MOULTRIE, Ga. — The pastor, officers, and members of Williams Tabernacle C.M.E. Church will celebrate their 129th Church Anniversary at 3 p.m. Sunday, April 23.

The speaker for the occasion will be Ambassador Cornelius L. Ponder III, the senior pastor of Greater Newton Grove Cathedral in Moultrie and Dayspring Church in Tifton. The Greater Newton Grove Cathedral Choir will render the music. This year’s theme is ‘Williams Tabernacle – Moving Forward in Unity.”

In December 1870, the organizing General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church set up a separate and independent church for its colored members. Just 18 years later, in 1888, with people migrating from different places seeking jobs and housing in Moultrie and needing a house of worship, the Colored Methodist Episcopal Church in Moultrie was born. On May 17, 1954, “Colored” was changed to “Christian.”

The Moultrie church was organized in a small house on Fifth Street Southeast. The original name was Graham Chapel Christian Methodist Episcopal Church, but it was changed to Williams Tabernacle Christian Methodist Episcopal Church in honor of the late Bishop R. S. Williams.

The keynote speaker, Ponder, is a third generation preacher, who has ministered all over the South. He is a 1995 graduate of Colquitt County High School. He attended Macon College in Macon, Ga. He also received his Ministry of Prophecy Diploma from V.O.P. Institute in Los Angeles, Calif., in May 2004.

In February 2005, Ponder founded Pathway to Heaven Ministry, which now has established two entities, Pathway to Heaven Outreach Center and The Grove Development Center.

In 2016, Ponder graduated from Andersonville Theological Seminary.

Ponder is being viewed around the world along with a local television broadcast on CNS Cable (Channel 6), which broadcasts his sermons every Sunday morning from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. as well as Sunday evening from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Ponder is very active in the community. He serves on the Workforce and Small Business Board, the Tourism Board, and the Serenity House Board. He is a part of the Boys2Men Mentoring Program and serves on the Moultrie Police Department Advisory Committee and the Colquitt County Board of Education ESPLOST Committee.

He is the husband of Kutana Ponder, and they have four sons: JaCorey, Hi’Mod, Cornelius IV, and Cornelius V.

The Rev. Robert L. Lewis Sr. is pastor of Williams Tabernacle C.M.E. Church.