A Shaving Bag, a Furnished Sanctuary, and a Church Born at Midnight

On the last night of 1965, at 11:00 p.m. on December 31, the Reverend Morgan Babb opened the doors of an old vacant building on Tenth Avenue North and began King Solomon Missionary Baptist Church. The only members were Mrs. Babb and the couple's two children, Lannie and Gary. Reverend Babb was the choir, the organist, the deacons, the ushers, and the treasurer. His daughter Lannie served as clerk. He opened the service with congregational songs, sat at the organ to take up the position of the choir, preached the message, extended the invitation, received members, and asked visitors to lift the offering. That first offering totaled eighty-four dollars - one month's rent.

The church's founding story is the story of a man who had put a portion of his earnings into a shaving bag before answering his divine calling and who never counted what was inside. Reverend Babb had been a gospel singer and broadcaster for decades - born in 1929 in Russellville, Kentucky, the youngest of seven brothers who later became known as the Radio Four in 1950, beginning his broadcasting career at WHOP in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, in 1948, and serving for nearly thirty years as a gospel broadcaster and program director at WVOL-AM in Nashville. After preaching his first sermon at First Street Baptist Church on Montgomery Street in East Nashville on the first Sunday of September 1965 and turning down three calls to pastor established congregations, he was directed to an empty church house at 1419 Tenth Avenue North. He drove to the address, met the owner, Mr. P. V. Fort, was handed a key, and entered to find only a rostrum.

What followed reads as a series of answered prayers. He found the pews two blocks away in an old condemned Nazarene church building, negotiated a price of five dollars per pew that was later cut in half, rented a truck, and moved them with his elder son. He returned to his shaving bag to pay the electric company, the gas company, Sears, Roebuck & Company for a one-hundred-thirty-nine-dollar gas heater, and a down payment on an old piano at the Claude P. Street Piano Company. After everything was purchased, he counted the balance: one hundred twenty-nine dollars remained. Reverend Babb also founded and starred on WMDB-AM, the station he launched in 1983. He continued preaching and pastoring his flock until he passed away on February 7, 2014. The church now carries the name Babb Memorial in his honor, and the same Tenth Avenue North address - now numbered 1417 - still welcomes worshippers.

Two Co-Pastors, One Pulpit

Co-Pastor Montagne McDonald grew up watching his grandfather build a church from a vacant building and a small bag of savings. He has been in ministry since 1992 and brings the perspective of a former WMDB-AM broadcaster, a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology, and certification as a life coach. His ministry extends well beyond the pulpit to motivational speaking, publishing, life, relationship, and marriage coaching, and a sustained advocacy against the stigma attached to mental illness. His reflections appear on his personal site, montmcdonald.com, and on his Twitter feed, @pastormontmc.

Co-Pastor Kevin M. Jackson joined Pastor McDonald at King Solomon to share the work of shepherding the congregation. Rev. Jackson is the founder of New Wine Ministries, a church he describes as built around an atmosphere of healing and hope for those who are hurting and lost. He has been in ministry since 2002. Raised in the Baptist tradition, he was licensed and ordained in the Apostolic faith and now identifies as a non-denominationalist who respects and values all Christian denominations. He is known for a powerful, no-nonsense preaching style - sermons he describes as sincere, hard-hitting, and seasoned with humor - and he carries a particular passion for mentoring and coaching others through their spiritual journeys.

Sunday Morning Worship at 1417 Tenth Avenue North

Sunday Morning Worship begins at 11:00 a.m. in the sanctuary at 1417 10th Avenue North. The service is offered in person and is also livestreamed for those worshipping from home. Members and visitors gather in a building with a long history - the same rostrum where Reverend Babb first preached, the same mismatched pews that were once across town in a condemned Nazarene church and were carried over two blocks to their present home.

The worship style draws on the gospel heritage that has shaped the church since its founding. Reverend Babb built his own reputation as a gospel singer with the Radio Four before becoming a preacher, and music remains central to the life of the congregation. Visitors are welcomed into a Baptist congregation that calls itself, simply, "The Friendly Church at the End of Your Search."

Wednesday Nights: Midweek Conversations

On Wednesday evenings at 7:00 p.m. Central, King Solomon gathers for Midweek Conversations, also known as Bible Study. The session is livestreamed alongside the Sunday service, so members who cannot attend in person can still follow the teaching and the discussion. Pastor McDonald and Pastor Jackson take turns bringing scripture and conversation into the week, opening space for the questions members bring from their daily lives. Midweek Conversations function both as a study and as a check-in - the smaller room where the church's pastoral work happens between Sundays.

Saturday Community Walks

When the weather allows, the church sends a small group into the streets of North Nashville on Saturday mornings at 8:00 a.m. for a Community Walk. The walk is a visible, regular presence - members moving through the neighborhood they have committed to serve, getting to know the people and the places that surround 1417 10th Avenue North. Listed on the church's recurring calendar alongside Sunday worship and Wednesday Bible Study, the Saturday walk is one of the simplest and most consistent ways the congregation lives out its missionary identity.

