Colorado history

Colorado

The Brethren in Colorado apparently had two independent beginnings, one of them the effort of an Englishman who had recently broken from the ‘exclusives’ in England, and the other by farming families from Kansas.

The Englishman, Henry Richard Sadler, had moved to Denver to set up a business. Together with a Mr. McIlven (sic), he established an assembly in 1901 known as the Denver Bible Hall but often called the Sadler Meeting, which met first in rented space in downtown Denver.

The assembly later moved to 2428 Ogden Street, now one of the oldest residential areas of the city, but then a new area. Among the men in leadership at the Denver Bible Hall besides Sadler were Will and Tom Henry, Edward Brown, a Mr. Desch, and a Mr. Brookman. Tom Henry was one of the principal preachers. In 1923, John and Nan Scroggie came from Scotland and joined the group. John Scroggie was an able preacher.

The Christians at the Denver Bible Hall decided to move to a newer residential area in about 1930, to South Pennsylvania near Bayaud Avenue. The meeting, however, was then in a period of decline. When Mr. Sadler moved in 1938 to California, only the John Scroggies, Edward Browns, and perhaps two or three other families were left.

Another assembly formed in Denver in about 1908, probably a split-off from the first. It became known as the 6th Avenue Gospel Hall after it had moved through several locations. Some of the first people associated with it were Fred Kenney, Annie Van Wyk, and a Mr. Dale.

Its first meeting place was in rented quarters on Kalamath Street just south of downtown Denver. In about 1912, the group moved into the Charles Building at 15th and Curtis Streets in the central shopping district of Denver. After a time, they moved into another building at 13th and Curtis. At that location, John Chambers, a Mr. Kiddey, and a Mr. Fleming joined the assembly. Ted and Grace Ball from western Kansas joined them in about 1920, and Ted Ball soon became one of its leading figures.

In 1923 the group moved to 222 South Broadway, a commercial district in south Denver; this was several years before the Denver Bible Hall moved to that vicinity. They stayed there only two years, then moved to an old stone church building on East 6th Avenue and Detroit Street. This was an upper class residential area in east Denver and may indicate a growing affluence among some of the members. They were known as the 6th Avenue Gospel Hall at that period. Among the many who joined the assembly in those days were Joshua Summerfield and Chester Burrows, who came in 1932. John Chambers was one of leaders in that period and did much of the preaching.

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When it was clear that the struggling Denver Bible Hall might have to close its doors, the two groups decided to merge. The merger took place in 1938, shortly after Mr. Sadler left, and the assembly took the name Denver Gospel Hall, and moved to a new location in the 300 block of South Pearl, just two or three blocks from the South Pennsylvania site. Perhaps the new group had learned some lessons from the declension, for subsequently it developed into a strong and stable assembly, able to pass leadership to succeeding generations.

Fred Kenney, John Scroggie, Chester Burrows, and Ted Ball were the early leaders at the Denver Gospel Hall. David and Cecile Horn moved to Denver from Longmont and joined with the Christians at the Denver Gospel Hall in its earliest days, although David was an itinerant preacher. Among the leaders a little later at the South Pearl Street site were Herb Stowell, Howell James, and Jesse James. Many of the families in fellowship at the Denver Gospel Hall in the 1940s were converts of David and John Horn and had come from eastern Colorado and western Kansas. Some of those families had moved to Denver because of the Dust Bowl and economic depression, and their influence on the subsequent development of the brethren in Denver and other parts of Colorado was substantial.

Around 1946 the Denver Gospel Hall was joined by some families from the Ford Meeting, and in 1949 by some families from the Oldtrogge Meeting, when those meetings closed. We discuss these two vigorous but short-lived meetings now.

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William Ford moved to Denver from Illinois in the 1930s. He was not accepted by either of the two existing meetings, the 6th Avenue Gospel Hall and the Denver Bible Hall, because he encouraged the use of a piano during the meetings and held that the Lord’s Supper was open to all believers. In about 1938, Ford erected a building at Evans and South Lincoln and started a new meeting. If it took a specific name, that name is lost, and only ‘Ford Meeting’ is remembered. It was joined by Chester Burrows who had decided not to stay with the newly formed Denver Gospel Hall. Ford at first did all the preaching and was said to be very good at it. He also did much personal work among Jewish people in Denver and was instrumental in setting up the West Side Center of the Denver Hebrew Mission. The Ford meeting was very evangelistic, had an active Sunday School, visited in the neighborhood, and distributed tracts; it had about 55 in fellowship at its largest, comparable in size to the Denver Gospel Hall.

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Victor Oldtrogge, a graduate of Moody Bible Institute, was an ordained Baptist minister who had decided to leave the Baptists. He had preached often in Denver and had become acquainted with William Ford. A short time after Mr. Ford started the new assembly, he invited Mr. Oldtrogge to join them, which he did. Victor Oldtrogge was also a very able speaker and attracted many new people to the assembly. But tensions developed between these two powerful personalities. In the early 1940s, Mr. Oldtrogge and several families left the Ford Assembly and started meeting in the Oldtrogge home. After a short time, they began meeting in the Trevino Mortuary at Alameda and South Logan, and after that rented a church building in the 2100 block of South Milwaukee. They called their assembly the Bible Fellowship Chapel. This church was also very evangelistic. As were those in the Ford meeting, they were active in Jewish evangelism, and had a program of visiting prisons on Sunday afternoons. The meeting had about 60 or 70 in fellowship at its largest.

Mr. Oldtrogge had preached in Baptist and Presbyterian churches in Denver and became well known for his abilities. In about 1948 he was offered the presidency of the Arizona Bible Institute, which was affiliated with The Bible Institute of Los Angeles (Biola). However, Oldtrogge had made no provision for developing other leaders in his assembly, and when he accepted the Arizona offer and left Denver in 1949, the meeting dissolved.

The Ford meeting had been greatly weakened when Oldtrogge left, and it disbanded in 1946. Some of its remaining members then joined the Denver Gospel Hall on South Pearl Street, the only remaining assembly in Denver.

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As the Denver Gospel Hall grew, it needed more space, and in 1949 purchased the Olinger Mortuary at 1475 South Broadway and converted it into a chapel. The assembly had about 75 people in fellowship at that time. Parking soon became a problem, and in 1952, the assembly found a church building for sale at 1405 South Vine Street in southeast Denver. Some called it the Denver Gospel Chapel from that time, and others simply the Vine Street Meeting. There the assembly remained for another decade, growing to about 100. Lucas Wilson, who had broken from an ‘exclusive’ assembly in Denver, joined the leadership at the Denver Gospel Chapel at about that time.

The assembly thrived and soon a group hived off to start a Sunday School work in Littleton, just south of Denver (see below). Even then, the Christians at Vine Street soon had outgrown their building, which could seat only 100 people. In about 1960 they purchased a lot in southwest Denver at Florida and South Ames. To help finance the construction, the Christians sold the building on Vine Street and rented an elementary school nearby at Florida and Wolf, where they stayed for about eight months until the Southwest Bible Chapel was ready for occupancy. Henry Van Ryn, who with his wife had come to Denver in 1961 and was an able preacher, oversaw the construction.

The first meeting in the new building was in 1963 and the leaders then were Fritz Hatch, Lucas Wilson, and John Scroggie. Since 1983, when the by_laws were rewritten, Southwest Bible Chapel has had recognized elders and deacons.

