1975 David Robinson(shared with Kinloch), 1977 Hilliard Pettway (shared with Park Avenue), 1981 Mark McCleary (shared with Park Avenue), 1984 Onnie Jackson (shared with Berean), 1985 Albert White (shared with Park Avenue), 1986 Ephraim Pembleton (shared with Agape), 1987 Paul Turner (shared with Ebenezer), 1991 Larry Williams (shared with Ebenezer), 1995 Ephraim Pembleton, 1998 Maurice Valentine (shared with Agape), 2000 Duane Thomas (shared with Ebenezer), and June 2005 through April 2006 was Errol McCladdie (shared with Ebenezer).  The interim Pastor was Cryston Josiah (Agape).  Our current pastor is Kelby McCottry, February 2007.  This is the first time that we have a pastor that is exclusively ours.

Early on there were some who felt that due to the size of the group that we should merge with the already existing Berean, but Elder C. Sampson Myles had vision when he said, "no matter what, do not let this light started go out."  We can only hope and pray that our spirit will never be extinguished.

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