U.S. – Midwest
The U.S. Midwest consists of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. We group them geographically in what follows, beginning in the north with North Dakota, working our way south to Kansas, then step over to Missouri and back north to Minnesota, then east to Wisconsin and down to Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and end with Michigan.
North Dakota
In 1883, Henry and Emma Goff moved their family from Herefordshire, England to farm about 20 miles northeast of Langdon on the eastern side of North Dakota and not far from the Canadian border. They had been saved a few years prior to this. Henry was a staunch Church of England man, whereas Emma had been raised by two aunts who were in fellowship in assemblies in England. Soon after arriving, the Goffs initiated a community project to build a church building on their property at which any itinerant preacher could preach. Emma, who had known many of the brethren leaders in England, soon became dissatisfied with this arrangement.
The Goff’s second son, Alfred, had been saved under the preaching of Henry Craik, the colleague of George Müller in Bristol, before the family moved to North Dakota. Fleming May of Ontario came to the area to visit his brother, and became good friends with Alfred. He took Alfred with him to preach the Gospel, mainly in North Dakota, Minnesota, and Manitoba. With Fleming May, the Goffs started a Sunday School and prayer meeting in their home, and in 1887, a group of six began to Break Bread there. This may be the first assembly testimony in North Dakota.
In 1888, Emma Goff heard that the fiery preacher John Grimason was working in the prairie states and invited him to come to their area. Several were saved as a result of his preaching, and the small assembly became established. This assembly was identified with the village of Bealieau near Walhalla, five miles from the border of Manitoba.
A few miles northwest of Langdon, in the Woodbridge area, near what is now the town of Sarles, another little group of Christians gathered to Remember the Lord in one of their homes. These families had come from Ontario. The Loynes and Hazlitt families were among these, and became acquainted with the Goffs. Some of them would drive the 50 miles by wagon to visit the Goffs, and the two assemblies became closely tied. John Grimason and Alfred Goff held Gospel meetings in the Woodbridge area in 1900, and many were saved, including the Hazlitt girls, one of whom, Fanny, married B.B. Goff. They soon moved to Oregon (see Oregon).
At about that time, others of the extended Goff family began to move west. When Alfred and Henry Goff died (Alfred died at the age of 35), the two assemblies lasted only a short while longer. Thus the current assemblies in North Dakota are not derived from these early works.
In the late 1890s, Charles Hoehler, an immigrant from Germany, had been hired to help at the Goff farm, and through the influence of the Goffs, was saved. About the turn of the century, he moved to Iowa and was influential in the early development of assembly testimonies in northern Iowa (see Iowa).
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The assembly in Harvey in the central part of the state had its beginning in 1922 in rooms above the Pioneer Mercantile store, and became known as the Harvey Gospel Hall. Mrs. A. N. Beiseker had visited in Minneapolis that year and heard Paul Roder speak at one of the assemblies. An invitation was given him to come to Harvey for Gospel meetings. Harold Harper responded, coming and holding meetings in the English Congregational Church on 9th and Adams. Harold Harper and August Hasse came several times to have meetings, and a good number were saved.
Fred Bischke, Harry Sommer, Ludwig Huber, and Fred Liebelt were those who had most to do with the establishment of the assembly. The Gospel Hall in the Pioneer building flourished for a time, with up to 100 in the Sunday School and 30 or more believers for Breaking of Bread services each Lord’s Day morning; Gospel services were held on Sunday evenings. Among those active in leadership have been Fred and Alvin Bischke, Fred Liebelt, J.J. Reimer, Virgil Sommer, Arland Frost, and Marvin Mertz. In early fellowship, in addition to those already mentioned, were members of the Beiseker, Zweigle, Graser, Stein, McCarthy, Billigmeier, Spielberger, Schroeder, Fiskum, Revell, Wolf, Harris, Steinhaus, and Adams families.
Because of the steep stairs going up to the room above the store, the Christians purchased a building on 8th Street in July 1944, and remodeled and enlarged it to suit the needs of the assembly. The assembly is still at that location and is now known as the Harvey Gospel Chapel. Many speakers have visited the Harvey assembly, among them Neil Fraser, Edward Dillon, Ben Tuininga, and Alfred Gibbs, in addition to Harold Harper and August Hasse. About a dozen people attend the assembly.
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The Hurdsfield Gospel Hall, south of Harvey, existed for many years. The hall was damaged by a tornado in July 1953. The brethren quickly built a new auditorium, and repaired and remodeled the old building into Sunday school quarters and furnace and utility room. By 1977, it was called the Hurdsfield Gospel Chapel. The assembly ceased in the early 1990s.
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The assembly which meets now at Southwest Bible Chapel in Valley City in the southeastern part of the state was started in about 1930 by Paul Clark and his father. Paul Clark’s parents, Henry and Ella Clark, had moved with their family to Valley City in 1925 to operate a grocery store after a lifetime of farming. They were affiliated then with Baptists but had friends in ‘exclusive’ assemblies in Minnesota. In about 1930, they formed a small assembly, meeting in their apartment at the rear of the grocery-store, and probably affiliated with the ‘exclusive’ assemblies in Minnesota. Orval and Edna McConoughey and Oscar Peterson came out of the Baptist Church to meet with the Clarks, followed soon by others. When the elder Clarks died, their apartment home was converted to a one-room Valley City Gospel Hall. Later, a building nearer downtown Valley City was rented for the assembly, and connections with the ‘exclusive’ brethren were broken.
An assembly preacher, John Farquharson from Canada, held Gospel meetings at the Gospel Hall in 1935. After that, he and F.W. Swartz from Detroit went to the northern part of the state to preach the Gospel wherever they were accepted. They preached in school houses and the homes of Will Conn and Henry Halvorson near the Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation. Many people were saved in these meetings, including members of the Fauske, Noakes, Turneir, and Keif families. In 1936, Paul Clark followed up on John Farquharson’s work in the Turtle Mountain area. Paul Clark held meetings at Crary, and for a time the Crary Assembly met.
In about 1932, a small assembly was formed in an old church building in the tiny town of Hurd, about 60 miles west of the Turtle Mountain area. The Hurd Assembly essentially consisted of the Schoenig family and Otto Anderson from Lansford, the Cools from Newburg, and Ayars from Russell. John Farquharson also had meetings in the Lansford area in the northern part of the state. The August Schoenigs, Ray Cools, Ollie Varco, and Otto Anderson responded to these meetings. In inclement weather the Hurd Assembly met in the August Schoenig home and later moved to that home. The assembly ceased functioning in the mid 1940s.
Several from these families in the northern part of the state joined the assembly at Valley City over the years, and others continued to sponsor meetings in their homes for assembly preachers from Canada. Hector Alves from the west coast held meetings in Inkster. After that, the families of Don Hulst and the Wagars met for Bible study, but an assembly was not formed.
The Valley City Gospel Hall changed its name to Southwest Bible Chapel and introduced a piano after World War II, which caused a few people to leave. In 1966, the assembly sponsored a two-week evangelistic campaign, in which many were saved.
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A home assembly met in the home of Robert Hewitt in Grand Forks for many years, beginning perhaps in the 1960s. Wes and Gladys Kosin, missionaries to the Shoshone Indians in Wyoming, would spend their summers in Grand Forks, where Mr. Kosin taught linguistics at the University of North Dakota, and they helped out at the assembly. The Grand Forks Assembly discontinued in the mid 1980s. From the mid to late 1980s, a small home assembly, the Bismarck Bible Chapel, met in Bismarck, the state capital, with Mike Kopp, Brian Young, and David Bartlett as elders. In the town of Washburn north of Bismarck, the Washburn Bible Church was formed as an assembly in the late 1980s, and continues.
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Meadow Ridge Bible Chapel is the largest assembly in North Dakota. Paul Hipps had been in the Zion Christian Assembly in Sheboygan, WI and moved to the Fargo area in about 1970. He and his family, with Myron and Jean Losey who were Methodists, and Ron and Glenna Weidmann who were Baptists, began a Bible study as a follow up to a Billy Graham crusade in the Fargo area. The Hipps began to share New Testament assembly principles with them, which were quickly embraced. The group began Remembering the Lord at the old YWCA building in Fargo, and called their meeting simply An Assembly of Christian Brethren at the beginning.
