The History of NSMBC 

With a vision in his mind and a calling from God in his heart on October 26, 1969 the late Reverend Earl Hines founded Grace Missionary Baptist Church. With less than 15 members (which included Reverend and Mrs. Hines) the first service was held at 1821 Oliver Avenue North right here in North Minneapolis, the home of Jessie and Minnie Hollie.


The founding members of New Salem were Jessie and Minnie Hollie, Effie and Nonie Hollie, Earnestine Wade Chambers, James and Hester Thompson, Floyd Cunningham, and Clara Norris. In April 1970, the basement of the Cassius Cleaners located on Plymouth and Logan Avenues North in Minneapolis served as home to the small but growing congregation. At this time the name of the church was changed to New Salem Missionary Baptist Church because there was another church across the street by the same name Grace Missionary Baptist Church. By the end of the year, the congregation quickly outgrew their new space and moved on to holding services at the Phyllis Wheatley House on Aldrich Avenue North in Minneapolis. During this time the Champion and Gurley families joined.

By 1971, New Salem was steadily increasing in size and the congregation was once again forced to relocate with the intention of making 1000 Oliver Avenue North their permanent location. During this time the Johnson and Robinson families joined and many youth in the community began to attend. With such a young congregation the financial responsibilities associated with the building proved to be overwhelming.
On January 25, 1972, the Lord blessed the New Salem family with the ability to purchase the building at 2309 Plymouth Avenue North from the Kenesseth Israel Congregation. Over the next 17 years many accomplishments were made. The Griffins, Braziels, Byrds, Lewis’, Jones’ and many others joined our growing family. The church purchased a school bus to pick up families in the community. A baptizing pool was built. The youth department was one of the largest in Minneapolis. There were three choirs, Pastoral, Spiritualettes and the Buds of Christ. Reverend Hines wasalso the Moderator of the Metropolitan District. Reverend Jessie Griffin was ordained and was called to pastor True Vine Missionary Baptist Church.  
After 16 years of tenancy and with the last mortgage payment being made the New Salem congregation held a joyous mortgage burning ceremony, with the ReverendT.F. Thomas and the congregation of Mount Carmel Missionary Baptist Church of Waterloo, Iowa as our special guests. 
As time brings about change the membership began to decline, however our foundation was strong. 


On December 22, 1989, the Lord called Reverend Hines home to glory. The congregation was left with the task of finding a new leader. Very few preachers were beating down the door to get in. 
After preaching a powerful sermon in January of 1990 to just a few families of the congregation, Reverend Jerry McAfee consented to serve as Interim pastor to New Salem. It did not take long for the small but dedicated congregation to decide that they wanted the young, fiery expository preacher to be their new pastor. 



In May of 1990 Reverend McAfee was installed as the Senior Pastor of New Salem Missionary Baptist Church. Word quickly spread about the preaching, teaching and singing young man at New Salem that was causing Sunday morning services to be “standing room only.” To get a good seat you had to attend Sunday school. As the congregation grew, so did the finances. 


In 1991 we purchased the duplex at 1254-1256 Russell Avenue North. One side was used for the church administrative offices; the other side was rented out. Realizing that we could no longer contain the rapidly growing congregation we began looking for a facility to hold Sunday service. In 1995 we moved to 2200 Fremont Avenue North to share the facility of Bethlehem Lutheran Church.
Believing that God had directed us to build a facility, we began the purchase of many properties on the 2100 block of Aldrich Avenue North. Many questions were asked while purchasing the properties however, the vision soon became clear. 


After seven years of diligent service (seven represents the number of completion/ perfection) God blessed the New Salem congregation (beyond imagination) by providing a church home of our own once again. We liquidated the properties on Plymouth and Aldrich for $400,000 and purchased and former church home of Zion Lutheran Church located at 2519 Lyndale Avenue North in Minneapolis for $600.000.
In January of 2002, we marched into the sanctuary. This became the church home to the proud members of New Salem Missionary Baptist Church. We began to make many updates.  Putting on a new roof, adding central air, painting the sanctuary, purchasing new padded pews, chairs, carpet, kitchen equipment and a sign. In 2006, we opened a charter school educating over one hundred children. We purchased a building located at 1000 Humboldt Avenue North in Minneapolis to accommodate our growing school and congregation. After Ascension would not renew our charter for the school and an economic crisis hit, all of our properties went into foreclosure. During this time we were allowed to rent the building located at 2519 Lyndale Avenue North. After we could not reach a purchase agreement we began to look for a new home. Being ready to move to North Community High School to hold weekly service God showed Reverend McAfee and New Salem favor once again.  


In January 2011, we again marched into a new facility at 2507 Bryant Avenue North. The former church home of St. Phillips. Since we’ve been here, we done some remodeling, we built up the stage/pulpit area, built a Baptismal pool, and several other things.