Henry Van Ryn was an active teaching elder at Southwest during the 1960s. He preached in other Colorado assemblies and had a very successful Ladies’ Coffee Hour at Southwest for many years. Other brothers prominent in the ministry of the Word were Greg Koehn, David MacLeod, Paul Wright (then teaching at Western Bible Institute), and more recently, C.N. Tokatlouglou, and Thomas McAnally.

The active numbers have declined due to many younger families migrating to the outskirts of the metropolis, but neighborhood outreach through Kids’ Club and the Sunday School/Bible Hour continue. Southwest Bible Chapel hosts the Prison Ministries operation for Colorado, Wyoming and western Nebraska, and many assembly members are active in the grading and mailing of Bible courses and literature for that ministry. Approximately 100 are in fellowship now.

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In 1970, A. K. Varghese came to the United States and to Southwest Bible Chapel from Karela, India, and was the first of many to follow; thus, began a long relationship with brothers and sisters from India. The Abraham George family was welcomed in 1974, then the Thomas’, Daniels’, Matthews’, Kapp’s and others. In about 1994, some of these families began the Believers Assembly in Denver, meeting in rented quarters and having a special outreach to other Indian families, some of which have been added to their fellowship.

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In the early 1950s, the Sunday School of the Denver Gospel Chapel on South Vine Street was large. Several carloads of children were being brought from the Littleton area. John and Edna Todd lived in Littleton and began having Friday evening outreach meetings for the children in their home in 1953; in this, they had the blessing of the Vine Street assembly. These meetings became so popular that the Todds began holding Sunday School classes in their home. In 1955 the Todds rented the 4_H building on the Arapahoe County Fairgrounds for the Sunday School, and by this time several adults were involved; these included the families of Cecil Beck, Roscoe Turner, Robert Hogland, Dick Taylor, Joe Schwaller, Francis Orange, Jackie Folks, and DeVada Wells.

It was not long before Remembrance Meetings were being held at the 4_H building, and in July 1956 the workers voted to form a new assembly. The assembly took the name Belleview Bible Chapel since the 4_H building was located on Belleview Avenue. They remained there for several more years. In the late 1950s, Sunday School attendance was 75 to 100 children. Earl James, LeRoy Hinkle, John Todd, and Roscoe Turner were viewed as the principal leaders.

The Christians felt that the 4_H building wasn’t sufficient for their needs, and in early 1960 rented a small church building. Bill and Charlene James joined the meeting at that time, having moved from Phoenix. Herb and Alice Banks had also joined by then. However, after only a few months, the Christians moved back to the 4_H building, a sizeable group having split off (see below). Property at 991 W. Prentice Street in Littleton was purchased and a chapel was finished in early 1963. At about this time and a little later, the families of Sam Dalton, Don Fleet, Larry Swenson, and Robert von Spiegel had joined the fellowship. Henry Van Ryn preached and gave assistance at Belleview Bible Chapel.

In 1975, the Belleview Christians traded for property at 937 Belleview Avenue, consisting of a house and small chapel. The families of Danny Ee and Bob Copley joined the fellowship in this period, along with many others. Then the Christians purchased land much further east at 9550 E. Belleview Avenue. The first meeting in the new chapel was held on Thanksgiving Day in 1978. The assembly grew, nearly filling the building within a short time. The assembly supported a half-time worker, Dan\'l Hollis, who ministered at the assembly from 1984 until 1990.

The elders have included Bill James, Courtney Hemenway, Roger Henderson, and Brian Young. Mark and Fay Plaza are supported full-time in the assembly, and work especially with the youth. In 1999, the assembly sold their building on Belleview and purchased five acres in the rapidly growing area of Parker, south of Denver. The Christians took the name Parker Hills Bible Fellowship and met in an elementary school until the new chapel was completed. About 80 adults and children attend the assembly.

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In 1961, several families left the Belleview assembly because of differences in leadership philosophy. They included Herbert Banks, Herbert Stowell, Phillip Harrison, Cecil Beck, John Henry, and Cecil Westfall. With the encouragement of some at Vine Street, the initial group of about 30 people began a Sunday School work and began Breaking Bread at the Littleton YMCA at 2233 West Shepard Avenue. They incorporated in 1962 as Littleton Bible Chapel.

The group decided to have recognized elders from the beginning; the first were Herbert Stowell, Herbert Banks, and Phil Harrison. Other elders in the next few years included John Henry, Cecil Beck, Cecil Westfall, Don Wilson, and William Lansdown. The elders shared most of the preaching ministry in the early days.

After about three years, the assembly began meeting at the Mark Hopkins Elementary School in a new residential area in Littleton, where it stayed for about a year, then moved back to the YMCA. The Banks home was used for Wednesday night meetings. The church was growing, so they purchased land in 1965, and constructed a new chapel at 6023 South Datura, their present location. The official opening took place in March 1969. At that time the congregation numbered about 125. Littleton Bible Chapel continued to grow; and a lower level was added in 1976, and a new auditorium in 1985, at which time about 300 were attending the Remembrance Meeting.

Alexander Strauch joined the Littleton fellowship in early 1969. In January 1970, Marilyn James, David MacLeod, and Debbie Larson began attending the Chapel and helping with the youth group, which quickly expanded to 70 or 80, about half of the entire assembly population at that time. Soon David MacLeod and Alex Strauch were doing most of the expository teaching at Littleton Bible Chapel.

When Marilyn James and Alex Strauch married, they opened a home for troubled young men, and maintained it for five years. Alex became an elder at Littleton Bible Chapel in 1975. He is the author of several books, including the popular Biblical Eldership. For about three years Kent Wilson was the sole full_time worker at Littleton; several others have served full time for shorter periods. Many elders have served the assembly over the years. Littleton Bible Chapel has commended seven families to ministries in Mexico, Indonesia, and South America Currently about 300 families are in fellowship at Littleton Bible Chapel, making it the largest in the state. On a typical Sunday morning, about 400 or more people are in attendance.

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An assembly called University Christian Center in Denver started with the blessing of Littleton Bible Chapel in about 1980. The families of William Lansdown and Bruce Hayes were the prime movers, and two other families joined them in the new work. The group had a Breaking of Bread service at the Lansdowns house adjacent to the University of Denver campus in south Denver, along with a preaching service, gave a Sunday meal to students, and had an active work among them. But the group was never able to attract families from the area, and after about four years decided to close as an assembly, although the work with students continued.

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In 1950, James Reynolds was in the military service at Lowry Air Force Base on the east edge of Denver. He and his family joined with the Christians at the Denver Gospel Chapel then meeting at the former mortuary on South Broadway.

Jim Reynolds had a burden for a work in a low-income district to the northeast of downtown Denver. With Lucas Wilson from the Denver Gospel Chapel, he began house-to-house visitation in the area along with home Bible studies. Sam and Pearl Dalton moved to Denver from Chicago in June of 1952 and joined the effort. Six or seven people were saved, and the small group decided to form an assembly for Breaking of Bread. They began meeting in 1952 in the Masonic Lodge at 2800 Welton St. The assembly decided to take the name Denver Gospel Hall, since the Denver Gospel Chapel was no longer using that name. Caleb and Detra Gates moved from Kansas City, Kansas at about that time and became active at the Denver Gospel Hall.

The principal leaders at that time were Jim Reynolds, Sam Dalton, Andrew Jones, James Lanier, and Isaiah MacDonald. Sam Dalton preached often at the new assembly, developing his gift so that by 1967 he was in full-time work as a traveling preacher.

