We are a local assembly of approximately 70, banded together to worship the Lord as He is revealed in Christ Jesus, following the truths set forth in His holy Word. Our doctrinal position is most accurately expressed by the 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith. Our passion is for the lost, and we are determined, as was Paul, to proclaim the Lord Jesus Christ and Him only!
In December of 1978, Mt. Zion Bible Church of Pensacola, Florida, was founded. In the early stages of our ministry here, the printing was done on a mimeograph machine, in the basement of a home until moving into our first building in June of 1979. As more doors opened, we printed more, and the Lord gave us our first offset press in June of 1986. Another press was added in February of 1988. All this time, God was moving to open even more doors for a wider ministry. In February of 1987 we inherited Chapel Library from the Nelson family in Venice, Florida. Then in June of 1988 we began publishing the Free Grace Broadcaster from W.F. Bell in Canton Georgia.
Our mailing list kept growing until the volume became so great that we were no longer able to continue to put everything together by hand. God provided a computer system for handling the mailing labels, and a paper cutter, tract folder, and 13-station collator with stitcher, folder, and trimmer.
As you can imagine, this made space a little tight, and we could no longer use our building for both worship and work. A second building was added, which now houses our sanctuary.
In 1991 our literature distribution more than tripled, outgrowing our storage space. We were now adding more titles and printing larger quantities, and once again our prayers were answered with a third building which more than tripled our work and inventory space.
Into the new building, along with all our other equipment, went a large sheet press, a perfector press, a large folder, a 12-station perfect binder to collate, glue, and trim books up to 252 pages, and all the necessary graphics and layout equipment to prepare our publications for the press.
The Prison Ministry began in 1984 with mailings to one prison in Huntsville, Texas. It has since spread by word of mouth to 3500 facilities in Canada and all 50 states in the USA. We send free tracts, booklets, books, Christian literature, and correspondence courses to chaplains for their distribution, and directly to individual inmates..
In 1995 we saw the addition of our correspondence school, Mt. Zion Bible Institute.
Our tape ministry doubled in size in 1995, now offering around 8000 sermons.
Late in 1996 we also saw the beginning of a new venture on the internet, www.MountZion.org and www.JohnBunyan.org.
On January 16, 2003 our founder, Pastor Lee Roy Shelton, Jr., age 79, went home to be with his Heavenly Father. He was succeeded in the ministry by Pastor Jeff Pollard. All of the following are available:
Letter from the Elders of Mt. Zion Bible Church concerning the passing of L.R. Shelton, Jr. HTML, PDF
Program of Funeral Sevice of L.R. Shelton, Jr. PDF
With Me Where I Am a Message preached on January 19, 2003 MP3
Funeral Service on January 21, 2003 for L.R. Shelton, Jr. MP3
Introduction to Jeff Pollard HTML
Today our literature ministry, Chapel Library, has close to 800 different titles of tracts, booklets, and books which are distributed to almost every country in the world.
The Lord alone is to be praised and glorified for all that is done here, for He alone has supplied the wisdom, strength, grace, mercy, money, equipment, and workers to carry it on. May Jesus Christ be praised!