The Missionary Ministry: Giving Back to North Nashville

In 2014, the year after Pastor Babb's passing, Babb Memorial King Solomon MBC launched a Missionary Ministry - a fund set aside specifically to give back to the surrounding community. The ministry's stated purpose is to support local non-profits that work to make Nashville a better place, both financially and through volunteer service.

Among the partner organizations are Matthew Walker Comprehensive Health Center, where donations help with co-pays and prescription assistance for elderly patients; Partners in the Struggle, an anti-gun-violence group; Buena Vista Elementary School; and Nashville Union Rescue Mission. The Missionary Ministry has become the church's central expression of its conviction that a congregation cannot simply take up space in its neighborhood without serving it. Pastor McDonald has said on many occasions, "We cannot just take up space in this community and not serve the community." Donations to the church can be directed to the Missionary Ministry through the online giving page or via CashApp at $ksmbc.

The Progressive Ladies of KSMBC

The Progressive Ladies of King Solomon MBC is the women's ministry of the church. First Lady Lorall Babb - the founder's wife - started the group to meet the needs of women in the congregation, and under her leadership it grew into one of the church's most active ministries. First Lady Connie McDonald now leads the Progressive Ladies, continuing the tradition.

The women of King Solomon partner with the Women's Shelter run by the Nashville Rescue Mission, helping to provide necessary supplies to the women and children sheltered there. Each year the group hosts an annual Women's Day to fellowship with women from the church and the wider community. The Progressive Ladies describe their work as strengthening the ties that bind women in sisterhood and seeking to bring women to Jesus as whole individuals joining the body of Christ.

Christians for Mental Healing

Pastored and shaped by Co-Pastor Montagne McDonald, Christians for Mental Healing is both a movement and an outreach of King Solomon. The group's purpose is to open honest conversation about mental illness within the Christian community and to push back against the stigmas that have often framed mental health challenges as a curse, a demonic influence, or a sign of weakness.

The outreach pursues that goal through resource material and seminars, working to educate fellow Christians on the strides that have been made in mental health treatment and offering the hope that comes from living the abundant life Jesus promised. Christians for Mental Healing is a particularly personal expression of Pastor McDonald's wider work as a certified life coach and mental health advocate.

U Matter Helping Hands Ministry

U Matter Helping Hands Ministry is a partner organization - a social services group founded and operated by Danielle Brown, a member of King Solomon, and committed to aiding those in need while advocating for fair and equal conditions across Middle Tennessee. The organization's focus is on aiding the unhoused and young people who have aged out of foster care and seek stability, with a commitment to connecting clients with outside agencies when necessary. King Solomon supports U Matter Helping Hands as part of its wider effort to be missionaries to its own community.

Poetry and Reflections: The Church's Blog

The King Solomon blog carries the written voice of the church. The featured writer is Anjetta (Anjie) Williams-Brown, a longtime member whose poetry and reflections appear regularly. Williams-Brown is a retired business coordinator who spent twenty-two years at Tennessee State University, holds degrees from the University of Alabama at Birmingham and TSU, and was the first African American woman in Tennessee to pass the Educational Facilities Professional examination. Her poems - ranging from "We Shall Not Be Moved," a meditation on Ida B. Wells and the long history of civil rights activism before Rosa Parks, to "Beautiful by Design," honoring Annie Malone and Madam C. J. Walker - give the church an ongoing literary conversation that lives alongside the sermons.

Blog categories include Poetry, Lifestyle, Teaching, Outreach, and Wellness. Recent posts include "Faith Through Trial," drawn from Philippians 4:13; "To Thine Own Self Be True"; "Life's Too Short"; "Dreams"; and "Peace in GoodBye." A reflection by Co-Pastor McDonald, "Disengaging Social Media," speaks to the limits of arguing online and is grounded in 2 Timothy 23:23-24. The blog is one of the ways the church extends its teaching beyond Sunday morning.

Online and Around Town

Services are livestreamed on Sundays at 11:00 a.m. and Wednesdays at 7:00 p.m. Central, with on-demand video available on the church's YouTube channel. The church is active on Facebook at facebook.com/kmbchurch and on Twitter at @BabbMemorial. Pastor McDonald maintains his own Twitter presence at @pastormontmc and a YouTube channel where his sermons and reflections are posted. Members can subscribe for updates through the church's mailing list, and giving is accepted through the online donation page and via CashApp at $ksmbc.

King Solomon describes itself with a single line that has stayed with it for years: "The Friendly Church at the End of Your Search." It is a self-description that fits the founding story - a church where, on the very first night, the pastor was also the choir and the deacons, the offering was eighty-four dollars, and a small shaving bag held everything the work of God would need.