Mt. Olive Baptist Church

Mount Olive Baptist Church History

By the spirit of God the First Baptist Church, Hoboken, NJ was founded by the late Rev. M.D Harris, April 1919. At a later date after we had use the name First Baptist Church we discovered it was going to conflict with another church at 9th & Garden St. and they had been so helpful to us. A meeting was immediately called and after prayerful consideration the name of the church was changed to Mount Olive Baptist Church. We were located at 81 Jefferson St., Hoboken, NJ. We were organized in the First Baptist Church at 9th & Garden St. The names of the committee in the organizing was the Pastor of Salem Baptist Church, Jersey City, NJ and the late Rev. E.P Epps who was the pastor of Zion Baptist Church. In peace and harmony by the grace of God we worshipped at this address and many were added to the church. Mr. William Perkins & Mr. Thomas Collie accepted Christ, were baptized and joined the church later they became the first Deacons of our church.

Rev. M.D Harris served faithfully from 1919-1921 when God called him to a new field. While without a pastor we moved to 64 Jefferson St. and later in the same year the church called Rev. Mack. During his pastorage we moved to 402 Newark St. it was at this address after ad dedicated pastorage that he resigned on Dec 6, 1923 again we were without a pastor. In the early days of 1924 the church called the late Rev. J.T Kearney. In 1925 we moved to 64 Adams St. we worshipped there for a short while & in the same year we relocated to 409 Newark St. Our membership continued to grow & our quarters we too small and we had to look for larger quarters. We then moved to 406 Newark St. where we worshipped until 1927, then bought 67 Jefferson St.

In 1927 Bro. Curtis Mills was offered for a Deacon by the Pastor & Deacon Board, he was ordained on Nov 27, 1929 by the church & Rev. J.T Kearney. The ordination was headed by Rev. F.W Means, pastor of Salem Baptist Church, Jersey City, NJ. Rev. Kearney continued to lead our church until 1932 when the spirit of God moved him to another church, New Bethel Baptist Church, Jersey City, NJ.

We were without a pastor for 7 months. God sent us a new pastor Rev. D.I Reed who served until 1934. His pastorage was spiritual & helpful until he was called to Greenville, TX in 1936. Not along after this the church called Rev. R.B Blanton who served until 1965 when he was called to a church in North Carolina. Rev. Blanton gave the longest service of any one of the pastors in the history of this church.

Rev. W.L Craddock was called on Aug 13, 1965 our church under his administration made great strides. With the help of the almighty God we moved from 67 Jefferson St. to this magnificent edifice was purchased at 721 Washington St. Rev. Craddock was called to home on Jan 1975 and once again we were without a pastor.

Once again God sent us a new pastor Rev. Odell Stewart on Feb 1976 who served faithfully until he was called to another church in 1981. We were without a pastor for several months then Rev. William Beatty was called by the church in 1982. Rev. Beatty served until Jan 1990. In 1991 Rev. Dock C. Kendricks was called as pastor. Rev. Kendricks was pastor of Mount Olive Baptist Church for 15yrs until he retired in 2006. We were without a pastor for 1 year. On April 28, 2007 Rev. James K. Williams was called as pastor.