At about this time, John Dabill, who had been in an ‘exclusive’ assembly in Minnesota, met one of the sisters in a Bible book store. He joined with those in the new Fargo assembly and had a passion for equipping the Christians there with books of the brethren writers.
The Hipps moved to St. Louis in the early 1970s, but preachers such as Ben Tuininga and William MacDonald came and ministered the Word. At that time, Mr. MacDonald was president of Emmaus Bible School, and Mr. Tuininga taught Greek there, although his principal interest was in preaching throughout North Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, and Missouri. Jean Tuininga led ladies’ meetings when she and her husband were in the area.
The assembly operated a coffee house ministry in the early days. These were the days of the ‘Jesus People,’ to whom the ministry was principally directed. Several were saved in this outreach.
In the early 1980s, the Christians built their present chapel at 2198 Second Avenue E., calling it Meadow Ridge Bible Chapel. The elders have included Frank Brown, Kevin Brown, Gary Clark, Mark Wagar, and Myron Martinson. A feature of the assembly is that they retain the ‘open platform’ idea in the main Bible teaching time on Sunday mornings. This was taught by A.N. O’Brien from Duluth, and Ben Tuininga was a strong proponent of the open platform. Boyd Nicholson and John Phillips are among those who have preached at the assembly.
Teaming up with assemblies in Baudette, MN; Virginia, MN; and some in the Minneapolis area, the Christians at Meadow Ridge virtually rebuilt Story Book Lodge in Minnesota, making it a premier Bible Camp. They help staff the Box T Ranch, near Bismarck, each summer. The Meadow Ridge assembly holds a Bible Conference each year and sponsors Youth Conferences. In the last few years, spearheaded by Gary Clark and Myron Martinson, they have organized week-long Gospel campaigns to nearby cities, such as the 1998 campaign in Grand Forks where fifty young people gave a week to blanket the city with Gospel witnessing in conjunction with nightly evangelistic meetings in the Grand Forks civic center. The assembly has consistently had about 100 in fellowship throughout the years, and has commended missionaries to the Lord’s work in Bolivia.
Sources:
Questionnaire
Responses
Golden
Lamp-stands of Northern Iowa, by L.
DeBuhr, Ackley Publishing Co., 1985
History
of the Forest Grove (OR) Assembly,
by R. Goff, 1965, revised 1976
Report
from Gaius C. Goff, 1999
Letters
of Interest, November 1949, p. 3
South Dakota
South Dakota and North Dakota, are predominantly Lutheran and Catholic, and their people are primarily German and Norwegian. It is a region where endurance counts.
Assemblies in South Dakota have historically been difficult to establish and maintain. The Drummonds Bible Chapel in the small town of that name was formed in the late 1970s but lasted only a few years. In the early 1990s, Tim Jordison established the Sioux Falls Assembly. Two or three families joined with his family, but the work lasted only a few years. David and Kathy Possing started an assembly in the little town of Pickstown. They Remembered the Lord in their home, as the Pickstown Assembly, but were not able to persuade any others to work with them for very long. Both the Jordisons and Possings have since moved out of state, and no assemblies are currently known to exist in South Dakota. While living in Pickstown, David Possing had a good ministry at the prison facility in Yankton, some 70 miles away.
Sources:
Conversations with several Christians
Nebraska
The assembly known today as Keystone Bible Chapel in Omaha began in perhaps the late 1890s or early 1900s. It was likely started by one or more of the traveling evangelists of the time, possibly Alexander Broadfoot, who was then working in western Iowa. The parents of Arthur B. Rodgers, Sr. were among the first in the assembly, as was a Mrs. Olbert. Don Charles was in the assembly in the period around 1909.
Known in the earliest days as Omaha Gospel Mission on 26th Street between Douglas and Farnham Streets, the assembly moved in about 1915 to 813 North 40th Street. In 1920 the Christians moved into their new building at 45th and Hamilton Street and changed the name to Omaha Gospel Hall (but it was often called the Hamilton Street Gospel Hall). At some point, the designation Omaha Gospel Chapel came into use. In 1970, the assembly moved to 7840 Maple Street, calling their new meeting place Keystone Bible Chapel.
By 1920, the assembly was well established with about 60 in fellowship. At that time it was the only assembly in the city, and even in the state except for small works in farming communities in the western part of the state. However, the Omaha assembly had frequent fellowship with assemblies in Iowa and Kansas City, and was visited regularly by the itinerant preachers. Legal documents show that W.A. Bradford, I.M. Roman, and J.A. Shopen were among the leaders in the 1920s.
The assembly did not have designated elders in the 1920s, but leadership was provided by O.M. Nelson and Price Patterson in addition to the three just mentioned. It would appear that Arthur B. Rodgers Sr. was the most influential man in the assembly for many years. After service in the army during World War I, he became an itinerant preacher but lived in Omaha most of the time and considered the Omaha Gospel Hall as his home assembly. In spite of his travels, he maintained a strong voice in the affairs of the assembly until his passing in 1961.
In the mid 1920s, Ken Baird moved to Omaha from Greenfield, IA and his gifts were used. Willard Rodgers began taking an active part by about 1930 when in his late twenties. In 1932, Glen Plowman arrived and developed into a good preacher. James Gilbert came into the assembly at about the same time and became a definite leader. Others in the assembly in its early days include the familes of Phil Olbert, Harry Hamilton, Bill Jones, Don Flat, Henry Peterson, Les Kent, Waldron Scott, Floyd Weaver, Wes Fox, Lyle Rockhold, and Earnie Rockhold.
In the decades of the 1920s, 30s, and 40s, the assembly was very active. Besides a full slate of Sunday and week-night activities at the Hall, the assembly did hospital visitation every Sunday afternoon and held street meetings on Saturday nights in nearby towns. They held annual Bible Conferences almost every year from 1909. In the early days, the conference had an open platform, with as many as 20 speakers participating.
Keystone has commended a worker to Burundi. About 120 adults and children attend Keystone Bible Chapel today.
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In about 1962, the Grandview Gospel Chapel in Omaha began as a friendly hive-off from the Omaha Gospel Chapel, and resulted from children’s meetings being held in the neighborhood. The family of Willard Rodgers was instrumental in its founding. The assembly had an effective children’s work during its short lifetime. In the late 1960s, leadership conflicts caused the Grandview Assembly to disband and sell its building.
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Another hive-off of the Keystone Bible Chapel is the Council Bluffs Bible Chapel in Council Bluffs, IA, established in about 1980 (see Iowa).
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Northwest Bible Fellowship in Omaha was established around 1980, and purchased the building formerly occupied by the Grandview Gospel Chapel. William Fear is one of the leading men at Northwest.
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Hollywood Heights Chapel in Lincoln was established in the 1950s. Although a few assembly people lived in Lincoln prior to that, not until Ralph Swanson from Sioux City, IA moved there and built a chapel did the assembly begin. Andy Joye moved to Lincoln from Omaha and helped in the work, which continues today.
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The brethren were active in central Nebraska in the late 1800s, but information is sparse. A family history[1] relates that J.A. Dahlgren and a Mr. Wahlstrom preached in the area. We quote: “These two men were real Bible scholars and held meetings wherever they went. They had spring and fall conferences and would have one certain place to meet. Folk would come from far and wide to hear the word of God. J.A. Dahlgren spent many a day and night in the Maline home. Mr. Dahlgren was a painter and paper hanger by trade. . . Mr. Dahlgren was a very kind man. He was a man that was a true friend and was respected and loved by many friends.” The Gustaf Malines and others were converted under the ministry of these men and an assembly was likely begun, but its location in the early days is not known – likely the Maline home or a rural schoolhouse near Gothenburg or Cozad. Gustaf Maline is remembered to have preached at the Gothenburg Free Mission church when its pastor was unavailable. There is no ‘open’ assembly in the area at this time.
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In about the 1920s, John Horn moved to Imperial, a small town in the southwestern corner of Nebraska, where he was instrumental in starting the Imperial Gospel Hall. Don and Harold McCormick farmed near Imperial and with their families joined that fellowship, along with the families of Floyd Miller, George Long, and Ken Hayward. Several of these families moved many years later to Colorado and joined the assemblies there. This assembly has since disbanded.
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The Palisade Gospel Hall developed at about the same time in the small town of Palisade not far away. Dan McCormick was the leader for many years, followed by Ray D. Ridlen. The Palisade Gospel Hall continues to meet though small.