In 1955, the Denver Gospel Hall purchased a former Lutheran church building at 1631 Martin Luther King Boulevard. The assembly still meets there and has about 40 households in fellowship. It has recognized elders. When the University Christian Center dissolved, the Lansdowns began attending the Denver Gospel Hall, where William Lansdown joined the leadership, with Curtis Holmes and others.

The Denver Gospel Hall has always had a strong concern for youth. Neighborhood Ministries, organized by Ted Travis, had its beginnings at the Denver Gospel Hall in about 1980. Soon after that, Colorado Uplift was started by Jim Reynolds and a Christian man from a different church, with help from Curtis Holmes. This was a program designed to help disadvantaged inner_city youth find careers, and at the same time bring them the Gospel of Christ.

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Steve and Joanne Bennett had been saved in the assembly work in Alamosa (see below) in the late 1960s. After marrying, they moved to Denver and Broke Bread in their home alone for six months. When Rick and Vickie Dindinger, then in fellowship at the Littleton Bible Chapel, found them out, they joined with them. In the fall of 1970, after a year of prayer and counseling with brothers from Littleton Bible Chapel and the assembly in Alamosa, the two families decided that the Lord would have them begin a new fellowship of believers in the north or west areas of Denver.

A program of evangelism and visitation resulted in several couples being saved in north Denver and so subsequent evangelism was concentrated there. The Dindinger family moved to a large house in north Denver to accommodate the growing fellowship. At about this time the group took the name Fellowship Bible Chapel.

The assembly continued to grow and the Dindingers moved to a yet larger house. Evangelism and discipleship were focal points of the fellowship. Evangelism at the Denver Cascade Mobile Home Park near North Federal Boulevard led to the availability of the clubhouse there for Sunday morning services. The fellowship then purchased a modular building and moved it onto a lot at the Mobile Home Park, using the clubhouse for the Remembrance and Family Bible Hour meetings and the modular building for the large Sunday School work and nursery. About 180 to 200 people attended on Sundays at the time of their largest numbers, which was in the early 1980s. Several small_group Bible studies were held in homes in the middle of the week.

During the early years, the families of Jeff Wilson, Phil Dindinger, Mike Hamil, Gary Blankenship, Jeffrey Wilhelm, and many others joined in fellowship at the thriving assembly. Others who came in the late 1970s and had leadership roles were Don Valentine, Paul Knott, Lon Gregg, and Leonard Dare. Four families were commended to full_time service in Spain and elsewhere during these years.

Looking to the future, the assembly purchased several acres of open land in the suburb of Westminster in 1984. But a doctrinal issue then divided the leaders and congregation, and many left. In 1988 the assembly closed, and several families joined with Fairview Bible Chapel in Boulder. The assembly had thrived for nearly two decades.

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This completes the Denver-area meetings, and we turn to assemblies derived from the farming areas of Kansas, Nebraska, and eastern Colorado.

The assemblies that formed in eastern Colorado had their roots in brethren from central and western Kansas and indirectly from Iowa. In 1916 or 1917, J. E. (Ned) Brown moved from Long Island in north_central Kansas to the area of Kanorado, a small town on the Kansas_Colorado border (see Kansas). Soon after arriving, he started an assembly that became known as the Kanorado Gospel Hall. A good preacher, he held Gospel meetings at several different school houses in western Kansas and eastern Colorado.

Ned Brown hired two young men, David and John Horn, to help him on his farm and in preaching the Gospel. Their pattern was to work in the fields during the day and preach at night. The two were soon full_time Gospel workers. They were the principal carriers of the Gospel into western Kansas and eastern Colorado.

In 1919, David Horn married Cecile Brown, a daughter of Ned Brown, and moved to Longmont. John Horn moved to Imperial, Nebraska where he was instrumental in starting the Imperial Gospel Hall. Don and Harold McCormick farmed near Imperial and with their families joined that fellowship, along with the families of Floyd Miller, George Long, and Ken Hayward. Several of these came many years later to Colorado and joined the assemblies there.

Ned Brown took in another young man after the Horns left, John Walden. While living with the Browns, John helped with the farm work, but preaching God’s Word became most important to him. Shortly after John Walden and Nan DuBauge were married in 1931, they moved to Denver and then Colorado Springs. John Walden was one of the leading brothers among the assemblies in Colorado during his years of ministry.

Many of the traveling preachers who came to the Kanorado Gospel Hall and to other assemblies in the area for special meetings were from Kansas and included C.W. Ross, Don Charles, Jack Charles, Leonard Linsted, and Richard Burson. These brethren had a strong influence on the conduct and attitudes of these meetings in Colorado and western Kansas.

The Dust Bowl and the Great Depression of the 1930s induced many farming families to move off the farms to the towns and cities along the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains. There they affiliated with existing assemblies and had a considerable influence. The Nohr, Stevens, Turner, and Ted and Ed Anderson families were among those active at Kanorado who moved west and became active in new and existing assemblies along the Front Range.

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Some refer to the Longmont meeting as the oldest brethren assembly in Colorado, but it seems to have gotten started at about the same time that the earliest meeting in Denver began. In the early 1900s, Longmont was a small farming community 30 miles north of Denver. William Milner and his family lived on a farm east of the town. In 1902 his two sisters and their families, the Mike Hardesty family was one of these, moved to the area from north central Kansas, where they had been in fellowship in an assembly in Republic County. Shortly after they arrived, they and the Milners began Breaking Bread in their homes in the country.

A few families joined with them, and after a time the group rented a large room over a store in the 300 block of Main Street in Longmont. When that building was sold, the Christians rented a room in a building just across the street. William Milner’s son David moved his family there from Kansas at about that time, and Joseph Milner, another son of William, joined the meeting when he arrived in January of 1920.

That same year, David Horn, then in his mid_twenties and already an itinerant preacher, moved to Longmont with his wife. In 1921, C.W. Ross from Kansas City, pitched a tent on the Horn’s lot and with David and John Horn, canvassed the town. For a week or two, they preached the Gospel, and many were saved and joined the meeting, including some members of the Mahagan and Lambert families.

In March 1924, John Mahagan built a one_room frame building for the growing assembly on the corner of Sixth and Sherman Streets in Longmont. John and David Horn held three or four weeks of Gospel meetings at the Longmont Gospel Hall soon after it was opened. Others who held special Gospel meetings at the Hall in its early days were Tom Olson and John Walden. Although most men of the assembly would take their turn at bringing a lesson from the Bible on a Sunday, adhering to traditions brought in from Kansas and elsewhere, the principal preaching was done by the traveling preachers, such as those mentioned. Men would also come up from the Denver meetings to preach.

Leaders in the meeting in the 1930s were the Milners, Hardestys, John Mahagan, and Hase Nesmith. The Lamberts had moved to California, but when Albert (Bud) Lambert returned in 1937, he began taking an active part in the assembly. The Longmont assembly initiated several Bible Conferences. The first of these was held in a tent on the Horn’s place in 1925.

In 1960 a basement and an addition to the front were added to the chapel. The name was changed to the Longmont Gospel Chapel at about that time, and later to Longmont Bible Chapel. Leaders during this later period included Ted Anderson, Charles Mar, and James Steele. The assembly disbanded in 1997, after more than 90 years of ministry.

