In 1956, Dwight Eisenhower was re-elected as President of the United States, the first transatlantic telephone cable went into operation, and Dr. Albert Sabin developed the oral polio vaccine. Future film stars, Mel Gibson and Tom Hanks, were born, as well as future boxing great, Sugar Ray Leonard. At the cinema, Charlton Heston starred in The Ten Commandments, and Around the World in 80 Days won an Academy Award for best picture. Rock and roll music escalated to a cultural phenomenon as Elvis Presley crooned to Don't Be Cruel and Hound Dog. Families gathered around the tube to watch I Love Lucy and The Ed Sullivan Show.
At the same time, history was also being made in a small corner of the world known as Albany, Georgia. After recognizing the need for a church in Northwest Albany, a group of men and women met together and established the First Baptist Church Mission. The group began meeting in the US Army Reserve building for Sunday School in 1955. A year later, Mr. J. T. Haley gave them 6.3 acres of land on Whispering Pines Road in the Sherwood Acres Subdivision. By February of that year, 309 charter members had enrolled, and the Mallary Baptist Association received the group in October. Thus, Sherwood Baptist Church was born.
Sherwood’s first pastor was Albert Cardwell. During his seven years as pastor, Dr. Cardwell saw continued growth through an expanded Sunday School and the construction of an educational building that could seat 750 people in 1958. This education space quickly doubled in capacity with further construction efforts. Sherwood sponsored their own mission in 1961, forming Radium Springs Baptist Church in East Albany. Reverend Law Mobly served as Sherwood’s second pastor from 1964 to 1967.
In 1968, the congregation called Curtis Burge as pastor. He headed the “Together-We-Build Campaign” in 1973 to provide a 1,000-seat sanctuary, including a bell tower, library, bridal and music suites, pipe organ, adult Sunday School department and all the furnishings and equipment. The building program cost $1,386,745 and was completed by February of 1976.
W. A. “Billy” Smith served as Sherwood’s fourth pastor from 1979 until 1988. During this time, Sherwood was honored by Moody Monthly as having the fastest growing Sunday School in Georgia. After several years of radio broadcasting, Sherwood pursued another avenue to spread God’s love to Southwest Georgia. On September 5, 1982, Sherwood aired its first video broadcast on cable Channel 8.
In 1983, the church completed a building program with the dedication of the Family Life Center. This $1.2 million facility included two handball courts, a basketball court, running track, weight room, ceramics room, offices and education space. Due to the generous outpouring of support by Sherwood’s membership, the congregation burned the note for the FLC in 1984. Sherwood further expanded its ministry in 1985 when the church announced the opening of Sherwood Baptist Christian School, offering education for grades K-3 through eighth. Over $100,000 was raised in one month for the $400,000 property.
Growth continued as the Georgia Baptist Convention recognized Sherwood as one of the top Georgia churches. This honor also included being named the top contributor to the Cooperative Program from the Mallary Association in 1986. The Executive Committee of the Georgia Baptist Convention honored Sherwood as one of the top twenty churches in the state in baptisms. Since that time, Sherwood has consistently been in the top one percent of Georgia Baptist churches in baptisms and giving to the Cooperative Program.
In 1989, Michael Catt began his ministry at Sherwood. He introduced “The Decade of Destiny” to carry the church into the 21st century. This plan included a Christian Life Ministry Team, ministry to widows, training for decision counselors, an Intercessory Prayer Ministry and a Long Range Planning Committee.
Sherwood built a prayer chapel in April of 1991, and within eight months, 605 prayer warriors were using the facility and had completed 3,473 hours of prayer. Other new areas of ministry opened up during this time, including an expanded Media Ministry and the Alpha Crisis Pregnancy Center.
In 1991, Church Growth Today, a newsletter of the North American Society for Church Growth, recognized Sherwood as one of the 210 fastest growing churches in North America in worship attendance. This commendation placed Sherwood in the top one percent of more than 400,000 churches that reported a gain of one hundred or more people. Sherwood’s consistent growth led to the formation of divorce, cancer and co-dependency support groups to provide godly counsel to people in the community during times of crisis. Dual Sunday School classes began in 1992 as a result of the continued growth.
