PART TWO
“People of God”
“Once
Again We Come”
Once
again we come to the house of God,
To unite
in songs of praise;
To extol
with joy our Redeemer’s name,
And to
tell his works and ways (v. 1).
Chorus:
To thy
house, O Lord, with rejoicing we come,
For we
know that we are thine;
We will
worship thee in the Bible way,
As the
evening light doth shine.
C. W.
Naylor, 1904
CHAPTER SIX - “Reformation ...”
The sanctified people are holding meetings
twice daily.
Their meetings are
well attended
and the attentiveness
and dedicatedness
which these people
exhibit would be a good example
for some of the high
toned religious societies to follow.
Hetrick/Familiar Names and Places,
Bangor Advance, 11-11-1887
He was born in northwest Ohio and lived much of his early life almost within
sight of the Michigan-Indiana borders. Daniel Sidney Warner became a frontier
pastor-evangelist and publisher among the followers of John Winebrenner’s
Church of God denomination and the patron saint of our faith tradition.
Barry
Callen describes Warner as a determined, disciplined, and deeply dedicated man
of faith. He poured prodigious amounts of energy into his first decade of Ohio
ministry. Ten years saw him fill multiple pastoral assignments before becoming
an Ohio church planter. He then became a missionary to the Nebraska Territory.
More than modestly successful, he evolved into a budding author and publisher (It’s
God’s Church/1995/53).
Warner
died prematurely, December 18, 1895 but his message spread with the
gracefulness of a deer leaping fence-rows. By 1921, a quarter century after
Warner’s death, A. L. Byers brought significant leadership to Warner’s
followers. As an author, editor, composer, and preacher, Byers compiled the
first extensive biography of Warner. He memorialized Warner's life by tracing
the early development of the expanding reformation that resulted from Warner‘s ministry. Byers’ memoir provided the most widely read
book published by the Church of God. It became the gold standard, the primary resource
for early Church of God authors and historians (Byers/Birth of a Reformation/Gospel Trumpet Co./Anderson/ 1921).
Warner’s preaching pen prodded his
early ministry. Driven from within, he compulsively converted the spoken word
to the printed page. He tested his message with his denominational editors,
writing first for the Church Advocate--Winebrennarian publication. Eventually,
he accepted an invitation to become a contributing editor. Later, he became
Managing Editor of another publication, and when that denominational body
relinquished its sponsorship, Warner leaped at the opportunity to purchase it.
Having neither fame nor fortune, Warner became owner of that small
denominational tabloid and quickly discovered his raison d’etre, his reason for
being.
A
century later, a subsequent editor scanned the historical horizon and reviewed
a century of publishing. Editor-in-Chief, Harold L. Phillips, declared “the
spearhead” of Warner’s program was “both his pulpit power and the power of the
printed word, embodied in the Gospel Trumpet.” Phillips understood the
importance of Warner’s viewpoint better than most: “the kingdom of God is
the reign of Christ in the hearts of Christian believers--a spiritual kingdom” (emphasis
added). He agreed that Warner--with that conviction--“summoned the like-minded
to band together in both evangelistic and truth extension efforts” through proclamation
and publishing (Phillips/Miracle of Survival /Warner Press/1979/22).
By
the time Warner stepped outside the confining boundaries of
denominationalism--to walk side by side with all of God’s great family, freely
and without hierarchical-or-denominational boundaries that he called
sectarianism, he came away possessing a small “print whenever possible”
publication and a huge dream. With this infant “publishing venture” and his
dream, Warner doggedly dodged the bullets of poverty to advance his ministry of
reformation and unity.
Itinerant
preachers became his “flying ministry.”
He renamed his publication in 1881, calling it the Gospel Trumpet.
He printed it “by faith”--as funds allowed. Thus, he pursued his dream
while enlarging his vision of uniting God’s church. With poverty nipping his
heels like a playful puppy, the persistent publisher ventured out of Rome City
into Indianapolis, Indiana’s flourishing capitol.
There,
he joined forces with the man known only as G. Haines. The two combined their publishing
efforts for a few months, while each worked diligently to maximize his
investment. This venture quickly proved financially unfeasible. Lacking
adequate financial backing, Warner soon separated from Haines. Ever the
enthusiastic dreamer, Warner walked a lonely path. Responding to promises of
increased financial support, Warner relocated to Cardington, Ohio, then moved
on to Bucyrus, twenty miles further east.
Each
location promised improved financial support and expanded opportunity; each
promised additional supporters. It was a critical time, after having tried for
four years to succeed, when Tom Horton arrived from Michigan. Horton came
prepared to deliver Warner from his financial bondage—most likely at the behest
of his friend J. C. Fisher. Arriving in Bucyrus unexpectedly but prepared,
Horton hauled Warner--office and baggage--to Williamston, Michigan.
In
mid-Michigan, Warner’s ministry found security and subsistence close to the
state’s social, commercial, and economic center. Located southeast of nearby Lansing,
the new community of Williamston offered larger and better facilities. Due to
the pain of his marital separation, Warner moved rather reluctantly, taking
that step only after intense prayer and severe struggle (cf. The Gospel
Trumpet Years/Stultz and Welch).
When
finally resituated, Warner quickly correlated his efforts with those of his
benefactor; Joseph (J. C.) Fisher, a fellow pastor-evangelist among Winebrenner’s
followers. A former pugilist, Fisher met
Warner in northern Indiana and began financially supporting Warner’s message
and ministry. The two men now linked together and began writing and publishing
the music that quickly became the trademark of the expanding reformation.
Soon
after Warner’s arrival in Williamston, Edna Finch and Emily Barnes wrote the
Trumpet Office from Geneva Center, MI.. Each described the prayer meetings they
attended with Thomas Warren. Members of Barney’s family had started home
meetings at Geneva Center--rural South Haven. Merle Strege quotes Emily’s
testimonial from May 1884: “There is a little band of us here” she reported,
“but glory to God, we have glorious meetings, and the Lord adds to the church
daily those being saved” (The Gospel Trumpet/7-12-1887/26).
The
Warren family moved from New York and homesteaded in Geneva Township. Tom
purchased a forty-acre farm at what is now the southwest corner of 64th Street
and CR-384, in Van Buren County, Geneva Township. He became the twentieth owner
of that property, following its original purchase from the government in 1843.
Two
Warren sons, Barney and Thomas G., became ministers. During Warner Family Camp
of 2005, I accompanied Dale Stultz in locating the original Warren
homestead. We reviewed plat records at
the County Court House in Paw Paw, but could not positively identify the actual
site. That same evening, Dale returned and found a ninety year-old neighbor who
did identify Warren’s corner acreage.
This
elderly gentleman had purchased the property in 1928. He described how he
personally tore down the original house. Ultimately, he came up with the
original Abstract, which he gave to Dale. It began with government ownership in
1843 and it showed Tom Warren as the 20th owner--purchased in 1881.
Son Barney became the
Church of God’s Chief Singer--most prolific song writer until the Gaithers‘
arrival. Stultz later met with Warren descendants in Springfield, Ohio, and in
the spring of 2006 he led a work camp to Springfield. This volunteer crew
dismantled Barney’s campground cabin, transported it to Anderson, IN and the
Warren Cabin now stands adjacent to Church of God Ministries building on East
Fifth Street, Anderson. A spin-off of this activity was the organizing of the
new Church of God Historical Society.
Through
the generosity and dedication of Dale Stultz, the cabin now belongs to the
Historical Society. A growing number of people inspect the cabin yearly, while
attending various events in Anderson. Interested persons absorb much early
history through visiting the Warren cabin--reading notes scribbled on the
interior walls--as did this writer. The Warren family supported placing a
bronze plaque near the cabin’s entrance, and in 2007 it became available for
touring during North American Convention.
The neighborhood school that the Warren
children attended, still stands. That same rural community also hosted
Sebastian Michels and a house full of Willis girls, including Millie, Maude,
and Myrtle. The youngest, Myrtle, married Clarence Barton, referred to in The
Gospel Trumpet (1-2-1908) as “a new worker at the Trumpet office.
Clarence’s name had been “overlooked the week before” --listing him “from Grand
Junction, Mich.”
How,
when, or where, the Barton couple connected with Michels remains undocumented,
except that we know Myrtle (who grew up in Geneva Center) met Clarence and
married him in 1910. Clarence apparently already belonged among Warner's
followers. The winter of 1922-1923 saw Myrtle and Clarence join the core-group
rallying around Michaels to finally establish a permanent congregation in South
Haven. Ten miles northwest of Bangor, and ten miles due west of Grand Junction,
South Haven would soon conclude Sebastian‘s colorful career.
Three
of the Willis girls, Millie, Maude, and Myrtle, became lifetime charter
members, remaining active well beyond the middle of the twentieth century.
Millie imprinted this writer indelibly. She was a devout believer, a devoted
grand-mother, and she lived long enough to visit my young family in San Angelo,
TX in 1953, in our very early years of ministry.
Clarence
reveled in spinning humorous tales for our children and their young cousins. He recalled working on that “first building”
in Anderson, IN.--that one “down on the corner” (Warner/Saint Sebastian The Long Shadow and Life on Broadway).
Years before--1883--Sebastian and Chloe Michels had hosted a group of saints at a prayer meeting at their Geneva Center home. This special evening had resulted in Sebastian meeting Elder D. S. Warner for the first time. The two men forged a close friendship that lasted until Warner’s death in 1895. That meeting turned a corner for Sebastian and forged a significant link that bound me in to the Church of God message and ministry
Since
community prayer meetings met wherever invited, they must have met in other
homes besides the Warren's and the Michels. Thus, it should not surprise us
that one took place at the Barton farm, a few years later. Lyle, Millie Willis
Warner’s teenage son, gave his heart to Christ at that home prayer meeting and
that created a watershed experience for young Lyle.
It
happened in 1922 at the West Bangor home of Clarence and Myrtle (Willis)
Barton, Lyle’s aunt and uncle. It soon resulted in a new cell group meeting in
South Haven, where the teenager became a group leader. Later. as my father, he
became a strong lay leader in the congregation that nurtured me throughout my
first eighteen years.
Meanwhile,
Warner’s publishing venture remained in Williamston only two years, but expanded
rapidly under Fisher’s management. Warner soon found it expedient to agree to
the consensual mandate of enthusiastic supporters in the Bangor-Grand Junction
area, relocating his enterprise to Grand Junction in 1886.
This
relocation brought new and varied possibilities. It allowed his followers to
assist him more effectively in reaching the global world, with the help of the
growing band of volunteers that had begun during the Williamston years and later
expanded into the Grand Junction Trumpet Family. Warner now focused his energies
and activities in this region, but in 1887 he left to tour the West. With
Warner gone for long periods, the reformation message exploded across the
country, and abroad under the strict management of the Byrum brothers, Enoch
and Noah.
The
Church of God message first arrived in West Michigan when J. C. Fisher
conducted successful revival services in October 1882. This launched home
services, followed by other meetings. Interested individuals banded together in
Geneva Center and West Bangor. In June of 1883, they conducted their first Camp
Meeting on the Harris farm two miles north of Bangor. Located four miles south
of Grand Junction, this encampment formed the first national meeting of the
Church of God--now the North American Convention, convening annually at
Anderson, Indiana until reconvening in Oklahoma City.
The
fledgling movement rapidly coagulated, gaining public exposure as the Church of
God. The first attendants exploded from a few dozen, into hundreds. Between
1888 and 1890 several thousand people caught camp meeting fever, drawing from
local communities like Three Rivers--sixty miles southeast, as well as
surrounding states.
In
1892--the Camp Meeting relocated to a farm site on Lester Lake, one mile north
of Grand Junction. The new campground remained within six or seven miles of
Bangor, but the publishing work had already relocated from Williamston to Grand
Junction in 1886 (discussed elsewhere).
During
this time, S. Michels--as he commonly signed his name--of Geneva Center, picked
up the slack for what the saints lacked in relocating Warner to Grand Junction.
Michels further committed himself to supporting the publishing ministry for the
following year. This proved providential and practical, and launched a
twelve-year publishing record that established the viability of Gospel Trumpet Publishing
Company and initiated a viable reformation movement.
