| In 1930 a white frame building (photo) at the corner of Lincoln and Emporia was purchased by the Church at University and Walnut and
the Emporia Avenue Church of Christ congregation was
established in that building. |
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The following information is from an article in the Christian Worker, January 7, 1937, written by
G. K. Wallace, "AS I REMEMBER", which describes how
this congregation was established. |
My work began in
Wichita in October 1929. Soon we talked of missions. Several
afternoons were spent looking for a suitable building in which to
hold a mission meeting. The church building at Emporia and Lincoin
was found to be for sale. After deciding that the building was
desirable, the leaders of the West Side church planned a meeting to
be held there having in view the establishment of a new
congregation. I held a meeting the last week of February and the
first week of March, 1930, and as a result several were baptized and
sufficient interest created to start a new congregation.
The building had been rented for the duration of the meeting with the option of building it if we so desired. The next move, naturally, was to see if we were able to buy the building. The
cost of the property was $3,500.00 which included a good house with eight class rooms,
baptistery, furnace and auditorium. The National Savings and Loan Association of Wichita offered to
lend
us $2,000.00 on the property. It was necessary to raise the remaining $1,500.00. On the last
day of the meeting mentioned above, the church responded to the call of the leaders with
$1,800.00. This enabled us to make the $1,500.00 payment and have some left over to buy chairs, song books, communion set, etc. The monthly payments were to be $24.50 a month.
From March 1930 until January 1931 I divided my time with the West Side and Emporia Avenue congregations. I held another 15 days meeting in December 1930 during which time the new
congregation was organized. On the closing day
of this meeting A. S. Parrish, C. W. McCune, and Dr. E. M. Rhodes were appointed elders. C. H. Williams, O. H. Burke, W. C. Lauterbach, and
H. P. Musick were appointed deacons. In January 1931 Glenn L. Wallace came to begin his work
at Emporia Avenue.
There were 135 charter members of the Emporia Avenue Church of Christ. |
From the beginning, this
congregation has been self-supporting and was soon involved in
Christ's great commission. Several local works, along with work in
Africa, Europe and China were either begun or significantly assisted
by Emporia Avenue.
The congregation continued to grow until they needed a newer, larger building. The red brick building, which housed 16 classrooms, two offices and a 400 seat auditorium, was built just
north of the old Emporia Avenue building, which was torn down and a parking lot made in its place. The first services were held in the building on July 25, 1965.
The elders at that time were Raymond Carver, Houston Craft, Floyd Lauterbach and Bill Nagel. The preacher was Travis Looper and those serving as deacons were Al Alliston, Jimmy Carver,
Phil Clements, Frank Davis, David Dildine, George Hedrick, Eldon Howell, Jack McDermott, Leon Stitt and James Tandy.
In June of 1975, Willis Hood was hired to prepare to go to Minnesota to establish a congregation. Willis and Barbara worked here at Emporia Avenue for a year as many decisions had to be
made. Willis and three of the elders, Les Hicks, Bill Nagel and Leon Stitt went to Minnesota to check out locations for a congregation. We found that Pete Nuthak was struggling to start a
congregation in St. Cloud and after much preparation it was decided to send Willis and his family to St. Cloud which was done July 1976.
Willis and Pete worked together in St. Cloud for nine years after the congregation was started. In January 1993 the church in St. Cloud, MN became self supporting and growing. Willis
returned to Emporia Avenue in August of 1993 and became our Evangelism minister after a job well done in St. Cloud.
James King and Mark Dietsch at Marshall, MN were supported by Emporia Avenue for many years.
As growth continued to occur over the years, the elders made plans to expand the church building at Lincion and Emporia, Wichita. The end result was an addition to the north side of the
building. It consisted of two offices, a kitchen, two rest rooms and a fellowship hall which was a very large room that could be partitioned off into two sections for classroom purposes.
The new section was completed in March 1988. The elders at that time were Raymond Carver, Les Hicks, Bill Nagel and Leon Stitt. Clifford Payne was the preacher and those serving as deacons
were Frank Boyle, Jim Burket, Herb Duncan, Lyndell Duncan, Verlon LaForce, Vern Lickliter, Arthur McDonald, Gary Phelps, Roy Rankin and Robert Smith.
At this writing in November 2000 our elders, Phil Clements and Lee Lewis, oversee the work at Emporia Avenue supported by the deacons Lyndell
Duncan, Jim Flowers, Joe Holems, Royce Meili, Marvin Parkey, Gary Phelps, Roger Rankin, Richard Sharp, Leroy Tice, and Jim Woods. Our ministers are Willis Hood and Mark Haas.
And the work goes on........................................
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Leon Stitt |
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NOTE:
The information about the history of Emporia Avenue Church of Christ was
researched and written by brother Leon Stitt.
Leon was a faithful member of
the Lord's church and will be greatly missed! He has gone on to his reward....
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