Praise, remembrance and a good time is how Mt. Olive Missionary Baptist Church will be celebrating its 43rd anniversary.

In 1962, two churches came together and the result was Mt. Olive Missionary Baptist Church. On Sunday, its members will celebrate that joining of Friendship and Fourth Street Baptist churches.

"It's remembering how the Lord has kept us and commemorating the two churches coming together," said the Rev. David R. Peoples, pastor of Mt. Olive Missionary Baptist Church.

The church got its name from a suggestion by the late Sister Loreen Boykin. Within its first year, the church caught fire, but 10 months later the congregation had a new church.

Though Rev. Peoples has only been with the church four years,Dorsey T. Conwell has been there for it all. She was 19 when Mt. Olive began and now has become the church historian.

"I've been here since the beginning, I was the first person to get married and I was the first wedding in the church," Conwell said.

Now 62, she said she is looking forward to praising God, enjoying fellowship with friends and family and having a good time.

Rev. Melvin Freeman from Triedstone Baptist Church in Gallipolis will be speaking at a special 4 p.m. service Sunday. There will also be the usual morning worship at 11 a.m. Mt. Olive Missionary Baptist Church is at 409 Mulberry St., Ironton.

The church is a member of the Providence Regular Missionary Baptist Association, Inc., the Ohio Baptist General Convention, Inc. and the National Baptist Convention, U.S.A., Inc.