By CAROLYN CARY
Contribution Writer

It's time," states Pastor Eddie Thomas of Edgefield Baptist Church in Fayetteville, "to use the salt, to shine the light and to be a city on a hill." To emphasize this, a new logo has been created for the church and its members stand ready to live by it.

The church is in its 128th year and was first organized by ex-slaves in 1870. The first sermons were preached atop a large rock, located at what is now Hickory Drive and Ga. Highway 54 west.

Pastor Thomas was born and reared in Pensacola, Fla., attending college in El Paso,Tex., and the Inter-denominational Theological Center at Clark Atlanta University.

He first came to Atlanta in 1989 with $250 in his pocket. The person he was to stay with seemed to have disappeared, and he called his car home for a short while. Going into the mortuary field for a living, he met someone who invited him along to help with a children's choir in a place called "Fayetteville." A pull into ministry had always been in the back of his mind, as his great-grandfather had started a church in Pensacola in 1865 and his grandfather had also served that same church. It is still a viable congregation.

The congregation at Edgefield Baptist encouraged him to enter the ministry which he eventually did. This is his first pastorate and he is quite content to stay as long as the members want him to stay.

The church has a long and rich history that includes raising the funds for a church on its present site in 1911.

It is located on Church Street in downtown Fayette-ville.The Fellowship Hall, located next to the church, was built in 1955 to serve as a school and also as a lodge hall.

This building as well as the surrounding grounds are currently undergoing a $40,000 improve-ment program which includes some refurbishing of the main sanctuary.

"I want to be the light," said Pastor Thomas, "to which all Fayette Countians come to know about Edgefield Baptist Church and I try to focus on our new logo to accomplish this in everything else I do."

He and the Rev. John Hatcher of Rivers Edge Church, recently exchanged pulpits for a Sunday and it is believed to be the first time in the county a predominantly white church and a predominantly black church have done this.

The "Mission Statement" of the church states: "We are the salt of the earth, effecting a positive change, as we let our light shine that others may see a city on a hill that cannot be hidden. Because we believe in an active faith, we seek to meet the spiritual as well as the physical needs of the people in our community. The cornerstone of our mission is to proclaim the gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for kingdom building."

The church is located at 140 Church Street, with services every Sunday at 11:30 a.m., and Sunday School at 10 a.m. Bible Study is every Wednesday night from 8-9 p.m.

The church office can be reached at 770-461-7388.