California history

California

We begin with a description of assembly history in San Diego, then move northward through the state.

In 1904, J. G. Traggardh with his wife and son moved to San Diego from Pittsburgh. In the next year, William Brunner and family arrived in San Diego from their farm in Iowa. The two families met and soon began to Break Bread and study the Bible together each Lord’s Day at the Traggardh’s home. When others joined them, the group moved to a larger home on the corner of 12th and Market Streets.

The need for yet larger quarters necessitated planning for the erection of a hall, the first assembly building in San Diego. Though the families possessed little means, they were able to obtain a vacant lot on Texas Street, north of University Avenue. William Brunner and others with building experience made the Bible Truth Hall in San Diego a reality.

In most of the ten nearby homes, at least one person, and in some cases a whole family, came to know God’s salvation. Many sought fellowship at the Bible Truth Hall, and the building was soon outgrown. In about 1919, a vacant lot was obtained on the west side of 30th Street just north of University Avenue. The hall was moved to this site and enlarged. Living space was added to provide lodging for itinerant evangelists, and here the brethren enjoyed happy fellowship for several years. They engaged in evangelistic work, visiting homes and holding street meetings at the corner of 30th and University each Sunday evening before the Gospel meeting. The young people visited the hospitals and jails to sing and pass out tracts. Many gathered in homes for Bible study and Christian fellowship.

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A group including the Brunners left Bible Truth Hall after some disagreements. They bought an old Baptist church building on Marlborough Street with ample auditorium and living space to accommodate visiting preachers. This became known as the Marlborough Gospel Hall.

The assembly grew; during World War II, more than 200 were meeting in a building meant for 100. Busses were purchased to bring children to Sunday School. Busses and automobiles were used to pick up servicemen stationed in San Diego and bring them to the meetings at Marlborough. Many of the servicemen were saved as a result.

The group met at Marlborough Gospel Hall until 1957, at which time they relocated to a building on Laurel Street in San Diego and changed the name to Laurel Bible Chapel. The servicemen’s ministry continued at Laurel for several years. The strong Sunday school program for children and young people that had been developed at Marlborough was continued at Laurel until about 1971. Hundreds of children were brought on five busses. Evangelism was a primary emphasis in all the children’s programs.

From 1939 to 1963, the brethren at Marlborough/Laurel had summer camp programs at Forest Home in the San Bernardino Mountains in conjunction with other southern California assemblies. When the rent became too high, those involved in running the camp program formed a corporation with brethren from other assemblies in southern California and with financial help from Steward’s Foundation, purchased Verdugo Pine Bible Camp in the Los Angeles National Forest. Laurel Bible Chapel continues to use Verdugo Pines.

The large number of Hispanics in the San Diego area led to the formation of a Spanish-speaking congregation meeting at Laurel Bible Chapel. George Mora began the work among the Hispanics by means of a Spanish Bible Class at Laurel, involving an unsaved neighbor family whose children were attending the Sunday School. All the ministries among children have provided a means of reaching the parents of the children involved; some have been saved as a result for example Jaime and Letty De La Vega, serving the Lord in Guadalajara, Mexico.

As Laurel grew and thrived in the 1970s, thought was given to hiving off to other areas of the county. Therefore, East County Bible Fellowship in El Cajon was formed in 1976. In the mid-1980s a second hive-off occurred Cornerstone Bible Church in La Mesa. Although Cornerstone ceased to function at the end of 1994, it was instrumental in the salvation of several people and in the spiritual growth of many of those who formed this group.

Both hive-offs involved the loss of sizeable groups from Laurel, but the Lord gave them a vision for reaching out materially and spiritually to the increasing number of refugees, especially those from Southeast Asia. Many of those were saved. The refugee ministry resulted in the establishment of a Cambodian and a Laotian group of believers at Laurel Bible Chapel. At the beginning of 1994 a group of Korean believers, originally from the Los Angeles area, asked to meet at the Chapel.

Because of the formation of the other ethnic groups, the number of believers meeting at Laurel in 1990 exceeded the number which existed in the 1970s when Laurel was almost exclusively a Caucasian church.

