Concord Missionary Baptist Church was constituted on June 20, 1841 after Richard Johnson Mays recognized the need for a church in the north end of Madison County. Mays donated 20 acres of his own land for the church site and the church first ordained Mays as a deacon. In October of 1841, Mays was also ordained to the pastoral ministry. He served on two separate occasions as pastor of the church.
Mays and his wife, Eliza Williams Mays, migrated around 1830 to Middle Florida from South Carolina. The two settled down in the southern region of Madison County at first, but moved to the northern end in 1833, where they established the Clifton Mansion; the couple had a total of 11 children, with only seven surviving to adulthood. By 1860, Mays owned 5,480 acres of land and had 120 slaves. He also established Mays Academy on his plantation in order to provide for the educational needs of his children and neighbors.
Mays is also credited as a spiritually committed layman who was involved in starting churches. His spiritual pilgrimage led him to be ordained to the ministry. In 1831, Mays joined with other families to start the Hickstown Baptist Church, the forerunner to the current First Baptist Church of Madison. Mays held leadership positions in the Hickstown Church and also served briefly as a lay-preacher for the Elizabeth Baptist Church in Jefferson County between 1832 to 1834.
Over the next couple of years, as baptist pastors and laymen acknowledged a need for fellowship and the moral support of churches working together, Mays was among the many church delegates that organized the Florida Baptist Association in 1843. This was Florida's first association of missionary baptist churches. On Nov. 20, 1854, Mays hosted 17 delegates from the then three existing missionary baptist associations in Florida to meet at the Clifton Mansion to discuss the formation of a baptist state convention organization. The Florida Baptist State Convention was formed and subsequently Mays was elected president.
In addition to spiritual matters, Mays was also involved in civic responsibilities. In 1838, Mays served as the Madison County postmaster from 1835 to 1838. In 1838, he served as a delegate to the constitutional convention that met at St. Joseph, Fl. to frame the constitution that provided original framework for the State of Florida in 1845. In 1837, Mays was appointed as a justice of the peace. As a loyal Southerner, he also provided supplies and several sons to support the Confederate cause during the Civil War.
He died at the Clifton Mansion on July 18, 1864.