Installation Of Rev. Dr. John Julian Cox (Fall 2003) As 7th Pastor Of Historic Vermont Avenue Baptis

Vermont Avenue Baptist Church will install Rev. Dr. John J. Cox as its seventh Pastor on Sunday, July 29, 2018. Brother Cox will become the 7th pastor of the historic Washington, DC church since its founding in 1866. Prior to this appointment, Brother Cox served as Minister of Young Adults at the Houston, Texas-based Church Without Walls. He earned his Doctor of Ministry degree from Baylor University in 2017, and his Master of Divinity degree from Vanderbilt University in 2007.
About the church:
In 1866, seven freedmen gathered for the purpose of forming a church. Receiving the necessary certification from the Nineteenth Street Baptist Church, these former slaves set themselves apart and formed the Fifth Baptist Church of Washington, DC. They called as their pastor the Reverend John Henry Brooks, a former Union army wagon driver.

Over the past one hundred fifty two years, the Fifth Baptist Church has done some growing and some changing. We have grown in number and we have changed many things, including our name to Vermont Avenue Baptist Church. In the midst of the astonishing growth and change, some things have remained persistently the same. We have, through the grace and mercy of God, continued to be a church led by the spirit, directed and focused on the will of God and committed to the cause of lifting the name of Jesus. We praise God for the gift of constancy that has kept our light burning, as a city set on a hill, guiding the lost, the disinherited and those in search of salvation to Him.
Our church has been blessed to have only six pastors. Reverend John Henry Brooks, our first pastor, shepherded the flock from 1866 until his death in 1884. Under his pastorate, the church was renamed and erected what is now the main sanctuary of the church on Vermont Avenue in Washington, DC.
