Mr. Baptist was called as pastor of the Ashland Avenue Baptist Church in 1916. Here is his description of his visit and call to the church as he describes it in the November edition of the "Ashland Avenue Baptist", 1922.
"On the first Sunday in October, six years ago, I resigned the pastorate at the Mount Freedom Baptist Church at Wilmore, Kentucky. I did not know where God would lead me next, but I did so believing it was His will. Among the invitations I received for a visit was a telephone call from Dr. Porter to come the first Sunday in November to visit the new Baptist Church, which he had begun to organize with some members from the First Baptist Church. Brother W. H. Mayhappy had served as pastor for a brief time, but had resigned to return to his native state of Tennessee.
I can never forget the first day at the Ashland Avenue Baptist Church. The Saturday night before, I had closed a meeting at Sadieville, and I came to Lexington on the Q. and C., getting here about 9:40 a.m. I walked from the station out to the church. That's a walk that I'll think of during eternity. I had misjudged the distance from the depot to the church. As I came up Ashland Avenue I saw a man standing in the door with his hair cut close to his head. He was Ott Miller. He ought to have been in Bible Class that Brother Case was then teaching. But Ott is Ott and if he doesn't stay in the class, we know that his heart is there.
Little did I realize then that we were forming an acquaintance that would mean so much to each of us. We have prayed together, wept together, borne heavy burdens together, rejoiced together. As I write about Ott, the faces of many of you come before me as I think how faithful both the men and women have been - tears of love come to my eyes. At the close of the service that night, Dr. Beard arose and made a motion that they call "Brother Walker" as pastor. Thus God led me to Ashland Avenue. There were 44 members, and the first year our budget was $2,000.
From the first Sunday that Mr. Baptist came to the Ashland Avenue Baptist Church it was evident that the Lord was leading him and the people in their ministry together. The people began to come and the crowds increased. Their first church building was a small school house which they had converted into a church. In just one year the attendance had grown from 25 to 130. In the next ten years the attendance jumped to about 400 in Sunday School. In 1931 the Sunday School was running 477, in 1932 it was 552, in 1939 it was 648, in 1940, 840. It is now averaging over 1,000 every Sunday.
The Ashland Avenue Baptist Church has had down through the years, a marvelous spirit of evangelism. Because of this the building had to be remodeled the first year after Mr. Baptist came to the church. Then in 1919 came the fulfillment of his dream, the construction of the present auditorium on Ashland Avenue. This building was erected as the result of prayer, faith and sacrifice of the small church that believed that God was able to undertake the impossible for them. What a challenge it ought to be to any people as they see the mighty hand of God working with His children to bring about the needs as they labor for him.
The actual construction on the building ended in January of 1922. The date was set for entering the building on January 22, 1922. Brother Walker speaks of it in this way in the January 1922 edition of the A.A.B.:
"The Lord willing, on next Sunday, January 22, 1922, we shall hold the meeting of our church in our new building that by the grace of God we have been able to erect. The dedication will not take place until the second Sunday in February. The pastor will preach both of these services on this opening day, and at the close of each meeting administer the beautiful ordinance of baptism. We do now and here invite you to be present with us. Our prayer is that many souls will be saved and the name of the Lord magnified. The building is not completed but the auditorium will be finished.
Our heavenly Father has blessed us in a mighty way with the erection of this house. Everyone who sees it thinks that it must have cost between $75,000 and $100,000.
The committee, instead of giving it out to one contractor, super-intended the work themselves, thereby saving the church quite a bit of money. With the balcony seating 200, the auditorium will take care of 615. The Sunday School is built for a departmental Sunday School. We come to our dedication with a debt of $30,000. Everyone knows that this is a tremendous responsibility on a church just 6 years old with a membership of just 300 members who are not rich in this world's goods. Pray for us, brethren, that before many days the Lord will have moved on the hearts of brethren and sisters to give the needed $30,000."
In 1932 the church voted to build a Sunday School addition on the back of the auditorium which would be forty by seventy feet. This new addition helped greatly in the building of a larger Sunday School.
During these early days the Ashland Avenue Baptist Church not only was a great light house for evangelism, but the Pastor was continually going throughout the country to various churches for revival meetings. For years Mr. Baptist averaged ten revival meetings a year in addition to pastoring his church. Then again the church and their pastor stood as a great civic institution the city of Lexington. The Ashland Baptist pulpit spoke out against the liquor traffic, the gambling racketeers, crooked politicians and corruption in the city of Lexington and the nation. The message of this faithful church has helped to make Lexington a better city in which to live. Because of the stand which they took, needless to say many times they made enemies.
Then again, this church and its faithful pastor have been a great bulwark against false doctrine, modernism, compromise in unionism, and all error that rears its ugly head in the religious realm. Whenever modernism appeared in the Baptist Convention the Ashland Baptist pulpit and paper have been a faithful messenger of the Lord to warn the Baptists throughout the state, nation, yes, even the world, of the errors as they crept into the Convention. This was done in the spirit of love, with malice toward none, a desire to help toward all.
Surely few churches have had the privilege of such a varied, yet fruitful ministry as the Ashland Avenue Baptist Church. In thirty-four years of existance we might summarize the work follows:
1. A great soul winning station
Beginning in a small one room school house, with 44 members, the Ashland Baptist has now grown to over 3,000 members. In 1938, Dr. L. R. Scarborough, then President of the Southern Baptist Convention, wrote a letter of congratulations to Brother Walker concerning the great spirit of evangelism which his church had shown. It goes as follows:
Dr. Clarence Walker
Lexington, Kentucky
Dear Brother Walker:
In looking over the Baptist handbook for 1938 I see the special notice of the wonderful record your church has made in baptisms and additions otherwise. In thinking of the southwide revival and the part your church will have in it, I am writing you to congratulate you on this wonderful record. I am sure that all of our people are grateful for the soul- winning leadership you and your church have. It seems that there were 77 churches last year that had 100 or more baptisms . . .
