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Last fall, when the Rev. Dr. Kyle Reese accepted the position as interim senior pastor at First Baptist Church, Savannah, he figured it would a temporary job.
First Baptist Church is a historic congregation in Savannah, Georgia, which was first established in 1800. Today, the congregation worships in a Greek-Revival church building on Bull Street , on the western side of Chippewa Square in the historic district of Savannah .
On June 1, 1790, with 27 pounds of sterling, he bought property from Thomas Gibbons that became a place for a new church. William Bryan and James Whitfield bought land for Bryan and his family to live on. In 1805, the first African Baptist church, Savannah Baptist church, and Newington Baptist Church became the Savannah River Baptist Association.
Before the Civil War, and its aftermath, First Bryan's pastor and several church members played integral roles in the emancipation of blacks in Savannah. James Merilus Simms, a trustee and ordained minister of First Bryan, went to Richmond, Virginia in 1862 and returned to Savannah with the preliminary draft of the Emancipation Proclamation to share with Savannah's black leadership and population.
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As the Georgia Baptist association grew, there was competition among congregations to claim lines to founding core members and be declared the first church in the state. In 1888 at the Georgia Convention, claims were examined as to primacy of First African Baptist of Savannah and the First Bryan Baptist Church.