MACON, GA — A special committee formed in January 2024 to determine the official founding year of Calvary Bible Church so the congregation could plan its centennial celebration has now been meeting for over 14 months without reaching a conclusion, a timeline that may itself qualify as historically significant.

The dispute centers on whether the church was founded in 1925, when a group of 11 believers first gathered in the home of Everett Hollis, or in 1927, when the congregation formally incorporated and constructed its first building. A third faction, led by retired schoolteacher Patricia Nolen, 74, contends the true founding date is 1923, citing a handwritten prayer journal she discovered in a shoebox in the church attic that nobody else has been permitted to examine.

“We want to get this right,” said committee chairman Doug Alvarez, 61, who has convened 17 meetings and commissioned one independent historical review that the committee subsequently disputed. “You can’t celebrate a centennial in the wrong year. That’s not a celebration. That’s just a dinner.”

“At this point we may celebrate our centennial and our 101st and our 102nd simultaneously, just to cover the range.” — Doug Alvarez, Committee Chairman

The congregation, which had originally hoped to host a centennial banquet in 2025, has since moved the target celebration to 2026, then 2027, and most recently “sometime before the Lord returns,” according to minutes from the February meeting.

The church’s current senior pastor, Rev. Marcus Webb, 49, confirmed he has been asked not to preach on the virtue of patience during the ongoing deliberations.

At press time, Patricia Nolen had agreed to let the committee see the prayer journal, but only after it was photocopied at a Walgreens she has not yet located.