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Sources:
Conversations with Christians
Kansas
Atchison is situated on the Missouri River, about fifty miles northwest of Kansas City. In the fall of 1901, Mr. and Mrs. John V. Davis and Mrs. Will Tietge began meeting regularly on the first day of each week to Remember the Lord, the beginning of the Atchison Gospel Hall, KS. Some years later their number had doubled, and the six began to pray definitely for the Lord to send His servants to labor in the field. Several Kansas City brethren took up the challenge and consistently visited this city to supply the needed help. Several brothers from the Troost Avenue Gospel Hall in Kansas City, MO went to Atchison on the third Sunday of every month to minister to and encourage the fledgling assembly while it was still meeting in the various homes of the believers. Among these were Wayne Matthews and Ralph Littlefield.
The first series of nightly meetings to be held by the assembly in Atchison was in 1936 when John and David Horn preached to large crowds in a schoolhouse at the edge of town and several were saved. That summer the Horn brothers returned for tent meetings, and the interest increased. In the fall of 1937 the assembly added a regular prayer meeting to its testimony. Jack Charles frequently came to help. Special meetings were again held in the homes and in two different schoolhouses across the Missouri River. Arthur Rodgers gave valuable help in one of the schoolhouses and also at various times in Atchison.
In February 1938 the assembly opened the Gospel Hall, an unpretentious rented building on a prominent street. For six years it served as a place of blessing. Many in the neighborhood attended the meetings and frequently the capacity of the building was taxed. Several itinerant preachers visited and gave special meetings, and also helped at the annual Easter Conferences; among these were David and John Horn, David Lawrence, Arthur Rodgers, E. G. Matthews, and Leonard Sheldrake.
During this time the Lord added to the number one by one, and the old rented building became overcrowded and was otherwise inadequate. When another group of people purchased the building, the assembly met for several months in the Masonic Hall, which had already been used for two conferences. Plans were undertaken for constructing a chapel. A corner lot was provided in a residential district where there was no other church building. In April 1944, the new hall was opened with a prayer meeting. Eight months later, the basement facilities were used for the first time at an all-day meeting, and in 1945 the fifth annual conference was the first to be held in the new building. John Horn and his wife moved to the city and remained there until the Lord took them home. It was at the Atchison Easter Conference in 1961 that Arthur Rodgers passed into the presence of the Lord. The assembly continued until about 1977.
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In 1950 or 1951, five families who lived on the Kansas side of the line between Missouri and Kansas hived off from the Troost Avenue Gospel Hall to form an assembly in the Overland Park area of Kansas City, KS. William and Ruth Hayward, and Wayne and Ruth Matthews were those who lived there, and when three other families moved to the area, the decision was made to start an assembly. Some of the early families, besides the Haywards and Matthews, were those of Russ and Doris Farwell, Lloyd Staley, and Robert Buelick and his mother. Among those who came a little later were the families of Jim Petersen, Harry Sommerville, and John Schultheiss, followed by Duncan Sommerville.
The assembly has occupied the same building – Overland Park Chapel – at 64th and Floyd since its inception. At its largest, in the 1960s, about 200 people were in fellowship. A division in the early 1970s caused a serious decline in numbers, but today about 75 are in fellowship. Leaders in past years include Harry Sommerville, Duncan Sommerville, Gifford Knapp, Truman Page, Harlan Baldwin, Glenn Lee, and Russ Farwell. Don Herrington, Ray Miller, and Nelson Cook are among the leadership today.
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The first assembly in Wichita was started by Will Thomas, a full-time evangelist from Wales. A document written by Mr. Thomas in 1929 is extant, referring to this assembly. After his early death in 1931, his widow and two small daughters moved back to Perry, where a small assembly existed at that time. The Wichita Assembly struggled after that, but is said to be the beginning of subsequent brethren testimony in the area.
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Leonard Lindsted was commended to full-time service in 1939 by the Fernwood Gospel Chapel in Chicago. Encouraged to come to Wichita by the Myron Lakes’, Leonard Lindsted and Tom McCullagh pitched a tent on the Meridian School ground in August 1941. The Lord blessed with fruit and they made contact with other Christians. By October 1941 Leonard had moved his family to Wichita. The Christians met as an assembly in a rented store on West Maple until the war started in December 1941.
At that time, the Lindsteds moved to Goessel, 35 miles north of Wichita. During this time Leonard held Bible studies in Newton, Canton, and in his own home. In the summer he had tent meetings in many Kansas towns with Joe Balsan, Ben Parmer, and other workers.
Under the leadership of Leonard Lindsted and Dean Jensen, the Wichita assembly was incorporated in April 1946 and met at the East Kellogg Gospel Chapel at 1933 E. Kellogg. The incorporators were Charles Cissel, Dean Jensen, and Bert Brower.
Dean Jensen urged William Horn, then at Drake University in Iowa, to move to Wichita to help out at the Wichita assembly. Bill Horn came in July 1948 and with the Lindsteds again started Bible studies in Wichita, using the Charles Cissel home on North Grove. They soon moved the studies to the Labor Temple downtown to accommodate the people.
Street meetings in Wichita and surrounding communities several evenings a week were held until legal restriction closed them down. Tent meetings continued and special Gospel meetings continued through the following years, and the assembly continued to grow.
In 1971, the construction of Highway 54 forced the church to move, and a new South Emporia Bible Chapel was erected at 2100 South Emporia. Soon after the new chapel was built, Leonard Lindsted’s son, Robert, returned to Wichita from Vermont to take a position at Wichita State University. Many college students were saved and brought into the fellowship of the assembly. Leonard and Robert, with the help of the South Emporia meeting, started a “Pioneer House” where young men could live and also attend special Bible classes in the evenings. These classes were designed to train them to be Christian leaders and speakers.
Several workers were commended to the Lord’s service by the South Emporia Bible Chapel, to Thailand, Immanuel Mission in Arizona, and to local ministry.
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After about a dozen years, some believers in the assembly at South Emporia hived off to start a new work on the east side of the city. They also began a school, which at the beginning had quite small classes. Robert Lindsted had moved to the northeast side of Wichita and the assembly began in his home and was incorporated in 1982. The number multiplied and in 1983, Sunrise Bible Chapel was built. The Sunrise school has been quite successful, with about 750 students enrolled at this time.
The Sunrise meeting divided in the mid 1990s. Most of the believers relocated nearby to Northside Bible Chapel in Kechi in 1996. The assembly has continued to grow at Northside, and has an active children’s program. In active leadership in the assembly over the years have been Leonard Lindsted, Dean Jensen, William Horn, Louie Becker, and Robert Lindsted. Randy Horn and Will Nuse are the current elders at Northside, which has also recognized several deacons. About 200 adults and children attend Northside.
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The other group from the former Sunrise Bible Chapel started in May 1996 in the home of Troy and Mary Jane Campbell. The believers moved to another home after a few months, then rented the Bel Aire Rec Center for almost a year. They now meet as Believers’ Bible Chapel at the Sunrise Christian Academy. This assembly has commended Robert Linsted for local ministry, has sponsored several part-time mission trips involving some 50 individuals, and has commended workers to full-time missionary work abroad. Believers’ Bible Chapel has about 150 adults and children in attendance.
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The assembly at South Emporia Bible Chapel remained in their building for a time after the hive-off to Sunrise took place. Some couples living on Wichita’s west side began meeting in a home for mid-week prayer and Bible study in 1981. Dan Linsted was one of the leaders. The Eddie Buchannan family and Darold Peters family were among this group. Land was purchased but no building was erected. The group gradually disbanded and by 1990 most had returned to South Emporia Bible Chapel.
Overcrowding in the South Emporia chapel induced the assembly to erect a building on the land that had been purchased on the west side. Pending completion, the assembly met in rented space in a mall. In 1995, they moved into the new building and changed their name to Westside Bible Chapel. The present elders at Westside are Eddie Buchanan, Arnold Burkle, Duane Denny, and Whitney Reader. Average attendance is around 100.
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A small racially mixed meeting began fellowshipping in Augst 1963 and incorporated in 1966 as Grace Bible Chapel in Wichita. The incorporators were Donald Govan, Duane Denny, and D. Wayne Becker. This meeting continued until January 1981 when the Govan family moved to Jackson, MS to work with Voice of Calvary Ministries. Their daughter and son-in-law moved to California to work with World Impact, and Carol Denny was commended to the work at Immanuel Mission in Arizona. The South Emporia assembly continued the commendation of Carol and her husband Rick Khol after Grace Bible Chapel closed.
