Mount Sinai Baptist Church founder, the Rev. Israel Cross, is said to have closed his sermons by telling his congregation to “buy some land, build a home, and get some education.”

He and the church he founded will be honored this month with a historical marker issued by the Virginia Department of Historic Resources.

It will be unveiled during a dedication ceremony on July 28 at 12:30 p.m. at the church, 6100 Holy Neck Road. It is open to the public.

The ceremony will feature remarks by Col. Wardell G. Baker, president of the Nansemond County Training School Heritage Center; Delegate Algie T. Howell Jr. and the Rev. William L. Lang, pastor of Mount Sinai Baptist Church.

Cross, a former slave, founded the church in a log cabin on the site. The current building is in the Gothic Revival style and was built in 1921.

The community today boast a large percentage of black landowners, a legacy of the Rev. Cross.

The marker was sponsored by the Virginia Department of Historic Resources as part of decade-long effort to recognize the contributions of women, blacks and American Indians to the history of the state and the nation.

The full text of the historical marker reads:

In 1868, the formerly enslaved Rev. Israel Cross founded Mount Sinai Baptist Church in a log building here on Benjamin Howell’s land. He allegedly never closed a sermon without saying, “Buy some land, build a home, and get some education.” In 1871, the congregation replaced the log church with a wood-frame building, later remodeled in 1908 and 1911. The current Gothic Revival building was constructed in 1921. Carter G. Woodson, author of The Rural Negro (1930 edition), called it “An Unusual Church for the Rural Community.” Annexes were added to the church in 1966 and 2000.