While
Michels wrestled with his own call to ministry, he remained committed, with his
considerable skills, to finding money for the church. Still, he felt compelled
to resist the pull toward the preaching ministry. More than most men of his
day, he understood his personal lack of education. For seven years, the
teen-aged Michels had sent his hard-earned wages home from the lumber camps,
enabling his father to keep Sebastian’s siblings in school. It undoubtedly
forged the mindset that prompted Sebastian to steadfastly refuse to compromise.
It ultimately led him to some of his most significant decisions, unhampered by
the prevailing winds of opinions across the Movement.
Having
sacrificed his own school years to help his father educate his siblings,
Sebastian made certain his children benefited from public education. He
maintained his home in the area, while other saints became itinerant travelers,
a veritable flying ministry making long junkets about the country, spreading
seeds of reformation. Consequently, it was Sebastian who launched the
Children’s Home--1892--for the benefit of children left behind by the flying
ministers (cf. the picture section and the Children's Home).
Sebastian
and Chloe each worked in that first Children‘s Home. They did it as they did
everything else—together as a couple, bringing stability and loving care to
young lives, while insuring educational opportunities for the children of the
flying ministers and other less-fortunate families. When it became obvious that
Sebastian could not escape the burden of preaching, he turned his inadequacy
over to God and humbly agreed to become a gospel preacher.
It
was in fulfilling this role that Sebastian discovered the enthusiastic saints
lacked the funds necessary to complete Warner‘s relocation from Williamston to
Grand Junction. His supplied the shortfall; thereby, insuring the relocation
project. His continuing support further stabilized the publishing work, thereby
making great growth a reality.
Sebastian
gave of himself and his means, continually, consistently supporting the
publishing ministry over the next twelve years in Grand Junction. He
volunteered every usable thing he had, pouring himself into various
publishing-and-camping efforts. He worked hand-in-glove with the Byrum
Brothers--Enoch and Noah. Their leadership, and that of others like them, enabled
the Gospel Trumpet office to expand its publications and structure a permanent
publishing ministry for the next one-hundred years of publishing.
The
move from Williamston to Grand Junction brought unprecedented expansion and
resulted in globalizing the Reformation message. The Publishing ministry became
the glue that unified the Movement and fortified its message that coalesced
around the Reformation principles that first initiated this Movement.
Rather
than surrendering his home, or risking the education of his children, Michels
intentionally stayed closer home. He preached around the region while serving
locally, becoming part of the original Lester Lake Camp Ground Association.
Overseeing construction of the first camp buildings, Sebastian volunteered time
as the first campground manager and as occasional volunteer manager at the
publishing house, serving whenever and wherever needed as acting manager of the
print shop before Enoch Bynum’s arrival.
Like
wood-filler, Sebastian plugged the gaps wherever needed, whenever called. He
preached frequently at the campgrounds and elsewhere. He limited his travels to
street meetings, home services and revivals throughout southern Michigan and
northern Indiana. Occasionally, he joined Camp Meeting efforts as far away as
Indiana and Western Wisconsin.
Records
as early as 1891 reveal S. Michels preaching in Three Rivers. Later, he
announced a grove meeting at Wakelee, Cass County, Michigan, near Three Rivers.
This announcement from “S. Michels” set the date as August 9 (The Gospel
Trumpet, 7-4-1895). These and other notices made it obvious that the
earliest beginnings of the Three Rivers Church evolved out of the “Flying
Ministry” centered in Grand Junction.
When
Pastor Bob Johnson, my neighbor pastor at St. John’s Lutheran Church, alerted
me to a Kalamazoo Gazette article in
the early 1980s, I quickly discovered he was talking about “my” church. The
metro-edition of the Kalamazoo Gazette
(I took the Battle Creek Enquirer)
reported a story of the early beginnings of the Church of God at Grand
Junction. It gave an outsider’s view, filtered through the eyes of an academic
historian, Dr. Larry Massie.
This
popular Michigan lecturer was a well-trained observer of Michigan history after
earning three degrees from Western Michigan University. After reading the
article, I corresponded with him, and in the ensuing years I purchased-and-read
many of his books, which I keep in my library.
I
complemented Massie on his work, and offered him my observations as an insider.
I took exception to his historical perspective that described our work only in
past tense. I updated him on the current Church of God in Michigan and later he
corrected his volume that includes our beginnings.
I
refer to Dr. Massie for two reasons. One, he is a trained observer,
well-credentialed by the historical academy, with extensive experience in
library research at Western Michigan University. He offers an interesting
perspective of our earliest days, written in a popular style. Two, he is
an outsider, with an outsider's objectivity. He has Church of God friends and
has been to Warner Camp courtesy of Dave and Doria Selent. His perspective
helps us better understand ourselves, in that he helps us see ourselves more
clearly in the mirror of history and visualize how others perceive us.
While
I challenged some of his assumptions and misperceptions, I corrected a few of
my own misconceptions. In the exchange, I discovered a warm friend, a creative
artist, an informed critic, and someone deserving of our serious attention. Dr.
Massie revealed us through eyes more objective than our own. He corrects our
myopic vision and I share his vignette--“When the saints came marching”;
it offers a birds-eye overview of D. S. Warner and his publishing ministry from
an objective outsider.
Simply put, Byrum and the saints believed that the miracles of healing as performed by Christ and other biblical figures were still available to those of sufficient faith. Sickness was simply the work of the devil and not, as some denominations maintained, a heaven-sent test of character. Those of faith could heal themselves through prayer or be made well by certain church elders blessed with the gift of healing hands. To consult regular physicians or to use medicines of any kind even in the most severe sickness implied a lack of faith which would spoil the cure.
The elders accomplished their miracles by anointing the head of the afflicted with olive oil followed by the laying on of hands. Tough cases required as many as six or more elders to simultaneously take hold of the patient.
Brother Byrum himself was among those blessed with the power to heal and he swore to have seen with his own eyes ‘thousands cured’ by such methods. What is more, he had exorcised genuine devils from patients. Those experiences led him to conclude that ‘of the great number of people who are now in insane asylums, doubtless, most of them are possessed with devils.’
The night before the grand finale of the camp meeting, a Sunday of fasting and prayer, a young backslider in attendance had been severely kicked by a horse, "striking him in the stomach and on the shoulder and breast, dislocating his left shoulder, cracking or breaking some of his ribs and knocking him senseless to the ground.’ He was carried unconscious to a coterie of elders who soon manipulated him back to life. Once his name was ascertained, his mother was found on the grounds. She, it turned out, had been ‘saved’ and was a strong believer in divine healing.’
The youth also had been saved but he had since reverted to his wicked ways. Nevertheless, he determined to place himself in the elders’ hands and they soon succeeded in setting his dislocated shoulder. In the meantime, however, some unbeliever had gone for a physician. The doctor arrived, conducted an examination and concluded ‘that there were serious internal injuries which were liable to cause death at almost any time.’ He bandaged the arm and shoulder of the youth who had lapsed back into unconsciousness.
That obviously would not do -- for the elders to work their miracle it would have to be ‘whole hog or nothing.’ When the youth again regained consciousness, he ripped off the bandages. Throughout that night and the following day, he suffered intense pain. The thousands who milled around the campground that afternoon observed his sufferings as the elders worked on him in an open tent.
Mobs
of angry disbelievers formed to argue the plight of the poor lad, bereft of proper medical attention. Some spoke
loudly of tar and feathers for the elders. Others
suggested perhaps a ‘necktie party’ might
be in order should the youth die.
Regardless of such threats, as Byrum described in an autobiographical account published 10 years later, the saints continued their ministrations. By that afternoon the youth had, they believed, acquired sufficient faith for the healing attempt. As a large crowd looked on, the elders anointed his head with olive oil and laid hands upon him. Immediately he ceased gasping for breath. Stepping aside, the elders commanded him ‘to arise in the name of the Lord and be well.’
Although ugly rumors began circulating that the injured boy had actually died and been replaced by a double, the saints carried the day and there was no necktie party in Bangor.
Partially in response to such successes, the Gospel Trumpet Publishing Co. grew by leaps and bounds. By 1896 some 75 employees set type, ran the steam presses and bound books in a large factory adjacent to the railroad tracks in Grand Junction. “Then suddenly on June 28th of that year, the saints loaded all their equipment on a specially chartered train, climbed aboard and chugged out of Grand Junction, en route to a new headquarters in Moundsville, W. Va.
"They will be greatly missed from our little burg’ lamented the correspondent to the Kalamazoo Semi-Weekly Telegraph. The following afternoon, a fire of mysterious origin, totally destroyed the vacant printing establishment as well as two nearby houses.
“The
Gospel Trumpet Publishing Co. had moved again, from Moundsville to Anderson, Ind. by 1905. By the
1930’s, it had gained a reputation as ‘the largest religious publishing plant in the United States.’ All that
remains of its Michigan origins,
however, are a few scattered volumes proudly bearing the imprint -- Grand Junction” (emphasis added).
_____
*Ed.: Author Massie
published a similar version of this with a corrected conclusion in Pig Boats and River Hogs, (Allegan
Forest, The Priscilla Press, 1990), pp. 194-198.
SCAN IN NEWSPAPER PICTURE OF E. E.
BYRUM & DAUGHTER
Before
following them to Moundsville in 1898 and Anderson in 1906, I offer this
description of a typical day in the Gospel Trumpet offices at Grand Junction by
one who participated very early, when still very young:
When
I became a worker at the Gospel Trumpet office in July1887, I soon
found that there were frequent
visitors. On the second day after my arrival some woman who had been sick for some time was driven in from the Cheshire
congregation to be prayed for. The next day a man and his wife came by
train from Illinois. They had
recently received a copy of the Gospel Trumpet and were anxious to learn more.
Noah Byrum/The Early
Days of Our Publishing Work/1887).
Massie is
right! Gospel Trumpet Company did move on. Those volunteer workers moved to
where they could more efficiently meet the expanding publishing demands of a
growing church, while extending their reach and wrapping their arms around
their hurting world.
They
labored twelve long years in Grand Junction, without modern conveniences,
without utilities, bereft of banking, shopping and other luxuries we take for
granted today. They strung up the very first telephone line in Grand Junction,
1¼ miles from town to camp. They supported the flying ministers that sowed the
seed for successful and effective global outreach. They brought the world to
Grand Junction, Michigan as it had never before been brought to West Michigan,
not even with the commercialization of the blue berry.
One
finds many such evidences tucked away in early issues of the Gospel Trumpet.
From Texas, this word came from E. Cox: “Meeting lasted 2 weeks, 5 homes
opened and held meetings at each home during this time” (GT, 1-11-1894).
That same issue brought word from David and Mary Meyer in Berlin, Ontario (now
Kitchener), requesting someone to come: “There are about six or eight that
are out in the evening light. . .May some of God’s flying messengers come
flying through this land, and set the blessed evening light burning. . .” (Emphasis
added).
The
imprint these workers left on southwestern and south-central Michigan remains
significant. A “Gospel Trumpet” found its way into the home of B. C. Hicks of
Three Rivers, prompting him to write the Trumpet office asking the saints to
“Pray that the Lord will heal me of bodily afflictions” (GT, 12-17-
1896). Hicks signed his request “yours in Christ” and attached his signature.
B.
C. Hicks remains unknown, but one of the oldest congregations in the Church of
God still meets regularly in Three Rivers and in the chapters that follow, we
will trace their journey across a full century.
_______________
CHAPTER SEVEN - “Come-outer”
The Three Rivers Tribune of last
week
reports Elder Michaels of South Haven,
a minister of the
Church of God,
is holding meetings
in the basement
of the building
opposite the Central house
and Elder Woodworth
of Illinois will assist him.
Everybody is invited.
