Georgia Baptist Conference Center in Norman Park

The facility began life as Norman Institute, a school for first grade through high school, which opened in 1901. In the mid-1920s, a junior college curriculum was added, and in 1928 the name was changed to Norman Junior College and became Norman College in 1951. At the end of the 1970-71 academic year the trustees voted to close the school due to declining enrollment and financial problems that were common to many such schools at the time, the center’s website said. The assets and liabilities of the college were turned over to the Georgia Baptist Convention and the Executive Committee voted to convert the facilities into an assembly. In the summer of 1971, Norman Baptist Assembly opened.Since then, under a variety of names, the facility has hosted meetings by churches and other groups. For a while it was a satellite campus of Brewton-Parker College. Most recently, the Georgia Baptist Mission Board has gifted its Norman Park Conference Center to Shorter University. - The Moultrie Observer
Michael Rivera