Submitted by Ben Sandifer
On Saturday June 10, 2023, more than 60 former members of Cherokee Heights United Methodist Church gathered to share memories of their days at one of the largest churches in the South Georgia Conference. Many of these stories were recorded for an audio podcast.
The reunion was held in the fellowship hall at Riverside United Methodist Church, one of two Macon churches started by members of Cherokee Heights. With the rapid growth of Macon’s suburbs, Riverside began in the 1950’s, and Forest Hills Methodist opened during the next decade.
The rich history of Cherokee Heights started in 1915, developed out of the Macon Board of Church Extension and Mulberry Street Methodist Church. In its peak years Cherokee Heights had more than 1,300 members enrolled in its Sunday School program, the largest enrollment in the entire conference.
Though it began to serve the rapidly growing Cherokee Heights neighborhood in Macon, the church’s membership came from all parts of Macon and Bibb County. The three-story sanctuary building, two-story education building, and fellowship hall occupied Macon’s highest-elevated point, on the corner of Napier and Pio Nono Avenues, for 95 years. Cherokee Heights United Methodist Church closed and was officially decommissioned in 2010. Bold As A Lion Ministries purchased the former Cherokee campus later that year.
The Cherokee Heights reunion podcast was produced by GMS Advertising and Productions, and can be heard or downloaded on the Middle GA Podcasts channel, at
middlegapodcasts.podbean.com/.
For more information, contact Ben Sandifer at 478-474-4366, or
gmsproductions@cox.net.
Ben Sandifer is the lay leader at Park Memorial UMC.