The existence of five ethnic groups at Laurel has produced unique situations and problems. From the beginning, all the ethnic groups preferred to conduct meetings in their own language, and this was agreed upon to allow worship unhindered by problems of language comprehension and cultural differences. Separate meetings facilitated evangelistic efforts to reach people of the same ethnic background. Breaking Bread together two or three times a year is arranged, at which time all five languages are used. Elders from all the groups meet only to deal with special situations which affect all the groups.

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East County Bible Fellowship in El Cajon began in 1976, a hive-off from Laurel Bible Chapel in San Diego. Meeting first in Nebo Hall in La Mesa, the believers soon moved to the El Cajon Women’s Club, then to the La Mesa Masonic Lodge, and finally to their own building at 496 3rd Street, El Cajon. The Fretz, Mear, Warren, Linfoot, Coombs, Harris, and Even families were those starting the assembly. Over the years, elders have been Charles Fretz, Richard Fretz, Gary Coombs, Jim Catalano, Henri Warren, and Clay Berry. About 80 adults and youngsters were attending East County Bible Fellowship in the 1990’s.

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James Mader had been saved while serving in the U.S. Army Air Corp in World War II. After his discharge, he attended the Providence Bible Institute in Rhode Island and Prairie Bible Institute in Canada, followed by another short course in practical training in Los Angeles. Then he came to San Diego as the Assistant Director of the Christian Servicemen’s Center (CSC), with a desire to go full-time into the Lord’s work.

The CSC was run by the Christian Businessmen’s Committee, and one of its board members was Ralph Barker. He and his wife were in fellowship at Marlborough Gospel Hall. Mr. Barker lived north of San Diego in a converted barracks and operated a dairy farm on Mission Gorge Road. He and his wife had started a Sunday School in their home before World War II. The parents would bring them in, then waited for the classes to finish. Karl Hammond from Los Angeles had on occasion come to down to preach to the parents. Mr. Barker, having observed James Mader preach at the CSC, asked him to preach to the adults, and this was the start of what would soon become the Mission Valley Community Chapel.

In the early 1950s, Mr. Barker replaced the barracks with a purchased submarine trainer, which after remodeling became the present home of the Chapel. Mr. Mader was by then teaching Bible classes in various homes. The population in the area was increasing. One by one, people were saved and the need for a church home became evident. An assembly was formed and incorporated in 1953 as the Mission Valley Community Chapel.

Allied Gardens had been established after the war to provide affordable housing for veterans. The wife in a family in the new church did much visitation in the Allied Gardens area, assisting the young families. Many of them came into the assembly. In 1954, the assembly bought a 35-passenger bus to pick up children in Allied Gardens. The bus was also used as a Sunday School room.

Clyde and Kenneth Hammond, brothers of Karl Hammond from Los Angeles, were early leaders in the assembly besides Mr. Mader and Mr. Barker. Doug Thomson from New Zealand was much involved in the work.

The assembly has always had active youth programs, and its focus in the 1990’s was prayer and missions. It has sent missionaries to many foreign countries, including countries in Africa and Indonesia, and to the Philippines, Paraguay, and France. About 110 adults and children were attending Mission Valley Community Chapel in the 1990’s.

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Several other assemblies came into existence in San Diego in these years. The Front Street Gospel Hall was located near the present University Hospital in Hillcrest. This assembly later moved to a new location on Twain Avenue in Allied Gardens. The Imperial Avenue Gospel Hall in Logan Heights continued for a time.

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In the fall of 1893, W. J. McClure held tent meetings in Los Angeles. Following those meetings, he and others established one of the earliest assemblies in the state, meeting at 806 Temple Street. The assembly later moved to 1231 West Jefferson Boulevard and built the West Jefferson Gospel Hall, where they remained for many years. In 1959, the assembly relocated a short distance away to 11138 Venice Boulevard in Culver City and became the Culver City Gospel Hall. However, was still called the West Jefferson Boulevard Assembly in the history written for the 1993 centennial celebration.

