 |
| The Old Hubble Creek Church of Christ |
When I was growing up in Pocahontas, Arkansas in the sixties, there were 16
Churches of Christ in Randolph
County.
County population was 12,000 if I recall
correctly.
Dad held
meetings for many of these churches and I often went with him.
A number of ministers who became influential and well known in “the Church” have a
Pocahontas connection.
The family of
Reuel Lemmons, editor of the Firm Foundation from 1955-1983 was from Randolph County.
(After that, he started Image magazine.
It came along in the eighties and I like it . It folded and
New Wineskins continued somewhat along those lines)
The
Lemmons and Allisons and perhaps others migrated to Oklahoma in the twenties.
Reuel was about ten years old.
[Brief aside: There was a Lemmons family reunion at the
old Hubble Creek Church where I heard Reuel talk about church and family history. see picture] My Allisons returned from OK but his parents
remained.
In the first half of the 20
th
century, the two most important publications in the CofC were the Gospel
Advocate and the Firm Foundation.
A
large number of ministers came from the Lemmons family.
A. G. Lemmons the son of a Lemmons and
Allison (my great aunt Hassel) of Nashville
wrote some books on fasting, among other things.
He is my cousin.
A. G. has a nephew, my cousin Thom Lemmons, who was a
professor at Abilene, moved to College Station, TX and has joined the larger
Christian universe as writer of a number of books.
I read a nice one by him of historical
fiction
Mother of Faith where he crafted a story based on the lady of III John.
Ray Chester of Randolph County
was also a person of influence and stature in the church.
He moved up the line and had a big Washington, DC
church for a while.
Eventually he transitioned to the Disciples.
I grew up with
his nephews and nieces.
Ray held us a
meeting at the Pyburn Street Church of Christ some time, I guess the mid
sixties.
He was different.
He didn’t quote as much scripture as was considered necessary and did
not spend much time telling about how everyone else was wrong.
I listened to the adults talk and they were
very disappointed in him.
Around the
same time, give or take a year, Foy Wallace came to town.
He would preach 90 minutes.
He was colorful and entertaining.
One of his points made often was that the RSV
was not a Version but a Perversion.
Many
from the Starling family became ministers.
Too many for me to keep up with.
One down in Florida
that I know about is still active and has a blog ministry.
Jerry Rushford has a connection to Reyno on
the east side of the county.
He is one
whose family took him to Michigan
when he was young.
He is well known and
well liked.
He managed a lectureship at
Pepperdine for many years.
I met him for
the first time at the Homecoming of the Laurel CofC here in Knoxville some months ago.
Jack Hawkins was originally from Doniphan, MO,
just across the state line.
He
eventually ended up in Michigan
(Note to a blogging friend:I’m sure your wife’s family must have known him.)
He first served at Tasmania.
My grandmother used to talk about that church.
My mom and grandparents attended it before
moving on to Keego
Harbor.
I can just barely remember that KH
church.
If I recall correctly, that
fellowship built a new facility in Sylvan
Lake and moved there
around 1958 or 9.
Jack served there at
some point also.
Delores Hawkins was a
class mate of mine at Harding.
I think
she must have been a niece of Jack or something.
My late grandfather, Mac Van Hooser was an
elder at Sylvan Lake.
Then there are the Olbricht brothers, Thomas, Glenn, and Owen. They grew up in Thayer, MO, just across the state line. Thomas has been a professor at Penn State, Abilene Christian, and Pepperdine U. He is an internet acquaintance whom I met in person at the Christian Scholars Conference at Lipscomb U. in 2008. I read his book: Hearing God's Voice and enjoyed it very much. Need to do a review some time. He has a new one out that is on my list: Reflections on My Life: in the Kingdom and the Academy. Glenn, the one I never met, was a missionary to Germany. Owen has had a long influential career in the Church of Christ and played a formative role in my life. The summer after I graduated from Harding, I joined his Campaigns Northeast. We conducted three week ministries successively in Anderson, IN; Endwell, NY; Baltimore, MD, and Northfield, NJ. We knocked on doors and engaged people in Bible studies. That was a real character builder. The 3rd week culminated in a Gospel Meeting.
Lester Perrin, a painter, was the song leader at Pyburn Street when
I was growing up. His sons were my dad’s
age, roughly. They played high school
sports together. One son, Kenny, was my
Calc 1 teacher at Harding. The next
year he trekked to Pepperdine
U. His brothers, Les Jr. and Jerry, made it down
to Texas and
were prominent at Lubbock Christian and other places. I get them mixed up. One of their sons, Tim, was named President
of LCU recently.
My brother-in law’s first cousin, the late Michael Wilson, wrote a book
called
Arkansas Christians: A History of the Restoration Movement in Randolph, County Arkansas.
I’ve referred to that to help out my
memory.
This is just a smattering of
what is in the book.
Mike has a cousin,
John Wilson, a religion professor at Pepperdine.
Mike, about six years my elder, ended up a
Disciple and died in his late fifties of a heart attack.
Now for the Allisons.
My Dad’s Uncle Marvin Allison is 95 and the last of his generation. He was a missionary for many years in New Zealand. He served under the Union Avenue Church of
Christ and its successor Woodland Hills, in Memphis.
Another of Dad’s first cousins, Fielden Allison, has been a missionary
to Kenya
since the mid-70’s. Fielden’s sister,
Joan, married one of the VanRheenen boys (I think they were from Paragould, the seat of Greene County to the east), Dwayne, who was a professor in Maine
for many years before moving on to Abilene and Pepperdine or vice versa. Doug Allison, another one, was often a song
leader for many area wide youth meetings in the 80’s and 90’s. Then there is my dad, known variously as G.
W. Allison or Chick Allison or George Allison. He was raised in
Pocahontas. He was the minister at Pyburn Street the
first time from 1958-66. Then he had a
stint in the mid-seventies after I was long gone from the scene. Then another short time in the nineties. Dad is a close friend of Jimmy Allen. Jimmy has always credited my dad with
influencing him to be a Christian.
A Previous Post about my Dad and his Sixty Years of Preaching is here.
Above I've discussed those who grew up in or close to Pocahontas, AR who became influential in the fellowship of the Church of Christ. There are many more. And then there are those who sojourned for a while and left that tradition. David Elkins is one. He was at Harding in the mid-sixties and was a minister for a while. Eventually he switched to Psychology and taught at Pepperdine. I've read his book Beyond Religion and did a review of it in 2005.
Google Street View of the Pyburn Street Church of Christ
View Larger Map
