The Thurston Pastoral Legacy

THE NEW COVENANT MISSIONARY BAPTIST CHURCH HISTORY
1934-2002

SALEM YEARS
The Salem Baptist Church was located at 37th and Langley Avenue. Upon the death of Reverend B.L. Rhodes in 1934, Reverend Elijah Thurston became pastor. After three years, he reorganized the church under the name of the 44th Street Baptist Church.

NEW COVENANT
In 1956, with the help of his dynamic son, Reverend John Lee Thurston, the church moved to its present site, 740 East 77th Street and renamed it the New Covenant Missionary Baptist Church.

On March 17, 1968 Reverend Elijah Thurston was called from labor to reward, and the Reverend John L. Thurston became pastor. He served for eleven years. During this time, his illustrious son, the Reverend Stephen John Thurston was called to the ministry, and became his Co-Pastor.

On January 21, 1979 Reverend John L. Thurston was called home to be with the Lord. Reverend Stephen John Thurston became the 3rd generation of Thurstons to pastor New Covenant.

The Lord has done GREAT THINGS for us:

• $3,500,000 has been spent on the puchasing and remodeling of properties.
• $200,000 has been spent on printing equipment.
• $140,000 has been awarded by the John L. Thurston Scholarship Fund.
• $50,000 has been donated to religious, educational, healthcare providers and social service organizations through special mission emphasis.
• $75,000 donated to the National Baptist Convention of America, Inc. Foreign Mission Board.
• Pastor Stephen John Thurston has led pilgrimages to the Holy Land, Korea, Africa and Australia. He and New Covenant has fellowshipped across the United States of America.
• Through the spiritual guidance of Reverend Elijah, John and Stephen, 75 ministries have been developed to meet the needs of the congregation and the community.
• $200,000 has been spent on blazers, vans and buses.
• The Lord's gospel is shared with other through the Sunday Morning Worship Services, Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting and Preaching, Ruth Thurston Institute on Biblical Studies, The Soul Seeker (mission newspaper), radio (6:00 pm each Sunday Evening, WGCI 1390 AM), television (10:00 pm cable channel 25 on Saturday Nights) and a tape ministry that dispenses tapes and compact discs of Pastor Thurstons' sermons.
• Pastor Thurston and a team of Members are in charge of the National Baptist Convention of America, Inc. (NBCA, Inc) Tape Ministry. Through this ministry tapes of the Convention yearly sessions are made available. More than 60,000 tapes have been produced and distributed, thus far.
• Food and clothes are distributed by the Helping Hand Center, weekly and special giving during the holidays. Many families have been helped through this benevolent arm of our mission ministry.
• The church's membership has grown from 50 or more in 1934 to over 2,000