Ocala church hosts GospelFest

Sandra Glover, Lillian Glover and Candace Glover, left to right, of the House of Prayer Praise Team sing a gospel song during GospelFest at the Mount Calvary Missionary Baptist Church on Southwest College Road in Ocala on March 26. [Bruce Ackerman/Ocala Gazette] 2022.

An inaugural gospel music festival has raised funds for one of Marion County’s oldest churches – Mount Calvary Missionary Baptist Church – and was so successful organizers are thinking of making it an annual event. 

Dubbed GospelFest, the event Saturday drew roughly 500 people to the grounds of the historic Black church on Southwest College Road, and brought in more than $2,000 in donations with more coming in, said the church’s pastor, the Rev. Standley Gillings.

Monies raised will help pay for a new roof, other improvements and programs. 

“It was a God-blessed day; it went extremely well,” said Gillings, who’s led the church for the past 15 years with his wife, Faye. 

The festival, which was open to the community, featured several musical groups including the quartet, Just Us, the Wayside Church choir, and individuals who performed via Open Mic time. 

There was also plenty of Southern-style food including fish, barbecue chicken and pork, and all the fixings, he said. 

“We laughed, we prayed, we praised God and we ate,” said Gillings. 

GospelFest was initiated by longtime church member Gus Gray, a well-known Marion County horse trainer, and breeder, who felt called by God to put together the music and fellowship gathering following a dream. 

There were children’s activities too.

Franklin Bryant of the group “Just Us” plays the drums. [Bruce Ackerman/Ocala Gazette] 2022.

“It went great; we had a wonderful time and exciting entertainment,” said Gray, a 2020 inductee into the Marion County Agricultural Hall of Fame and winner of the national Godolphin Award, which honors employees in the thoroughbred industry. 

“I’ve got people calling me about doing it again and even asking me to help them set up something at their church too,” he said. 

The groups performed a mix of traditional hymns along with contemporary Christian music, with Just Us singing some of their own songs, said Tammy Gantt another church member. 

“We even had one gentleman who rode up on a bicycle and took the microphone and sang like Dean Martin or Frank Sinatra; it was wonderful,” she said. “I’m sure the event will grow.” 

Karon Johnson, a 20-year member of the church and key organizer of the festival, said the event had a great mix of musicians, food and fellowship. 

“It was a great success and we are looking to do it annually or periodically,” he said. “We want to gather the community together for fellowship and to share their experiences and testimony on what God has done for them”  

“We’re looking to expand it over the years,” said Johnson, who wasn’t able to attend the event. “We’ll see if it takes us to bigger and better things.”

Gray said he plans to add some equine activities for next year’s GospelFest. 

“This is horse country and there are so many little children that don’t know anything about a horse,” he said. 

Gus Gray, left, and B.K. Sawyer, right, listen to gospel singers. [Bruce Ackerman/Ocala Gazette] 2022.

Mount Calvary, a predominately Black church traces its root to the 1870s when a group of free slaves started having services under a brush arbor, or shelter made from tree branches and brush, according to church and historical records. The church later constructed a log style building as its first sanctuary and was officially chartered in 1900. 

Early congregants were baptized in Nellie’s Pond, about a hundred yards behind the church property, now part of the Heathbrook community.

Its current sanctuary was built in 1964, after a storm moved its second sanctuary, a wooden frame church built in 1910 to replace the log building, off its foundation. 

Church members kept the original wood floor and pulpit but built new walls out of concrete block. The church also kept the bell.  

It pealed on Saturday, as it always does at the start of special occasions, courtesy of Gray.

“It was a good crowd and everybody treated each other like family,” he said.