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By LIZZIE BOWEN | Staff Writer

PELHAM – Pelham Church of God celebrated its 90th anniversary on Jan. 8 and hopes to see more growth within the community in the upcoming year.

Michael Welborn, pastor of the church, has been the residing pastor since March 2021 and has been in ministry for more than 40 years and is the 29th pastor of the church.

According to denominational records, the church was first charted in on January 1, 1933. The church originally started as a prayer meeting.

On Jan. 8, a celebration service was held with guest speaker Dr. Raymond Culpepper who is first assistant general overseer of the Church of God denomination. Welborn said Culpepper is a personal friend and a mentor.

“I have a heart for the community,” Welborn said. “We have tried to be involved in different aspects of the community to get beyond the four walls,” Welborn said.

The church began entirely debt free in July 2022 due to what Welborn refers to as a “great financial gift.”

“Some may call it a miracle,” Welborn said. “That was the highlight, we served 90 years, but we burned our debt note. Someone called me and said, ‘What is your church debt? I want to pay your debt off,’ and it was a gift of almost $50,000.”

Welborn said an entire staff has been hired since March 2021 including a music director, discipleship director and children’s pastor.

“The church was a lot smaller ago a year than it is now,” Welborn said.

Welborn said the church has gone through a few strong transitions in the past year. The church attendance has doubled since last year with a past attendance of 50 now becoming a regularly attendance of close to 150 in the congregation.

“We want to see continued growth, financial growth and numerical growth,” Welborn said. “We have doubled in size as far as numbers. Our church has just exploded which is allowing us to do ministry not only for our local body of believers, but we have (also) reached out to the community.”

Pelham Church of God now works alongside Pelham Strong, sponsors the Pelham Hometown Christmas Parade, feeds the Pelham High School Football team and works aid the teachers and faculty of Pelham Ridge Elementary.

“We’ve blessed our teachers,” he said. “We have some other plans and goals, things and dreams that we have. We are a church for everybody. The one thing I really feel is that we have to get beyond our four walls. We love it when the community comes to us, but we have to get out into our community.”

More information about Pelham Church of God can be found at Faceboo.com/PelhamChurchofGod.