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Richard Burson was a Baptist preacher working in Salina in the late 1930s and early 1940s. While he was helping some widows clean out their attic, he found old copies of Help and Food, published by Loizeaux Brothers, which he read, learning the principles of a New Testament church.
In about 1943, he moved to the city of Hutchinson, southwest of Salina, and took the pastorate of a newly formed Baptist church at 4th and Main. He set up a bookstore in the front of the building, had the services in a middle room, and had living quarters in the rear of the building.
In 1945, Lawrence Littlefield, who was then stationed at the Hutchinson Naval Air Station, and his wife Betty, found the bookstore. Conversations with Mr. Burson about the New Testament church ensued, and Mr. Burson became eager to change his church to the New Testament pattern. He contacted Loizeaux Brothers in New York City for help, and they in turn contacted Ralph Littlefield of Kansas City, who had already been informed by his son Lawrence. Ralph Littlefield spent much time in discussion with Richard Burson. Leonard Linstead and Tom McCoullagh also gave advice, and soon the Hutchinson Bible Hall was a reality at 4th and Main. Later the name was changed to Hutchinson Gospel Chapel to avoid confusion with the local Jehovah Witnesses hall.
Some of the families left to join a nearby Baptist group after the change. The remaining four or five families moved to an old funeral home at 228 W. 2nd. There Richard Burson set up a print shop, in addition to the book store and an apartment and meeting rooms for the assembly. After a few more years, the Christians rented a building on East 2nd Street, and later purchased a building at 212 N. Lorraine. Six families were then in the assembly, but felt that God was leading them to start a Sunday School with a bus for transportation.
In the late 1960s, the assembly, still small, purchased the Presbyterian building at 6th and Elm. In the 1970s, the families in the Hutchinson Gospel Chapel moved into that building, where it still meets today at 334 E. Sixth Street. Growth began at about that time, until today the assembly is the second largest in the state, with about 180 adults and children.
Those in active leadership over the years include Richard Burson, Leslie Jantz, Orville Hopper, Jim Gardner, Lowell Ramsey, Lane Scott, Billy Asberry, John Meinzinger, William Newcome, Darell Valdois, Steve Burson, John Bloom, Wayne Dudley, and Duane Schmidt. Workers have been commended by the assembly to Peru, Mexico, Immanuel Mission in Arizona, and to Kansas Bible Camp.
Hutchinson Gospel Chapel is closely associated with the work at the Kansas Bible Camp in Stafford, some 40 miles to the west, which Richard Burson started in 1946 and was the director for many years. Following Mr. Burson, John Bloom became director of the camp, and after him, John Denny.
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Near the Nebraska border, north of Salina and Wichita, is the town of Belleville. In about 1915, the Belleville Meeting was started by a Mr. Bachelor and Carss Nesmith, both of them business men. The small group of three or four families met in the second floor of a retail establishment. A little later, Eldon Baird moved to the area from Iowa and helped with the young people. Others who joined with the group were the families of Carl Ball, Charles Wilson, and Willie Hay. The assembly disbanded in about 1935 following the deaths of Messrs. Bachelor and Nesmith.
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By the time the Belleville Meeting ceased, Eldon Baird had married and moved to nearby Concordia. He, with Charles Wilson and Ed Korkill began Remembering the Lord in the Korkill home in Concordia. Soon they rented an old church building for their meetings, calling it the Concordia Gospel Hall. These three men did the preaching on Sunday mornings, and also had Sunday evening Gospel meetings. John and David Horn, Jack Charles, John Walden, and Arthur Rodgers are remembered as preaching at the Concordia Gospel Hall. The meeting, however, was short-lived, disbanding in the early 1940s.
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The history of the Coal Creek Gospel Hall stretches back to the 1880s, when three men – one of them Alex O’Brien – started meeting for prayer in the rural Coal Creek school house, south of Lawrence. Some time after this, Mr. O’Brien began pastoring at a church in nearby Perry, but soon realized he was not saved. He was brought into contact with brethren from Kansas City and was later saved through the truth of Acts 13:38.
The O’Brien family farm was near the Coal Creek School House, and Alex O’Brien pitched a Gospel tent on the family farm in about 1903. During three weeks of meetings, some of the O’Brien family were saved, including Alex’s brother James and his wife Edith. Soon after that, a few Christians began Breaking Bread in the farm home. They enjoyed fellowship with other small gatherings in Perry, Garnett, and Kansas City.
In 1918 and 1919, Charles Leonard held meetings in the Coal Creek School House, and several were saved. In 1921, the Remembrance Meeting began to be held there. In 1920 and 1922, Oliver Smith held meetings in the neighborhood, with many professing Christ. Ira Hird and many of his family were saved at about this time. Other evangelists who came were William Grierson, Will White, Charles Stow, Arthur Rodgers, John Horn, J.O. Brown, and Ernest Washington.
The Coal Creek School was closed in 1947, but the assembly continued to meet at the school house. The building later became known as the Coal Creek Gospel Hall. When a tornado destroyed the building in 1977, the Christians rented the American Legion hall in nearby Baldwin City until 1981, when they built their own hall on the crest of Baldwin Hill, north of town.
James O’Brien was a true shepherd of the Coal Creek assembly through the early years. With his passing, his son-in-law, Ed Rockhold led the assembly until 1950. At that time, the O’Briens and Rockholds became associated with the Lawrence Bible Chapel. Those engaged in shepherding the assembly in more recent years include Delbert Hird, LeRoy Olmstead, David Olmstead, Peter Naber, Curtis Naber, and Daniel Stewart. An unusual outreach of the assembly is to Russian-speaking families who attend the Sunday School and the Gospel meetings at the Coal Creek Gospel Hall each Lord’s Day. The messages are translated into Russian by some of the Russian visitors. Mr. Caleb Baker’s chart The Two Roads and The Two Destinies has been printed in matching English and Russian and are on display in the hall. About 50 adults and children attend these meetings.
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Those who gathered in Garnett were George DeWolf, E.N. Miller, Will Craig, Harry McAfee, Walter McAfee, John Thomas, Wilbur Thomas, and Sam Thomas. The Garnett Assembly met last in the home of Sam and Emily Thomas.
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Oliver Smith started the Perry Assembly in about 1920 in the town of Perry, 13 miles north of Lawrence. The Christians gathered in the home of Charles Bradford. Conferences were held at Perry for several years. With Mr. Bradford were Mr. Jennings, his son Tracy, Fred Lakin, and Mr. Liggett. Will Thomas’ widow and daughters, one of whom later became Mrs. Gordon Wakefield, were in fellowship there from the early 1930s.
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The Lawrence Bible Chapel in the university town of Lawrence just west of Kansas City, was begun in 1944 as a home meeting, first in the home of Jack and Mary Marquette, and later in William Sommerville’s house. It began as a result of gasoline rationing during World War II. Gordon Wakefield attended there after being saved at the University of Kansas in 1950. From 1951 to 1984, the assembly met at 1001 Kentucky in Lawrence, and in 1984 moved to its present location at 505 Monterey Way. The principal people involved in the start-up were Jack Marquette, Lawrence Littlefield, and Arthur Hird and their families. Those in leadership over the years include William Sommerville, Pete Youngberg, Ron Nadvornik, Dave Drelory, John Scollon, Don Schonberg, Russ Farwell, Terry Morgan, Larry Sherraden, and Dean Jordan. The assembly has commended several to the Lord’s work abroad. About 230 adults and youngsters attend Lawrence Bible Chapel, which is the largest assembly in the state.
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The Baldwin City Gospel Chapel, south of Lawrence, was established in 1967 by Ray Jones and Ed Rockhold. Not a hive-off from another assembly, it met first in a home at 819 Indiana Street. The Gospel Chapel has commended workers to service at the Turkey Hill Bible Ranch Camp in Missouri and Immanuel Mission in Arizona. It sponsors an annual open Bible Conference. The assembly has about 40 adults and young people in fellowship.
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The Topeka Gospel Chapel began in the Charles Bradford home in 1948, and later met in the home of Lloyd and Betty Walterick. The assembly moved into a newly built facility in 1958, where it resides today, at 5010 SW 20th Terrace. The Bradford, Leishman, and William Korkill families were those chiefly instrumental in the start-up. Also active in leadership have been Ted and Gene Everhart, Jim Stewart, and Jim Springer. About 25 adults and children attend the assembly today.