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Many Colorado families in the Kanorado assembly were driving a long distance to go to the meetings there and decided to start up their own assembly in Burlington, about 12 miles inside the Colorado border and about 30 miles from the Kanorado Gospel Hall. The prime mover in this was Ben F. Parmer, with Lyle James as an enthusiastic collaborator. With the fellowship of the Kanorado meeting, they initiated the building of the Burlington Gospel Chapel, whose seating capacity was 154. The two men were the first leaders of the assembly. The first Remembrance Meeting was in February 1949.

As the Kanorado meeting had done years earlier, the Burlington meeting grew rapidly. Sam and Mae Morrow joined the assembly and Mr. Morrow later became one of its principal leaders. For many years, the Burlington meeting sponsored annual Bible Conferences at the chapel, which attracted many people from Colorado, Kansas, and Nebraska.

Ben Parmer relinquished his responsibilities at the Burlington assembly in 1967 to establish a new work in the town of Limon, about an hour’s drive east of Denver. Over the next two decades the Burlington assembly slowly declined, and in 1989 the Burlington Gospel Chapel disbanded. It had been in existence for 40 years of service, seeing much blessing of the Lord. Its people had been among the initiators and strong supporters of the work at Camp Elim, in the mountains west of Colorado Springs, and were supporters of the Christian Home for Children in Colorado Springs, supplying both with farm produce and beef.

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Ben Parmer began outreach meetings in Limon in 1964. In 1965 he pitched his tent there and held three weeks of Gospel meetings, at which about a dozen people were saved. The Vernon Plants came from Colorado Springs to help in these tent meetings. Weekly Bible studies were begun almost immediately after that, and within a few months several men felt that the Lord would have them start a new assembly in that town of 1800 people. They incorporated as the Limon Bible Chapel, and by February 1967 the newly built chapel was completed, and regular Sunday services had begun. The assembly continues to hold a two-day Annual Bible Conference each spring.

Ben’s son Paul Parmer has taken the main responsibility for several youth outreaches, including an annual camp for children. Others who have taken responsibilities in the assembly over the years include Terry and Carol Jaques, Clem and Betty Wiechman, Richard and Cherie Parmer, Don and Janice White, Dan and Sarah Goodsma, and Curt Parmer. The attendance varies as workers migrate from Limon to Denver in their quest for better jobs, but the assembly is active, with about 90 adults and children in attendance on an average Sunday.

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At about the time that the Burlington Gospel Chapel was formed, Roy Rinn started a meeting for Breaking of Bread at his home near Yuma in eastern Colorado, about 80 miles northwest of Burlington. Soon the Copley family, many of whom had been converted under the ministry of Ken Baird, began meeting with them, and perhaps one or two other families as well. The group later moved their Remembrance Meetings into a former chicken hatchery. The Yuma Assembly continued until the late 1950s, after which they began to attend the Haxtun Gospel Hall.

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The Roy Harrah family had lived near Champion in southwestern Nebraska but moved to a farm near Haxtun in the 1940s. With a few other families, they soon began meeting for Breaking of Bread in their home. When William Morgan, originally from Iowa, and Arthur Rodgers of Omaha, Nebraska learned of the assembly interest near Haxtun, they came to the town and held Gospel meetings on the streets. Thus encouraged, the Harrahs bought the Concord school house and moved it into Haxtun in 1948. The Haxtun Gospel Hall was under way in October 1948. Arthur Rodgers, Bill Morgan, and John Elliott spoke at the opening, and the latter two stayed for three weeks of Gospel meetings.

The assembly had the encouragement and help of families living near Imperial, Nebraska, especially the families of Casper and Frank Cook, Andy Banks, and Pearl Ridlen. The Ridlens moved to a farm about 25 miles east of Haxtun and helped with young people’s meetings in their home.

The Haxton assembly consisted of about nine or ten families at its largest and did not have much local preaching gift to draw on. Nevertheless, it hosted a Bible Conference in 1952. Ken Baird came every other week from Boulder to minister the Word. Joe Balsan and Ben Parmer conducted evangelistic meetings at the Haxtun assembly. J.O. Brown, Roy Harrah’s uncle, visited the area in his Gospel Bus, and Richard Burson came from Kansas for ministry.

The assembly kept up an active midweek Bible study in the town, but few of the townspeople who came to these studies joined with the Haxtun assembly. When the Bereans started a church in the town, many of the people in the Bible studies joined that church, and this had a negative effect on the assembly. The Haxtun Gospel Hall closed in about 1981 after 30 years of existence.

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By about 1925, just a couple of years after the Kanorado Gospel Hall was built, the families of William R. Plant and Leroy A. Hinkle were meeting together to Remember the Lord in the community church building at Fondis, a small farming community about halfway between Limon and Colorado Springs. They also started a Sunday School in order to reach out into the community.

Being in a sparsely populated rural area, the Fondis Assembly never grew to large numbers and never had more than a few families. Ira and Clara Daharsh, and Roy and Bertie Vote were among those in the Fondis Assembly. Traveling evangelists came frequently to help encourage the work, including Arthur and Willard Rodgers from Omaha, John and David Horn, and John Walden. Families from Colorado Springs and Denver assemblies would drive out to worship with and encourage those in the Fondis Assembly. Ned Brown.preached there occasionally; J.O. Brown would come through with his Gospel Bus for gospel meetings; Frank E. Hathaway, who had been with the ‘exclusive’ brethren until about the mid-1930s, would come out from Colorado Springs to preach.

In 1936, the Hinkles moved into the town of Elizabeth, not far away, where Lawrence Allen and his wife Acile lived, and the meeting decided to move there. It stayed there just four years, until 1940 when the Hinkles moved to Denver. Lawrence Allen was an active member of the meeting while it was at Elizabeth. The assembly then moved back to Fondis and continued until about 1949 at which time the work was turned over to a Baptist group.

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John Walden felt led of the Lord to establish a full-time itinerant ministry among the assemblies. He and his wife moved first to Denver and used it as their home base as they traveled about the state, pulling a trailer which John had built. In late 1935 or early 1936, they were invited by William Irvine to come to Colorado Springs and help with a small assembly then meeting in the Lucerne Hotel. These Christians met in a tiny room at the rear of the hotel, which was in the 400 block of East Pikes Peak Avenue.

The origins of that assembly are not remembered. A Kanorado Gospel Hall connection is evident because Leroy and Venus Stevens from the Kanorado assembly were early in fellowship there. Besides the Irvines and Stevens’, some of the Hotel meeting’s earliest members were William and Janet Cosgrove, the Sam Barclays, and Caroline Prosence.

Many in that assembly had a vision for outreach and further growth, and so the Christians decided to build their own meeting place. The East Side Bible Hall in Colorado Springs, at 749 East Pikes Peak Avenue, was completed in 1940 and seated about 100 people. After not many years, the growing assembly bought an existing church building on the west side of the city to provide more room, keeping the East Side chapel for Sunday school work and Friday night children’s meetings for children from the east side.

An influx of several committed families in the late 1940s and 1950s greatly strengthened the assembly. Ken and Ruth Baird had moved to Colorado Springs in 1945 to join the work at the Christian Home for Children, which had been founded by John and Nan Walden. They did much visitation for the work on the east side and did much to build up the assembly. Jack and Ruth Pegler, Bob and Jeanette Wilson, Jim and Ruth Hasty, William and Hilda Plant, Milton Weir, and Roger and Dorothy Cocking with their families were other additions to the assembly. Roger Cocking ministered often from the pulpit and was one of the early elders. During the 1940s, leaders at the assembly included Carroll Brown, Ken Baird, and Bob Wilson.