Conferences were a steady feature of the assembly, the largest being in the mid-1930s when more than 300 people attended. For many years, the West Jefferson assembly held Saturday night street meetings, and sponsored tent meetings of one to two month’s duration.

In 1926, John and Nettie Ruddock were commended by the West Jefferson assembly to the Lord’s work in Guatemala and Honduras, continuing for 52 years. Also commended in 1926 were Ida and Margaret Last, to the West Indies. Harold and Mabel Richards were commended to the work in Alaska in 1937.

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In 1922, John Ruddock of the West Jefferson Gospel Hall began a work among the Spanish-speaking people of East Los Angeles, mainly among the children. In 1924, he was joined by Adam Thropay, and many were saved in these efforts. In 1950, a Spanish speaking assembly, the East Los Angeles Gospel Hall, was established, and from it a children’s work was begun in El Monte.

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The Pomona Assembly was started at about the time that the West Jefferson meeting began. When the Gospel tent used in the Los Angeles meetings by W. J. McClure was taken down in September 1894, it was shipped to Pomona, 40 miles to the east, where a small assembly was already meeting in a home. A campaign was opened there, continuing nightly until December. By the end of the campaign, 18 were meeting as an assembly in rented space. In 1957, the Pomona Gospel Chapel was erected at 1041 N. Weber Street, with a main auditorium seating 182. Henry Petersen and William Bush had meetings at the official opening of the chapel.

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In the early summer of 1925, brethren from the West Jefferson meeting put up a Gospel tent on the north side of York Boulevard at Avenue 48, with Sam Greer and William Grierson as the preachers. Because of the large number of converts, property at 1100 North Avenue 54, Highland Park, was donated for construction of a church building. The Avenue 54 Bible Chapel in Los Angeles was completed by December 1925.

The Lord raised up many workers from the Avenue 54 assembly. Among the earlier workers were Sam and Dorothy Gallagher, Irene Gallagher, and Harold and Mabel Richards (the latter also commended by the West Jefferson meeting) in the 1940s and 1950s, and Dorothy Cornish to the work in Guatemala in the 1960s. Many others have been commended to the Lord’s work locally and abroad.

The Avenue 54 assembly supported a Missionary Home and an Old Folks Home in South Pasadena in the 1940s and 1950s. In the early 1960s, the property at 5415 Buchanan Street, adjoining the Chapel, was purchased to be used as a Missionary Home. From the 1970s, the Avenue 54 Christians have run an inter-city mission to under-privileged kids. In 1983, classrooms and a small auditorium were added to the Chapel, and a Missionary Apartment was completed and opened. The small auditorium is used by Iglesia Evangelica de Highland Park, and the dining room is used by the Avenue 54 Korean Assembly. Currently, about 110 are in fellowship in the English Meeting.

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Iglesia Evangelica de Highland Park in Los Angeles began in the late 1970s as a neighborhood Bible study conducted by Stan Hanna and then Irene Gallagher. In 1989, Richard and Nancye Yarrall, who had been commended by assemblies in New Zealand for the Lord’s work in Colombia, arrived to work among the Latinos in the Los Angeles area. Being re-commended to this work by the New Zealand assemblies and Avenue 54 Bible Chapel and Westminster Bible Chapel, they commenced working with the Iglesia Evangelica de Highland Park group. Visitation and Bible studies among Latinos in the Westminster area led to the formation of Iglesia Cristiana de Westminster, CA closely associated with Westminster Bible Chapel. (See Ethnic Section)

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The assembly in Fullerton, in the Los Angeles area, had its start in 1955. A few believers living in Orange and Los Angeles counties and attending Elm Avenue Gospel Hall in Long Beach met to discuss starting a testimony in Orange County. Agreeing on the need, they held their first meetings as the Garden Grove Assembly in a rented store in Garden Grove, with Sunday School and the Family Bible Hour in the morning and Breaking of Bread in the evening. Wednesday evening meetings were at a motel that could accommodate the twenty or so people. For several months Harold Kesler came from Riverside on Wednesday evenings for ministry at the Garden Grove Assembly.