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Osage City is south of Topeka. Gospel meetings were held there by John Walden, followed by J.O. Brown. The Osage City Assembly was formed as a result and met in the home of Paul and Mattie Lauback for several years.
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Alexander (Sandy) Broadfoot from Iowa came to Kansas in the period 1910 to 1917 to visit and hold Gospel meetings in schoolhouses in the area south of Abilene in mid Kansas. The Bonnacord schoolhouse was one of these. Many were saved. Mr. Broadfoot instructed Robert Robson and others about the Lord’s Supper and plural leadership, and an assembly was begun. The Christians met first in the large home of Alexander McBoyle and took the name Bonnacord Assembly. For many years, the Christians met in homes; Bible Conferences were held in tents. In 1918, the assembly built Grace and Truth Gospel Hall on donated property in the Holland area, which is still the assembly’s location some eight miles south of Abilene. One of the leading men in the assembly at that time was Frank Nicholson. Some of the early families to fellowship at the Hall were the Roggendorffs, Gruens, Millers, Emigs, and Jurys, in addition to the Deerdorffs, McBoyles, Nicholsons, and Robsons. In the 1930s, the assembly changed the name to Grace and Truth Gospel Chapel.
In 1942, Jay Walden of Minneapolis was in the army at nearby Fort Riley. He fellowshipped at Grace and Truth, and was a great help in the assembly. Other men who came to the Chapel from their military bases were Ed Kellner, Toby Brocker, Marvin Studnika, and David Silver. Joe and Jan Gummel came during the Desert Storm conflict. Orville Robson was the long-time correspondent for the assembly; he and his wife Lois were known for their hospitality. Elders at Grace and Truth have included Orville Robson, Menno Dyck, Keith Engle, Kenneth King, and Jerry Lahr.
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When Gordon Wakefield was stationed at Fort Riley near Manhattan in the 1950s, he started an assembly which initially met in his home, then moved to a rented room in downtown Manhattan. This Manhattan Assembly consisted mostly of soldiers stationed at Fort Riley and students at Kansas State University. It lasted only about three years.
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An outreach of Grace and Truth Gospel Hall to an area south of the town of Carlton resulted in a group of believers meeting in the Elm Springs school house. Frank Nicholson from Grace and Truth held gospel meetings in the mid or late 1920s in area schoolhouses east of Roxbury. Interest grew and home Bible studies began. The Elm Springs school, a little way northeast of Roxbury, was the first meeting place for the new assembly. Others from Grace and Truth who came to help were Robert Robson and Dan Emig. Ed Buchenau and John Walden were among others who came to minister the word.
In 1937, a plot of ground a mile south of the school was donated to the assembly; lumber from a building in Carlton was used to build a meeting place on the property. The assembly Christians called it the Elm Springs Bible Hall. The assembly numbered about 60 at its largest. An annual three-day October Bible Conference was a highlight. Migration of farmers to the larger towns in the 1950s and 1960s caused a declining attendance at Elm Springs Bible Hall, and it disbanded in the late 1970s.
Some of the speakers at the Conferences sponsored by the two assemblies were Harry Ironside, George MacKenzie, Tom Carroll, Walter Wilson, Ed Bucheneau, Leonard Lindsted, Tom McCullagh, O.E. McGee, and Richard Burson. Missionary work was important to the believers at the two assemblies. They supported work among the Navajo Indians at Immanuel Mission in Arizona, making many trips there with supplies and co-commending workers for that work. Others commended include Kenneth Engle to the work in the Phillippines in 1951, and Kevin and Eloise Dyer to the Southeast Asia Literature Crusades in 1959.
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Sunset Bible Chapel in Salina, not far from Abilene, has connections to the work in Lawrence. Four men and three women now with Sunset were in Lawrence and attending Bible studies in the home of William and Marie Sommerville in the 1950s. Gordon Wakefield, Richard Burson, Paul Little, and Alice Kitchen were frequent in attendance at these meetings. George Easter was one of those attending these studies, and when he moved to Wichita in 1957, he was encouraged to give help at Grace and Truth Gospel Chapel south of Abilene. When Mr. Easter moved to Salina in about 1960, Richard Burson and John Walden encouraged him to begin a work there. He and others began with Sunday evening and midweek meetings, while still in fellowship at Abilene. Several couples from the Elm Springs Bible Hall met with them, and after two years, some 50 were meeting in Salina, about the same number as at Abilene.
The assembly was officially formed in 1969, and known simply as The Chapel. The assembly met alternately in the Easter home and Marvin Johnson home. After several years, they rented space in a school building while accumulating a building fund, and in 1979 built the Sunset Bible Chapel at 760 Hancock, which they occupy now.
Elders at the beginning were Marvin Johnson, Everett Johnson, Dale Becker, Lawton Owen, and George Easter. These with their wives, and Earl and Alberta Blair, and Dave and Karen Smith, have continued in active roles in the assembly. Paul and Greg Johnson and Chuck Thornburg have been added to the leadership. The assembly has commended and co-commended workers to ministry in East Europe, Ireland, St. Lucia and St. Thomas, and Immanuel Mission in Arizona. Others have received short term commendations to Kansas Bible Camp and elsewhere.
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In 1916 or 1917, J. E. (Ned) Brown, a wheat farmer then 60 years old, moved from Long Island in north_central Kansas to the area of Kanorado, a small town on the Kansas_Colorado border. Ned Brown had his roots in Iowa where he had helped establish the Berea Gospel Hall; when he moved to Long Island, his first concern was to begin a meeting in that town. So when he moved to his new farm a few miles from Kanorado, he directed his strong evangelistic concern toward planting a new work in that area also. Soon after arriving, he started an assembly that became known as the Kanorado Gospel Hall and which met initially at the Graybill school house north of Kanorado. A good preacher, he held Gospel meetings at several different school houses in western Kansas and eastern Colorado.
Ned Brown knew of two young men from central Kansas and hired them not so much to help out on his farm, as to help him in the evangelistic work. These were David and John Horn. Their pattern was to work in the fields during the day and preach at night. They both were soon full_time Gospel workers.
Many souls were saved in those years at the school house meetings and at tent meetings. Soon the assembly meeting at the Graybill school house was big enough to warrant its own building, and with volunteer labor built a chapel in about 1923 in the country northeast of Kanorado. They called it the Kanorado Gospel Hall. On a neighbor’s land adjacent to the Gospel Hall, the Christians would put up a large tent for their annual Bible Conferences, and a smaller tent where the farmers would bring produce and beef as an added attraction.
The Kanorado meeting grew rapidly, and numbered about 200 by 1929, remarkably large for a church out in the country. The Kanorado meeting had an oversight but not recognized elders.
Ned Brown took in another young man after the Horns left. This was John Walden. While living with the Browns, John helped with the farm work, but preaching God’s Word became most important to him. Shortly after John Walden and Nan DuBauge were married in 1931, they moved to Denver and then Colorado Springs. John Walden was one of the leading brothers among the assemblies in Colorado during his years of ministry.
John and David Horn frequently traveled and preached. They were the principal carriers of the Gospel into western Kansas and eastern Colorado. During their first series of meetings at the Happy Hollow school house in 1928, Ben F. Parmer, then 11 years old, was saved, with other members of his family. The Parmer family joined with the Kanorado meeting. After a few years Ben Parmer was teaching a boy’s Sunday School class there and sharing in the Gospel on Sunday nights.
Traveling preachers who came to the Kanorado Gospel Hall and to other assemblies in the area for special meetings included C.W. Ross, Don Charles, Jack Charles, Leonard Linsted, and Richard Burson.
The Dust Bowl of the 1930s caused much hardship; this together with the general state of the economy due to the Great Depression induced many farming families to move off the farms to the towns and cities along the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains. There they affiliated with existing assemblies and had a considerable influence. The Nohr, Stevens, Turner, and Ted and Ed Anderson families were among those active at Kanorado who moved west and became active in new and existing assemblies along the Front Range. The remaining Kanorado brethren moved their meeting to Goodland, Kansas, a few miles east of Kanorado, in the late 1950s. The meeting dwindled and was dissolved in the early 1980s, after about 60 years of existence which had seen multitudes of people saved and strengthened.
