Last Updated on Saturday, 28 March 2009 10:19 Written by Administrator Saturday, 28 March 2009 06:53

 The Church of Christ in Corvallis:  A brief History

“Brother Copeland, there’s two families of you people down here. I think we ought to start a congregation in Corvallis.” Those were the words Paul Copeland remembers Claude Guild speaking in the fall of 1942.  Those words spoken at Paul’s house in Monroe, Oregon provided the necessary nudge to bring about the beginning of the Corvallis Church of Christ.

The original members of the Corvallis church were: Paul and Mary Copeland, and their daughter, Nelline; Ezra and Mary Neal and their daughter, Eula; and Grandmas Jenkins. A Sunday was chosen in the fall of 1942 and the church started with a gospel meeting. During the meeting, F.L. Jenkins, husband of Grandma Jenkins, obeyed the gospel. He was the first convert of the newborn church.

Claude Guild did the preaching in the early days. From the outset, it was a church that understood the importance of evangelism. At the time Albert Smith came to preach here on February 28, 1941, the church as meeting over a “beer joint.” The Fuchsia Cafe, 27 stairs up, was anything but fragrant. The best thing about it was the $1 a week rent. The worst thing, in Mrs. Smith’s mind, was the smell of cooked cabbage and stale beer. Everyone went to the park during the break between services. There they would visit and sing. Claude remembers those picnics as a highlight.

The church was only a month old in June 1943, when a dwelling house was purchased to be remodeled for a church building. The house was located at 526 N 2^nd. The member “took a partition out” to make it a suitable meeting place. The house and remodeling cost about $2,000. 

This was wartime and Camp Adair was training site for literally thousands of soldiers. Soldiers and their wives who came through to train in Camp Adair helped keep the church going. They came from Texas, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Kansas and brought their faith with them.

To supplement his support, Albert Smith worked for Jenkins (a brick mason) mixing mortar. One day Jenkins said, “Albert, before I die, I’d like to build a place for worship in Corvallis.”  Albert responded, “I’ll mix the mortar if you’ll lay the brick.”  They talked to other members and the consensus was to get behind the planning and the work. A lot was purchased at 444 N 15^th Street in 1946.  The war was just over and building materials were hard to get. Thelma Smith’s sister, Claudia Joyner lived in Pampa, Texas with her husband, Andy. Nails were needed for the building project and none could be secured in Oregon. Albert Smith called the Joyners and they were able to find two kegs of nails in a small country store near Pampa, which they shipped to Corvallis.  The building and lot cost approximately $7,500.

Andy and Claudia Joyner moved to Corvallis to be with Albert and Thelma Smith. At that time, Oregon was a mission field and the Joyners came to help and serve the church in any way they could. They arrived in 1947. The building was almost finished and the church was holding the first gospel meeting in the new building. Approximately 35 members made up the church at the time of the new building. Thelma Smith taught the first Ladies Bible class and one woman who attended was soon baptized.

On the last Sunday of May 1951, Albert Smith left Corvallis and moved to McMinnville, Oregon. Paul L. Fuston was the first preacher to be fully supported by the Corvallis congregation.  He came to work here on June 17, 1951. When his successor, George R. “Bob” Douglass, left Corvallis in July of 1955, the church secured the services of Robert Vance. The membership of the church was likely around 80 at this time. Jack Lanham came to Corvallis after some of the members heard him in a meeting in Monroe; he came to preach in Corvallis in the fall of the year, probably 1960.

Towards the end of Jack’s tenure here, the first two Elders of the congregation, Winfred D. “Wink” Brown and Luther “Luke” Garrett were installed in 1961 or 1962. Walter “Walt” Strawn joined them in 1965.  After a time without Elders in the middle and late 1970’s Winfred and Walter were once again installed as Elders along with James E. “Jim” Crownover and Donald R. “Don” Patton in the spring of 1980.  Luke Garret had move to Dallas, Oregon and died prior to 1980.  Don Patton moved to CA in 1982. Rod Holland became an Elder of the congregation in 1989.

