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The pink-and-blue-themed double wedding of twins Ruth Thomas and Janice Holder filled the pews at Florida Street Baptist Church.

“It was July 13, 1957, the hottest day of the summer — and my relatives reminded us of that for a long time,” said Holder, who with her sister remains a member of the church. At the time, it was one of the largest churches in Greensboro.

With nearly 1,000 people in the Sunday school and two worship services at the church, the congregation was financially able to complete an education building in 1969 and hold a debt-free title by 1971 .

Now, plastic covers the beds in the nursery most Sunday mornings, and Judith Glasgow, the pastor’s wife, gets excited when 10 children from the neighborhood show up. The beauty of the thick, mint-green carpet lining the aisles and the sparkling gold-toned candelabras overhead is muted only by the cushioned yet empty pews. Meant for 600, they seat 30, mostly senior citizens.

That should change this morning, when the younger, diverse Mosaic Church brings a congregation of more than 125 to the Florida Street campus for a joint Easter service. The congregations separately offer contrasting styles of what worship looks like on a Sunday morning in the Christian faith.

“Florida Street has gone through its struggles over the years, and we haven’t given up hope,” said the Rev. Robert Glasgow, the Florida Street pastor , who would love to see the church grow and have a reason to again need massive numbers of volunteers for the nursery.

“It’s two different local bodies coming together and trying to leave a positive impact and witness an idea that all are welcome here.”

* * *

Mark Maltby, 47, is co-pastor at Mosaic, which meets at the Fanta City International Mall on West Market Street. He was helping a relative straighten out tax problems when he came across Bill Slack, Florida Street’s worship leader.

“He said, 'How’s the new ministry going?’” Maltby recalled of Slack, 83, who runs the tax preparation office where Maltby sought help.

Nearly two years earlier, Maltby, a former staff minister at Westover Church who is white, joined Peter Kim, 42, a former associate pastor of English ministries at a Korean Presbyterian congregation, to start a multicultural mission of Westover Church. Friend Kenny Wallace , 25, who is black, joined the team — which would oversee a congregation in which people speak 20 languages — as the worship leader.

Across town, Florida Street, in many ways, was a church ahead of its time.

One of the fastest-growing churches in the state, it sent mission groups to assist churches that requested their help in ministry.

A number of Baptist churches, including Gate City and Lawndale Baptist, were born out of Florida Street’s once all-white congregation, which reflected the community’s makeup at the time.

Soon, Slack and Maltby began talking about the now-diverse Glenwood neighborhood, where the church is, and how they could jointly minister in the community — maybe even hold an Easter service, marrying each church’s traditions for the day. The idea brought excitement to both congregations for Easter, a time of rebirth and new beginnings for Christians who will celebrate the resurrection of Jesus.

And at Florida Street today, that means baptisms, communion and kids again scampering down the halls.

“Why are we being drawn, given the obvious differences?” Maltby said of the congregation. “While we are a young church and they are obviously an older church, we need a family. Family has grandparents and babies and everything in between, and I think that’s a desire we have.

“Wouldn’t it be great if we had the opportunity for some future interaction, where our babies would be held by these grandparents?”

* * *

A few years ago, the choir stopped singing on Sundays at the Florida Street church.

“It’s still a great church with the people we have,” said Slack, a deacon. “I miss having a choir behind me, but our choir was down to seven people, none of them under 65.”

It happened gradually. People got sick or could no longer get up and down the stairs to the choir stand, with its rows of ivory cushioned chairs.

Janice Holder is one of about six of those choir members who will join with Mosaic today to fill those seats.

“The Word is what we go to church for, but a lot of people are particularly touched by music,” said Holder, who had sung in choirs at the church since she was age 9 and will say only that she is now old enough to be a grandmother. “Christmas doesn’t seem like Christmas when we aren’t doing a big cantata.”

Its members may be few, but the faithfulness is clear when the congregation repeats the line “Surely the presence of the Lord is in this place” from the morning’s hymn.

“It’s being with the people or I’d be long gone,” said Geraldine Lackey, who spent nearly all her life in the church, where she was wed to husband Marvin 52 years ago this week. “If we didn’t have the love and friendliness, it wouldn’t be important to stay. I have visited other churches, but it’s just not the same.”

Every Sunday morning before Glasgow preaches, the congregation gets up to welcome each other with hugs and handshakes.

“There are times when we feel God is not there — that’s placing emphasis on our feeling and not our faith,” Glasgow said during a recent sermon to those nodding in agreement in the pews.

“He knows the path you and I are on because he’s with us,” Glasgow said.

This isn’t a church without passion, but one without the energy of a new generation.

So, on a recent Saturday, members of both congregations walked through the Glenwood neighborhood, inviting people to church. They hope to draw people from outside the neighborhood as well.

“I would hope that what’s going to take place Easter Sunday would speak to that immediate community, but also to the city that the spirit of Christ is alive in our place,” Glasgow said.

* * *

Instead of the communion crackers normally used at the Baptist church, the congregation will tear from a loaf of bread, with everyone taking a piece out of it, as it is done during communion at Mosaic.

The two congregations have planned ways in which both congregations will share in what draws each other to worship — right down to this communion, or the sharing in the body of Christ.

And it’s today, at 10:30 a.m. — not the usual 10 a.m. Mosaic start time, or the usual 11 a.m. Florida Street start time.

Musicians on the church’s piano and organ will be joined by Mosaic members on the trumpet, saxophone and drums. Two Mosaic members have choreographed a dance down the aisles of the church.

“What we are working toward is a blend,” Glasgow said.

The churches have not discussed other ways in which they will grow in this new partnership, but for today, the picture will be worth a thousand words, they say.

“It could be a microcosm of the world right there,” Wallace said. “It’s different bodies, different stages of life, worshipping together in a God-honoring way.”

Contact Nancy McLaughlin at 373-7049 or nancy.mclaughlin@news-record.com