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The Garden City Assembly has recently been established in the town of Garden City, toward the west side of the state.
Sources:
Questionnaire Responses
Reminiscences about Our
Family, by William Baker Sommerville, 1978.
Wichita Assembly
History, by Dan Lindsted, 1987
History of Grace and
Truth Gospel Chapel, written in 1993
for its 75th Anniversary
A Condensed History
of the (Wichita) Gospel Chapel, by
Carolyn Schmidt, in Overview – Newsletter of the Gospel Chapel, December 1981
A Short History of
Elm Springs Bible Hall, undated
Letters of Interest, June 1945, p. 12; September
1947, p. 22
Missouri
Caleb J. Baker had become a prosperous tent and awning maker following the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. But before that, he had been saved and had developed a passion for the Gospel. In perhaps 1879, he met Donald Ross, who had set up a Gospel tent near Mr. Baker’s place of business in Chicago, and soon became associated with him. An assembly met to Remember the Lord in that tent, and Mr. Baker and several of his employees soon were in fellowship in that assembly.
In the 1880s, Donald Ross started westward. After being in Kansas City for a time, he encouraged C.J. Baker to relocate there because he recognized it as a logical center for reaching out to the southwest and west.
Deciding to separate from his business partner and move to Kansas City, Mr. Baker invited several of his Christian employees to move with him, chosen for their ability to help establish an assembly. The first assembly in Kansas City, MO, began the day after the group arrived, and met in the main room of the new canvas factory for several months. After that, they met successively in a number of rented places, usually above a store, sometimes on the third floor. Mr. Baker did not approve of buying a place and thought the assembly should never stay in one place more than about two years. He envisioned the assembly as a roving Gospel outreach, moving among neighborhoods. During his lifetime, Mr. Baker supplied tents, not only to the evangelists who engaged in pioneer work, but to missionaries around the world.
Mr. Baker was indefatigable and the assembly was active. Mrs. George Rendall, one of those brought from Chicago, was an excellent Sunday School teacher for the assembly. C.J. Baker instituted street meetings and started a Christmas Bible Conference, much like the Thanksgiving Conference initiated in Chicago by Donald Ross. C.J. Baker’s grandson, William Baker Sommerville, remembers it thus:
“...[the] conferences always lasted three days and sometimes four. The preaching services lasted at least an hour and a half in the morning, two hours or more in the afternoon, and an hour and a half again in the evening. The people all ate together, at least for the noon and supper meals. And there was a great deal of ‘conferring’ in the conferences which had nothing to do with the preaching services. There was a great deal of discussion among the elders of the various assemblies regarding their problems, whether theological or practical. It was a very great unifying exercise among the people in the assemblies in various parts of the country.... I don’t know that I ever heard about Santa Claus when I was very little. And since we were always at meetings on Christmas day, ... Christmas to me as a small boy meant Conference. And this meant meeting interesting people, hearing interesting things, seeing things. It was the big point of my life in those days...”
The Christians met for a time at 14th and Main Streets. Eventually they desired more comfortable accommodations and began renting church buildings; the first of these seems to have been an old building at 16th & Holmes. After that they rented a church building at 31st and Charlotte. In the first decade of the 1900s, the assembly had about 150 people in it. In 1906 or 1907, Mr. Baker and his associates invited C.W. Ross, Donald Ross’ son, to move to Kansas City, labor among them, and make it a center for his ministries.
Finally, in 1918, the Christians constructed their own building on Troost Avenue at 28th, which became well known as the Troost Avenue Gospel Hall. It was one of the leading assemblies in the area for many years. Assemblies in Spruce Hill, MO; Overland Park, KS; and Kansas City, KS are descendants of the Troost Avenue Gospel Hall. The Troost Avenue Christians opened the Servicemen’s Canteen during World War II. Troost Avenue Gospel Hall disbanded in the early 1980s.
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Spruce Hill Bible Chapel at 11501 E. Bannister Road began in 1962 as a hive-off from Troost Avenue Gospel Hall. Those responsible for its establishment were Lawrence and Betty Littlefield, John and Betty Littlefield, John and Barbara Schultheis, Robert Beulick, and Viva and Ewart Gunn. For the first year, the assembly met in the home of Lawrence and Betty Littlefield. Then John and Betty Littlefield donated a small acreage adjoining their home for the construction of Spruce Hill Bible Chapel.
George and Gloria Martin joined the fellowship at Spruce Hill about a year after the chapel was completed, and have been pillars in the assembly. Those active in leadership over the years include George Martin, Ross Ragland, Lawrence Littlefield, Robert Cowan, amd James Robertson. About 65 adults and young people are in Spruce Hill Bible Chapel. The assembly has commended workers to the Lord’s service.
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The roots of the Bible Chapel in St. Louis, on the opposite side of the state from Kansas City, go back to 1873 when a 31-year-old James Campbell arrived in the city from Scotland and preached the Gospel. Several were saved in these meetings, including Mr. Donald O. Macleod. Mr. Campbell also instructed the believers in the principles of the New Testament church. Mr. Campbell went from there to St. Charles, MN, but returned to St. Louis in 1879 with Donald Munroe for more Gospel effort. They found a group meeting for Bible study in various homes and encouraged them to begin Remembering the Lord, which they did in the home of John Kerr. Others from various denominations joined with them, and the believers continued to meet for some time in that home as the South Side Assembly. They later moved into an old rock building in the 3000 block of Pine Street.
In 1895, the surnames of some of those meeting as the South Side Assembly were Brown, Bothwell, Buss, Couser, Dyke, Hughes, Macleod, Morey, and White.
At about that time, Mr. Buss left the assembly to form another, which met in a building at the corner of Florissant and O’Bear. This meeting lasted only a short time. In November 1901, the South Side Assembly moved to Jefferson and Pestatozzi Streets in South St. Louis.
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In 1902, tent meetings were held by brethren Currens and Camp from Chicago, at which many were saved, including members of the Henrich, Masek, James, and Todd families. These Christians immediately formed an assembly which met in the rented Power House at 7th and Lami Streets, then shortly moved to the Shaving Shop on 2nd and Sidney Streets. This structure had wood shavings on the floor, wrapping paper over the rafters, and home-made wood benches. This assembly later moved to a storefront at McNair and Lynch Streets, then met in various homes. Messrs. Edward Allan and I.R. Dean were in fellowship there, as was Mr. Buss, who however left again and formed an assembly meeting at Newhouse and Blair. In 1910, Mr. Buss built Bible Hall on Finney Avenue. Some time after that, a group left Bible Hall to form the North Side Assembly.
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So in 1906 there were three groups, the South Side Assembly at Jefferson and Pestatozzi, the unnamed group at McNair and Lynch, and the group that followed Mr. Buss. Mr. Allan of the McNair group went to see Mr. Macleod of South Side to discuss a merger. This was agreed upon, and the merger took place at the end of 1906. The merged group, still called South Side Assembly, met in a large number of places in St. Louis over the next two decades. In 1926, the assembly moved to 5021 Morganford Road, rented it for many years, then purchased and remodeled it in 1940. This was known as the South Side Gospel Hall. Other family names during these years are Thiel, Horst, Suess, Luethge, Judd, Newkum, Ostertag, Bonham, Richardson, Blackshaw, and Miller.
When Morganford Road was to be widened, the assembly built and moved into the South Side Bible Chapel on Leona Avenue at Bowen. The assembly now calls its building simply Bible Chapel. In 1973, the assembly started the Victory Christian School in this building for children from kindergarten through 1st grade. In 1982, the Christians purchased a school building on Musick Road, which is the present location for the assembly and the Victory Christian School, which now teaches kindergarten through 12th grade with around 200 students.
The assembly commended O. Morey as a medical doctor to Africa in the early 1900s; he worked with F.S. Arnot. Others have been commended for ministry in the U.S.
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Prior to the establishment of the present Maplewood Bible Chapel in St. Louis, a small group of exercised Christians from the Bible Hall and the South Side Assembly met for prayer and fellowship in various homes. The group first met in 1921 at the home of Mr. Reister, 2119 Alameda, with 30 present, but soon moved to a rented room at 7016 Manchester. In mid 1922, a lot at 7138 Southwest Ave was purchased; within a few months, a basement was finished enough to hold meetings there; an above-ground auditorium was not completed until 1930.
