New Mount Moriah Missionary Baptist Church in South Dallas celebrated its 100th anniversary Sunday with packed pews and a service vibrant with dancing, cheering and the love of family.
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The church, founded in 1925 and located on Marder Street south of Fair Park, has about 140 members, said the Rev. Bruce Fortner, who has led the church for the past 20 years.
The church has remained resilient, serving its community through multiple wars, gentrification and changes in the neighborhood, and the COVID-19 pandemic, which posed a particular challenge to small churches without a large online streaming presence.
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The church is home, members said, and the love they have for God and one another has held the church together. The church had about 300 members at its peak in the 1970s, and has moved buildings several times throughout its history. It has been in its current location since the late 1950s, according to a booklet handed out during the service.
Longtime church members attended service in suits and sparkling sequin dresses, and brightly colored, wide-brimmed hats adorned with flowers. Many brought additional family and friends with them. Members greeted one another with hugs and laughter, and during service, congregants were asked to “bear-hug” new visitors.
The choir led the room in hymns as dancing and clapping to piano and drums filled the small sanctuary. Two dancers performed a routine to “Total Praise,” earning cheers and a standing ovation.
The Rev. Bruce Fortner speaks to the congregation during the New Mount Moriah Missionary Baptist Church’s 100th anniversary service on Sunday, Oct. 12 in Dallas.
Christine Vo / Staff Photographer
A church member read letters of congratulation from U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Dallas, and Dallas City Council member Adam Bazaldua.
The Rev. Kentry Ellison, a guest speaker, delivered a sermon about God’s provision and challenges for his people. Preaching from Joshua 5, he told the congregation the Lord called them to let go of things that were hindering their walk with God.
God wants to bring healing to his people, said Ellison, who encouraged attendees to bring their pain and hurt to God, rather than hiding or masking it.
“If you don’t deal with your pain, your pain will deal with you,” he said. “You’ll end up bleeding on folk who didn’t cut you.”
Fortner closed the service by honoring longtime church members, including Kathryn Burch, a member of over 70 years. Affectionately called Sister Burch by fellow congregants, she recently celebrated her 100th birthday.
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“We all stand on the shoulders of somebody that came before,” Fortner said. The church’s survival, he said, was due to God’s goodness and to the dedication to God of longtime members like Burch.
In an interview last week, Burch said she loves the closeness church members share. “We always just been family,” she said.
Burch was born in Dallas and has lived in the city her whole life. She worked at a textile factory for over 30 years and has two children, three grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.
Burch said members of the church have “adopted” her into their families, and she’s done the same. A friend’s daughter writes down the Scripture every Sunday so Burch can study it later, and Burch still prays for fellow members and sends them birthday and anniversary cards.
Kathryn Burch speaks with the Dallas Morning News in her living room on Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2025, in Dallas.
Angela Piazza / Staff Photographer
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Burch said she used to sing in the church choir and loved ushering and greeting churchgoers as they walked in.
“It was just a joy to me to see people,” she said.
Sheri Rand, Burch’s oldest daughter, grew up in the church. She said her mother has the kind of face that makes people feel welcome, and that even a rock would talk to her. “And I would answer,” Burch said with a laugh.
Mary Badger, 84, attended the service with her son Mark Williams-Badger, 60, a professional pianist. Neither attends the church anymore, but they came Sunday to celebrate a place with many good memories.
Williams-Badger said he built his spiritual and musical foundation at New Mount Moriah. He said he was happy to see the church had held onto “the same commitment we had back in the ’70s and ’80s.”
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Myesheia Leffall, 47, who works at UT Southwestern Medical Center, has been attending the church for about 10 years and agreed it felt like a family. Leffall said that after her father passed away in 2018, she called Fortner, who officiated her father’s funeral and brought the church choir with him.
“They showed up,” Leffall said.
The Rev. Marcus Jackson, 56, is a part-time pastor at the church and the chief operating officer of Medical City Las Colinas. He said the church has taught him what true faith looks like.
“I’ve seen more faithful people here than the people you see on TV — the big names, the celebrity pastors,” he said. “This is a basic faith that just reminds me who Jesus was really interested in — people on the margins.”