Ronald Phillips of Marietta, who has been attending the Marietta Campmeeting for the past 72 years, holds a photograph of his great-grandfather, Edmond Pendleton Gaines, who also attended the yearly revival during the late 1800s. Phillips’ ‘tent’ was built around 1900, and his family also occupies four other tents out of the 23 that surround the Arbor.
Photo by Laura Moon
Photo by Laura Moon
The 173rd Marietta Campmeeting at the Marietta Campground, 2301 Roswell Road near the intersection of Sewell Mill Road, is expected to be one of the largest in recent memory. Between 2,500 and 3,000 people - some with a connection to some of the county's earliest pioneers - are expected to attend.
Campmeeting services will begin today at 7:30 p.m., after a picnic. Thereafter, services will be twice daily at 11 a.m. and 7:30 p.m. Children's church will be 9 a.m. to noon Monday through Friday. The outdoor revival concludes with a communion service at 11 a.m. July 25. All events are free.
Though originally Methodist-affiliated, the Marietta Campmeeting services are nondenominational and open to all.
Pastor David Chauncey of Eastside Baptist Church in Marietta will preach tonight and at each following service through Tuesday. Pastor Frank Bernat of Hope Church in Dallas will take the pulpit at the Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday services. The revival will close on July 25 with Dr. Brian Germano of East Cobb United Methodist Church presiding.
This year's theme is "Be the Church!"
"I've prayed that everyone could understand that church is not a place to go to - a building," said Cheryl Lassiter, president of the nonprofit Marietta Campmeeting Inc. "If we live our lives asking God's direction daily, we can be the church!"
One of the reasons for the larger than normal gathering is a celebration event scheduled from 12:30 to 10 p.m. Saturday after the morning service. The public is invited to enjoy a day of activities, including carnival games, face painting, sand art, ducks on the pond, inflatable slides, and food such as barbecue, hotdogs, popcorn and snow cones.
Organizers hope guests will stay for Saturday's 7:30 p.m. service, to be followed by ice-cold watermelon.
Lassiter, 57, of Marietta, said the camp meeting is going to be "a great 10 days." She said it has been an important part of her life since meeting and marrying her husband, Stanley - whose family has been associated with it for generations - in 1973.
They were married under the open-air oak tabernacle at Marietta Campground, and all three of their children were baptized there.
"It's just part of my life-blood and my soul," Lassiter said.
The Marietta Campmeeting began in 1837, just five years after Cobb County was incorporated in 1832. The present tabernacle was built a year later in 1838. The schoolhouse, built in 1891, has undergone three phases of renovations over the past three years.
Today, 23 two-story cabins, referred to as "tents" by the families that own them, continue to be lived in during the revival. They border the 40-acre campground site.
Campmeetings gave early settlers a way to participate in organized religious services. At the time, ministers known as "circuit riders" traveled throughout the area, preaching to farmers who lived miles away from the center of town.
"The people had a need to socialize and a need to worship, and this is what they came together for out here at the campground," said campground historian Ron Phillips, 72, of Marietta, whose great-great grandfather attended the first campground meeting. "It has served the community, and to bring the community together to worship, socialize and to strengthen the community. That was it means to me because of my family's deep roots here."
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