A Century and Counting on Latimer Street
Mount Moriah Missionary Baptist Church has anchored the southern portion of Dallas since 1902, when a small group of Christians met on the front porch of Brother and Sister L.R. Wright to organize what would become one of the city's enduring Baptist congregations. Located at 3611 Latimer Street in Dallas, Texas, the church carries a name submitted by charter member A.J. Sherman and a calling that has carried through five pastors and more than a century of ministry.
Today, under the leadership of Senior Pastor Dr. Johnny Calvin Smith, who has shepherded the congregation since 2007, Mount Moriah continues to live out a four-fold mission: to exalt God, edify the body of Christ, equip the saints for service, and evangelize the lost. The church is widely known in the community for its strong Bible-teaching tradition, its family-centered pastorate, and the Lord Build the House (LBTH) capital campaign, adopted in 2010 to construct a new edifice for members and neighbors.
From a Front Porch Prayer Meeting to a 110-Year Legacy
The church's origin story is preserved in vivid detail in its own records. In August 1901, the Holy Spirit moved on the heart of the late Reverend H.C. Curry to organize a church in southern Dallas. He asked a few faithful Christians to gather at the Wright home for a prayer meeting and conversation about forming a congregation. That gathering on the Wrights' front porch became the seedbed for what was formally organized as Mount Moriah Missionary Baptist Church on the first Lord's Day in February 1902.
The middle years of Mount Moriah brought sustained growth under the late Reverend Benjamin Franklin Briggs, who began his tenure on August 15, 1937. Briggs prioritized the spiritual and physical well-being of his members and made sure every department of the church received proper literature for Bible study. In August 1967, he brought on Reverend Robert D. Reed as a spiritual assistant to help lead the church. The members voted to call Reed as the next pastor on August 9, 1971.
For thirty-seven years, Reed shaped the identity of Mount Moriah. He adopted the systematic study of God's Word as his central emphasis and established several enduring Bible-study programs: Evangelical Teaching Training Association courses, Wednesday Night Bible Study, doctrinal studies through the Baptist Training Union, and the Bible Conference Crusade on Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth. When Reed stepped into the role of Senior Pastor in 2007, Reverend Johnny C. Smith was named the new Pastor of Mount Moriah.
The church marked 110 years of continuous ministry in 2012, with one of the anniversary highlights being the public unveiling of the proposed new edifice under the LBTH campaign. Members celebrate the work that has continued since and look forward to a building designed to serve both the congregation and the wider south Dallas community.
The Senior Pastor: Dr. Johnny Calvin Smith
Dr. Johnny Calvin Smith brings to the Mount Moriah pulpit a wide educational background and decades of teaching experience. A Dallas native, he graduated from L.G. Pinkston High School in 1970 and went on to study at Jarvis Christian College and Southern Methodist University, where he earned a Bachelor of Business Administration. His biblical formation continued at Southern Bible Institute and Dallas Bible College, followed by a Master of Arts in Biblical Studies from Dallas Theological Seminary. He has also received an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Southern Bible Institute and a Doctor of Theology in Biblical Studies from Northwestern Theological Seminary. He holds a Texas Teacher Certificate for Elementary Grades (PK-6).
Before stepping fully into ministry, Dr. Smith served as an accountant at Mobil Pipe Line Company from 1975 to 1992 and then as a Mathematics/Science teacher in the Dallas Independent School District from 1992 to 2011. He was ordained as a Minister at Mount Moriah in 1977 and began serving as Director of the Board of Christian Education in 1982, also teaching Sunday School, leading Evangelical Training Association courses, and instructing at the Mount Moriah Disciple Institute. He has been a part-time instructor at Southern Bible Institute since 1985 and writes a devotional column, "Devotional Thought From The Word," for The Dallas Post Tribune.
Dr. Smith and his wife, Violet, have been married for fifty years. They are the parents of a daughter, Joy (Brad) McBeth, and two sons, Dr. Jonathan (Christina) Smith and Dr. Jared (Erica) Smith, along with nine grandchildren. Reflecting on his long career in the classroom, Dr. Smith has said he is praying that young people today will remain steadfast in their walk with the Lord and avoid the pitfalls of worldly pleasures.
The Pastor of Administrative Operations: Dr. Jonathan Calvin Smith
The Senior Pastor's eldest son, Reverend Doctor Jonathan Calvin Smith, serves as Pastor of Administrative Operations at Mount Moriah. He preached his first sermon at the church on August 22, 1999, after accepting his call to preach under the direction of his maternal grandfather, Dr. Robert D. Reed, and his father. While attending Stephen F. Austin State University, he provided leadership in children and youth ministries and taught the Adult Sunday School class and Wednesday Night Bible Study at Live Oak Missionary Baptist Church in Nacogdoches, Texas.
