VISITORS AND NEW MEMBERS
Four times a year, James and Liz Lamkin invite a mingling of NDBC members and visitors to their home for a "Meet and Greet." All of the visitors over the past few months are invited, plus newly joined members, as well as two deacons and their "deacon families." It is a great time to fellowship, ask questions, brag on Northside Drive, and nurture friendships. If you are a new member or guest to NDBC, we would like the opportunity to get to know you better and introduce you to some of our members.

GUIDE FOR NEW MEMBERS
The Membership Development Committee is pleased to report the publication of a "New Member Guide" to help our newest members get informed and more easily engaged in the life of NDBC. The red-covered guide brings together contributions from across the church and provides information some of our newest members have requested from us.

New members, their mentors, and deacons will each receive a copy of the booklet. Any other church members interested in having a "New Member Guide," should pick one up from the church office (one per home address please.)

Historical Sketch of Northside Drive Baptist Church
In the late summer of 1951, a few residents of Springlake, a neighborhood between Northside Drive and Howell Mill Road, established the Wildwood Chapel. It was a mission of Atlanta's First Baptist Church. By September of the following year, one hundred of its parishioners had constituted Northside Drive Baptist Church. Pastored during its formative years by William L. Selman, they worshipped in Morris Brandon School, established ministries, and added members. The dedication of the congregation's first house of worship in April 1955 brought to fruition the founders' vision of a vibrant community Baptist church.

"I shall be deeply disappointed in the years to come if this church does not take its place among the great churches of Atlanta and the South," said Thomas J. Holmes, the church's second pastor, as he resigned his post in 1960 to join the staff of Mercer University. Holmes was prophetic and insightful. During the coming years, pastors John W. Hughston, John E. Howell, W. Forrest Lanier, Thomas C. Conley, and Tommy McDearis shepherded a congregation that became increasingly distinctive. Northside Drive became a model for moderate leaning Baptist churches across the South. They were, according to Kent Anglin, who would later serve as interim pastor, "standing outside, presses their noses against the window to see what a progressive, liturgical, and ecumenical Baptist church looked like."

During its formative years, to be sure, the congregation sang the sturdy old gospel hymns, held revivals, and joined in the Southern Baptist Convention's quest, "a million more in '54". But from its earliest days the congregation had also inclined itself toward a formal style of worship. This impulse, sometimes obvious, always latent, was particularly shaped and nurtured by W. Clyde Herndon and Kenneth Boone, who became music director and organist in 1972. Following their direction along with that of Thomas Conley, who became Senior Pastor in 1976, Northside Drive became, perhaps for many, somewhat of a curiosity in the Deep South. But the congregation - worshipping in a new sanctuary with a Gothic steeple, Romanesque arches and a split chancel - did not seem to mind the notoriety, maybe even thrived on it.

Reverend Conley's incisive sermons and outspoken style also gave voice and substance to the congregation's stand for moderation and tolerance at a time when these virtues seemed to be scarce in the denomination. Thus, Northside Drive unequivocally affirmed the freedom that undergirds historic Baptist principles: religious liberty, soul competency, and priesthood of the believer.

These principles have always seemed to go hand in hand with the wide embrace extended by the church. Christians from a variety of traditions and from all around metropolitan Atlanta, and even beyond, became members. They have served God by helping the helpless - across town in Perry Homes or across a continent in Central America. So the community served by Northside Drive extended far beyond the Springlake neighborhood. The boundaries of their community came to be defined by an ecumenical spirit.

Following Clyde Herndon's untimely death in 1988 and Thomas Conley's resignation in 1991, the congregation entered what in retrospect may be seen as a new era. Associate Pastor and Minister of Education, Karen Massey, joined the staff in 1990. She provided stability and continuity during the next eight years of transition and change. Inspired by the leadership of its eighth pastor, James Lamkin, the church confronts the new era with a renewed spirit, a renewed hope, and a renewed dedication to its mission.