God's best blessing on you
Yours Fraternally,
L. R. Scarborough, Pres.
Southern Baptist Convention
2. A great propagator for the truth.
From the pulpit, printed page, and radio the Ashland Baptist has been a strong propagator of the doctrines of a local New Testament Church, what they ought to believe and practice. It has fought unionism, modernism and apostacy in the Baptist denomination. The "Trail of Blood" has gone throughout the world with its great message of truth to many thousands of people.
3. Missionary to the world through the printed page.
The ministry of the Ashland Avenue Baptist has literally gone to the uttermost parts of the earth through the printed page. The Ashland Avenue Baptist began as a small bulletin just one year after Mr. Baptist went to the church as pastor. In those early days there were many struggles to keep the paper going out. But the Lord provided. Through the years the paper has seen a steady growth. Especially during the Second World War when hundreds and thousands of copies were sent to the boys in service. Today nearly 100,000 copies of the paper go out weekly throughout the world taking their message of light and life.
Then there is also the book ministry. The printing of the book, "WALTER DOESN'T LIVE HERE ANY MORE", the story of his brother's death, interwoven with the plan of salvation. God marvelously used this little booklet to bring salvation and comfort to hundreds of thousands of hearts. There have been about 2,000, copies of this book printed at this writing.
Then also the book "THE TRAIL OF BLOOD", which is a history of the Baptist Churches from the time of Christ, their founder, to the present time, and what they believe. This book has been translated into many languages, and has gone throughout the four corners of the earth carrying with it the message of the 1 Testament doctrines of the church. To date about 900,000 copies of this book have been printed and it has been translated into five different languages.
Then there is also the book, "The Death of a Baby," which had 50,000 copies printed. The "Sinners, Lost Sinners, Saved Sinners", a book on the plain way of salvation and a saved man's walk. This book has been used in many Vacation Bible Schools. Thus far 100,000 copies of this book have been printed. Countless thousands of other books, tracts and messages have been sent out through the Ashland Baptist, including several thousands of copies of the Bible. Surely the ministry of the printed page has penetrated the darkest regions of the world through the faithful ministry of this New Testament Church.
4. The ministry of the Bible School and College
In a later chapter we shall more fully give an account of the Bible College sponsored ty the church, here we simply mention it in summarizing the vast ministry of the Ashland Avenue Baptist Church. Even though Mr. Baptist holds no degrees, either earned or honorary, he has keenly felt the need of training young men for the ministry. The Lexington Baptist College first started out as a "Monday Night Preacher's Class". It was my joy to sit in on some of these classes. From this small beginning God has raised up the Lexington Baptist College where men and women are now being trained in service for the Master.
THE AMAZING PART Of IT ALL!
Here is the thing that has been outstanding concerning the vast and varied world-wide ministry down through these thirty-four years. IT HAS ALL BEEN CARRIED ON BY FAITH! It has been the motto of brother Walker that God will open the way step by step if God's people will trust Him. Many times the way grew stormy. Money had to be raised for buildings, at times it seemed that the way was impossible. THEN - GOD DID SOMETHING - HE WENT BEFORE HIS WAITING PEOPLE AND OPENED THE WAY. There is one incident of the way the Lord led . . .
GOD HEARS IN A DARK DAY
"I remembered a day when these scriptures led to a wonderful victory in our church. We had begun the building of our auditorium and Sunday School plant. We had agreed to build it as the money was brought in or sent into the Lord's treasury. In those days there were just a few of us. We agreed to follow the Lord's plans - give our tithes and offerings - and depend on Him to supply our need as the building was built.
The basement was dug, the foundations were laid, the first floor laid. The money had come in, we had enough to start the brick walls. Then I got sick and was out of the work for four months. It was then that the churcK decided to borrow the money to go with the walls. The bank lent us the money.
A NOTE COMES DUE
You know when you borrow money you have to pay it back. I had gotten well and was back on the job. One day Ott Miller, now in mansions above, came in and said, "Pastor, that money is due, the bank wants their money." The church was dead broke, we had nothing in the treasury. Ott and I got on our knees and prayed . . . The Next Sunday I called the whole church together for a week of prayer.
Monday night, we felt like the Lord had shut up the winda of heaven and no blessings came upon us. The next night it the same - the heavens seemed like brass. My heart was broken. After everyone had gone home I found the scriptures in our article - Why God Does Not Answer Prayer. I studied, then fell on my knees - confessed my mistakes, shortcomings, sins. The next night I gave one scripture for each brother to read. We all listened studied them, then all got down on our knees - confessed our sins as individuals and as a church. We sought the Lord weeping, repenting, coming back to the truth.
GOD HEARS - ANSWERS
We knew that God would hear us now - that He had heard us. The next day I waited for someone to bring me a gift - for our Building Fund. But that night just before prayer meeting started, a young lady, a visitor, handed me $100.00 After the another dear lady, a member of another church said, "Come to my house in the morning and I will give you $500.00" However, she brought it to my home before breakfast. Another dear brother called me on the phone, he put $750.00 in the mail for the building debt. Another brother called me into his office and said, "I want to have a part in this building of the new meeting house on Ashland Avenue, here is $2,000.00. Brethren - none of these folks members of Ashland Avenue. We had given and given - but, thank God - Ott Miller paid the note in full. God hears and answers the prayer of faith. Praise His dear name!"
And so goes the story of how God through the years had manifested His name by sustaining and supplying the needs of his children as they with their Pastor have ventured to walk through the doors which He has opened.
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