Second to None: A History of Second-Ponce de Leon Baptist Church, 150 Years of Service, 1854-2004.

Second to None: A History of Second-Ponce de Leon Baptist Church, 150 Years of Service, 1854-2004. By C. Douglas Weaver. Brentwood, TN: Baptist History and Heritage Society and Nashville, TN: Fields Publishing, Inc., 2004, 280 pp.

Douglas Weaver, in writing the history of the first 150 years of Second-Ponce de Leon Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia, has provided an excellent model for local church historians. Second to None is a well-written and extremely well-organized local church history.

In his preface, Weaver notes that this Baptist congregation's history provides "an important case study for understanding the role of a local Baptist church in the larger history of Baptist life in the South" (12). Weaver succeeds in placing the story of Second-Ponce into local, regional, and national contexts by including events and developments in Atlanta, in Georgia, and in the United States and then commenting on their impact on the church. Weaver also places the church in the greater Baptist context by detailing its affiliation with associations, the Georgia Baptist Convention, and the Southern Baptist Convention. He also briefly sketches the controversy among Baptists in the South that began in 1979. The only broader context missing is an introduction to the beginnings of the Baptist tradition itself.

Divided into three parts, Part One of Second to None traces the early history of the church--from the beginnings of Second Baptist Church in 1854 as a split from First Baptist Church of Atlanta over the use of a small reed organ to the new church's rise in prominence within the Southern Baptist Convention. In Part Two, Weaver focuses on the merger of Second Baptist with Ponce de Leon Avenue Baptist Church. Included in the four chapters in Part Two are overviews of the victories and struggles at Second Baptist, the organization of Ponce de Leon Avenue Baptist in 1904, and the merger of the two churches in 1932.

Weaver in Part Three provides six chapters, which explore the growth and developments of the church from 1932 to 2003. These chapters are centered on the pastoral ministers of Ryland Knight, Monroe Swilley, Jr., Russell Dilday, Robert Marsh, James Denison, and David Sapp.

Second to None is an elegant volume, measuring 8 1/2 x 11 inches and containing 280 well-designed pages. The book has an attractive full-color dust jacket and includes twelve full-color plus ninety-three black-and-white photographs. Another strength of the book is its exceptional organization and presentation of materials. The book has an eleven-page index and fourteen appendices. The final appendix is a helpful six-page list of significant dates in the church's history.

Second to None deserves a wide reading, for it informs Baptists of a truly significant church and provides a splendid example of how a local church can present its history in an attractive, readable format.--Reviewed by Pamela R Durso, associate executive director, Baptist History and Heritage Society, Brentwood, Tennessee.