08/25/2026
52 FACES: Union Baptist at 160
Timmons leads church into next chapter
By Chris Faulkner
Beacon/DMC News
Marcus Timmons has been the senior pastor at Union Baptist Church since 2023.
But five years before that, senior pastor Lawrence Manson had named Timmons executive pastor when he was just 21.
Manson had been training Timmons and giving him opportunities to grow so he could eventually succeed him as the head pastor.
Union Baptist, 220 S. Central Ave., will celebrate its 160th year as a church this Sunday, Aug. 23, going back to 1866 when it was a Second Baptist Church.
“It’s going to be a pretty big deal for a predominantly black church to still survive and thrive for this long,” Timmons said. “Particularly in our community, it’s amazing.”
But while Timmons wants to always remember the church’s past, he’s been part of changes for the future.
“We still have our black roots, but it’s really a mixed congregation,” he said.
“I don’t know when or how it happened; we’re now a mixture. I would argue that we now have more active whites and blacks working together. It’s really cool,” Timmons said.
The church also isn’t a traditional Baptist church anymore. It’s a Full Gospel church. “It’s like in between Pentecostal and Baptist,” Timmons said.
Good Footing
Timmons credits Manson for setting him up for a strong start to his role.
“Pastor Manson was probably the smartest man I know,” Timmons said.
Eight years ago, “He pretty much sat me in his office and said, ‘Son, I want you to be blessed. I’m not going to be here forever. I want to make sure that you’re prepared and ready to go,’” Timmons said.
On the day of that year’s anniversary celebration, Manson appointed Timmons as executive pastor.
At Union Baptist, there are seven who can preach, but Timmons was second only to Manson.
“When he was out of town, he would leave me in charge. But he said, ‘Don’t change anything,’” Timmons said.
Timmons was on the preaching schedule, and eventually he coordinated it with the other pastors. He served on the board of directors and led a Bible study.
The plan, however, was for Timmons to take over at 30, which is next year. But Manson had health complications, and Timmons took the lead role ahead of schedule.
Financially Strong
The church was more than just financially stable, Timmons said.
Manson had a new sanctuary built in 2002, with the original becoming the fellowship hall. Timmons said the church paid the 30-year mortgage in 10 years.
“We had more than enough money in the bank. He was frugal,” Timmons said of Manson.
The church had always been good at giving and meeting the needs of both its members and those outside the church, and that has increased.
“We’re still able to bless the community,” Timmons said, whether it’s through helping pay for utilities, groceries, partial rent payments, and hotel stays.
“That’s important to us, being able to be out there and have that missional aspect and outreach aspect,” he said.
“We get so many different requests throughout the week, and we can’t help everybody,” Timmons said. There are some guardrails they put up, but if it’s a good month, Union Baptist helps.
In the past year alone, the church gave more than $10,000 to needy families.
“For a church our size, the Lord has been kind to us, to be a blessing in our community,” Timmons said. “He always sends the right people at the right time.”
It isn’t just members that contribute. “There’s been people who have blessed us tremendously,” Timmons said, “and they’re just random; it’s not like we ever asked or anything like that. ‘Hey, we’re thinking about you; we want to be a blessing to you.’”
Change in Music
Heading into his senior pastor role, Timmons said, “I just noticed we added an influx of more Caucasian individuals.
“We were trying to modernize our worship. We were reaching a little more. I wanted to make sure that anybody, whether black or white, was able to engage in worship,” he said.
The church sang Gospel music rather than the hymns typical of a Baptist church, but the newcomers listened to contemporary Christian music.
So Union Baptist retained its traditional music – its “soul,” Timmons said – but now it’s a blend of music styles.
Timmons said he thinks what brought people in was his preaching style. “I’m very transparent,” he said. “I’m Christ-centered. I preach the Bible.”
Because of mental health struggles he’s had in the past, he integrates mental and emotional issues through his preaching, “because I’ve walked through that personally. I’m giving them hope, giving them understanding,” Timmons said.
Expansions Coming
When he first became pastor, “One of the biggest things that I pushed for was to redo our youth classrooms,” Timmons said. “Add carpeting, a nursery, and a spare classroom, trying to make it more modern and make it more appealing to the kids.”
Timmons also added an online giving option for the parishioners. That brought in an extra $50,000 the first year.
The church is just north of a Dollar General, but there’s just enough room to add an extra 30 feet out in the basement. That would add room for additional classrooms, a larger kitchen, and more space for the fellowship hall, Timmons said.
“That’s the vision. But first things first, we need more parking,” he said.
Union Baptist has a membership of more than 200, which includes children. About 120 attend regularly.
The increase in attendance became a problem for the church’s small parking lot, which is landlocked between the church and a home on two lots just east of the church.
A couple of years ago, some parishioners began parking on the property. “I was getting texts from the owner,” Timmons said.
He had a random conversation about buying the place, and the owner was interested, but “He wanted way too much last year,” Timmons said.
Timmons brought the idea to the board, but with no good price, “I stopped worrying about it,” he said. “Whenever the Lord wants us to have it, it will work.”
But in June, while Timmons was mowing the church lawn, the owner said he would reconsider the price.
“Within a week he got back to me,” Timmons said. “We got it under contract.”
The deal was closed today (Aug. 21), and the church paid cash.
“It’s awesome,” Timmons said. “That’s the thing I tell the church all the time. Their giving, their generosity helps us to do things where we don’t have to go begging for money and try to do fundraisers.”
Pastor Manson’s storing up reserves in the past went a long way to that as well.
“The thing about us being (here) 160 years,” Timmons said, “it’s not like we’re stopping here. We’re not the church that’s just here, but we’re actually moving forward.”
Photo by John Lovretta
Marcus Timmons, the senior pastor at Union Baptist Church, on Aug. 13 in the church’s sanctuary.
