On Thursday, September 21, Glorious Hope Baptist Church, under the leadership of Pastor John H. Herring, made its FINAL mortgage payment to their mortgage lender. The receipt read “Paid In Full”.
Let’s start from the beginning. By 2007, Glorious Hope had already paid off the mortgage at their present location at 1159 Scotland Avenue. Pastor Wallace B. Herring, Sr. was the senior pastor and leader of this faithful congregation. Glorious Hope then purchased land on both sides of the church in order to expand the sanctuary, fellowship hall, and add classrooms and parking.
Just by chance, in late 2007, Pastor Herring’s son, John Herring just happened to be riding down Napier Avenue and he saw a FOR SALE sign in the yard of then Bellevue Baptist Church. John pulled into the parking lot, walked around the church and something supernatural happened. John, who was not even in the ministry yet, felt the presence of God. He knew at that moment, that was the place God wanted Glorious Hope to be.
John immediately left Glorious Hope and drove to his father’s house, and said, “Daddy, the old Bellevue Church is for sale. You need to come look at it. I think we should purchase this property.” Long before Pastor John realized he was destined to preach or pastor, God had shown his father that John would one day lead Glorious Hope.
Pastor Wallace Herring rode with John back to the church. They walked around the church and Pastor Herring sought the Lord, and God answered him. After much prayer and listening to the voice of God, Pastor Wallace Herring presented the plan for Glorious Hope to move from 1159 Scotland Avenue to 3805 Napier Avenue.
Naturally, some wondered how a small church could pull off such a big feat. It was because Pastor Herring had big visions because he served a BIG God. When asked why he would want to get in all that debt at his advancing age, Pastor Wallace Herring responded, “I’m not doing this for me; I’m doing it for our next pastor.” What a man of vision and forward thinking!
After preaching and teaching on activating the power of faith, the church was ready. They unanimously agreed to seek a mortgage for a new sanctuary. The building at 1159 Scotland Avenue was put on the market and soon purchased. The purchase amount was used as the downpayment for 3805 Napier Avenue, a facility on the market for over $1M.
In May 2008, Glorious Hope marched 1.2 miles from the church on Scotland Avenue to the 32,656 square foot Napier Avenue location. There the church walked around the building, prayed and celebrated the goodness of our Great God.
Amazingly enough, the Sunday after Glorious Hope had its first service, disaster struck. It was the Sunday of the infamous Mother’s Day Storm of 2008. Whole neighborhoods in Macon and Bibb County were devastated by an EF2 tornado. As a result, portions of Glorious Hope’s roof were blown off and left gaping holes for all of the elements of nature to invade.
Soon after that became the worst housing crisis this nation has ever experience. Many community members lost their jobs, their homes and their savings. Through it all Pastor Wallace Herring kept the faith and reiterated the fact that “If you take care of God’s house, God will take care of your house.” That is exactly what Glorious Hope did. They kept the faith. They kept serving. They kept ministering and they kept giving.
Then in 2010, Pastor Wallace Herring announced his plans to retire from the daily operations as Pastor of Glorious Hope. 2010 as also the year Pastor John H. Herring preached his initial sermon entitled “An Internal Suicide” and became licensed to preach the gospel.
For the next two years, Pastor Wallace Herring was in the mode of transition. He was advising his son and getting his spiritual house in order; and in 2012, John H. Herring, was unanimously elected to become the fourth and youngest pastor of Glorious Hope. 2012 was also the year Pastor John graduated from Liberty University with a Master’s Degree in Theological Studies.
Once Pastor John became the spiritual leader of Glorious Hope, he set out on a journey for the church to become debt-free. This is where John shined. Not only was his preaching and teaching relevant and easily understood, but his financial prowess was at the forefront of all he did. Learning early financial principles, the importance of A-1 credit and not being a slave to any lender, can be attributed to his mother, Lady Emeritus Lena J. Herring. Lena instilled in John the importance of always ‘having your own’.
Pastor John set out from day one with a strategic plan to pay off a 30-year mortgage in just 15 years. His plan included eliminating all paid positions with the exception of the minimum to meet the needs of the growing congregation. He focused on getting back to basics and having a church that would be staffed with servants in the example of Jesus Christ. Other cost savings were initiated as well as financially sound principles of giving.
Fast forward to Sunday, September 24, 2023, God did it! Glorious Hope paid off it’s 30-year mortgage in 15 years! The church had a glorious celebration for the community to witness this historic event. Dr. E. Dewey Smith, Jr. and House of Hope Atlanta were the special guests where Pastor Smith preached from 1 Kings 18 with the subject “Let it Burn”.
The psalmist for the occasion was Pastor Charles Jenkins. Jenkins is a celebrated hitmaker, label head, and music mogul with 8 BMI top songwriter awards, 17 Billboard #1 honors, 9 Stellar Awards, Grammy recognition, a Soul Train Music Award nomination, and 7 Dove Music Award nominations. Pastor Jenkins sang two of his greatest hits, “Our God is Awesome” and “This Means War”.
Pastor John and all of Glorious Hope continue to marvel at the way God has blessed and kept them, even allowing them to pay off its mortgage after a 3-year global pandemic.
The church gives all glory and honor to God and they will forever lean and depend on Him.