100
years ago (11-15-1891),
“Harbor History,” South Haven Daily
Tribune
Who were the Come-outers? Historian, Dr. Merle Strege, described them in the “Culture Called Church” suggesting, “The saints of the early Church of God movement believed that God had appointed them to a twofold mission. They were, they believed, under a divine mandate to evangelize--to reach the lost (ONE Voice/June 200- Secondly, but not of secondary importance,” concluded Strege, “was the mission to denominations that perpetuated divisions in the body of Christ--the true church. God’s church, was to be one holy church. Those who affiliated with the Church of God movement often testified that they had “seen the church” and that they had “taken their stand” for the truth of this vision. What kind of church did they see?
What
it was that formed the basis of their opinion remains to be seen. The Bangor
Advance however, provided Van
Buren County readers this informative assessment on December 16, 1887: “The
sanctifiers are doing good work, the meetings are not only a place of
entertainment, but of real enjoyment. It is,” they concluded, “almost a
deathblow on tobacco and cider venders.”
When
George and Lucinda Anderson allegedly accompanied the Leroy Burton's (misspelled
as Burden in The Gospel Trumpet) to the annual camp meeting at Bangor in
1888, they accepted the message of the Church of God. Although early Trumpets
reveal they could not have been strangers, in taking this action, they committed
themselves as “come-outers.” In the instance, they “came out” of the Free
Methodist denomination to stand against the denominational system, and stand outside
of it.
Did
they understand the implications of their actions? Did they understand they
were--to use more common vernacular--becoming church planters? I think not.
Yet, by walking in the light of this new “truth,” and by opening their homes as
a place for the Saints to gather, they launched what we today call the Three
Rivers First Church of God.
These
two couples invited others to worship with them in an open fellowship. They met
for worship and proclamation of this new truth. They gave themselves, and their
resources, freely. Never in their wildest imagination, however, did the George
Anderson's look into their future and guess that one day their granddaughter
May (Ivins) would launch out on her own, move to Anderson, Indiana, and return
to Michigan with a West Virginia preacher-husband.
They
could not possibly foresee that she would raise her family in her home
community and extend their family into the seventh generation of a century-old
Church of God congregation. What happened with the Anderson's in Three Rivers,
wonderfully illustrates how God blesses the transitions that unfold in our
lives. We will learn more about that later.
Before
fifty years passed, this new kid on the block began questioning where it came
from. The people knew they wanted to pay-off their indebtedness and eventually
burn their mortgage. First, however, they wanted to know more about their
origins--where they came from and how they arrived at their present station.
They needed to better understand how they originated, and to determine what
future they wanted to pursue.
This
thoughtful question prompted Margaret (Maggie) Thompson and Clydia Ream to
compile the earliest-known stories of their beginnings. Clydia
(7-27-1886--5-9-1960) was the oldest living charter member of the group. She and Maggie Thompson developed a
single-spaced, mimeographed memoir, not quite three pages in length that I am
reproducing here. Numerous copies exist and all tell the same story, but in
words that sometimes vary. In the pages that follow, I will add significantly
to their story and fill in between the cracks with additional information I
have learned and can meaningfully share, doing the least editing expedient.
Their
original story, which I have enclosed in quotes, shapes my story line. As such,
they provide me a time-line--of sorts. I will divide it in ways that allow me
to best use their outline and flesh out their story. In this way, I hope to reveal more clearly
the trail they followed during their first century. Combining what they learned
about themselves, with what I have since observed, will hopefully offer readers
a historically accurate document that is both factual and a well-written “good
read.”
“HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH OF GOD IN
THREE RIVERS, MICHIGAN (First part compiled and copied by Sister Margaret
Thompson and Sister Clydia Ream) Easter Sunday, 1949
“This
history of the Church of God in Three Rivers has been compiled for the purpose
of showing us on this important occasion the tremendous amount of courage,
faith, foresight and love for God and man that many of those pioneer ministers
and saints had. Many have gone on to their heavenly home, while some of them
are still with us.
“Had
it not been for these Godly men and women, we who compose the church today, may
not have had the privilege of seeing the light in this great Church of God
movement as it is in this generation. It is only fitting that we pay tribute to
them, honor and reverence their names, for their names, for their steadfastness
in paving the way for us.
“We
have one in our midst today, one who is a direct descendant of this first
pioneer family and whose vivid memory in her early child-hood has given us this
information which has enabled us to write this early history. That person is
our good Sister Clydia Anderson Ream
“Sister
Margaret Thompson (9-14-1893--6-13-1982, Ed.) comes into the picture after the
salvation of her mother, Ida Lakey, in 1907 and she has given us many important
facts. Then comes Brother and Sister Leatherman who have been affiliated with
the church since March 4, 1924, and we owe them a real debt of gratitude for
their untiring efforts and valuable information in bringing this history down
to the present day. ”
Before
going further, I ask your indulgence by accompanying me on a brief side
excursion. I want to share a first-of-the-year letter from 1890, written by the
Editor of the Gospel Trumpet. Editor Warner wrote from Beech Springs,
MS. It offers a feel for the larger scene, of which Three Rivers was but a tiny
microcosm--sixty miles southeast of the Trumpet Headquarters at Grand Junction.
Warner’s
letter comes via Noah Byrum’s diary and personal recollections, later compiled
and identified as The Early Days of Our Publishing Work and now known as The Book of Noah:
DEAR
READERS OF THE GOSPEL TRUMPET:
Having
a trip of twenty miles to make today I arose before daybreak and am improving the flying moments. We are all
well and blessed of God with a thousand mercies.
Surely, Thou, O God, crownest the year with thy goodness!
This
has been a very glorious and prosperous year to my soul and in the spreading of gospel light and salvation.
Not a moment has passed without complete
victory over all the powers of sin, through Jesus Christ who has loved us and given himself for us.
There was been a great increase in the circulation of The Gospel Trumpet during the year and many thousand tracts have gone out, preaching to the ends of the earth. The light of present truth is fast making its way into every corner of this vast country, and also making some inroads across the sea. The number of consecrated witnesses for God and his great salvation is greatly increasing, and they are running to and fro from North to South and from sea to sea. Oh, what self-denial and sacrifice the true heralds of the cross of Christ must endure. A great host of warm and true-hearted saints have shown their consecration of self and means to God by the support of the pure gospel, but on the part of others there is yet far too low a standard and too small faith in the matter of devoting means to the glory of God and the promotion of salvation. no one thing is more essential to the purity of God’s church than a pure, self-sacrificing ministry.
We are very thankful to the Lord and to all the beloved saints for their co- operation with us in publishing the saving truth of God in the earth. The good work is increasing in every way.
A paper for the children is much needed and I trust that we may be able to start one in the very near future. The Gospel Trumpet, too, should be made a weekly. May God soon bring it to pass for his name’s sake! We have the office capacity, and the Lord can move upon additional workers to help carry out the project. In order to issue the paper weekly we should have a few thousand more names added to our present subscription list. This can easily be accomplished if each one will get busy and do his part to increase the circulation of the paper. The true way to do this is to work for the salvation of souls. The Gospel Trumpet only increases in the earth as the Church of God increases in numbers.
God bless you, dear brothers and sisters and all readers, with a happy new year and may his grace be upon you all throughout the year.
“In
August of 1890, Brother and Sister Grover and Brother and Sister Leroy Sheldon
came here and held a tent meeting. They lived in
smaller tents and kept the larger one for meetings. Few were added through
salvation to the church (emphasis added). The Burton’s and Anderson’s
entirely severed their connections with Free Methodists and had a very small
congregation raised up then.
“Others
who worshiped with them were Brother and Sister Wellman, Sister Whiteside, a
Galloway family that lived on Fifth Street, and Brother and Sister John Weaver
who lived on Grant St. They were called “Come-outers, and Saints---no Sects.
“The
following year Brother and Sister Sheldon and Brother Michels held a tent
meeting. They branched out to the Masterman School and held another meeting
with Brother Henry and Brother Dougherty as Evangelists. The Burdens were still
pastors. We would like to mention the fact here that these Evangelists and
Pastors lived and labored entirely on Faith.
“From
1893 until 1900 the Anderson’s and daughter Clydia moved up north so we have no
record of the church other than there was a church here.” However, as the
following paragraph suggests to this writer, the absence of records does not
always indicate that the congregation was inactive. It is true: the
congregation was very small at this time, and the records were very inadequate,
but there are other records that occasionally appear.
These
not only shed additional light on the current congregational status, but they
confirm that this little band of Saints in Three Rivers stayed connected with the
Movement. While working on the Warner House Centennial Project, Mary Molnar was
gifted a copy of the 1893 text from the Diary
of Gideon Detweiler. Gideon became a member of the Trumpet Family at Grand
Junction for a time, arriving at Grand Junction from Ohio around August 20,
1890.
Gideon
penned this notation that offers a mini-peek into life at Three Rivers, dated
October 7, 1893. One Saturday morning: he wrote in his diary: “Brother Burden of Three Rivers, Mich. came
this morning and brought us some nice celery.” Later that same year, on
September 21, Gideon noted that Sister Allie Fisher came home from Three
Rivers, MI. Very likely she had been in Three Rivers to preach.
S.
P. Strang and his evangelistic party began a meeting in Three Rivers beginning September
17, 1897. Strang urged Trumpet readers to “Pray much for us. Yours in the one
body.” (GT/9-16-1897). Strang reported later from Nappanee, IN.,
while in company with Frank Simmons, two saved and three sanctified in “a few
days of meetings at Three Rivers, Michigan … much good to the little church..
.” (GT/11-18-1897).
In
similar manner, a printed announcement went out from Grand Junction to Saints
everywhere, dateline Thursday, May 16, 1895. It announced:
“The Church of the Living God
will hold their
annual Camp Meeting,
one mile north
of Grand Junction,
Michigan from June 11-20.”
This
announcement appeared in the pages of The Gospel Trumpet. Although camp
meeting has come annually to Grand Junction every summer for the past 123 years,
Grand Junction lost its status as “national camp meeting” when the publishing
office relocated to Moundsville, WVA.
Brother
Warner’s untimely death in December 1895 resulted in a change of direction for
the “Trumpet Family.” As a result, they packed and relocated into larger—more
modern facilities in Moundsville during the summer of 1898. Meanwhile, the 1895
camp meeting promised “a beautiful situation beside Lester Lake,” with a “large
pavilion, floored and comfortably seated, together with tabernacles” that “will
seat large congregations.”
This
report reminded readers that “buildings had been erected to aid in
accommodating the people wishing to remain on the Ground.” Those who could were
invited to bring their own bedding. The concluding day of camp meeting promised
a day of “fasting and prayer”--June 16.
“No
meals or lunches, except for children, will be served on that day. Meals or
lunches furnished at low prices except Sundays.” Of special interest is this
warning that informs all readers “NO HUXTERING ALLOWED ON OR NEAR THE GROUNDS.”
The “Camp Meeting
charged “no gate fees” and “no collections.” They invited people to “COME AND
HEAR A PURE AND FREE GOSPEL!” proclaimed by “able ministers” who “will present
the glorious Gospel of full Salvation, and expound present truth in prophecy
and revelation.”
In
addition, “A large number of singers will sound out heavenly music. A wonderful
outpouring of the Holy Spirit is looked for, and mighty power manifest in saving
the lost, sanctifying believers, and healing the afflicted.” Invited were “all
true children of God, lovers of truth, and such as seek light, and wish
Salvation ... This meeting is Non-Sectarian.”
Reduced
rates were secured on regional railroad connections, making Grand Junction, MI
available “from all points over their roads south of Cook county in Illinois,
Indiana, Ohio, and from Buffalo, N. Y., Pittsburgh, Pa., St. Louis, MO., and
intervening points. . .”
In
addition, travelers could utilize the H. W. Williams Transportation Line, which
had “boats running every night on Lake Michigan. They left O'Connor's Dock at
the foot of Michigan Street, Chicago, and arrived at South Haven, Michigan
early next morning. Fare cost $1.00, with berths furnished for 25 to 50 cents.
This offered a close connection with the Michigan Central Railroad, for Grand
Junction and points east.
