BARTOW, Fla. — Good Hope Missionary Baptist Church is ringing in the New Year in a way it hasn't for at least half a century — debt free.

According to a news report in The Ledger, the congregation gathered Dec. 28 to ceremonially burn the church mortgage.

Founded in the late 1800s, the church built its current building in 1960, replacing a wooden, one-room church nearby.

After building the sanctuary, the church added a fellowship room and pastor's office on the back. With each addition, the congregation rolled over the mortgage to fund expansion. In recent years, it purchased nearly three adjacent acres for future growth.

Just four years ago, the church debt totaled more than $100,000, the newspaper reported.

Many credit Pastor Lanelle Pickett Sr. with providing leadership that inspired the congregation to retire the debt.

"He brought committed leadership, not so much by his words but by the things he did," said Larry Granger, chairman of the church's deacon group. "He has been able to inspire the congregation, and we have more tithing now. We had about 40 regulars in our congregation when Pastor Pickett came. Now we have about 130."

After paying off the mortgage, the church has about $5,000 left in its building fund, the newspaper reported. It will use that as seed money for a new sanctuary, and the existing building will be used for classrooms.

In the meantime, the church will squirrel away the $900 that used to pay the mortgage into the building fund.

"This is a great day," said Granger. "I, myself, after being here for 40 years, I never thought I'd see the day when we were debt-free. This is a real milestone for us — for any church."