Dr. Jonathan Smith holds a Master's in Educational Administration from the University of Texas at Arlington and a Doctorate in Global Leadership from Lamar University, with additional post-graduate work at Dallas Theological Seminary, Dallas Baptist University, Universidad Internacional in Cuernavaca, Mexico, the Harvard Graduate School of Education's National Institute for Urban School Leaders, and the Harvard Kennedy School, where he earned an Executive Certificate in Nonprofit Leadership. He was ordained to the Gospel Ministry on July 23, 2006, at Mount Moriah and served as a principal in Dallas ISD for fourteen years. He currently serves in executive leadership in the Dallas Independent School District and an education nonprofit based in New York while overseeing administration, the construction project, and media ministries at Mount Moriah.
He and his wife Christina, his high school sweetheart, are the parents of three sons: Josiah, Jeremiah, and Jedidiah. Mrs. Smith founded the Joshua Caleb Project, a ministry dedicated to raising awareness and funding research for women's health.
Beliefs and Doctrinal Foundations
Mount Moriah teaches a doctrinal statement grounded in historic Baptist convictions. The church confesses one God eternally existing in three persons - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - and holds the Bible to be inerrant, inspired, and the only infallible authoritative Word of God. Members affirm the deity of Jesus Christ, His virgin birth, sinless life, miracles, vicarious atoning death, bodily resurrection, ascension to the right hand of the Father, and personal, literal Second Coming in power and glory.
The church teaches that human beings were created in God's image, fell into sin, and can be restored only through regeneration by the Holy Spirit. Salvation is by grace through personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and the believer is eternally secure in Him. Mount Moriah holds to a pre-tribulation understanding of the Rapture and a future thousand-year reign of Christ following His return.
The congregation also takes a cessationist position on certain spiritual gifts, teaching that tongues and miraculous healings were temporary and are not required signs of Spirit baptism, while affirming the full ongoing work of the Holy Spirit in reproving, convicting, instructing, indwelling, baptizing, sealing, and filling believers. Justification is by faith alone in Jesus Christ, and the church teaches that all who have accepted Christ are members of the universal Church, the body and Bride of Christ, with local church affiliation regarded as essential for obedience to Scripture.
Worship and Weekly Life
Sunday morning worship gathers at 11:00 a.m. at the church's Latimer Street location. The worship page opens with the exhortation of Psalm 100:4 - "Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name" - and the life of the church includes the long-standing Wednesday Night Bible Study instituted during Pastor Reed's tenure, alongside Adult Sunday School classes that have shaped generations of Mount Moriah members.
The Senior Pastor's column, the church's devotional writing, and its systematic Bible teaching are central to the congregation's identity. Members are encouraged to grow through faithful fellowship in the Word, and the church hosts recurring semester classes that have become a regular part of its ministry calendar.
The Lord Build the House Capital Campaign
In 2010, the membership of Mount Moriah adopted and approved the Lord Build the House (LBTH) building program. Led by Pastor Smith, the campaign envisions a new edifice designed to better serve both the members of Mount Moriah and its surrounding community. The project was publicly unveiled during the 110th anniversary celebration in 2012 and remains a focal point of congregational life and giving. Donations to the LBTH campaign can be made online through the church's giving platform.
Christian Women's Job Corps
Mount Moriah is home to a Christian Women's Job Corps (CWJC) site, a ministry of the Woman's Missionary Union of the Baptist General Convention. CWJC provides a Christian context in which women in need are equipped for life and employment, and a missions context in which women help women. The curriculum runs ten weeks on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday mornings and includes Bible study, life skills, health and nutrition, career skills, computer training, and one-on-one mentoring.
Participation in CWJC is free and not limited by religious preference. Adult women in need who can commit to attending at least 90 percent of regular classes, including Bible study, working with a mentor, and abiding by the conduct and safety rules of the program are eligible. The site is coordinated by Violet R. Smith and is supported by volunteers serving as instructors, prayer partners, mentors, support teams, and advisory council members, along with donors who underwrite the ministry through a 501(c)(3) organization.
Mission, Vision, and Family
The mission of Mount Moriah is to exalt God, edify the body of Christ, equip the saints for service, and evangelize the lost. Leadership within the church is Bible-based, bathed in prayer, spiritually sound, and focused on the short- and long-term needs of every member. The congregation's vision, drawn from Ephesians 4:13, calls members to maturity "unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ," and is lived out through five commitments summarized in the church's own materials: Uplifting the Savior supremely, Upholding the fundamentals of the Christian faith, Understanding the church's role in the community, Undergirding one another through prayer and the equipping of leaders, and Undertaking strategic initiatives in membership, finances, facilities, and technology.
Visiting and Giving
First-time visitors are welcomed at the Sunday morning worship service at 11:00 a.m. The church's mailing address is P.O. Box 763459, Dallas, TX 75376, and the phone number is 214-428-2990. Members and friends may give online through Tithe.ly by searching for "Mount Moriah Dallas," with options for bank ACH, debit card, Apple Pay, Android Pay, and Microsoft Pay, as well as recurring giving through the Tithe.ly app. Announcements and weekly updates are shared through the church's newsletter, "This Week at The Mount," and the church maintains a presence on Facebook, Twitter/X, Pinterest, and YouTube.