PENSACOLA — Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Pensacola area will gather to celebrate the 50th year of the regional stake church’s organization.
The celebration is 4 p.m. June 29 at the Stake Center, 9490 Fox Run Road, Pensacola.
The celebration program will include remembrances from several of the past stake presidents, discussions and displays of church activities and service projects within the community, and musical performances by adult, youth and children choirs and musicians. Refreshments will follow the program. The public is invited.
Pensacola church history
The Pensacola church began when three Latter-Day Saints families came to the area to live in 1934. They met for Sunday school, Scripture study and fellowship in a member’s home.
Over time, more church members came to the area, and along with conversions by traveling missionaries, the membership grew. They met in rentable spaces until they built their own meeting house. Soon, an additional building was needed and property on North 9th Avenue was purchased, with the building completed in December 1968.
The official organization of the Pensacola stake occurred in June 1969. At that time, the 10 smaller membership groups spreading from Atmore and Mobile, Alabama, to Destin were incorporated into this new stake.
Over the years, the Alabama groups were organized into the Mobile Stake (1978) and the Fort Walton Beach Stake was created in 1996.
The Pensacola Stake includes nine membership groups, or wards.
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: LDS Pensacola stake to celebrate 50th anniversary