Other
issues of the “Gospel Trumpet”--1896 in particular--offer insight into
congregational life for small congregations like Three Rivers during those
early years of the “Flying Ministry.” From the pages of The Gospel Trumpet
of September 9, 1884 comes this field report from Leroy Burden of Three Rivers,
Michigan:
I
praise God for a full and complete salvation that keeps me sweetly saved all
the time. O glory to God and the Lamb
forever! ‘If we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another; and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.’ Glory to
God for His salvation just now. ‘He that keepeth
His commandments dwelleth in Him, and He in Him: and hereby we know that He abideth in us, by the Spirit which He
hath given us.’ Amen. Enclosed one dollar
for the Trumpet, and fifty-cents for tracts entitled “Christ is the Body, the Church.’ May God bless you all.
Leroy Burden
The February 13, 1896
issue offered this announcement from our Brother Leroy Burden--most likely
Pastor Leroy Burton: Meetings are wanted at Fabius, MI. Address Leroy
Burden, Three Rivers, MI. These preachers did not just go to a central
meetinghouse and preach a few days. For example, the July 2 issue of that year
revealed a Grove Meeting in Three Rivers beginning July 4. Scheduled to
continue two days, they announced it would conclude with baptizing and
ordinances on the final evening.
Following
the relocation of the “Gospel Trumpet” to Moundsville, notices began appearing
like this August 13, 1896 field report. Ten short years before the Trumpet
offices moved to Anderson. Michigan evangelist, Leroy Sheldon, reported
preaching in Anderson, IN, “meeting the usual opposition.” Sheldon, who
conducted several protracted meetings around the Three Rivers area, conducted a
second tabernacle meeting in nearby Marion, IN, arriving from Springfield,
Ohio. He concluded the “word prevailed and many friends in Marion and
Anderson.”
About
the same time, two Michigan-area men--H. P. Strang, a convert of Sebastian
Michels, and Frank Simmons--conducted a four-week (revival) meeting at Jones,
ten miles west of Three Rivers. They reported four consecrations and a “little
church.” The two messengers followed this with a few services in Fabius, MI.
Although Fabius means little to general readers, residents of Three Rivers
recognize Fabius Township as being the west side of Three Rivers. Lockport
Township constitutes the east side of the community.
From
there, Simmons and Strang journeyed west, to Simmons’ home in nearby Decatur.
Strang went northwest to Grand Junction--today a short one-hour drive. He
returned later and spent three weeks in Decatur. As often happened in those
days, this effort concluded with a Communion Service in which sixteen people
participated.
The
two evangelists next made their way to Wakelee, rural Marcellus (just west of
Three Rivers), where they found division among the people. Making a return
visit to the Vandalia community, they met in the Felps’ home and Brother Strang
soon returned home to LaPaz, IN.
As
the twentieth century approached, J. M. Anderson wrote from Three Rivers: “I
feel more determined than ever to press forward, and to the whole will of God …
distributing tracts and canvassing for books, talking salvation to people ...”
He further suggested “God is bringing the little ones together here in the
oneness of Christ, settling us all down in his Word, and souls are being saved and
the sick healed ... (G.T./4-14-1898).
“In
1900,” wrote our first historians, “the Anderson’s moved back into the vicinity
and they worshiped on Fourth St. and Buck St. Here, Brother Eldredge and
Brother Woddles held a meeting. At this time, Brother and Sister Meade came
into the congregation, also Sister Mertie Fosdick Smith, who promised the Lord
that she would preach. That same winter they moved here and held services at
Sister Mertie’s house on Fourth Street. She later moved to Newberg Township
(west of town, ed.) and the church became dormant for a time.
“In
1906, the Anderson’s moved to 1109 Seventh St. and prayer meetings were again
started in their home. For a month or more, no one came, but Brother and Sister
Anderson always held prayer meeting, which showed the true Godly spirit.
Brother and Sister Van Gilder came, also Billie Hill and Stepfather John
Anderson and wife Mary. Prayer meetings continued until October when Brother
Merica and Brother Ed Ellis held a revival, which lasted for 6-8 weeks, or well
into the winter.
“Brother
Van Gilder went from house to house taking subscriptions for the Trumpet and
the price was ten cents for ten weeks. He went to the Nutting’s house, parents
of Sister Ida Lakey Hill, who lived with them as a young widow with six
children. He solicited their subscription and invited them to the meetings.
Sister Nutting and Sister Lakey came with the children. These two sisters were
gloriously saved during that meeting.”
The
following summer--1907--the Ellis Brothers and Brother Merica led a tent
revival at 1106 7th Street. Sister Mertie Smith returned to town and
served once more as Pastor. The congregation continued meeting in the Anderson
home.
“Brother
and Sister Dean came into the church from Burlington, and Brother Belair came
and [a] nice congregation was gathered under Sister Mertie’s leadership. In
1907, Ida Lakey married Bill Hill and they were faithful in the church. Sister
Hill served as janitor for many years.
“The
following few years, meetings were held in halls and rented homes.” John H.
Merica of Topeka, IN. opened this window wider by leaving us this field report:
“On the 24th of June, in company with T. E. and Kittie Ellis, we began a
tabernacle meeting at Three Rivers, Mich., which continued ten or eleven days.”
Merica explained, “The people of that place did not attend very well, as the
Fourth of July and other worldly amusements occupied their minds and attention.”
“However,”
Merica reports, “a few saints are there and a goodly number of the Lord’s
people from other places came and we had a precious meeting. The meeting” he
agreed, “was heart-searching, and we believe that almost all who attended
received a benefit” (emphasis added).
Following
the Three Rivers meeting, Merica held meetings west of Grand Rapids, MI. From
there, he went south to “the Brushy Prairie (Indiana) camp meeting, which was
owned and blessed of God.” Ministers at that meeting included S. P. Strang, N.
S. Duncan, J. N. Howard, Edward Ellis, J. H. Merica, Lineaus Kilpatrick and “Sisters
Myrtie Fosdick and Jessie Osborn” who were” used to the glory of God to
instructing the children (emphasis added).”
Thus,
Brother Merica shined a small sliver of light for us into the little-known
activities of Sister Mertie, another Three Rivers personality. He concluded his
report from Herrick, IL by informing his readers that he and Brother Strang
commenced their latest meeting “with good attendance and very good interest” (The
Gospel Trumpet/10-1-1908).
From
around 1918, Brother Raymond Jackson and Brother James E. Jenkins served back
and forth as Co-pastors. In 1923, Brother Jackson led the charge from the old
Theater Building in downtown Three Rivers. Before long, Brother Jenkins lost
his battle with tuberculosis, going to his eternal reward in 1925.
The
original history continues: “In the early part of 1924, Brother Jackson
resigned, he and Brother Hartman (Kalamazoo pastor exercising over-sight of
this work in early years) appointed Brother Meade as Pastor and meetings were
held in the hall over the Dodge Garage on S. Main Street (beside the river).
During this time, the following Evangelists preached here: Kilpatrick, Boles,
Sidener, Austin, and Bailey who showed pictures on Africa.
“Under
Brother Meade’s leadership, the first By-Laws Committee was inaugurated in
1927. By-laws were adopted and Board of Trustees elected as follows: Brother
Meade, President, Brother John Smith, Vice President, Brother Williams,
Secretary and Treasurer, also Brother Leatherman and Brother Clarence McConnell
making up the five members of the first board.
“Brother
Meade felt the call to resign and Sister Mertie was voted in as Pastor, but
served less than a year. Brother Meade served as Sunday school Superintendent
and Brother John Smith on the trustee board. When all three resigned and moved
out of town, this was a dreadful setback to our little church at that time.
“Brother
Leatherman was unanimously voted in as Pastor and Sister Leatherman as Sunday
School Superintendent, receiving [a] full vote of confidence of the church.
Depression struck and many could not come in so Brother Leatherman furnished
the house and did the preaching to keep the church going.
“At
one time the Sunday School was around twenty-five and built up to forty-seven.
Many were saved kneeling by chairs in this home. At times conditions were so
hard that it seemed the work could not be carried on, but their prayers were
answered and God’s work did progress.
“Sister
Ella Ferree (Mrs. Clinton Ferree) died previously and left the church $200.00
which was used to buy lots where the church and parsonage now stand [until the
1985 relocation from Pearl Street, Ed.]. Brother Leatherman and the small
congregation worked hard to build this little church which was 18’ x 28. This
was built in the winter of 1932 and 1933.
“The
discouragements were many but God heard and answered the prayers of the
faithful few and many happy memories remain today of this little building. All
work was donated by friends and neighbors of the congregation.”
Again,
we supplement their story from other sources. In 1917, the fledging Church of
God produced its first national Yearbook of the Church of God. It
reported Myrtie Fosdick as the pastor in residence at Three Rivers. She lived
at 810 Fourth Street.
The
following year--1918--reported Sis. Myrtie moving from St. Joseph County to Van
Buren County, to lead the Decatur congregation. Mrs. Arthur Osborn, who wrote a
“History of the Church of God of Decatur, Mich.--1889-1928”--sheds
additional light on Sister Myrtie. Mrs. Osborn tells us “In 1917 Sister Myrtle
Fosdick assumed the pastorate till 1921, when she became Sister John Smith and
took up other duties.”
The
1918 Yearbook listed J. E. Jenkins as pastor of the Three Rivers church,
in residence at 504 Pleasant Street. Jenkins was again listed as pastor of
record in 1919. He had five years of ministerial experience, spoke the English
language, and was married to Adelia May (Ivins), referred to earlier as the
granddaughter of the Anderson's.
The
Jenkins family included young children living at home. Since he worked
bi-vocationally to support his family, The Yearbook, further suggested
his “time (is) not wholly occupied in gospel work.” Like many Church of God ministers of that
era, Jenkins worked to support himself while ministering to the church without
salary.
People
recognized D. S. Warner as a gifted evangelist, and many of those who rallied
around him became itinerant ministers or traveling evangelists, thus the
appendage “flying ministry.” As preaching evangelists--Elders--these preachers,
male and female, went everywhere equally. At the beginning, we had almost no
resident pastors and few permanent meeting houses. They valued the concept of
“faith ministry,” believed preachers should not receive a salary, and those who
did they called denominational hirlings.
They proclaimed a “free gospel.”
Like
John Wesley when rejected by the State Church of England, they fired their
salvoes from under Brush Arbors and in camp meetings. They went from one
schoolhouse to another. They held home meetings. Because they considered paid
preachers--“hirelings”--they generally rejected the whole system of paid
ministry, choosing rather to endure perpetual poverty and considerable
ridicule. All the while, they praised God with their lips and surrendered their
hearts fully to God.
Belonging
only to God, they sacrificed much that we consider essential today. Yet, they
reaped a great harvest. The 1919 Yearbook of the Church of God gave this
interesting notation about one of our Michigan preachers: “Endorsed by Wm.
Hartman.” Having no systematic credentialing [organization]of ministers, as we
do today, they found it expedient--even necessary--to use personal
endorsements. Nor did they hesitate to keep one another informed of irregularities.
The
following note from Herrick, IL appeared in the Gospel Trumpet of January 2,
1908. Editor E. E. Byrum particularly noted in his plain speaking manner
that “a letter ... informs us of two men (named) who are going from place to
place among the saints, posing as ministers and imposing upon the brethren.
“They
are not in harmony with this reformation, are teaching false doctrine, and
should not be given a chance to take charge of services or propagate their
doctrines. They have been rejected at different places, and they work division
wherever afforded an opportunity.”
Meanwhile,
the 1921 Yearbook reported the now thirty-six year-old James Jenkins of Three
Rivers had completed seven years of ministerial service. He lived with his family
at 502 Mechanic Street, and they helped increase the flourishing population to
5,072 that year.
By
this time, the Church of God in North America represented more than a Movement
focused on religious publishing. It reflected an increasing new Movemental
identity--a religious body, or movement, with a reform message.
It reported 1,148 recognized ministers--759 white, 177 “colored.” These
included 331 Evangelists, 655 Pastors, and 199 Assistant Pastors, serving a
network of 720 congregations nation-wide.
Within that network, James Jenkins
found common cause with Ray Jackson of Vandalia, fifteen miles west. The two “J
Brothers”--Jenkins white--Jackson black--related and developed a co-pastor
relationship at a time when racial tensions had begun creating some separation among
congregations.
