COLUMBIA — A long-time Columbia ministry has been waiting two decades to hold an event on historical church property. This fall, their prayers will be answered.
The three acres in McBaine have been home to Mount Celestial Baptist Church I since the 1800s. Over the years, upkeep of the land and church structures became too much for members. In April of 2024, volunteers with For Columbia’s Day of Serving stepped in to clean up and revitalize the property. A year later, in the spring of 2025, the group was back out for phase two.
What a difference a year can make.
“That was a lot when we think about year one. That was a lot,” Pastor Ranita Warren-Norwood said.
Warren-Norwood is the pastor of Mount Celestial Baptist Church II and said her vision to see her ancestral land restored, beautified and filled with families again, is finally here.
“I am so happy,” Warren-Norwood said. “I am so elated.”
Warren-Norwood said she has a lot of fond memories on the property from when her father, Ray Warren, was pastor of Mount Celestial Baptist Church I. But for 20 years, the congregation hasn’t been able to have an event on the church grounds.
In 2024, For Columbia’s Day of Serving brought together volunteers made up of business owners, church groups and community members to help the church restore the legacy left by church members’ families.
“I think there’s such a joy and a happiness, if you will, because there is such a rich history there,” Warren-Norwood said.
Between 2024 and 2025, many volunteers cleared brush, debris and weeds, while others constructed a new pavilion, put in fencing and built hillside stairs.
“Behind the pavilion, they began the pathway through the graveyard, the historic graveyard,” Warren-Norwood said.
In its 10th anniversary, For Columbia is holding its annual day of serving at the end of the month.
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Columbia volunteer Chris Schwedtmann has also been recording the journey. He’s filming a documentary about eight historical African American churches in Columbia and said Mount Celestial is one of the oldest.
“A lot of the footage that we have filmed with For Columbia will be in the film, and a lot of the story about how this all came about will be in the film as well,” Schwedtmann said.
Schwedtmann first showed KOMU 8 the property in 2024, when the old church building was just a pile of debris and lumber, and the plans were just blueprints. Now, the grounds are ready for new memories.
“Each time I worked out there, it just got closer and closer to that, and to see the pavilion go up in that same footprint, it’s in the exact same footprint as the church buildings,” Schwedtmann said.
This year, Schwedtmann decided to move from behind the camera and be a little more hands-on.
“I have now realized that I will continue to be a cameraman and not a landscape constructor, landscape designer,” Schwedtmann said.
Pastor Warren-Norwood said she is grateful to Schwedtmann and everyone who has helped in the last two years.
“For Columbia, the team, the committee, the encouragers have just been there all along the way,” Warren-Norwood said.
But, according to her, there is one more phase to go. She would like to see benches and maybe even a landmark.
“To mark the spot — (to show) there really was church, there really was worship, there really was fellowship, there really was community here, and it has just been like, ‘Yes! This is what we were supposed to do!'” Warren-Norwood said.
Until that time comes, Warren-Norwood is ready to check off another goal she had in mind when she spoke to KOMU 8 last year about a basket dinner.
In celebration of the church’s first event in 20 years, on Sunday, Sept. 28 at 1 p.m., Mount Celestial II Baptist Church will hold a basket dinner at the historic site pavilion on Mount Celestial Road. Pastor Warren-Norwood also hopes to have bible studies, prayer gatherings, weddings, memorial services and baptisms in the near future.