During the 1920s, the Maplewood Gospel Hall, as it was then called, held evangelistic tent meetings on an adjacent lot, with many visiting preachers. In the 1930s and 1940s, street meetings were common and held in St. Louis, Maplewood, Webster, and East St. Louis, IL. A Young Men’s Prayer and Bible Study was started in collaboration with other assemblies. A yearly Young People’s area-wide Conference and a bi-yearly area-wide Sunday School Teachers Conference were begun.
In 1935, Maplewood Gospel Hall published the Exhorter and a Chorus book. Radio ministries have included a KSTL Family Bible Hour and a broadcast by the young people of the assembly. Bible studies for Jewish friends were held in homes. Messianic Forum on Pine Street in downtown St. Louis was held weekly in May 1948. Palabras Fideles (Spanish Faithful Words) was started by Carl Ostertag. The assembly has commended many people to the Lord’s work at home and to countries such as Ecuador, Peru, Korea, southeast Asia, and Ireland
In 1949, several assemblies – Maplewood, South Side, Kossouth, and Bible Hall – began the Masokobi Bible Camp for children. Now called Dayspring Bible Camp, the facility was purchased by the St. Louis assemblies in 1987.
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The assembly meeting at the Richmond Heights Gospel Hall in the St. Louis area seems to have begun in the 1920s, assisted in its early days by Maplewood Gospel Hall. The Christians have changed the name of their meeting place twice while staying at the same location – 7902 Dale Avenue. In the mid 1980s, the name became Richmond Heights Gospel Chapel, and in 1994 The Church of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Leaders have included David Woods, Donovan Case, Marvin Curry, Joseph Crenshaw, Harold Spiller, and Untra Northern. Mr. Northern was commended by the assembly to the Lord’s work in 1982.
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Emmaus Bible Chapel in St. Louis began in 1956 and has been at the same location in the Ferguson area since that time. George Nelson, Donald Walter, Frederick St. Clair, and Harvey Decker were those involved in its formation. George Nelson, E.T. Mauger, and Lester Collins have been among the leaders. The assembly has commended workers to the Lord’s vineyard in Ecuador, Phillippines, and Italy.
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Grace Bible Chapel in St. Louis was formed in 1986 by the merger of two home assemblies meeting in the southwest part of metropolitan St. Louis – the Moriah Assembly and Believers Church. Moriah was started in 1979, and Believers Church was formed in 1984.
The Moriah Assembly in St. Louis was started by John and Sue Callan and Lee and Shirley Holtgrewe, none of whom were present at the time of the merger in 1986. Believers Church in St. Louis was begun by Jim and Karen Frankel, Randy and Donna Gruber, and Joe and Mary Vogl. The primary leaders at Grace Bible Chapel have been Jim Frankel, Randy Gruber, Mark Keller, Dave Kozeny, Steve Leary, Brian Railey, Jim Robertson, Cordell Schulten, and Joe Vogl.
Grace Bible Church has rented and met in several facilities since its inception. Since 1990, the Christians have met at Parkway Northeast Middle School at the intersection of Ladue Road and Interstate 270. The assembly now has about 100 adults and youngsters associated with it.
Grace Bible Chapel has commended Cordell Schulten as a resident worker in the assembly. Other commendations have been to Set Free Ministries of Missouri and to Japan.
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A store front on St. Louis Street in Springfield, in the southwest part of the state, was the first home in 1933 of the Southeast Gospel Hall. John Elliot and Tom Cullaghough were the principal people involved in the start-up. The assembly moved to its present location at 1051 South Crutcher in Springfield in about 1936, and later became the Southeast Gospel Chapel. Those in leadership over the years include John Elliot, Carl Carey, Charles Brooks, Mark Newberry, Lewis Bigbee, Robert McWade, Don Thompson, Walter Cary, Ross Ragland, and Wendell Kerr. The assembly has commended workers to itinerant ministry in the U.S. About 45 adults and young people attend Southeast Gospel Chapel.
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Jefferson City Bible Chapel began in 1978 on Industrial Drive in Jefferson City, in the middle of the state, and moved to its present location at 2804 Sue Drive in 1996. James Allan, Stephen J. Allan, Stephen R. Allan, Alan Braun, Curtis Cox, Tim Rockhold, and Tim Adkerson were the principals involved in the start-up, and have served as the leaders of the assembly. Stephen R. Allan has been commended by the assembly to full-time work at Turkey Hill Ranch Bible Camp near Vienna.
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Brookfield is a small town in the northern part of Missouri. A Bible study that started in 1974 in the home of Bill and Georgeanna Howell in nearby St. Catharine developed into the Brookfield Christian Fellowship, which was officially incorporated in 1977. The men of the assembly built a chapel in Brookfield in 1984 at 409 S. State Street, which the assembly still occupies.
Besides the Howells, those involved in the start-up of the assembly were Jack and Sharon Anderson, and Mary Brammen and her daughter Ann. Leadership has been vested in B.D. Howell, Herb Huck, Rod Libby, Jon Mendenhall, and Bruce Haley. William R. Howell was commended to the Lord’s work as Camp Director of Story Book Lodge as well as other ministries. Tom Brammer has been commended to work in the assembly. Brookfield Christian Fellowship also commended others to the Lord’s service in Russia. It now has about 130 adults and youngsters in attendance.
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Hazelwood Christian Fellowship Assembly Church started in April 1998, meeting at 126 Flora in Hazelwood, having split off from an independent Bible church in which women held positions of authority. Clarence E. Jackson, Ron Smith, and Jimmy Russell are those who began the new assembly and are the leaders. About 35 adults and children comprise the assembly.
Sources:
Questionnaire
Responses
Reminiscences
about Our Family, by William Baker
Sommerville, 1978.
Letters
of Interest, January 1982, p. 18
IOWA
The assemblies in Iowa started from two different sources. The coal mines in southern Iowa attracted miners from the British Isles and other parts of Europe. The coal there was not of the best quality, but was used by railroads and by people for fuel during the winters. These miners were a tough group, living in many instances from paycheck to paycheck, but many were devoted Christians and preached the Gospel. They and their families would meet in the local Miner’s Hall or a lodge hall, and often had a large Sunday School work.
Itinerant preachers, primarily from Ireland and Scotland and other parts, were the other source of assembly influence. These carried the Gospel to the farmers in the northern and western sections of the state, preaching in pitched tents and rural school houses, sometimes staying for weeks at a time, and establishing small assemblies before they moved on.
Northern Iowa
Assembly testimony in northern Iowa began in November 1891 with a visit of John Blair from Ireland, to his sister who lived near the village of Dunkerton. While there, he held meetings in a school house, where several were saved. Mr. Blair made other visits in 1893 and in 1895, holding meetings in a school house and a church building in Dunkerton. Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Dunkerton were greatly blessed at these meetings and it was in their home that an assembly – the original Dunkerton Gospel Hall – was begun in about 1893. Later, Mr. and Mrs. Ed Nesbit were saved and Remembered the Lord with the Dunkertons and Mr. Blair.
Following John Blair’s pioneer efforts, others came to help and encourage the little gathering. In about 1896, Mr. E. G. Matthews, a businessman, began coming to Dunkerton for weekends where he could Remember the Lord and give help in the Gospel. A number were saved at a special Gospel effort conducted by Messrs. Bultmann, Lockwood, and Matthews in the Town Hall in 1896.
In 1898, a meeting to Remember the Lord was begun in the Matthews home in the city of Waterloo. C.W. Ross came to Waterloo with his tent for several summers. Messrs. Harcus, O’Brien, Broadfoot, and others helped in those days of pioneering. The result was that a large assembly developed in Waterloo and many assemblies were started in the surrounding districts.
The Christians met in other homes besides the Matthews home, and rented public buildings, among which were a funeral home at East Fifth and Mulberry Street, and an upstairs room on Commercial Street. In 1921, the brethren felt led to build a permanent building and purchased a lot at the corner of Western Avenue and Pleasant Street in Waterloo. The building is known as the Western Avenue Gospel Hall but is often called the Waterloo Gospel Hall. The first meetings to Remember the Lord there were in 1922.
The Dunkerton and Waterloo meetings were only fifteen miles apart and were closely associated in the early gospel efforts. The Dunkerton meeting joined with the Waterloo assembly in about 1922, when automobiles came into general use. The work was strengthened by the moving of the Leask family from Mason City in northern Iowa, and the Charles Herman family from Manchester, east of Waterloo. The help of young men who had good voices for street work was sought, and Jack Charles, Donald Charles, Tom Olson, and others responded. Thousands heard the Gospel in the open air in Waterloo.