The
Church of God began with a singular vision of racial oneness--gender-equality,
and denominational unity. Women preachers held equal authority with men.
Congregations worshiped racially integrated. However, this created problems in
some parts of the country--especially the Deep South. Slowly the church
compromised, rationalizing that each race could witness more effectively to its
own kind (emphasis added).
The
Three Rivers church accepted no such restriction, located in an area with a strong
abolitionist history. The area gave strong support to the Underground Railroad
and the Three Rivers congregation mostly ignored the painful constrictions of
segregated worship.
Ray
Jackson conducted services in the old Three Rivers Theater Building. Part of
that time, he preached in both Three Rivers and Vandalia, where his
predominantly black congregation met in private homes. The 1923 Yearbook listed
Jackson as the pastor of record at Vandalia, but 1924 saw him listed as pastor
of record in both Three Rivers and Vandalia. After he resigned “in the early
part of 1924,” he and Brother Hartman appointed Brother Meade as Pastor of
record.
According
to The Yearbook, Meade had served in ministry since 1923 and Myrtie
Smith had been active since 1903.
With
the appointment of Brother Meade as pastor, the congregation inched slowly
forward. They left the downtown area and moved south of the River but still in
sight of downtown. They met on the second floor, above the Dodge Garage beside
the river. Later, we will read youthful recollections of a lad that attended
that Sunday school in 1925.
As
recently as the early eighties, Ruth Altimus and members of the Thompson clan
shared personal memories with me. Ruth described family members carrying
buckets of coal up to their frigid second-floor facility, attempting to warm
their meeting place and protect them from the harshness of the winters
there.
The
1929 Yearbook again reported G. M. Meade as pastor. Myrtie H. Smith
served as Associate. The church met on 6th Street--formerly Flint Avenue--long
since re-named South Main Street. They counted twenty-six members, enrolled
fifty-one in Sunday school, and listed nine participating youth.
When
Brother Meade “felt the call to resign,” the people prevailed once more on
Sister Mertie. Again, they named her their Pastor of choice. She served less
than a year and returned to Decatur, although the 1931 Yearbook still listed M.
H. Smith as Pastor-Evangelist and reported 30 members meeting regularly on Main
Street. That same year, Lillian Williams (relative of Ray Jackson, Ed.) of 112
Jefferson Street served as Youth Leader.
By
the arrival of the 1932 Yearbook, Sister Myrtie had returned to Decatur.
Brother Meade continued as Sunday school Superintendent for much of this period
and John Smith served on the Board of Trustees. When all three leaders resigned
and moved out of town, the little church acknowledged “a dreadful setback.”
Consequently,
they turned once more to someone on whom they had leaned hard over the years;
they prevailed on Brother Leatherman once more and extended him a unanimous
call to return as Pastor. Sister Leatherman assumed the role of Sunday School
Superintendent.
Admittedly
small, the little band of Saints did what it could do. They prayed a lot and
they proved hearty survivors! They scrounged, sacrificed, planned, and prayed,
with everything they had! They doggedly pursued what they believed to be God’s
will for their lives. They cast all doubts aside, acted on their faith, and
built their chapel!
I
find no record of any dedicatory celebration, but I dare believe that when they
completed that first humble chapel they celebrated by praising God for bringing
them home--the Promised Land! They had envisioned that Promised Land, and they
fully intended to occupy the place they knew God had reserved for them.
Across
the next half-century, they would roller coaster up and over treacherous peaks
of celebration, and then carefully pick their way down through deep valleys of
discouraging tediousness. Sometimes they slipped and slid. At other times, they
slithered through difficult depressions and economic valleys. Nevertheless,
they always pressed forward. Repeatedly, they conquered unforeseen rifts of
foreboding discouragement.
On
occasion, they made bad decisions. Sometimes, others made the bad decisions
while they suffered. Decisions sometimes turned sour, resulting from
misinformation provided by well-meaning sources that proved wrong.
In
later years, the growing flock grappled with the haunting specter of what to do
to survive and how to continue their growth. How could they expand their
facilities? Should they relocate? Would they die on the vine if they failed to
enlarge their facility? For the moment, however, they were home; they were
comfortable--or otherwise; and, they were happy!
A
cherished piece of our musical heritage from the mid-twenties captures the
essence of what glued these people together--The Church’s Jubilee. Their
music shaped their lives. It fortified their faith. It shaped the contours of
their lives as a ministering congregation of worshippers and workers. When sung
in full four-part harmony, as it most often was in those days; and when sung
with strong male voices to lead the tenor and bass runs in the chorus, this
music inspired awesome moments of worship. It still percolates my blood,
although I find its theology open to interpretive challenge.
The
text proclaims a common faith, a common experience, and a common unity that the
Church of God sometimes sang more effectively than it practiced. For many
Church of God people, it touches a responsive chord of nostalgia whenever sung:
The
light of eventide now shines the darkness to dispel,
The
glories of fair Zion’s state ten thousand voices tell;
For
out of Babel God doth call his scattered saints in one,
Together
all one church compose, the body of his Son.
The
Bible is our rule of faith and Christ alone is Lord,
All
we are equal in his sight when we obey his word;
No
earthly master do we know, to man-rule will not bow,
But
to each other and to God eternal trueness vow.
The
day of sects and creeds for us forevermore is past,
Our
brotherhood are all the saints upon the world so vast;
We
reach our hands in fellowship to every blood-washed one,
While
love entwines about each heart in which God’s will is done.
O
blessed truth that broke our bonds in it we now rejoice,
While
in the holy church of God we hear our Savior’s voice;
And
gladly to his blessed will submissive we shall be,
And
from the yokes of Babel’s lords from hence-forth we are free.
Chorus:
O
Church of God, the day of jubilee........
Has
dawned so bright and glorious for thee:........
Rejoice,
be glad! the Shepherd has begun........
His
long divided flock again to gather into one.
C. W. Naylor/A. L. Byers, 1923
Chapter
eight will offer several close up vignettes of early families that help us turn
the corner and end this era that included forty-five years of Exodus
journeying. We will share their joy as
we examine new levels of congregational life.
Several
of these stories I gathered during my sojourn locally. They enrich our story
and enable us to share insights from both the people and the times in which
they lived. May their stories challenge all of us to do as much with what we
have, as they did with what they had.
That
is my prayer!
_______________
CHAPTER EIGHT - “The
Reformation Glory”
(The
Family of James E. Jenkins)
By abiding only in
Christ,
his body the church,
we stand on the
foundation
which includes all Christians
in heaven and earth;
and not as a member
of any sect, or cut-off faction.
“The Church of God or
What is the Church and What Is Not”
D. S. Warner, p. 30
There’s
a mighty reformation sweeping o’er the land,
God
is gathering his people by his mighty hand;
For
the cloudy day is ending and the evening sun is bright,
With
a shout of joy we hail the light.
When
the voice from heaven sounded, warning all to flee
From
the darksome courts of Babel back to Zion free;
Glad
my heart to hear the message, and I hastened to obey,
And
I’m standing in the truth today.
Zion’s
walls again are building as in days of yore,
And
the scattered hosts returning to their land once more
Are
rejoicing in their freedom pledging ever-more to stand
In
the reformation truths so grand.
Christians
all should dwell together in the bonds of peace,
All
the clashing of opinions, all the strife should cease;
Let
divisions be forsaken, all the holy join in one,
And
the will of God in all be done
Chorus:
O
the reformation glory!
Let
it shine to every land:
We
will tell the blessed story;
In
its truth we e’re shall stand.
C. W. Naylor/A. L. Byers
(Hymns and Spiritual
Songs/Byers & Warren/149)
George
and Lucinda Anderson‘s granddaughter, Adelia May Ivins, left her Michigan home
in 1913 in pursuit of the “Reformation Glory” and became a volunteer with the
“Gospel Trumpet Family.” Caught up in the glory she sang about while living at
home, she pursued that glory fully committed. She became a Gospel Worker at the
Trumpet Home in Anderson, Indiana. There, she met James (Jimmie) Jenkins, a
young minister from West Virginia.
Jimmie
had already made serious attempts at carrying that same “blessed story.” He
helped his family start new churches and hold gospel meetings. May married
Jimmie on September 4, 1915. She married with her eyes full of hope, her heart
full of song, and her future filled with struggle and grief. She survived in
poverty, a grieving widow.
E.
E. Byrum, then Editor of the Gospel Trumpet, tied the matrimonial knot. The
Trumpet Home no longer had the quarters necessary for married couples with
children, so Jimmie and May found it expedient to relocate. They moved to May’s
home in Three Rivers, Michigan, after a short stay with Jimmie’s family in West
Virginia proved unsatisfactory.
They
spent the next ten years in Three Rivers. James served mostly as the
bi-vocational pastor, but in 1925 he died prematurely at age forty-one. May and
the children all remained devoted to Christ and the church. Some of the
children, however, eventually entered into Christian service through
denominational churches.
By
the time of her death, Abbie Jenkins Tuttle the first-born, had invested many
years of servant ministry as a chaplain in the Westville, Indiana Correctional
Facility for women. A forthright preacher and a forceful writer, Abbie authored
one small volume entitled Water Baptism Option or Obligation?
Myrtle
Jenkins Bishop, the second of the two older girls, was widowed in 1978 with the
death of her husband John Bishop, Senior. Myrtle gave the Three Rivers church
and community a lifetime of generous public service. For as long as I had known
Myrtle, she had furnished senior transportation--among many other services--in
what we all humorously referred to as her “Widow’s Taxi.”
She
provided a needed service, and it remained an appreciated convenience--by all
who knew. She finally stopped driving, after having what could have been a
serious accident while attempting to exit the church driveway and enter the fast-moving
traffic on M-86.
In
her later years, Myrtle found it necessary to move into a local nursing home.
She lived there until her death, the last of Jimmie and May’s children. She
held the distinction of being the senior member of the Three Rivers congregation
at the time of her death, a role she filled with dignity, following the death
of Gladys Barnhart. At the time, Myrtle also served as the congregation’s last
living link with its founders.
Joseph
Everett Jenkins became a longtime member of Kalamazoo’s First Wesleyan Church.
His wife, Beryl, played the piano and organ. At the time of his death, he
energetically participated in Wesleyan church life. He and I discussed the
importance of a good church library and we agreed every successful congregation
needs a good library. Everett remained a close-and-respected friend of the
congregation, and to Tommie and me. He stopped often to eat fish or chicken at
Tommie’s place of employment--visiting frequently and comfortably with “Miz”
Preacher.
Youngest
son, Harry, invested his life in police work. Harry was a good man as well as “an
honest cop.” After spending much of his Law Enforcement career in Kalamazoo, where
he launched his sons, he moved on to retire after significant service as Chief
of Police in Elk Grove, Illinois. Harry lived there with his wife of more than
half a century until his death.
Two
of Harry’s sons currently participate in para-church ministries. Jay serves in
Senegal and Guinea, West Africa with his wife Sue and three children. They work
as Wycliffe Translators, translating the spoken language of the Kenyagi people
into written form and providing their people-groups with written scriptures in
their native language.
I
shall always remember Jay fondly, as I remember how graciously he assisted the
day his family joined us in memorializing Jay’s Grandpa Jenkins. He directed
congregational music, meeting a need for us, when they all came in as our
special guests. For us, it was a very special dedication service. Jay
graciously substituted at the very last moment--never an easy task. He did it
with gracious poise, skill, and without show.
Best
known of the family, Jerry became one of the most prolific Christian authors of
all time, authoring somewhere near 200 books. His writings include the
fictional “Left Behind” series that he co-authored with Pastor-Teacher Tim
LaHaye.
Harry’s
other two sons, Jim and Jeff, followed their dad in Law Enforcement. “Young
Jim, invested many years of dedicated service in police work before becoming Police
Chief in the Battle Creek suburb of Springfield, MI. The last I knew, Jim
served his community with integrity and distinction as the City Manager and Jeff
was directing public safety at Wheaton College, in Wheaton, IL.
