In September of 1957, Rev. Emit W. Wiley of the New Gethsemane Baptist Church founded the Wiley Tabernacle Baptist Church. Accompanying him from New Gethsemane were Deacon Morris Morgan and his wife Eula, Bertha Lightfoot and her sister Eudiasee Nedd, their cousin Lela Lipscomb along with her daughter-in-law Evelyn, Evelyn’s mother Carrie Moultrie and Lizzy Gant.
Early places of worship were the home of Sis. Lela Lipscomb, a room in a Masonic Hall, and at least three other one room locations due to the increasing size of the congregation. In June of 1962, with very little explanation, Rev Wiley left the 31-member congregation and referred Rev. JW Jefferson for leadership. Rev. Jefferson served as Pastor of Wiley Tabernacle from July ’62 until May ’63. He later resigned his post because he was unable to secure a life-long commitment from the membership. In June of 1963, the Rev Gus Wilson took the position as Pastor. Wilson; who was anxious to put an end to the one room rentals, began the church’s first building fund.
Desiring to establish itself as a legally functioning corporate body, the church; without Wiley’s membership, could not continue to bear Wiley’s name. So; in December of ’63, the church agreed to adopt the name ‘New Kingdom’ and was chartered as such in January of 1964. In June of ’64, under the counsel of Stanton A. Berkowitz, Esquire, the group formally known as Wiley Tabernacle Missionary Baptist Church officially became New Kingdom Baptist Church, Inc.
In 1966, the Lord led Pastor Wilson to our present location 2445-47 N Mascher Street. Before long, New Kingdom integrated itself into the racially mixed neighborhood and became an inspiration to the community. During his tenure, Pastor Wilson established an educational community center and was able to acquire several properties.
In December of 1988, Rev. Wilson resigned his post as Pastor due to health reasons. To prevent the scattering of the membership Rev. Clarence Dunlap; former Pastor of the St Paul Baptist Church of Camden, NJ, came out of retirement to serve as interim and facilitate the church’s efforts to find a pastor.
In August of 1989 Rev Albert Roger Reddick of Vine Memorial Baptist Church was appointed Pastor. He served for 2 years until after grave deliberation Rev Reddick was dismissed on August 16, 1991.
The New Kingdom Church family was pastor-less for the first time in its history from August ’91 until October ’92 when the Rev Douglas M Carpenter Sr, of the Society for Helping Church. He served for almost 4 years and resigned his post to accept an offer to return to Society for Helping Church as Pastor.
Without a Pastor, New Kingdom continued to promote communal harmony and family worship in its now predominately Latino neighborhood. After much prayer and deliberation, God sent to us on August 1, 1999 the Rev Donald D Dargan formally of Tasker Street Missionary Baptist Church. Rev. Dargan served until February of 2001.
Upon Rev Dargan’s departure, New Kingdom was without ministerial leadership until January 2002 when Rev Malcolm A. Medley became our interim pastor. After serving as interim for more than a year, Rev. Medley was installed as pastor in July of 2003. Pastor Medley served for 7 years and unexpectedly resigned in 2009.
Again, the New Kingdom family was without a pastor for 2 years and in June 2011; Rev. Kristopher Reese accepted the pastoral position. Through his pastorship, The W.I.S.H. Foundation (Workers Inspired to Serving Humanity) was formed and the church was also awarded a Reimbursement Grant that enabled us to establish the “Kingdom Tutorial Program”. The Manna Café was also established to feed the community in which we serve. We were able to acquire another property (2445 N. Mutter Street), purchased a new organ, new pulpit furniture, a new drum set donated by members of the church, playground set and a church sign. By donation; from one of the “Sons” of the church, we acquired 4 new window air conditioner units. We were also blessed with a gift of a 29-passenger bus.
Pastor Reese served for 4 years before resigning his position as pastor. During his time as pastor, Rev Reese appointed Rev Daniel M Jackson as Associate Pastor. After Rev Reese departed, Rev Jackson has been diligently working to build and further the ministry. He was instrumental in spearheading our Revitalization project which helped us restore our sanctuary ceiling.
In December 2015, Rev Jackson accepted the position as interim and after a 6-month probation period, Rev Jackson was elected as the pastor of the New Kingdom Baptist Church in June 2016. Rev. Jackson is the youngest senior pastor in New Kingdoms’ history. Under his leadership, the congregation not only grew in numbers, but also grew spiritually. As the years progressed there were some important milestones that occurred along the way. In 2018, we were able to have Camp Kingdom Summer Camp which blessed not only children in our congregation, but in our community and surrounding areas.
In 2019, with much prayer and careful consideration Pastor Jackson presented a proposal to the congregation to renovate the entire church edifice; both inside and outside, in exchange for 3 properties currently owned by the church (2437, 2439 and 2441 N. Mascher Street). During a church meeting, the body came together and voted to go ahead with such a momentous project. While the decision was made in 2019, the renovations didn’t start until July 2020.
At the beginning of 2020 a health pandemic arose which forced several changes to how ministry was done. The church had to resort to virtual means to stay connected, but that did not hinder ministry from moving forward. The Agape Food Ministry was born which provided hot meals (breakfast & lunch) to not just those in the community, but to anyone that found themselves in need. As the school year rolled around a Virtual Learning program was established. By being a 501c3 non-profit, the church became a recipient of a generous financial donation.
2021, Phase 1 (Sidewalks, Re-enforce & Paint outside of Church & Offices) of the renovations was completed. Phase 2 (sanctuary) started which led the congregation to seek a temporary place to worship. At no cost to the church and due to the close fellowship, Re. Antonio McAllister and the Second Shiloh Baptist Church opened their doors and we worshipped together from July until the beginning of November. On Sunday, November 14th in the afternoon, the congregation was able to return home to the Kingdom in time to culminate Pastor Jackson’s 5th Pastoral Anniversary. With the completion of Phase 2, Phase 3 (fellowship hall) started and was completed by the end of 2022.
In the middle of 2023, the church suffered a significant loss. Mother Evelyn Lipscomb; last living founder of New Kingdom, was called home to be with the Lord on June 24. On Saturday, July 8, we celebrated her homegoing in grand fashion. Even though we mourned a great loss, we continued to carry on the work of the Lord. In doing so, On Sunday, September 17th, we celebrated our 66th Church Anniversary. During that time, the newly renovated fellowship hall was dedicated in honor of Rev. Gus Wilson; the longest serving Pastor of New Kingdom Baptist Church.
The church continued to grow in leaps and bounds; not just numerically, but also spiritually. The beginning of 2024, the ministry of New Kingdom began to evolve. Being led by the Holy Spirit; with much prayer and fasting, Pastor Jackson initiated our first week of Elevation & Consecration which took place in April. It was a time of self-reflection, revelation, advancement and brought the people closer together.
Throughout the years, there have been deacons, deaconesses and preachers that were added to the ministry; under each pastor.
God has abundantly blessed New Kingdom with a rich legacy of joy, laughter and bonding fellowships which is particularly evidence by the diligent service of several of the family members of its founding fathers and mothers.
Respectfully Submitted,
Church Clerks
Evelyn Lipscomb, 1957 - 1962 Mary Morgan, 1963
Eula Morgan, 1964 - 1972 Patricia Collins 1973
Jessie Erwin, 1974 - 1988 Cecil Landon, 1989
Marie Adams, 1990 Lisa-Jane Erwin, 1991 - 1996
Alexandria Erwin, 1997 - 2012 Keisha Doe, 2012
Dawn Jones, 2013 - Present
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