Needing more room, the Christians in 1952 sold both existing buildings and built Southside Bible Chapel at 1725 South Wahsatch Avenue. The Southside Bible Chapel is still at this address and is the parent or grandparent of all the assemblies in the city today.

Bob Wilson and Carroll Brown had a Sunday School class of up to 75 high school and college age young people at one time. Jim and Louise Wright arrived in Colorado Springs in 1961 and took responsibility for the young people’s work. Jim Wright traveled often to Greeley and the San Luis Valley, encouraging young men who were endeavoring to see assemblies started in their areas. He became the Director at Camp Elim in 1965.

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Soon after Southside Bible Chapel was built, John Walden was urging an outreach into the northeast part of the city. He had broken with some of the traditions of the plain’s brethren by this time, espousing such things as recognized leadership and the openness of the Lord’s Supper. In 1956, several families met together for prayer for the Lord’s leading. These families met in Bob Larson’s home, although they continued Breaking Bread at Southside. In October 1958, the group had its first meeting as an assembly, at the Larson home.

Construction of Northeast Bible Chapel in Colorado Springs, seating up to 125 people, was finished in 1960. The group decided to have recognized elders from the outset. The first elders were Lester Dolan, Bob Larson, and William Plant.

Northeast Bible Chapel has had several outreaches. In 1971, Mae Larson, Marilyn Parker, Jan Hollingsworth, and Jerri Holmes started a coffee hour for ladies in the assembly and in the neighborhood. As many as 80 women were attending at one point. For eight years beginning in about 1970 several men in the assembly manned a booth at the Colorado State Fair in Pueblo, distributing literature and talking to anyone interested in the Gospel.

John Walden held city_wide Bible classes beginning in about 1973 which were sponsored by Northeast Bible Chapel. The attendance at one point reached 96 people, and during a series on prophecy, 23 people were saved. These classes were a driving factor for growth at Northeast. Another factor was the work at Camp Elim. When Paul Sapp was Director at the camp, he fellowshipped at Northeast and was very active there for several years until he moved from the area in 1988. To accommodate the increasing numbers at Northeast, an addition consisting of a sanctuary seating 300 people was built in 1980.

Northeast Bible Chapel has about 300 adults and youngsters in attendance, with about 200 at the Lord’s Supper weekly. The active assembly has men’s and ladies’ prayer groups, a missionary support group, a co-dependency support group, and youth and seniors’ programs.

A few families left Northeast Bible Chapel in 1969 to begin the Black Forest Bible Chapel in an area of that name, but that effort disbanded after a short time. Other derivatives of Northeast have been Rustic Hills Bible Chapel, Westside Christians, Cimarron Hills Bible Chapel, and Harvest Bible Fellowship.

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In 1970 about six young families from Northeast decided to form a new assembly in Colorado Springs, to be called Rustic Hills Bible Chapel. At its largest, this assembly had 60 to 70 people. Elders had been recognized by the group, and were active in counseling, teaching, and evangelistic outreach in the community. The assembly also had the counsel of older brothers and sisters from the established meetings.

For the first two or three years, the church met in the homes of the families. After that they rented space in office buildings for their meetings. They had very few financial resources among themselves and were unable to obtain financial support for purchasing land or for a building of their own. In 1980, after a decade of struggles and financial leanness, they decided to close their work, return to Northeast, and wait upon the Lord for His leading in starting a new work again.

• * * * * * *

Another 40 people hived off from Northeast Bible Chapel in about 1975, calling themselves the Westside Christians. The initiators of this move were William McCotter, Brian Michaux, Daryl Valdois, and Kerry Langness. Meeting first in the home of Ron Reavis, they soon moved into rented quarters on the west side of the city, and now occupy rented space in the Bridge Club building. Ron Coons and William McCotter are the current elders of the fellowship, which consists of about 75 people. The Westside Christians have always emphasized discipleship of young men. About 50 Air Force cadets have met in the home of William McCotter for weekly Bible studies.

• * * * * * *

In 1980, at about the time that Rustic Hills closed, two young men returned from the Discipleship Intern Training Program at San Leandro, California, desiring to form a new evangelistic thrust in the Colorado Springs area. Together with Marion Michaux, they began meeting together for Bible study and decided at the end of 1982 to form a new assembly. The Cimarron Hills Bible Chapel east of Colorado Springs had its first Remembrance Meeting in early 1983, meeting first in an elementary school, and then in rented space in a shopping mall as they grew. In late 1985 they purchased land, assisted by a substantial gift from Northeast Bible Chapel and a loan from Stewards Foundation. Some 15 to 20 families were then in fellowship at Cimarron Hills Bible Chapel, but after disagreements as to direction, the assembly disbanded in about 1990, many of the Christians returning to Northeast.

• * * * * * *

In the late 1980s, several families at Northeast Bible Chapel, including some from the former Rustic Hills Bible Chapel, desired to start a new work again in the northern part of Colorado Springs. In 1990 they began meeting for prayer and planning. The core group included Andy Boucher, Jay Brady, Harvey and Betty Brewington, Dan and Teri Faulkner, Bob and Brenda Larson, Walt and Barb Masel, Dave and Lynn Michaux, Brian and Anne Moe, and Gene and Connie Theilig. This group chose the name Harvest Bible Fellowship in order to keep before them the desire to see people saved and brought up in the faith. In October 1991 they had their first meeting as an assembly at the Rockrimmon elementary school, with approximately 60 people in attendance.

In 1992, elders and deacons were selected to oversee the work of the church. In May 1994, Harvest appointed Dan Faulkner as a full-time worker to assist the elders in administration, music, and worship. Plans were made to move from the school to space at Berkshire Centre in the northeast part of Colorado Springs. After renovation of the space, the first services were held in the 6400 square foot facility in November 1994.

Missions have been a driving force for Harvest Bible Fellowship. Over the course of their history, short-term missions have been sponsored to Indonesia, Bolivia, Jamaica, Mexico, Russia, Israel, Lebanon, Canada, India, and Zimbabwe. In addition, local ministries have been heavily supported, including Camp Elim, Colorado Springs Pregnancy Center, and Japanese student homestay programs. Attendance averages around 140. Elders in the assembly have included Dan Faulkner, Dean Folkerts, Bob Larson, Dave Michaux, Brian Moe and Kent Wilson.

• * * * * * *

Leslie and Winifred Sandberg had been serving the Lord among the Spanish speaking people in Arizona for many years. They moved to Pueblo, a sizeable city about 40 miles south of Colorado Springs, where there was a large Spanish speaking population and began a Gospel work there. As people were saved, they were taught further in the Word, and formed an assembly, called Salon Biblico in Pueblo, which conducts its services in Spanish. (See Ethnic section)

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Four families living in and near Woodland Park, a small town in the mountains west of Colorado Springs and eight miles south of Camp Elim, formed the Woodland Park Assembly in the spring of 1967. These families were Bruce and Diane Hintze, Jim and Janet McCormick (then the caretakers at Camp Elim), Avery and Charis Harbaugh, and Frank and Pat Willie.

They met initially in the one_room cabin of the Hintzes. After that they held their meetings for a while at Camp Elim, and lastly at the home of the Harbaughs. At their largest they had about 30 in fellowship, although visitors and workers at Camp Elim would swell the numbers to as many as 60 in the summers.