The
“Jenkins Clan” gathered on February 5, 1989, in the new Three Rivers
church-facility--see Part 3--to assist in dedicating the lovely handcrafted oak
altar-communion rail. The new furniture resulted from a memorial gift initiated
by the Jenkins’ Family. Completed by the congregation, it paid fitting tribute
to the memory of former pastor and revered patriarch, the Reverend James
Erastus Jenkins.
Assisted
by Myrtle, we surprised the family by presenting the congregation an 8 x
10-framed photograph, on behalf of the family. That launched a projected
picture gallery intended to display photographs of as many of the
congregation’s first century pastoral leaders as available.
My
finer memories include a Sunday in the early-1990 when Harry and Bonita visited
from IL. They led us in very meaningful worship by singing a lovely duet.
Following that service, we were visiting among ourselves when I suddenly missed
Harry in the conversation. At that same moment, I sensed something very special,
but very private. In my peripheral vision, I caught a glimpse of the veteran cop
quietly kneeling--quite unobtrusively--in solitary prayer at the far west end
of the Altar Rail his family helped dedicate back in 1989.
I
still see this gentle man in his retirement years, returning to his roots, and
reaffirming the precious priorities that anchored his career in law
enforcement. It offered me a special moment--sacred and defining. I saw a man I
highly esteemed, in private encounter with the hush of The Almighty. I felt
like an intruder to an intimate conversation between two long-familiar
friends. It provided one of those
redefining moments in a panoramic sweep of history experienced by a whole clan.
Harry
raised his boys in the faith, as his father had hoped to do, had he lived. I
knew some of the commitments Harry and his siblings pursued throughout their
lives. I knew that from early childhood in the tightly knit South side
neighborhood of Three Rivers--pre-1925 into the early 90’s--God had been a
vital part of their daily lives.
When
Harry died in February 2003, Kalamazoo Gazette reporter, Dave Person,
characterized him as a “man of faith, patriarch of his family and public
servant,” a man who “stood tall.” Harry left the police department in
Kalamazoo, MI. in 1963 to become Chief of Police in Elk Grove IL for seventeen
years. Later, he became head of training programs for the Illinois State
Police, ending his career as police chief in Worth, IL.
When
the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police, of which Harry was a former
president, made the announcement of Harry’s death on January 29, 2003, he began
by declaring, “The great Harry Jenkins has passed away.”
I
agree with son James who commented later, “One line I heard a lot when I was
growing up was that if I was half the man my dad was I’d be a good man.” Young
James is a good man. I would trust his character and integrity anywhere. Four
stalwart sons had the imprint of Harry Jenkins indelibly stamped upon them;
this good man was their role model. But then Harry had a good role model, the
former pastor of the Three Rivers Church of God and the man who co-labored with
young Ray Jackson.
When
I met Abbie for the first time, I listened … awed. I admired her writing when
she shared her written description of the family. Meeting Harry and his family,
after years of knowing Myrtle and Everett, only enriched me further. It
reinforced my discoveries about former pastor James Jenkins--a life-enriching
experience, and truly humbling.
My
interest in Christian journalism and publishing deepened my appreciation for
Jerry’s giftedness, and its source. He sharpened his skills in significant
places like the editorial offices of Moody Press, yet God abundantly endowed
him through the Jenkins’ genetics, while also blessing others in the family as
well.
Abbie
offered her perspective that day in February 1989, when we dedicated our new
Communion Rail. I share her account as she delivered it.
JAMES E. JENKINS,
1884 -1925
--October 15,
1916----February 11, 1996--
Written By Abbie Jenkins
Tuttle
The early religious background of the Jenkins family was Methodist.
Grandfather JOSEPH WOODSON JENKINS was a Methodist circuit rider preacher in
the hills and towns of southwest West Virginia, and his son James joined with
him as a young man. However, something happened which changed the lives of the
JENKINS’ family, especially JAMES and his descendants (emphasis added).
A man named Daniel S. Warner
received a new vision about the meaning and purpose of the church. In 1878, he
announced, ‘God gave me a new commission to join holiness and all truth
together and build up the apostolic church of the living God. Praise His name,
I will obey Him!’
The new view of the church was not
of creeds, buildings, or authoritarian governmental structures - only people of
God. They declared war on the divisions of God’s people into separate
organizations. Their basis for fellowship contained seven principles: holy
lives, the soon coming of Christ, no church organization, an annual assembly of
all the saints, no preachers’ licenses, the fellowship of all truly regenerated
people, and all children of God were to stand together in the unity of the
Spirit.
Rev. Warner brought the message to
Michigan in 1881. It was considered a REFORMATION movement - a call to arms. A
great factor in spreading the message was the Gospel Trumpet weekly
publication, begun in Ohio and Indiana, and then moved to Grand Junction,
Michigan in 1886. In June 1898, the work was moved to Moundsville, West
Virginia and finally to Anderson, Indiana in 1906, where the Church of God
headquarters is still located. Now, over one hundred years later, the militancy
has subsided and the Church of God fellowships comfortably with the Methodists,
Baptists, Nazarenes, and others.
Not so in the late 1800-early
1900’s. Their fiery message called for those in established churches to
“come out of Babylon.” It was spread by the Gospel Trumpet weekly paper and by
“Evangelistic Companies” made up of men and women who sang and preached the
gospel of the new movement.
The new reformation message spread
through West Virginia, and GRANDMOTHER JENKINS and most of her children
accepted it. This created a real crisis in the family, because Methodist
preacher GRANDFATHER JOSEPH WOODSON fought against this new belief. According
to his daughter Kate, he wouldn’t speak to grandmother and slept on the
farthest edge of the bed with his back toward her! We don’t know how long this
continued, but he eventually “saw the light” and became a dedicated, sincere
Church of God minister, preaching the reformation and planting churches all
over the hills of West Virginia.
What was young JAMES like? He was
the only boy in a family of seven girls, devoted early to the Lord. We have one
of his poems, writ-ten as a young boy:
Oh, how
pleasant to live for Him
Who
gave His life to save poor Jim
When he
forsook and gave up sin
The
Lord reached down and took him in.
Poor Jimmie
was an Irish lad
So
funny he was often bad
And many
times was very sad
Until
salvation made him glad.
The Lord was
pleased to lift Jim up
And
give him all that he could sup
Of living
water from the cup
Praise
God for lifting Jimmie up.
He was a shy, introspective person.
He did not leave home until he was 26; did not marry until 31. Nevertheless,
his commitment to the Lord was solid. Another of his early poems says,
I have a
well down in my soul
The
water bubbles up
It’s pure as
any refined gold
And
I have filled my cup.
JAMES was part of one of the
“Evangelistic Companies.” An entry from the history of the Church of God at
Princeton, West Virginia, describes, “Rachel Bailey, with a group of gospel
workers, James E. Jenkins, who was later an outstanding minister, son of Joseph
W. Jenkins, his sister, Maggie Jenkins, and Josie Vest, went to Oak Hill in
October 1903. Meeting lasted six weeks. Thirty-two converts were baptized.”
His ledger/journal reflects a
dedicated child of God. That same page reports, “Work done for Mr. Dixon,
July1905. 1 day’s work, $1.40 . . . the Lord is keeping me from the sins of
this world. Follow thou me, said Jesus. The disciple is not above his master
. . .”
His journal reported through the
year 1911, filling it with meticulous records of earnings and people for whom
he worked, mixed with sermon outlines, lists of missionaries, and meditations
such as this one:
“Some people look on the Holy Spirit
as a luxury for special occasions,
but He is not. He is an abiding
Comforter to live in our hearts every day,
hour, and moment, and to abide
forever.”
An entry from 1911 later reported
“One year ago, the 16th day of August 1910, I came to the Gospel Trumpet
Company as a gospel worker. It has been a useful and joyous year of labor to
the cause of Christ. How much more efficient will I be for the Lord’s work ten
years from now by being faithful and true to him for whom I am spending my
time, life and all for His glory?”
He had no way then, of knowing that
ten years from that time, he would be spending his dwindling physical strength
in twelve-hour days. He would be supporting a wife and two children with
another on the way. He would have only leftover time and strength to give to
the young, struggling church in Three Rivers, Michigan, far from his beloved
hills of West Virginia. He could not know, as he wrote that entry, that he had
fewer than fifteen years to live on this planet.
His years at Anderson were probably
the happiest of his life. L. K. Morgan, Editor of another religious publication
of that time, described the Gospel Trumpet Home, as it was then known. He
visited as a reporter for ten days in 1911. He described the atmosphere of this
place where James resided this way:
“I talked with whomsoever I chose, and was edified by the spirit which
was present everywhere and in
everything. I found at this place a spirit of sacrifice, which I have never witnessed before. The
business manager, stenographers, compositors,
pressmen, stableman on the farm, the
gardener who raises the produce, and all
other help, receive nothing more than the necessities of life and are satisfied; yes, rejoicing in the
privilege of being spent in the work of
the Lord in such a way as will allow all to be used in the
spread of the gospel. It is a source of real joy to find mingled together with men in overalls and working clothes, the preachers, editors,
men and women, all occupying a social position
common to all. I can recommend to
every one the spirit which I found at
this place.”
JAMES’ life at the Gospel Trumpet
Home took a different turn after May Ivins arrived from Three Rivers. May was
the granddaughter of George and Lucinda Anderson, where she attended many home
church services in Three Rivers. The romance between JAMES and MAY blossomed
and they married in September 1915. They continued their work at the “Home”
until a vital interruption--me--happened. The Gospel Trumpet home had no
facilities for families with children, so they left Anderson for West Virginia,
where I was born in October 1915. Our mother could not adjust to life in West
Virginia and became very homesick. They traveled north to Three Rivers when I
was six weeks old.
They joined energetically in the
young Three Rivers church, but the expenses of an increasing family required
our father to spend long hours working. He loved his family and corresponded
with his sister in October 1922, writing, “This leaves us well as usual with
victory in our souls. We have three children now, Abbie, Myrtle and Joseph
Everett. I work in a box factory at
present. I would like to come to West Virginia and see all the folks, but I
can’t do it now … there are no coalmines out here. Coal here is $12.20 a ton,
and it is hard to go very far away with a family. I would love to see you - all
the kinfolks and those I used to know” (emphasis added).
James did not tell his sister he had
received a diagnosis of tuberculosis in April of that year. In those days,
there was no cure and he lived three more years following that diagnosis.
At his death, the Three Rivers
Commercial wrote, “Mr. Jenkins was a member of the Church of God and served as
pastor of the local congregation for nearly five years. His rich spiritual
experience and kind, gentle manner won the respect of all who knew him. He is survived
by his wife, four children, Abbie, 9, Myrtle, 7, Joseph Everett, 4, and Harry
Phillip, 13 months.”
Nine-year-old Abbie reports having a
cherished memory of her father’s passing. All night long before his death, he
prayed for his four children, one by one, over and over. Our mother asked the
doctor to make him stop because it was taking his strength, but the doctor
said, “It won’t make any difference.” His struggle was finished at 6:30 in the
morning of January 8, 1925. I believe that the prayers he poured out with his
life from his hemorrhaging lungs had already been answered in Isaiah 59:21
(Italics added).
‘As for me, says the Lord, this is
my covenant with them; My Spirit
who is upon you, and My words which
I have put in your mouth,
shall not depart from your mouth,
nor from the mouth of your
descendants, nor from the mouth of
your descendants’ descendants
... from this time and forevermore.’
I
am thankful for that night of prayer because I have seen the answer down into
at least five generations. Every one of his children, most of his
grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and even some great / great grandchildren
are in the family of God. His life was comparatively short - only 41 years, but
there are now 88 descendants. Among these are five named James for him. I
believe his prayers continue to be answered and I have joined my prayers to his
for my own family.
Verse
five from David’s 61st Psalm could well apply to our father, James E. Jenkins,
and to us: “For thou, O God, hast heard my vows: thou hast given me the
heritage of those that fear thy name.”
It
is a precious heritage: we should cherish it and pass it on.