The church grew during the early 60s. Camp Adair reactivated as Adair Air Force Station, so many Air Force people were attending in Corvallis and some people were driving from Monmouth which had not yet built a church building. The church had increased so much that two worship periods were required. A growing church needed a bigger building.

Property at the corner of Kings Road, a two lane country road with open ditches on either side, and “Circle Drive,” a road yet to be built was to be the site of the new church building. The building was financed by the sale of $18,000 of bounds, many purchased by local church members; and a mortgage of $54,700.  6,000 hours of volunteer labor were invested into the building project. All the common labor was accomplished by volunteers except for two days when two men were hired to push wheelbarrows as the concrete was poured. The soil is a thick black clay that locals call “gumbo.” The lot was a mud hole in the spring with water standing in puddles when it rained. The day it was time to pour the foundation, Walt Strawn managed to work right out of his shoes that had been trapped in the sticky mess.

The women of the congregation were well organized. They would bring a meal to the job-site around 5:00 p.m. and men were encouraged to come eat, then stay and work until dark. Gregg Strawn remembers: “My most important task involved the Saturday that it was my Mother’s turn to supply lunch for the work crew. After we made more sandwiches that I had ever seen in my kitchen, we placed them all into Styrofoam boxes.  The boxes were carefully loaded on my trusty little red wagon and I hauled them all the way to the church building, a long mile away. And I did not even eat one sandwich!”

The first meeting in the new building took place on a Thursday night, 1962. The church met in the basement. Since the floor had not been finished yet, boards were laid across forms that were ready to be filled with concrete for the floor. “We had the most wonderful time singing and praying.”

Following Jack Lanham’s departure, John Nicks, Jesse Stephens Mike Walborn, Vernon Gilley and Dale Gifford all served the church as ministers. After Dale Gifford left, Gregg was asked by the Elders to move from the Campus Minister position and assume the duties associated with the preaching role. September2, 1984 is listed as his first official Sunday in the role.

On March 18, 2001, Heath Cloutier was added to staff as the first youth minister. He wrote and directed two musical evangelistic plays which were performed by the church in the Majestic Theatre to sold out audiences in down town Corvallis. On June 11, 2005, he married Pam Meier. On August 1, 2006, Heath resigned and they moved to Japan to teach English and to share their faith with their students.  On June 1, 2007, Shayne Flock took up the Interim Youth Minister position for the summer. In September 2007 Shayne became the permanent but ¾ time Youth Minister until he completes his college degree at OSU in 2008 or spring of 2009.  Shayne will marry Vanessa George on March 22, 2007

The Eldership was also changing during those years. On February 2, 1994, Napoleon “Nappy” Acidera, Frank Cloutier, and Alfred “Al”, Hendrickson were added as Elders. “Walt” Strawn died in 1998. Al Hendrickson resigned on January 1, 2000 and later moved to Eastern Oregon.  On December 12, 2002,  William “Bill” McCaughan and Mark Johnson were added to the Eldership. In 2004 “Wink” Brown died. On Sunday, April 27, 2008 Frank Cloutier resigned as Elder to pursue a desire to help churches in the Willamette Valley.

God has worked through his church.

1)      $3,500 was collected for people of Ethiopia on Nov. 25, 1984

2)      $7,564 was raised by the church in a county wide garage sale for the tsunami relief efforts in South East Asia in 2005

3)      $6,939 was collected for the churches damaged by Katrina in September 2005

4)      Several special seminars have been presented by nationally known speakers.

5)      Women’s ministries have blossomed and accomplished great things.

6)      Two original musical evangelistic plays were performed by church members for the Corvallis community

7)      Literally tons of food are distributed at holidays; a clothing exchange between members has developed in to a major annual used clothing give away to the people of Benton County.

8)      Annual support is given to orphans around the world

9)      Our youth group makes annual summer mission trips to share their faith and assist other children in such places as Mexico, New Mexico, and the inner city in Portland, OR

10)  Care Groups were formed to bear one another’s burdens

11)  Many people have moved in and out, but our outreach for God continues.  60 people have been baptized during the period of 2003 – March 2008.  Many people have served through the years. May you, too, find a place of service to glorify God.

Original report written by W. Gregg Strawn in 1990