In about 1970, a hippy commune took up residence in the area, and would cut wood near the Camp to support themselves. Al Donegan was then the caretaker at the Camp and witnessed to them whenever he could. In 1971, two of them, Rick Jackson and his wife, accepted Christ. They soon began meeting with the Christians at the Woodland Park Assembly and grew rapidly in the things of the Lord.

Most of the preaching was carried out by men in the assembly, but men from the Colorado Springs assemblies would often come to preach. In the mid_1970s, the assembly decided to recognize their elders, and these were Bruce Hintze, Avery Harbaugh, and Rick Jackson.

Employment in Woodland Park was difficult in the 1970s, and several of the families moved away. When a door_to_door visitation campaign in the town seemed to produce no fruit, the Christians agreed to dissolve the assembly in the spring of 1978. Most of those in fellowship then chose to associate themselves with the assemblies in Colorado Springs.

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Bob and Carmen (Barkey) Copley moved in the spring of 1967 from the Yuma_Haxtun area of eastern Colorado, to Del Norte. This small town in the broad San Luis Valley in southern Colorado is 35 miles west of Alamosa. The Copleys began Breaking Bread in their home from their first days there. This was not unusual in their experience since the Rinn family of Wray, where the Copley family was converted, had done the same.

Rich Bishop, in fellowship at Northeast Bible Chapel in Colorado Springs, began attending Adams State College in Alamosa in the fall of 1967. He learned of the Copleys and drove to Del Norte each weekend to Break Bread with them at their log cabin home. Before long, they were joined by other Adams State students, and included Bible study in their time together. The Del Norte Assembly was thus the first in the San Luis Valley. The Christians continued to meet there for the winter and spring quarters of the school term.

Billy Graham had held meetings in Alamosa that fall of 1967, but the local churches were not providing adequate follow_up for those who had professed salvation or interest in the things of the Lord. So Rich Bishop and Bob Copley obtained the list of follow-up names and contacted them all. Midweek Bible studies were soon begun with several of these families, some of them from Monte Vista, a town lying half way between Del Norte and Alamosa. Two of the Monte Vista families were Jim and Juanita Magness and Eldon and Jan Daniel.

The Christians decided to move the assembly from the Copley home to Alamosa in the fall of 1968. There it met in various homes, including that of Rich and Betty Bishop. The meeting grew rapidly among students. At the same time, there was a growing spiritual interest among people living in Monte Vista. Six ladies invited Rich to come there to conduct a ladies’ Bible study and coffee. It was not long before three of their husbands were saved. These and other Monte Vista families convinced the Christians to move the assembly to their town after about another year. The new Monte Vista families included the Rumseys, Alan and Joanne Getz, and Butch and Rita Simpson. They met in the Daniel’s home until the Daniels moved to Colorado Springs; after that they met in the Getz’s garage.

After several months of meetings by John Walden in the Rural Electric building at Monte Vista, at which about 125 were in attendance, the assembly was well established. They decided to recognize elders and had as many as six in the mid-1970s. The Monte Vista Assembly was a vibrant meeting, with many being saved and baptized. Marion Michaux and Jim Wright from Colorado Springs would come three or four times a year to give help. Bill MacDonald from California ministered there for a week. Even with opposition from other churches, the meeting grew. By the time Rich Bishop graduated in 1972, he was the principal leader in the Monte Vista Assembly. He began a furniture re_upholstering business along with David Gouge in order to support himself and his new family.

• * * * * * *

Don Anderson came to Alamosa in 1971 to start a new independent church. To help support himself and his family, he also took the pastorate of a Baptist church in the small town of Hooper, about 20 miles north of Alamosa. He soon met Rich Bishop, and after many Bible studies, came to the conviction that he should associate himself with New Testament style churches rather than those he had been associated with. He gave up the pastorate of the two churches in 1973. This cost him his income and housing, but he had assurance that the Lord was behind his decision.

Don Anderson and his family moved to the small town of Mosca, near Hooper, where Don supported himself as a laborer, and later, with David Gouge’s help, as a furniture re_upholsterer. He began Bible studies in Mosca, but at the same time began attending the Monte Vista Assembly and continued there for about half a year. Several families in the Hooper and Mosca area soon came to know the Lord. One of these was the Chester Jones family. Mr. Anderson decided then to start the Mosca Assembly. About six families in the Monte Vista meeting joined the effort. The first elders in the Mosca meeting were Don Anderson, David Gouge, and Chester Jones. The latter was a schoolteacher in Mosca and had a great influence among high school students there with Bible studies.

At about the time that Rich Bishop graduated from Adams State, John Walden and others began to encourage him to plant a New Testament church in the Grand Junction area at the western edge of Colorado. Thus, the Bishops left the San Luis Valley at the end of 1973, at about the time of the formation of the Mosca Assembly. Another of the leaders at the Monte Vista meeting moved to Wyoming shortly thereafter. These departures from Monte Vista and the leaving of the several families to help start up the Mosca meeting, had the unintended effect of weakening the Monte Vista meeting. In the mid_1980s, the Monte Vista assembly decided to close and join the new assembly in Alamosa.

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Don Anderson and Chester Jones wanted to begin Bible studies anew in Alamosa; this work was underway by 1975, largely led by Chester Jones. Quite a few people were saved in these studies. Seven core families decided to start a new Alamosa Assembly, CO which had its first meeting in the spring of 1976 in the home of Lloyd Wright. In the fall they moved to the larger home of David Lickteig. Growing rapidly, they moved to the Senior Citizen’s Center in 1977, where they stayed for six years. During this period, the Mosca Assembly decided to merge with the Alamosa Assembly, and this was done with almost no loss of people. Jim Wright and John Walden were of great encouragement, coming often to preach and counsel.

The Alamosa Assembly Christians had wanted to start a Christian school. When the time came to build a chapel, they decided to combine the school and chapel into a single building. The first meeting in the Calvary Bible Chapel in Alamosa, which is located on the eastern edge of the town, was in January 1983. The chapel was free of debt at the time it was first occupied. The first elders were Don Anderson, Chester Jones, and John Landen.

The Christian school never developed according to expectations and was closed in the late 1980s. Though this was a disappointment, the assembly has continued its strong testimony in Alamosa, and has grown to about 150 to 200 people in fellowship.

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When the Bishops arrived in Grand Junction in December 1973, they had been preceded by the prayers of many. John Walden had also had a radio tape ministry in the area for the preceding three years. Door_to_door visitation resulted in a few families joining with them to form an assembly, which met at first at the Bishop’s home on Elm Street for Breaking of Bread. Several other families soon joined, including the families of Ken Staton, Terry Kline, Dick Shellabarger, Tom Wilkinson, and Harold Ault. Steve Midkiff came from California, where he had gone through the Discipleship Intern Training program at San Leandro.

The Grand Junction Assembly had recognized elders by 1976. It grew and moved into the Lollypop Tree Play School in Grand Junction. The first half dozen years were filled with struggles. The initial families had different ideas about how the work should proceed, and six of those families left during this period. Steve Midkiff married and left the area. In 1980 the Grand Junction Assembly was down to about six remaining families.

But these did not lose faith in a work in the area. Marion Michaux and the leadership of Camp Elim were of great assistance, sending teams of young people to visit and recruit, making many new and fruitful contacts. The meeting began to grow again. Anonymous gifts enabled the Christians to purchase a building in Clifton on the eastern edge of Grand Junction. Rich Bishop and Jim Thomas did most of the remodeling and the Clifton Bible Chapel was ready in the early 1980s. Jim Thomas was a great help at Clifton until he moved to Arizona. Rich Bishop, Ken Staton, and Fred Haitz have been the elders since about that time. About 150 people attend the assembly.