Presented by daughter, Abbie Jenkins
Tuttle
at the Jenkins Reunion, First Church
of God,
Three Rivers, 2-5-1989
__________
--A FINAL WORD FROM
ABBIE—
Abbie
was born in Lashmeet, West Virginia in 1916 and lived in Osceola, Indiana from
1945. She married Roland B. Tuttle in Mt. Morris, Illinois. Roland preceded
Abbie in death in 1981, but they raised three daughters, Virginia, Dorothy, and
Sara, and three sons, Roland, Burton, and Pete.
Abbie
served as a former Assistant Chaplain at the Indiana Westville Correctional
Center. She belonged to the Apostolic Temple of South Bend. Brent Gilliland,
her Pastor, held up a pair of her shoes and asked who would try to fill her
shoes and do the work she left to do. Who would fill the empty space she left?
He held up her computer keyboard and invited someone to continue her work.
A
carload of ladies went from Three Rivers, accompanying Betty
McClain--personally escorting Myrtle--Abbie’s younger sister. Those
ladies--Mary Molnar, Lillian Myers, Ruth Altimus, and Dorothy Green--became
Abbie‘s final Honor Guard.
Later,
when Myrtle reported on Abbie’s service, she shared the following poem. Abbie’s
family found it on her Word Processor and I offer it as fitting tribute to the
faith absorbed in the Jenkins’ home by Abbie, Myrtle, Everett, and Harry:
DON’T
GRIEVE FOR ME, FOR NOW I’M FREE
I’M
FOLLOWING THE PATH GOD LAID FOR ME
I
TOOK HIS HAND WHEN I HEARD HIS CALL
I
TURNED MY BACK, AND LEFT IT ALL.
I
COULD NOT STAY ANOTHER DAY
TO
LAUGH, TO LOVE, TO WORK AND PLAY
TASKS
LEFT UNDONE MUST STAY THAT WAY
I
FOUND THAT PLACE AT CLOSE OF DAY.
IF
MY PARTING HAS LEFT A VOID
THEN
FILL IT WITH REMEMBERED JOY----
A
FRIENDSHIP SHARED, A LAUGH, A KISS----
AH,
YES, THESE THINGS TOO, SHALL MISS.
BE
NOT BURDENED WITH A TIME OF SORROW
FOR
I WISH YOU THE SUNSHINE OF TOMORROW
MY
LIFE HAS BEEN FULL, I SAVORED MUCH---
GOOD
FRIENDS, GOOD TIMES, A LOVED ONE’S TOUCH
PERHAPS
AS TIME SEEMED ALL TOO BRIEF
DON’T
LENGTHEN IT NOW WITH UNDUE GRIEF
LIFT
UP YOUR HEART AND SHARE WITH ME----
GOD
WANTED ME NOW, HE SET ME FREE.
**********
MY FIRST CAMP MEETING
November 7, 1912,
School Grade 8
(As told by daughter
Myrtle Jenkins Bishop, 10-5-2000)
At
Anderson, Indiana, there is a camp meeting held by the Church of God, which is
called the “National Camp meeting,” because people come from all over the world
to that place. The Gospel Trumpet Publishing Company is located there. There
are many workers there who devote all their time to the printing of the
literature.
Early
in the spring, a lady friend and I made up our minds to go to the Camp meeting
this year. As I had never been to any, I was anxious to go. So we prepared
everything and were ready to go at the first meeting which was on the last day
of May and continued ten days.
We
took the morning train, leaving Three Rivers at 8:58, arriving at Elkhart 10:15
where we had to go to the Big Four Depot. There we ate our dinner and had to
wait until five minutes after twelve. The train was on time and we were soon on
our journey.
We
passed through many beautiful towns. The train stopped at Wabash five
minutes for luncheon, and we were weary,
having rode most all day, so we bought an ice cream cone apiece, which was very
refreshing.
The
train was soon on its way and we were very glad to know we were near our
destination. We arrived at Anderson at 4:45. We were met by a man from the
campground with an automobile hack who said “All going to the campground should
get in.” The hack was filled and we had to wait until it came back.
After
it returned, we arrived to camp around supper and was surprised to find so many
people there and was told there would be many more. The auditorium was very
large--it would seat 2000. We saw many wonderful things done by the power of
God. One woman had been blind for 12 years received her sight.
We
returned home at the closing feeling bountifully repaid for having gone.
__________
MY HERITAGE IN THE
CHURCH OF GOD
--Myrtle (Jenkins)
Bishop—
“My heritage in the Church of God,” Myrtle
wrote, “started back in 1888 when my mother’s grandparents, George and Lucinda
Anderson, helped get the church started 0in Three Rivers, Michigan by meeting
in homes and special tent meetings.
“They
had two daughters that were active in the church along with their husbands.
Clydia (Anderson) and Isaac Ream, also my mother’s mother, Bertha (Anderson)
Weaver and husband, John Weaver.
“My
mother’s name was Adelia May and she went to Anderson, Indiana from Three
Rivers, to help with the work there (around 1913-1914). She met a man named
James E. Jenkins, who had come from Mercer County, West Virginia in 1910 to
help also with God’s work.
“They
were married in the Old Main Building on September 4, 1915 by Rev. E. E. Byrum.
Samuel Dooty stood up with James (my father). In 1958, Rev. Samuel and Rev.
Eleanor Dooty were pastors in Three Rivers.
“In
November 1916, Adelia May and James E. Jenkins moved to Three Rivers. Two
daughters were born, Abbie Belle in 1916, and Myrtle Josephine in 19l8, both in
October. Two sons were born Joseph Everett in October 1921 and Harry Phillip in
November 1923.
“He
pastored the Three Rivers church with Rev. Raymond Jackson (almost 5 years)
until his health failed and he died January 8, 1925.
“His
father, Joseph Woodward Jenkins was a pioneer minister in the Church of God in
West Virginia and gave time and finances to establish churches. He sold his
farm to help build the church in Bluefield, West Virginia. He was a good
carpenter and helped in that way, too. He also helped with building the church
at Princeton and Lashmeet, West Virginia. He pastored at Princeton, Page,
Metoaka, and Lashmeet, West Virginia.
“So,
I’m very thankful, to have the heritage of the Church of God on both my mother
and father’s side.”
__________
FROM “MY FATHER’S
DIARY BOOK”
James
E. Jenkins was born in the year of our Lord 1884, Sunday morn at half-past 12
o’clock on the 1st day of March. “One year ago, the 16th day of August 1910, I
came to the Gospel Trumpet as a Gospel Worker. It has been a useful and joyous
year of labor to the cause of Christ. How much more efficient will I be for the
Lord’s work ten years from now by being faithful and true to Him, who I am
spending my time, life, and all for His Glory.”
J. E. Jenkins,
(Shared by Myrtle)
__________
SATISFACTION
I am in the Church of God, and find
all the pleasure
my heart craves.
When I get thirsty, I can drink
Living Water,
and I do, for I have the
will in my soul.
When I get Hungry, I just eat good
spiritual Food,
such as the Bread of
Life.
When I want Fruit, there is an
abundance of it on the
Tree of Life, since it
bears fruit every month in
the year,
and also eat of that Meat that the
world knows
not of.”
J. E. Jenkins
__________
A TRIBUTE TO DADS
“On Father’s Day”
On
Fathers’ Day we mortals thank
Our
God for Fathers dear,
Who
offer us our home and food
And
what we have down here.
Now
Dads are worthy of some thought
Their
working days are hard.
And when
they’re done from mills and shops
They
work out in the yard.
Then
oftentimes when holidays
Stop
Father from his load
He takes the
family and the car
And hits the open road.
But on this
special holiday
When
fathers eat in bed,
One Father
seems forgotten
Whose
son died in our stead.
He is our
heavenly Father,
Who
conquered death and sin
He gives His
own eternal life
When
they will let him in.
The Son He
gave to die for us
Is
Jesus Christ, the Lord,
And all the
promises He gives
Are
told us in His word.
His word is
life - His life is light.
To
guide us heaven’s way.
So let us
thank our Father - God
For
what He is today.
Harry
P. Jenkins, Son
June,
1962
_____
*As
of February 10, 2005--the day of Myrtle’s Memorial Service--the family still
listed three living namesakes for James.
I view this as a strong testimony to a lasting witness, with Myrtle
being the last living child of this dedicated couple.
_______________
CHAPTER NINE - “A Preaching
Giant”
(Dr.
Raymond S. Jackson, 1892-1883)
“The World at Its Worst Needs the Church at Its Best”
Preached - June 13, 1949 Anderson, Indiana
International Camp Meeting,
-Sermon
by Raymond S. Jackson.
Raymond Samuel
Jackson began his long and fruitful life on a Cass County farm, near Chain
Lake, on March 20, 1892. His father, a one-time slave, preached at Chain Lake
Baptist Church. Young Jackson moved with his family into nearby Vandalia at the
age of one year, the fourteenth of fifteen children. Ray Jackson, as he was
then known, confessed often to being “born again” twenty-four years later in a
rooming house in Kokomo, IN.
Michael
Curry remembered Raymond Jackson as a “preaching giant,” a man to whom he
gladly listened, even after Jackson pressed well beyond his eighties. Curry
suggested the focus of Jackson’s message declared “One must live a holy life,
love one another, and be united in Christ” (Shining Light/1991/62).
By
the time Jackson achieved his seventy-fifth birthday, he had devoted
forty-seven years to a very active ministry. Speaking of the “burdens, tears,
and sorrows” of those years, he extended “a hearty ’THANKS’ to the churches he
had served. He listed them as Vandalia, Three Rivers, and Kalamazoo,
MI.; Gary, IN.; Topeka, KS; St. Louis, MO.; Vermont and West Hancock Church of
Detroit, and finally Joseph Campau Church of Detroit (Emphasis added).
Jackson
pioneered in developing numerous congregations, leading eight churches and
building a building for each of them, or relocating them into better
facilities. He served fifteen years as Chairman of the National Association at
West Middlesex, PA. He became the first black Pastor to serve as a member of
the governing board at Warner Press; he built Hancock Street Church of God of
Detroit into a membership of 1,000 and led a Sunday school of more than 1,200.
When
T. Franklin Miller penned his personal memoirs, he recalled days prior to
before Jackson’s death. He recounted the following incident from Jackson‘s
life. Miller, known as well as any minister in the Church of God, gave us a
reflective insight into the stature enjoyed by Jackson across the Church of God
as early as the early 1940’s. Following the long ministry of William Hartman,
the founding minister in Kalamazoo, the church called George Edes to shepherd
them. Hartman founded the congregation and administered it with a minimum of
organization. Allegedly, he fastened an offering box to the wall as a
congregational convenience. At a time when few congregations paid their
pastors, Jackson collected the offerings, paid all the bills, and lived out what
remained.
When
Edes discussed salary matters, the Kalamazoo leadership suggested he inquire
among some of the leading congregations. Ray Jackson received one of the inquiries.
Jackson informed Edes that his Detroit congregation gave him a good salary and specified
the amount. They paid his taxes, furnished him an automobile, and provided a
credit card for fuel. They paid his parsonage bills, gave him a generous travel
allowance, and added expenses for state and national meetings, including
personal entertainment.
In
addition, Jackson’s church provided his wife weekly house cleaning expenses, an
entertainment allowance, occasional “surprise” new clothes, and an allowance
for the Hairdresser and payment of telephone bills. Jackson ended his letter
with this counsel to Edes: “If your church does less it will never amount to
anything.” That was the stature of the man Jackson and his ministry.
No
one revered the memory of Ray Jackson more than the Detroit teenager who
watched the forty-one year old preacher assume the leadership role in 1943 as
pastor-preacher-teacher-leader at Vermont and West Hancock Street Church. That
youth would become a “Prince of Preachers” in his own right, an author and
nationally known authority on teaching preachers how to preach. Most fitting of
all, he became Jackson’s beloved friend.
