Here We Raise Our Ebenezer: Celebrating God’s Faithfulness Through 185 Years
If the walls of Mt. Bethel Church in East Cobb County, Georgia, could talk, Virginia Day says they would echo praises of God’s faithfulness. For 185 years, those walls have witnessed the Lord’s hand at work.
“God has been so good to this church,” she remarked. This coming March, Virginia will celebrate her 90th birthday. She and her late husband, Tom, joined Mt. Bethel Church—then Mt. Bethel Methodist Church—in 1959, when the congregation met in a small chapel building on the corner of Johnson Ferry Road and Lower Roswell Road.
Mt. Bethel Methodist Church building in 1951 at the church’s original location on the corner of Johnson Ferry Road and Lower Roswell Road.
At the time, she remembered, the congregation did not have a full-time minister. “We were on charge* of five churches, so we only had preaching services once a month, but we had Sunday School every Sunday.”
Even then, she said, the people of the church were dedicated to prayer.
“The ladies met every Wednesday morning at 10 a.m., gathering for half an hour to an hour to pray,” Virginia recalled. “And in all the years since, there’s always been a prayer group meeting regularly.”
Like many other small churches during the forties, fifties, and sixties, Mt. Bethel Church was urged by the leaders of the Methodist Church to merge with another congregation. However, Virginia and the other prayerful believers of Mt. Bethel felt strongly God was leading them to remain as they were.
The Day Family. From left to right: Tom, Virginia, and their son, Dan.
“We felt Mt. Bethel was a growing church,” she explained. “And, of course, then when Indian Hills was built, there were a lot of houses and several subdivisions, so we began to grow. And that showed us the real reason that we needed a church here.”
In 1969, Virginia and Tom were one of several couples from the congregation who offered their home as collateral for the $90K loan used to purchase and renovate eight acres on Lower Roswell Road, where Mt. Bethel Church’s campus remains located today.
“When we bought the property, they told us we had to build a fence from Lower Roswell Road to the lake at the back,” Virginia said. “But we had no money! Then, two nights before the North Georgia Fair, we got a call—another church had given up their food booth. We had to decide that night to take it. That booth paid for our fence. It was a miracle from heaven.”
In 1971, the little chapel where the congregation met was moved to the new property.
In 1971, Mt. Bethel United Methodist Church members hoisted the building that is now the historic chapel onto a flatbed trailer and towed it with a tractor to the current location on Lower Roswell Rd.
“They moved the building itself, the sanctuary–which is now the chapel–down the road on the back of a truck. Then a few years later, we were able to add the dining room and the fellowship hall.”
The Lord continued to bless the congregation with physical and spiritual growth. Eventually, a new sanctuary was built, followed by the Christian Activities Center, and then the education building (currently the home of Mt. Bethel Christian Academy).
Through it all, the people of Mt. Bethel Church have remained faithful to God’s calling, according to Virginia.
“There’s always been true worship and love and reliance on God,” she stated.
Decades later, the congregation faced a different kind of pressure—this time, to compromise its commitment to God’s truth. Once again, they stood firm, following the vision and calling God had given them.
An Ebenezer Moment
July 2025 marks three years since the people of Mt. Bethel Church became an independent congregation. During the church’s anniversary celebration on August 10, 2025, senior pastor Dr. Jody Ray consecrated an “Ebenezer stone” (in reference to the stone the prophet Samuel dedicated between Mizpah and Shen in the Old Testament), to mark the Lord’s faithfulness.
“We want to honor the faithful commitment of those who’ve come before us who served God faithfully through Mt. Bethel Church,” he said during the dedication. “But we also want to look forward and be faithful to the purpose of God in our time, in this generation.”
“As we move into God’s future for us, we look back only to remember what God has done, knowing He will do it again.”
The plaque for the stone, installed at the entrance of the gardens behind the sanctuary, reads: Mt. Bethel Church. Established July 6, 2022. This Ebenezar Stone is placed here in remembrance that through trials and triumphs God has sustained us from foundation to freedom.
“Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer, saying, ‘Thus far the LORD has helped us.’” (1 Samuel 7:12)
What Virginia and the others built wasn’t just a church. It was a testimony—a declaration of God’s faithfulness. Time and again, Mt. Bethel’s people stood firm, not by strength or size, but by the Spirit of God. They trusted Him, stayed the course, and pressed forward—not for their name, but for the name of Jesus Christ.
*as in pastoral charge; reference to the United Methodist Church’s practice of grouping smaller congregations under one pastor or ministry team