• * * * * * *

A hive-off from Clifton Bible Chapel occurred in 1997, when the families of Ron Beers and Rick Beers took the initiative in establishing an assembly in the home of Ron Beers in Paonia, a small town about an hour’s drive east of Grand Junction. Called North Fork Bible Fellowship in Paonia, the assembly meets now in the Paonia Town Hall. About five families are in the assembly at present, including Don and Nona Perrault, retired from service at Immanuel Mission in Arizona.

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In 1974, Don and Ann Watt moved from Boulder to Cedaredge, a small mountain town in west central Colorado. Harold and Mary Frazier also moved to the area after the conclusion of the 1974 camping season at Camp Elim where they had served as caretakers. The two families began a weekly Remembrance Meeting along with a Bible study in their homes. The Jim Wrights soon moved there, and shortly after that, Delbert and June Dyck arrived from Immanuel Mission. As other Christians joined them, the group became too large for home meetings, so space was rented in the Senior Center building in Cedaredge.

Alan and Lou Gates, Dick and Ava Jay, and others came from Montrose, some 40 miles to the south, and joined in the assembly activities. Sometimes the attendance at the Remembrance Meeting was as high as 65; several people were baptized during this period. The assembly took the name Surface Creek Valley Bible Fellowship.

In the early 1980s, the economics of the area crashed when both the oil shale and coal industries closed. Many people had to move from the area. The Christian school begun by the assembly lost most of its students and Surface Creek Valley Bible Fellowship lost many of its people. Since many of the remaining families were traveling from Montrose, the decision was made to move to a more central location near Delta, a town of 3000 about 20 miles south of Cedaredge. The relocation took place in 1987, and with it a name change to Grand Mesa Bible Chapel.

The first meetings of the relocated assembly were in the home of the Bruce Halversons, who later served as missionaries with Teen Missionary International. Door_to_door visitation, ads in the local newspaper, and a phone book insertion announced the formation of a new work in that town. However, not many responded to these efforts. With families still leaving the area, the Christians decided in mid_1988 to cease the attempt at an assembly work in Delta. The Christians living in Montrose met at the Gates’ home for a while, but it was not long before all these had been transferred from the area, and the assembly ceased.

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Lucas Wilson of Denver owned a ranch near Gypsum, in the mountains on Interstate 70. Several other assembly families owned ranches in the area, including Dorothy Brown and Grace Watson, John and Myrtle Wilkinson from Colorado Springs, and Harold Ault. When Lucas Wilson and his wife Kay retired to their ranch, Mr. Wilson organized these Christians into an assembly fellowship in about 1970. He purchased the town’s one-room schoolhouse and converted it into the Gypsum Bible Chapel for the assembly to use.

Jerry Maurer came over from nearby Eagle to join in fellowship and did most of the preaching and working with children. When the Maurers moved to Denver in 1972, Willard Rodgers and his wife, originally from Omaha but then living in the mountains west of Denver, moved to Gypsum. For about three years they were the main workers, very good with children. Their son David Rodgers conducted the Vacation Bible School for four consecutive years at the Gypsum assembly. The first of these had an attendance of over 100 children. After the Rodgers’ retired and moved back to Omaha, Del and June Dyck came from Cedaredge to help. Another active young man was Dave Bradford. The Bob Kohrmans from Fort Collins also moved to the area and took an active interest in the assembly. The Gypsum Bible Chapel grew to as many as 50 people during some summers.

The Wilsons left the meeting in the early 1980s. After that the Christians met in the Gypsum fire house, since Del Dick and Bob Kohrman were both volunteer firemen for the town. Bob Kohrman was seriously injured in a fire at about that time and his help ceased. The remaining Christians decided to close their meeting after about another year, in the late 1980s.

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In the late 1950s, Fort Collins was a farming town about sixty miles north of Denver. A few Christians began meeting at that time in the home of John Robinson on South College Avenue for Breaking of Bread. These included the families of Cecil Stevens, Dick Taylor from Estes Park, and Harry Rosenberg.

Within a short time, Roger and Dorothy Cocking of Colorado Springs found out about this work and made trips to Fort Collins to help with Bible studies. A good number of people, including university students, came to these studies. During this period, Howard Kohrman came to Ft. Collins periodically on business, and met with the group.

In the mid-1960s these Christians began meeting on Sundays in the Carpenters Union Hall on Whedbee Street, but after a time moved back to the Robinson’s home. In 1968, both the Cockings and Kohrmans moved with their families to Fort Collins, and the Fort Collins Assembly was well underway. The Cockings worked extensively with the university students.

Others who joined the assembly shortly after that were the families of Leroy Stevens, originally from the Kanorado area, Ed Beidleman from Cheyenne, Roger Hathaway, and the Epples who came from Iowa. By 1969, the meeting was large enough that it had to move into larger quarters. The Christians rented a gymnasium in the Forney building on LaPorte Street on the north side of Fort Collins and stayed there about two years. During that period, the Dick Fishers, Dee O’Dells, and Henry Schoenigs were among those who joined the assembly. The Cockings moved to the Pacific northwest in 1971, but the gap they left was filled by the Willard Taussigs who moved to Fort Collins at about that time.

In early 1972, the group purchased and moved into an old church building on Whedbee Street in northeast Fort Collins and took the name Fort Collins Bible Chapel. Others who joined after that were the Russell Harrahs from Nebraska, and the David Andrews’ who moved up from Boulder. The meeting was characterized by the presence of many married young couples, many of them students at the University. The assembly thrived for many years and had a full_time worker for a time. But eventually a leadership difficulty caused discouragement, and in 1990 the assembly disbanded. Most of these Christians still have occasional social meetings and are active in the work at Camp Elim.

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Greeley lies about 25 miles southeast of Fort Collins. In 1964, Jim McCotter, Brian Michaux, and Bill Taylor, all from Colorado Springs, began attending the university in Greeley. Together they rented a house and started a Bible study. The study was successful, grew rapidly, and many students were saved. Jim McCotter along with Bill Taylor instituted a Remembrance Meeting on Sundays, establishing the Greeley Assembly.

Don Pegler and his wife moved to Greeley shortly that, where Don enrolled in the university. The new assembly then began meeting in their home, which provided a needed stability. The meeting consisted mostly of students, many of them with Campus Crusade. Don Neilsen, who had been brought to the Lord through Campus Crusade, began meeting with them, and led Brooky Stockton, who afterward served in Las Cruces, NM, to the Lord.

When this first wave of young people graduated and left, the assembly had no permanent meeting place, and nearly became extinct. Don Neilsen and his new wife Donna felt that the Lord would have them return to Greeley to help the work there. They moved back in early 1970 and invited Donna’s parents, the Donald Norbies of California, to come and help.

The Norbies arrived in June of 1970. They purchased a house near the campus with a large room in the basement, which was used for the meetings of the assembly. The Lord blessed and a number were saved, and the meeting grew to the point where new facilities were needed. In 1972 a large house adjacent to the university campus was purchased; this served as a meeting place and as housing for about twelve students who were in the assembly. They called their house Koinonia House. Baptisms were frequent and were often held in Seeley Lake north of the town.