It
is a fitting tribute to Jackson to acknowledge that Christianity Today in
2006 recognized James Earl Massey, Jackson’s protégé, as one of the
twenty-five most influential preachers in America over the past fifty
years. Massey referred to Jackson, his
mentor, as “MY MOST UNFORGETTABLE PREACHER.” At the time Massey made this
declaration:
“From
the time in 1946 when I announced my call to the ministry until now, twenty-one years later, I am more than
pleased to say that I have had the help and encouragement
of Raymond S. Jackson in the shaping of a ministry. He has been for me both a pastor teacher and a friend”
(History of the Joseph Campau
Avenue Church of God/8).
Warner
Press published Massey’s biography of Jackson in 1967, titled Raymond S.
Jackson: A Portrait. Anderson College conferred upon Massey the honorary
doctor of divinity degree. Both Massey and T. Franklin Miller acknowledged the
highly successful Leadership Training Program conducted in Detroit by Raymond
and Cleopatra Jackson.
Nor,
did Jackson ever forget his Vandalia roots. After relocating to Detroit,
Jackson solicited materials and time from his congregation and many friends,
committing to replace Vandalia’s church building that burned in 1938. Jackson
dedicated that new facility in 1952. Volunteers later remodeled it, added
restrooms, classrooms, office, an equipped kitchen, and baptismal. The church
currently owns property fronting on Maple, Railroad, and Walnut Streets, and
has a lovely three-bedroom mobile home with additional modifications.
Jackson’s
father first started a non-sectarian, evangelical church during the 1890’s.
Following his own conversion, Jackson returned to Vandalia in 1920, where he
began ministering in the Vandalia-Three Rivers region, the two communities
being but fifteen miles apart. The Vandalia church went from home-meetings to
rented facilities, a storefront, a Baptist church, and the Williamsville
School.
In
Vandalia, Tommie and I found loving friends and an on-going relationship with this
neighbor pastor. The bonding became even stronger when Pastor Myrtle Deans and
husband Josh became Vandalia’s spiritual leaders. Myrtle’s blessing eventually brought this
writer together with her successor--Ronald Wright--now deceased.
In the meantime, Virgil Taylor grappled with
his own call to pastoral ministry in Three Rivers. His call eventually led him
to Vandalia. I readily recall the day Kathy and I conversed at length at the
Taylor’s home southeast of Three Rivers. The day would come when both Virgil
and his family acknowledged that call.
After
a lengthy personal struggle over his spiritual identity, Virgil finally gave
serious pursuit to God’s call on his life. He initiated and completed his
ordination track, while working as a professional counselor at a nearby Indiana
group-home for youth. Working in that role, Virgil assisted my successor, John
McClimans.
When
ill health eventually forced Ronald Wright to resign the Vandalia pastorate, he
returned home to Gary, IN, then led by Pastor Myrtle‘s nephew, the Rev. Robert
McClure. A valued friend, McClure formerly presided over the National
Association of the Church of God at West Middlesex, PA.
With
Pastor Wright’s departure, the Vandalia people invited Virgil and Kathy Taylor
to become their spiritual leaders and they began serving bi-vocationally and
interracially. In the meantime, the unexpected home going of our friend and
Brother--Ron Wright--left a vacancy for many of us.
We
continue to enjoy the good fortune of having an ongoing relationship with Vandalia’s
pastor-and-people. We were deeply saddened by the marital break-up of Virgil
and Kathy Taylor and the unforeseen disruption of their pastoral ministry. I
find it deeply satisfying to occasionally reaffirm the warmth of my friendship
with my widowed, but dearly beloved brother Josh Deans, now living with his
daughter in South Chicago. Josh’s visits to Vandalia and his occasional
telephone calls are delightful!
In
the meantime, we retain our friendships within the Vandalia Church, currently
led by Rayvon Bufkin. A mature pastor with twenty years in Baptist ministry, Bufkin
now pastors his first Church of God congregation. This congregational
relationship actually began in the nineteen twenties when Ray Jackson worked
and lived in Three Rivers. Since that time, Vandalia has been blessed by some
strong personalities and individuals greatly respected by this writer. I recall
Lystle Alexander, whose son Parnell blessed the Three Rivers
church so richly, and Charley (Bearhug) Biggers, among others, whose
friendship blessed my life handsomely (emphasis added).
The
current working relationship between the two congregations began between Pastor
Warner (Three Rivers) and Sister Myrtle (Vandalia). Pastor John Anderson
replaced Virgil Taylor at Vandalia, and he has now been replaced by Pastor
Bufkin, but the two congregations continue to produce the harmonious symmetry
of a rainbow gospel.
Filled
with anticipation one approaching Easter, Dr. Jackson prepared his Sunday
sermon for his Detroit congregation. He titled it “A Glorious Disappointment” and
introduced it with this description:
Out in the cemetery across from my home in
Three Rivers, Michigan, a certain rich
family had a mausoleum built. They imported an Italian who was deftly skilled in marble art to build the structure.
He put glass enclosures therein once it was
ready, enabling the dead ones to be placed there later to be continually in view. But not so with Jesus. No man
has seen him in that tomb since that eventful morning
in A. D. 33.
(Easter sermon in Detroit)
Raymond
S. Jackson A Portrait, pp. 75-76
Raymond
S. Jackson returned to the Three Rivers pulpit one final time. The occasion was
a great day at Pearl Street and South Main in Three Rivers--November 17, 1974--when
Dr. Jackson stepped into the pulpit that Sunday morning. That afternoon he
participated in the installation service of newly-called Pastor, Frederick
James. This became an extraordinary occasion that new pastor Fred James would
not soon forget!
This
great man of God--preacher extraordinaire--would be more than pleased to see
the gospel going forth today from his former stations in Three Rivers and
Vandalia. He would approve the racial harmony they produce. He would vigorously
applaud their symphony of continued cooperation.
I
view this as good for a healthy soul!
_______________
CHAPTER TEN
- “Overcomer’s”
(William
Leatherman Family, 1924)
By Alta Isler, 8 Feb. 1991
Be
an overcomer, only coward’s yield
When
the foe they meet on the battle field;
We
are blood-bought princes of the royal host,
And
must falter not, nor desert our post.
“Be An Overcomer”
C. W. Naylor & A. L.
Byers, 1907
A
Bruce Springsteen song contrasts the sadness of passing time and hints at the
joy of remembering some of life’s greater moments and events. The Church of God
Reformation Movement experienced its share of sadness and difficult times. Yet,
its message, always offered a rainbow of hope that announced the arrival of
better times.
Joy
has always characterized Church of God worship and hymnology. The twentieth
century pulled back the curtain on new frontiers of comfort and affluence. Life
was tough when Alta Leatherman Iseler moved to Michigan as a child, but the
glory expressed in the music of those early Saints affirmed their faith and
created new praises to God through hymns such as “Be An Overcomer.”
The
following account comes from personal correspondence with the Leatherman’s
elderly daughter--Alta Leatherman Iseler. Alta wrote from her home in Port
Hope, MI., dated January 21, 1991. She remembered when her family moved to
Michigan from Ohio--March 1924. They lived on a farm four miles south of Three
Rivers on old U.S. 31--now Lutz Road--and one mile east.
Alta
joined her brothers and sisters in attending Roy’s Chapel school (Royce)
through the eighth grade, located at the corner of Highway 31--Lutz Road--and
Roy’s Road. That cross road is four miles south of Three Rivers, but at that
time, it did not have a name that she knew of.
“I don’t remember the first Sunday that we
attended the Church of God in Three Rivers,
but I do remember being in church in the old Theater Building in the center of the business block in downtown
Three Rivers. Raymond Jackson was pastor
at that time. He was a black man, a very good Christian and pastor. He was a brother of Mrs. Williams, who attended the church
along with her family. Mr. Williams
played the piano and was a very good pianist. Mrs. Williams and her two sons and two daughters frequently
sang special songs, being good singers.
“We were only in the old Theater building for
a short time. We moved from there into
the upstairs of an automobile sales building
on the south side of the river, just south
of the red light up town (Main and Michigan). I believe it would be on Main Street. The building is still there,
but the last time I was in Three Rivers it looked as if the enclosed stairs on the north side of the building had been
taken off the building, however it
could still be there.
“One Wednesday night my mother was visiting with one of the members downstairs in the church parking lot, before going up to the meeting, as it wasn’t time to start the service. I was also with them. We looked up into the sky and there was the Graff Zeppelin going over. It was from Germany on its flight around the world. It was supposed to be going over South Bend, Indiana.
“A lot of Three Rivers residents went to South Bend to see it as it went over that city, but the Graff Zeppelin strayed off course and came over Three Rivers instead. That was something to see. I don’t remember the year, but I would say it was around 1928 or 1929.
“Sister Smith and Brother Meade were
pastors at different times while we were in this
building. I believe Brother Meade was pastor two different times, before and after Sister Smith.
“My older sister was treasurer while we were in this building. We purchased a new piano and she sent the payments off each month to pay for the piano.
“Mrs. May Blair was my Sunday School teacher for several years. She was a kind person and a good Christian. She did not have any children so she mothered other children around her.
“Ella Ferree, (mentioned earlier) died around this time and left two hundred dollars to the church. The Church Board took this two hundred dollars and purchased the lot on which they built the church building at the corner of Pearl and South Main Street.
“Around 1930 or 1931 (winter of 32-33, Ed.) we built a small building with basement. We were very happy to get the church building to move into. My dad was farming a 200-acre farm; all with horses and walking equipment, so to prepare a sermon was hard on him. The members of the church, consequently, hired a new pastor, Brother Foster. He was only 29 years old and he was liked very much. He was married with one son. After he was our pastor for a while he became sick and died. The members were very disappointed.
“I believe we enlarged the church
building while he was there. We were left without
a pastor, so my dad became pastor again, but I don’t remember the exact year. You must have some dates in your old
records. My dad was pastor until the spring
of 1935.
“They lived in a large home on South Main Street, one or two blocks north of the church. The church gave him a salary of three dollars a week and every month we used to bake a cake, put a dime in the cake, and wrap the cake in wax paper. The person who received the dime in his piece of cake had to bake the cake for the next month. The dime went into the treasury, along with a dime for each piece of cake eaten.
‘We also had Junior Class parties or meetings the first Saturday afternoon of each month. We had the meetings at different member’s homes each month and I enjoyed these meetings a lot.
“We didn’t buy much from the store, only
staples such as sugar, oatmeal, rice, spices
and a few other things. Wheat was taken to the flourmill and exchanged for flour and corn was taken to the mill at the
same time to be ground into meal
for cornbread. Dad raised hogs, so we
had Pork to eat. My mother also raised
rabbits and we also had rabbits to eat.
She also raised chickens. We got the money for the groceries that we purchased from the store from the eggs and
the chickens, which was around two
dollars a week.
Enough furnished him a
house. It took quite a lot of fuel to heat the house. One day, during a snow blizzard, my dad
took a load of wood for the parsonage into Three
Rivers on a wagon with a team of horses.
“In
those days the snowplow did not plow out the side roads. We had a Model T Ford touring car and we would get into the car along with a shovel. If we got stuck in the snow, we all piled out and
pushed or shoveled until we got through. Rain
and snow did not stop us from going to church. A few times our car did not start, so my mother, my brother and sisters
and I, walked the five miles to church on
Sunday mornings.
“We
usually had a New Year’s Eve party. We also had a church party of that.
“Dad did a lot of visiting among the
sick and shut-ins. Some of the older people in the
church that I remember include the Hills, the grandparents of Ruth (Altimus) and Donna
(Henline); Clydia and Issac Ream, Myrtle Bishop‘s grandparents; and Mr.
Anderson, who was Clydia Ream’s father.
“I have an older sister, Opal,” Alta wrote,
“who used to sing special songs with Mr.
Williams playing the piano. Mr. Williams didn’t need a songbook to play the song as he had a good ear for music and
could follow the singer.
“C. Wade Snyder from the Chicago
area, I believe, held two or three
revivals there at the church.
When I was twelve years old I was saved in one of his meetings. That would have
been in 1930.
“My parents both worked hard for the
church there in Three Rivers. I know God will
bless them for their help in keeping the church together through the years. Dad never mentioned the things that he did
for the church, so all that I know is what
I could see.
Yours in
Christ, Alta Iseler”
_______________
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