ABOUT NEW MISSION

In December of 1907, New Mission Baptist Church was founded by a small group of families who settled in what was then called the Leonard Division of Madisonville. The Leonard Division of Madisonville (or simply Dunbar) was located in a small area between Madison Road and Erie Avenue. This area consisted of the lower part of Tompkins Avenue, Emery Lane, Bush Hill, Corsica Place, and the James Murphy Estate. Despite their poor and humbled conditions, a few of them would gather for prayer and to praise & worship at the home of Nannie Underwood.

As they grew in numbers, they would begin to hold their prayer meetings under trees in various yards throughout the community. After a while, Reverend Hawkins was led by the Holy Spirit to begin to organize a church along with Rev. Harvey Miller, Rev Donan, Ben Ballew, Thomas Duett, and Gradison Embry. Through the planning of the church, Rev. Miller suggested the name of the church be New Mission Missionary Baptist Church. The Church was organized and the building of the Kingdom within the community would begin.  Land was donated and the first church was built consisting of one big room that sat upon six locust posts. It contained crude benches and an old coal stove. To shepherd the first congregation would be Pastor Donan.

God continued to bless the congregation by increasing their numbers causing them to outgrow the building. The women and men worked tirelessly to build the second church standing in the center of the community on Corsica Place at the foot of Bush Hill.  Pastor B.W. Simpson, whom was the churches’ third pastor, helped to gather money to furnish the church along with each member pledging $5. On August 18, 1963, under the leadership of Pastor G.Q. Brown, New Mission’s congregation marched three-fourths of a mile from the old church on Corsica to the church building purchased at 4809 Ravenna Street in Madisonville, OH. That building sat on what is now our parking lot. As membership continued to grow, Pastor Brown advised that New Mission would need to purchase the property that the existing church sits on today. In addition, up until the Washington family (who lived at the end of Corsica place) offered their pool to the church, Baptisms took place in a creek that existed where Red Bank expressway now currently lays. Though the building of the second church was torn down in the summer of 1995, the spirit and memories of that building still lives on today as it is now apart of the cornerstone of the present day building.

Other noteworthy facts as the church was under the leadership of Pastor G.Q. Brown is; the name of the church became New Mission Missionary Baptist Church and the motto of the church became: The church dedicated to the Reclamation on the lost. Also, office personnel were hired, Sunday bulletins printed, and the first and only radio broadcast was established called “The Reclamation Hour” on WCIN every Sunday evening at 7PM.

New Mission yet again outgrew its dwellings and a new building was built. As the youngest Pastor elected to New Mission at the age of 27, after having the last service in the old building on March 1, 1981, Rev. Dr. Smith Jr. led the congregation and friends around the block and back to the new building singing “We’ve Come This Far by Faith.” and the theme became; “The Church with Acts 20-20 Vision.” Under Rev. Dr. Smith’s leadership, property was purchased on Prentice street for additional parking lots, the lower parking lot was constructed, Rev. Tracy Ventus was named as his Assistant Pastor, and a Mortgage Burning ceremony was held July 2, 1995.

Today, Tracy E. Ventus serves as the Senior Pastor of the church. God has continued to bless New Mission with a great leader as Pastor Ventus’ mission is to spread the Gospel beyond the halls of the Church building. As we continue to grow, Pastor Ventus has led New Mission in developing a ‘Jesus Video Project’ where videos are distributed throughout the Madisonville community, and have continued to purchase several properties surrounding the current church. Pastor Ventus has created a Technology & Resource Center (3M Ministry), and continues to advocate for the church’s forward movement in a time of increased use of technology with the need to be sure that the church has an active Podcast and Live Streamed services.