The group grew to about 70, at which time some felt that a hive_off would be good. It was tried, but the experiment was not successful, and the two groups rejoined. Feminism was strong on the campus in those years, and caused a deep split in the assembly, with most of the young people leaving in the fall of 1977 to form another meeting. That meeting however lasted only a short time before dissolving.

The remaining assembly struggled through years of uncertainty. Because of the depleted numbers, the meeting ceased Breaking of Bread for two years and met with the assembly in Fort Collins. Then in 1989, two other families that had been saved covenanted with the Norbies to restart the work.

A jail ministry, which was begun in the early 1970s, has been productive and continues. Some now in the assembly were saved while in jail. A ministry with international students is underway. The assembly is now called Fellowship Chapel, and Don and Marie Norbie still help with the work. Don has a camp ministry, speaks at conferences, helps organize the annual Worker’s Conference held at various location throughout North America, and is the author of many books and articles.

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Don and Ida McCormick had moved from Nebraska to a farm between Lyons and Longmont in about 1940. After attending the Longmont Gospel Hall for a brief period, they felt led to set up a brethren testimony in Boulder, located 25 miles northwest of central Denver. When a few other families agreed, the McCormicks moved into Boulder. The group rented an old business building at 14th and Water Streets in downtown Boulder, near the former train depot. The first meeting of what was later called the Boulder Bible Chapel was held there in 1943. Ben Tuininga had meetings there in 1944, and John Horn conducted a Vacation Bible School in 1946.

Eldon Baird moved his young family to Boulder in 1945. The Bairds joined with the assembly and Eldon was soon considered one of the leaders. Bud and Bernice Lambert moved to Boulder in 1947; they continued to fellowship at the Longmont assembly but after about a year joined with the Boulder group. Ken and Ruth Baird moved to Boulder in 1950 and joined the fellowship.

The assembly knew they would have to have larger quarters, so in about 1950 they purchased a lot at 7th and Evergreen in northwest Boulder. Many families were moving to Boulder in those days. Among them were Don and Ann Watt and their children, who came in 1951. Don was soon one of the leaders in the assembly and helped draw up plans for a chapel. The men in the assembly did most of the construction work and finished construction of Boulder Bible Chapel in 1952.

Helen Baird and Bernice Lambert had started weekly after_school Bible classes for youngsters at the home of the Eldon Bairds. When the chapel was completed, this effort was moved there and expanded to include crafts. The classes lasted for many years and saw many children saved. Henry Van Ryn often came to Boulder to teach at these sessions. The assembly leaders in the 1950s were Don Watt, Ken and Eldon Baird, Don McCormick, and Bud Lambert. The Don Valentines came in 1952. Lee Ridlen moved his family to Boulder in 1956 from Nebraska; in about 1960, the families of David Andrews, Byron Blair, and Al Sapp came to Boulder and the Boulder Bible Chapel, followed soon by several other young families, including the John Portmans, Arnold Farstads, and Robert Petersons.

As early as 1961, the growing assembly was laying plans for a hive_off. Because several families lived in the Fairview subdivision east of Boulder, an acre of land there was purchased. In 1967 the friendly hive_off took place. Of those who remained at Boulder Bible Chapel, Don Valentine, Hubert Schmidt, and John Portman assumed leading roles along with Don McCormick, Eldon Baird, and Bud Lambert. Ken Baird ministered to both assemblies, as well as having a preaching ministry throughout the state.

In the 1970s, several leading families who had stayed with the older assembly moved from Boulder. Hubert Schmidt and Byron Blair then assumed leadership in the assembly until they both passed away. Elders are now recognized, and consist of Paul Lambert, Tom Bell, Lloyd Kneebone, and Jim McCormick. About 40 persons consider Boulder Bible Chapel to be their home church.

• * * * * * *

The assembly that split off from Boulder took the name Fairview Bible Chapel in Boulder. The chapel was built on 76th Street, five miles east of the Boulder city limits. A great amount of carpentry work was done by the men in the new assembly, notably Dave Andrews, Lee Ridlen, and Byron Blair. The first meeting was held in April 1968. For many years, Boulder Bible Chapel assisted Fairview with mortgage payments.

Leadership was by an informal oversight at first, with Don Watt and David Andrews taking the main preaching and leadership responsibilities. In the early 1970s, Dave Andrews moved from the Boulder area and Byron Blair returned to Boulder Bible Chapel. A recognized eldership was agreed upon, and Arnold Farstad, Robert Peterson, Lee Ridlen, Don Watt, and Lionel Wood were recognized at that time.

Keith Heck served as a commended worker at Fairview for about three years, beginning in the late 1970s. A few years later Jonathan Smith was commended for work at Fairview. He left in the mid-1990s to establish the Rocky Mountain Bible College. Jonathan and Priscilla Hopkins are presently commended to the local work. The assembly has commended workers to missionary service in Mozambique and to short-term missions.

Fairview developed a strong craft class program for children in the neighborhood, which at times attracted nearly 100 children. This program was started in homes of Dave Andrews and Norm Frank before the chapel was built. The Frank, Farstad, and Peterson families, with help from many others, were active in continuing it for some twenty years. The craft classes fed children to Camp Elim in great numbers.

Many members of Fairview have been active in evangelism and Bible studies. Several young men and women have led large youth groups within the assembly, including Bonnie Frank, Jim and Cyndi Eakins, Don Watt Jr., and Lars Peterson. Bob and Fleta Hathaway have been leaders in the interdenominational Bible Study Fellowship for many years, and Fairview has supplied many teachers for that work. Bud Lambert, Ed Arguello, and Doug Agee have long been active in the Gideons. Bud Lambert and Denny Petersen had an active prison ministry for many years. The assembly has about 100 people in attendance on Sundays, with a midweek meeting numbering about 50. Elders over the years, in addition to those mentioned above, have been Jim Eakins, Bud Lambert, Ed Arguello, Steve Thomson, Bob Hathaway, Gene Erwin, Dennis Petersen, and Mike Brewington.

• * * * * * *

Grace Church in the Denver suburb of Arvada was started as an assembly in 1989 with the encouragement of Fairview Bible Chapel in Boulder and especially the efforts of Jonathan Smith. At the beginning, the group consisted partly of people who were left after a large Bible Church dissolved. Though Grace Church has elder rule, it does not now consider itself to be part of the brethren association of assemblies. Its Sunday attendance is typically several hundred.

• * * * * * *

A graduate of Dallas Theological Seminary, Stephen Holmes had pastored churches in California and in the Denver suburb of Aurora on the east side of Denver but came to realize the importance of adopting the New Testament pattern of church governance. At about the time he resigned his Aurora position in 1977, he and his family met the Peter Marcus family who had moved from Little Rock, Arkansas.

The two families visited assemblies in the Denver area. They decided to try to initiate an assembly work in Aurora, and with the help of Ed Beidleman visited in the area near their homes and were able to interest a small number of people. The group met on Sundays for Breaking of Bread at the Holmes’s home, and on Wednesdays for Bible study at the Marcus’s. As they grew, they rented space for their Sunday meetings, and located at the Village Green Recreation Center in Aurora. The group incorporated as Grace Bible Chapel in 1980.

They grew to their largest number in the late 1980s, consisting then of about a dozen families. Doctrinal differences split the leadership at about that time and several families left, including the original families. The assembly continues though small at the time of this writing.

Sources:

• Questionnaire Responses
• Colorado Assemblies on Mountain and Plain, A History of the Brethren in Colorado, by Robert L. Peterson, 1992
• Letters of Interest, April 1944, p. 31; June 1954, p. 22