Sherwood’s cable Channel 51 became an affiliate of Family Net in November of 1992. This change brought increased programming and heightened audience appeal. Sherwood Baptist Christian School became Sherwood Christian Academy and offered classes through the twelfth grade. With the purchase of the Riverview Academy property in 1994, the middle and high schools moved to Old Pretoria Road. These new facilities included a cafeteria, library, auditorium, gymnasium and sports stadium.
When the Flood of 1994 hit Albany and Southwest Georgia, Sherwood opened its doors immediately. The Family Life Center became a shelter where 250 evacuees were housed, clothed and fed. Sherwood coordinated over 5,400 workers from twenty-one states. These teams cleaned up over fifty flooded homes, and this ministry continued through September of 1995. AWANA and Upward basketball began in 1994 as ministry opportunities for children and their families. Since that time, the Upward program has expanded to include soccer, football, baseball and cheerleading.
In February of 1998, the pastor called the membership to forty days of prayer. Later that year, the pastor, staff and deacons unanimously recommended a Master Growth Plan that included a 2,250-seat Worship Center and a 300-seat Chapel to provide space for “Future Generations.” Sherwood celebrated with a groundbreaking ceremony in May of the following year.
In 1999, the Strauss House opened across the street from the church. This home has housed guest speakers and musicians from across the country, as well as pastors who have needed a place of relaxation and refreshment. In the midst of the new building campaign in 2000, Sherwood held Easter services in the partially built facilities. Over 2,500 people attended and heard Jay Strack preach on Sunday morning. Also in 2000, Sherwood honored Ron and Claudia Henderson, staff music evangelists, for their twenty-five years of ministry.
The New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary Extension Center opened its doors in 2000. The center now offers graduate classes for students in Albany and surrounding communities. Sherwood also started the Prayer Blitz in 2000, as members called 10,000 plus families in the community to pray with them. Since that time, thousands of people have been impacted by this outreach ministry.
With the culmination of the “Future Generations” building campaign, the Sherwood family moved into the new worship center in 2001. The new facilities provided ample room for growth and have since been used to host hundreds of events for Sherwood and the community. The following year, the music ministry produced its first original worship recording, 519.
Another major production debuted in 2003 as Sherwood Pictures produced their first major motion picture, Flywheel. The movie premiered in Albany and was shown for six weeks to packed theaters. Flywheel has won numerous awards and was picked up by Blockbuster for rental in their stores nationwide.
As another avenue of outreach and ministry, Sherwood opened the Havner House as a home for missionary families who are stateside on furlough. This home has been a blessing to missionaries and has provided a place of rest and refreshment while back in the states. Sherwood introduced two new conferences in 2003. Bridge Builders was started by Pastor Michael Catt and Dr. Warren Wiersbe as a leadership training for pastors. ReFRESH began as a conference for God’s people seeking revival. In the first year, fifty people were baptized following ReFRESH. Since that time, ReFRESH has grown to two conferences a year, one in Albany and one in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.
2004 was a big year for Sherwood. It began with the church celebrating Pastor Michael Catt’s 1,000th sermon. Sherwood also introduced a campaign called “Generations” to pay down the debt and build a sports park on Old Pretoria Road. The church broke ground on the sports park, and work began to build ball fields to reach future generations and their families. The music ministry also released its second worship album, Fall Like Rain. Sherwood Pictures produced its second movie, Facing the Giants, which will premier in theaters nationwide in September of 2006.
In 2005, Sherwood opened the Recreational Outreach Center and increased Upward sports involvement by 95%. Since that time, 1,142 children have been involved in the Upward program, and sixty-three have made salvation decisions. The church purchased an additional forty acres of land on Old Pretoria Road and enlarged the vision of the sports complex even further. Sherwood hosted the first annual Freedom Festival on the SCA campus in July. Nearly 3,000 people from the community enjoyed food, games and fireworks. In October, the church family reached one million dollars in gifts to the “Generations” campaign.
Sherwood has a rich legacy of faith and vision. Since the first building campaign, this church has focused on reaching future generations for Christ so that “a people yet to be created may praise the Lord” (Psalm 102:18). God has provided godly leaders to guide this church in touching the world from Albany, Georgia. We have a solid foundation behind us and an incredible future before us. “Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith” (Hebrews 12:1-2).
