Former Dexter Avenue UMC Home to Valiant Cross Academy and winner of Yass Award

(Bishop Lawson Bryan) - The Valiant Cross Academy has been chosen to receive the $1,000,000 Yass Award for excellence in education innovation. This is  good news to be celebrated throughout the Montgomery area. But it is of special significance to those of us in the Alabama-West Florida Conference of The United Methodist Church. Valiant Cross Academy is located in the former Dexter Avenue United Methodist Church, and, more recently, River City Church. The property is located is at 301 Dexter, just three blocks from the Alabama state capitol. It has a powerful, positive history dating back to the 1880’s. In fact, around 1886 the church was launched in the Dotzheim Grocery and Saloon, further up toward the capitol on Dexter Avenue. While we often hear today of a church that meets in a bar, this church was started nearly 150 years ago in an actual saloon.
 
Once the church secured the land on Dexter Avenue, the faithful church members constructed a beautiful sanctuary and a large education building. I served there from 1980 to 1986. It was during that time that I came to appreciate the way the story of the church had been carefully preserved in the Shrine Room. The driving force behind this was a Mr. Adolph Roemer. He collected and catalogued news articles, photos, minutes, and other historical documents and memorabilia. This was a gold mine of information that allowed me to get a deeper understanding of the unique story of Dexter. In 1886, for example, the charter members expressed their vision for the church in these words:  “to be a great people’s church in the heart of the capitol city.” Then there was the time in the early 1900’s when the historical records tell of raising funds for a new sanctuary and how church members gave not only money, but also gave gold and silver jewelry and other valuable items. Mary Paul Roemer told me she remembered her brother bringing the money he had saved to buy a bicycle and giving it to the church. 
 
So, in its long history, this great church has gone from a Saloon to a Sanctuary --- and now it has entered a new chapter of its history by becoming a Christian school whose mission is to provide a loving environment in which young men in Montgomery can develop into the leaders who achieve their God-given potential.  
 
From a Saloon to a Sanctuary to a Cathedral of Christian education --- the purpose remains the same: Making Disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.