Leaders in the Waterloo assembly in the early years were E.G. Matthews, Fred Lakin, William Leask, Glen Holloperter, Ray Nesbit, and Cliff Smith. Recent leaders include Richard Orr, Dilmer Stickfort, Ronnie Wessells, and Fred Cirksena..
About 38 adults are in fellowship now, with 13 children in the Sunday School. The Waterloo assembly became Oliver Smith’s home assembly, and he was commended to the Lord’s work by the assembly. Mrs. Mable Gillette has been commended to the work in Ireland.
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In the 1890s, Charles Hoehler, an immigrant from Germany, had been hired to help at the Goff farm in North Dakota, and was saved through the influence of the Goffs. In late 1895, Mr. Hoehler came to the Dubuque area looking for a place to hold Gospel meetings. He found a school house, and at those meetings, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Herman and Mrs. John Haltmeyer were saved.
The Hermans later moved to Manchester, and after that to a farm near Waterloo, adjacent to a dairy farm owned by Oliver Smith. They presented Christ to the young farmer, and in about 1913 he too joined the ranks of the saved.
Oliver Smith soon became so engrossed in Gospel activity that he gave up farming and devoted all his time to the Lord’s work. Many in the country districts around Waterloo were reached through his efforts. Oliver Smith became the towering figure among the assemblies of northern Iowa. Largely through his obedience to the Lord, several good-sized assemblies were established in northern and northeast Iowa. A feature story in the Des Moines Tribune in 1935 estimated that one thousand persons had been saved through Oliver Smith’s evangelistic efforts.
* * * * * * *
In 1916, Oliver Smith, then still a farmer, hurt his hand badly in a corn sheller. While recuperating, he went to the village of Clayton on the Mississippi River, six miles north of Garnavillo, where he preached twice. At the end of that year, he returned to Clayton with John Dahlgaard, and preached through the following year, with many professing salvation. Among those saved were Henry Ramsey and Susie Ricker.
An assembly of believers was formed at Clayton in August of 1918, meeting at their Clayton Gospel Hall. One of the eventual leaders of the Clayton assembly was Ed Ostoff, saved under the witness of Oliver Smith. The assembly continued until 1951, when Ed Ostoff died. At that time the remaining believers joined with those at Garnavillo.
* * * * * * *
Susie Ricker worked as a hired girl for Mrs. Fred Kramer in Garnavillo, and Oliver Smith went in 1919 to that village to meet with her. This led to Gospel meetings in Garnavillo in June 1919, and soon Mrs. Kramer, Mrs. John Dehn, and Mrs. Louis Brandt were saved, among others. In July 1921, six believers from the Garnavillo area – Elmer and Laura Brandt, Tillie Kramer, Louis and Nettie Tischhauser, and Amanda Brandt – Broke Bread for the first time, meeting in Elmer Brandt’s home. Louis Brandt, later to become an active preacher, was not saved until about 1922.
For a time they met in various homes; in the spring of 1922 they were able to meet in the West Side school house. A building fund for constructing a Gospel Hall was started in 1924, and in 1930 the believers built and met for the first time in the Garnavillo Gospel Hall.
The Christians at Garnavillo were diligent in the spread of the Gospel to surrounding areas. The brethren held street meetings and sponsored tent meeting for evangelists. The first Bible Conference at Garnavillo was in 1936 and has been an annual event since then. The Gospel Hall was enlarged in 1949 and again in 1983, at which time the number of adults and children associated with the assembly was about 100. Louis Brandt, Henry Wahls, and Joel Portman have been commended to ministry by the Garnavillo assembly.
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During the years 1913 to 1920, a number of men – Charles Hoehler, Tom Olson, A.N. O’Brien, Fed Hillis, William Grierson, Oliver Smith, W.W. White, and others – preached in the Manchester area and many souls were saved. In the spring of 1920, Messrs. Hillis and Grierson began a series of Gospel meetings in the North Manchester Union Church building, and continued for six weeks. It was while this series of meetings was in progress that 13 believers gathered for the first time, in the home of Mr. and Mrs. Willie Tharp to Remember the Lord. The Christians continued to meet in various homes, in the North Manchester Church building, and at one time above one of the business establishments in downtown Manchester. In 1929, the brethren purchased a lot at the corner of Union and Wayne Streets and built the Manchester Gospel Hall, where the assembly met until 1990, at which time they moved into their new hall. Some 55 are in fellowship in the Manchester assembly, with 25 to 30 children..
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Stout is a small town west of Cedar Falls and Waterloo. It was to that town that Oliver Smith, Lloyd Smith, and Ward O’Neil came for street meetings in the summer of 1922. The response was good, and some local men – Herman Brandt, Alrich Brandt, and George Meyer – urged them to return for more meetings. Many were saved in these tent meetings which extended through the fall. As winter approached, Mr. Ubbie Reiter offered the use of an old church building that he had purchased. The meetings lasted about 14 months in Stout and nearby Parkersburg, during which time about 100 souls were saved.
In July 1923, about 30 believers gathered in assembly capacity to Remember the Lord. The assembly continued in the old building until 1937. At that time, the Christians tore it down and built the present Stout Gospel Hall on the same site. In 1979, an addition was built onto the south side of the hall. Several improvements have been made to provide for wheelchair accessibility.
Since 1926, a two-day Bible Conference and Thanksgiving Day meeting have been held annually. The Meyer and Stickfort families have played leading roles in the assembly over the years. Among the many who have ministered at the Stout assembly are Eric McCollough, Leonard deBuhr, Albert Hull, and Gauis Goff. About 100 adults are in fellowship at the Stout Gospel Hall.
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In the summer of 1925, while holding tent meetings in Aplington, Oliver Smith secured permission to use a United Brethren church building in nearby Hitesville for Gospel meetings. The meetings began in March 1926 and continued for nearly a year with much fruit. Farmers, business men, and people from all walks came under conviction of sin, and over 70 were saved. Two wives of the trustees of the church – Mrs. Leona Christopherson and Mrs. Ed Uhlenhopp – were the first saved in these meetings. They were followed by Chauncey Yost, Lawrence Christopherson, August Brinkman and his parents, Bert Street, Walter Eltjes, and a host of others.
When the meetings concluded, the young believers came together on Thursday evenings and Sunday mornings for Bible readings, prayer, singing, and fellowship. When Mr. Smith knew this, he came and taught them truths about the Church. In October 1927, these believers, about 55 of them, first sat down around the Lord’s Table. The believers purchased the building that had been used for the Gospel meetings, and this became the Hitesville Gospel Hall. The building has been enlarged and improved several times since then.
The first Hitesville Bible Conference was held in 1931, and has been a continuing feature of the assembly. Open-air preaching in surrounding towns was common in the early days. In the 1930s, the small town consisted of just a few homes; today, Hitesville has just a cemetery and the Gospel Hall. About 75 are in fellowship, plus Sunday School children.
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Aredale, 15 miles northwest of Hitesville, has a population of about 100. In 1928, Harm Harms and George Uhlenhopp secured use of the Aredale town hall and presented the Gospel, with some interest shown. Chauncey Yost moved onto a farm south of Aredale in 1930, and continued spreading the good news of Jesus Christ in the area. In 1931, Oliver Smith put up his tent for Gospel meetings. Many were saved in this period, and in September of that year, 35 were baptized.
In the fall of 1933, several believers in Aredale came together to Remember the Lord. About seven couples and several single people constituted the assembly meeting at Aredale Gospel Hall in its early days. About 35 others have entered the fellowship since that time. The small Gospel Hall has been improved through the years, and is still at its original location in Aredale. The assembly has grown recently through the addition of 15 people from the Hampton area.
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Cylinder is a small town on Highway 18, 60 miles west of Mason City. Marlo Olson was born and grew up there, and had been converted during Gospel meetings at the Garnavillo Gospel Hall. He took employment in Washington, DC after graduating from college, but kept in touch with Oliver Smith by letter, urging him to go to Cylinder to preach. Mr. Smith came in the summer of 1933 for two weeks of meetings with fruit being seen. He returned several times through the summer and fall for more work in the Gospel. A letter written from Cylinder by Mr. Smith to Marlo Olson mentions 27 having been saved since the summer meetings.