The church was founded in 1886 by Pastor
John A. Parker and eight people, on Airline Street. The church's name derives from the
Books of Samuel, where the
Prophet Samuel names a place "
Ebenezer", meaning "stone of help", to commemorate God helping the Israelites defeat the Philistines. Adam Daniel Williams (maternal grandfather of Martin Luther King Jr.) became pastor in 1894, and the church had only 13 members. It grew to 400 members by 1903 and in 1913, the church had 750 people. In 1922, the building was dedicated. In 1927,
Martin Luther King Sr. became an assistant pastor, then senior pastor in 1931. In 1957, the church hosted a meeting of Baptist leaders at the invitation of Pastor
Martin Luther King Jr. resulting in the founding of the
Southern Christian Leadership Conference for the end of
racial segregation in the United States. In 1975,
Joseph L. Roberts Jr. became senior pastor. In 1999, a new 1,700-seat church building called the Horizon Sanctuary was inaugurated within the
Martin Luther King Jr. National Historical Park. Since 2005, U.S. Senator
Raphael Warnock has been the senior pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church; he is the fifth person to serve as Ebenezer's senior pastor since its founding. On January 30, 2020, Warnock announced his campaign for
Kelly Loeffler's Senate seat during the
2020 special election. In a special runoff election on January 5, 2021, Reverend Warnock defeated Loeffler receiving 51% of the popular vote. With this victory, Warnock made history by becoming the first Black senator from the state of Georgia. On December 6, 2022, Warnock made further history by becoming the first Black senator from Georgia elected to a full six-year term. In 2021, it had 6,000 members. == Beliefs ==