First Missionary Baptist Church, a cornerstone of Jacksonville Beach's African American community, is celebrating 115 years of faith, fellowship and service, a milestone that underscores its enduring place in the city's history.
Located at 810 Third Ave. S., the church has served generations of families for more than a century as a place of worship and a keeper of the community's history. The congregation marked the exact anniversary March 22, 2026.
Founded in 1911, the church originally stood at Sixth and Main streets. The current sanctuary was constructed in 1946 as membership grew. The new building featured choir rooms, a pastor’s study, Sunday school classrooms and a fellowship lounge, reinforcing First Missionary’s role in the religious and civic life of Jacksonville Beach’s historically Black neighborhood.
Around the turn of the 20th century, a small but dedicated group of local leaders and laypeople gathered in Mother Martin’s kitchen at the corner of Shetter Avenue and Sixth Street in Jacksonville Beach. Led by the Rev. C.M. Vickers, Deacon S.J. Smalls, Deacon Henry Jackson Sr. and others, they laid the spiritual foundation for what would become First Missionary Baptist Church.
The Rev. C.M. Vaught became the church’s first pastor, beginning a legacy of leadership that carried the congregation through two world wars, the Great Depression, hurricanes and the Civil Rights Movement. Successive pastors, including the Rev. R.J. Hagan, the Rev. T.E. Olds, the Rev. H.H. Wright Sr., the Rev. J.G. Wright and the Rev. C.H. Howard, each guided the church through pivotal moments of change.
Although many of the church’s early records have been lost, its history has been preserved through memories passed from one generation to the next. The congregation’s story parallels the transformation of Pablo Beach, which was renamed Jacksonville Beach in 1925.
Longtime member Deacon John Gadson remembers the history that never made it into official records.
Gadson joined First Missionary in the summer of 1956 after his family moved to Jacksonville Beach from South Carolina.
“We came out of a little town called Branchville, South Carolina. I was in the fourth grade when I joined the church, and I got baptized in 1957,” Gadson recalled. “Rev. H.H. Wright was the pastor then. I’ve had some good memories since I’ve been there.”
Now 80 years old (“and five months, because every hour counts,” he joked), Gadson remembers when everyone knew one another in the community stretching from Fourth Street South to 11th Street South, with the church serving as its heartbeat.
“I grew up one block behind the church at Eighth Street and Fourth Avenue. The streets weren’t even paved when I got here,” he said. “There’s a big old split-level house there on that corner now. The land is all going away.”
He also remembers when Jacksonville Beach City Hall was a small wooden building along Third Street near where Carrabba’s Italian Grill now stands.
“It was like an old house. You had to walk up the steps to get to it,” Gadson said. “The beach was starting to change. They already had a plan for it.”
As the city developed around it, First Missionary Baptist Church remained a constant.
The Rev. Ernest Robinson briefly served as pastor in 1988. During his tenure, the Rev. James Kennedy was ordained, weekly Sunday services were established and the church organized District 6.
The Rev. Alfred Jackson was called as pastor in 1989 and later ordained Gadson as a deacon after years of service helping maintain the church and caring for elderly members.
“I did a lot of work around the church, picking up supplies until I got hurt,” Gadson said. He suffered a back injury in 1992 while working as a state law enforcement officer for the Florida Department of Agriculture. “God only calls one man, the preacher. He only gives the pastor the vision to lead the congregation.”
Jackson resigned in 1991. Dr. Henry Nixon Jr. served as interim pastor before being officially installed as pastor in 1992, when he launched the church’s van ministry and youth programs, including The Red Circle, The Sunshine Band and Brothers Seeking Knowledge. Nixon resigned in 1993 after receiving military orders, and associate ministers led the congregation for the next two years.
The Rev. Dr. Marvin A. McQueen I became pastor Jan. 5, 1995, and led a period of significant growth. Under his leadership, the church expanded worship to include early morning and Friday night services and grew its youth programming and outreach ministries while launching a radio ministry, summer camp and community health initiatives.
In 2010, the Rev. Marvin A. McQueen II became senior pastor while McQueen I continued serving as overseer. Together, they expanded youth engagement through the MyPlace Youth Ministry and embraced technology through social media and online ministries.
The church began a major renovation in 2018 and temporarily relocated Sunday services to Mayport Coastal Sciences Middle School from August 2019 through February 2020. The congregation returned in March 2020 to a restored sanctuary and remodeled kitchen and fellowship hall, only to suspend in-person activities days later because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
First Missionary adapted by offering online worship, virtual Sunday school and drive-up communion.
“We shut it down for a little while, but we still had church,” Gadson said.
The congregation suffered a loss when McQueen I died Aug. 24, 2021, at age 64.
McQueen II resigned as senior pastor in April 2023. The Rev. K. Lamar Canaday was installed as pastor in January 2024 and left the role that August. Ministers and evangelists sustained the congregation with steady preaching and leadership until the Rev. Ronald B. Saunders Sr. was called to lead First Missionary in 2025.
Today, Saunders, who holds a Master of Divinity degree, leads the church and recently celebrated his first anniversary as pastor. Joined by his wife, First Lady Jamie Saunders, and their sons, RJ and Vaughn, Saunders is guiding the congregation under the theme, “Here We Grow Again.”
“It is a new frontier,” Saunders said before his installation last summer. “Every day in my life I am exposed to and touching scripture. I minister with a shepherd’s heart. He has not called me to pastor buildings but to shepherd His people.”
Gadson’s daughter now brings him to church as often as she can, and he is always happy to come back home. For him, each visit is a homecoming to an institution that has remained rooted as the neighborhood around it changed.
“We did the best we could with what we had,” he said. “The beach is a whole lot different, but I’m glad to be here. We’ve come a long way.”
