Birmingham Churches and Their Cornerstones 38
(Updated March 7, 2024)
Fourth Avenue South is the route the east-bound traffic on US-78 takes away from central Birmingham. For over a decade I traveled this road everyday on my way home from Samford and many other places. Just east of the Red Mountain Expressway, at the top of a low rise, on the north side of the avenue sits a Baptist church. Because of its elevation, above the street and above the land to the west, it is fairly impressive. It also has an impressive piece of Alabama marble that records the history of the congregation that erected the building.
The congregation founded in 1894 as Antioch Baptist Church still occupies the building. As the cornerstone details, in 1913 it was renamed 4th Avenue Baptist Church, then in 1948 rebuilt as the Greater 4th Avenue Baptist Church. In 2002, the named was changed again. This time to Living Word Baptist Church.
(I’m grateful for an email from Ms. Martha Armsted for the confirmation that Living Word was just a name change, not a new confirmation. She replied to the original version of this essay where I had asked readers to write me if they knew the history. She states that the church will observe its 130th anniversary on Sunday, May 19, at 9 a.m., all are welcome.)
Read this first post for more on this series on Birmingham churches and their cornerstones.
Chasing Churches 