A partially completed cement-block house in the area, on Dale Avenue south of Katella Boulevard, was found to be for sale and was purchased. Volunteer work made the building suitable for meetings, and a house trailer was converted into three Sunday School rooms.

Around 1960, a larger facility on two and one half acres in Fullerton was found to be available. The decision to move the testimony to Fullerton was unanimous, and Grace Bible Chapel came into being. To facilitate the transportation of Sunday School children to Fullerton from the former areas, two old buses were purchased and operated each Sunday morning.

After several years, those living south of Lincoln Boulevard decided to start a new testimony in that area and rented a Club House on Harbor Boulevard in Westminster. This move reduced the number in the original congregation by over 50%, but with so many moving out of Los Angeles to Orange County at that time, it did not take long to build the numbers back up again. In a few years, expansion and remodeling of Grace Bible Chapel were necessary again.

In 1977, Bruce Merritt took early retirement to take over administrative responsibilities at the assembly. In 1985, Kenneth Daughters, then attending BIOLA College, took over these duties until he left to attend Dallas Seminary. Then Andrew Holloman, a graduate of BIOLA, worked full time for a year, setting up the office, supervising the youth groups, and visiting the Christians in their homes. After that, Harold Barrington, who had helped Laurel Bible Chapel in San Diego reorganize, came to Fullerton for several months, running the office and visiting most of the congregation and making recommendations. The assembly declined for a time, but recovered under the leadership of elders Christo Ayoub, Micahel Carter, Charles Cox, and Robert Norris. Grace Bible Chapel in Fullerton is active today.

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In 1947 several brethren from Goodyear Gospel Hall in Los Angeles began a Sunday school work, pioneered by Karl Hammond, among the children on West Adams Street. Interest and attendance grew, and a building was erected, which became La Brea Gospel Chapel. The work prospered, and the building was later enlarged to accommodate the Sunday School.

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The Christians at Goodyear Gospel Hall also helped to establish the Bethel Gospel Hall in Los Angeles in March 1953. By 1954, more than 50 were in fellowship at Bethel. The assembly disbanded in the early 1980s.

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In 1951, construction of the spacious Western Assemblies Home for the Aged was completed at Claremont, 15 miles from Los Angeles. The brethren living in the area then constructed Claremont Gospel Chapel for assembly meetings. In 1954, about 80 were in fellowship and the Sunday school and Family Bible Hour attendance was over 100. In 1961, when the assembly fellowship had grown to 150, the Christians added a Sunday school wing.

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The assembly in Riverside, east of Los Angeles, began in 1925, the offshoot of tent meetings held by evangelists John Hunt and Herb Harris. A small assembly was formed soon after. John Hunt convinced his brother, A.E. Hunt, to move into the area to help teach and support the newly formed body. The Christians purchased a small church building on 6th and Park, calling it the Riverside Gospel Hall. They met there from the late 1920s to the early 1940s. Believers traveled from the cities of Ontario, Redlands, and Hemet to fellowship in the assembly. Among the others who began the Riverside Gospel Hall were the Argleban, Newman, Bourbonnais, Leest, Scott, DeYoung, Hill, and Manchester families.

In the 1940s, because of gas rationing brought about by World War II, many people could no longer attend. The Gospel Hall was sold, and the remaining believers began meeting in neighboring Rubidoux, after having some tent meetings there. Harold Kesler moved his residence into Riverside during the war years. He and L.G. Winfrey devoted much time to the work, and shared leadership with M. Mellinger, C. Bishop, N. Moore, and Jack Bourbonnais during that period.

In 1952, the assembly constructed the Riverside Gospel Chapel at 8045 California Avenue. Later they changed its name to Bethel Chapel. The assembly has more than 200 adults and youngsters in attendance and has commended several missionaries to foreign fields.

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San Bernardino Gospel Chapel, about 50 miles east of Los Angeles, was completed in late 1952. This testimony resulted from the pioneering labors of Karl Hammond. In 1952, John Hathaway of the La Brea Gospel Chapel in Los Angeles moved to San Bernardino to devote his time and effort to pastoral care of the San Bernardino assembly.

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From San Bernardino, Karl Hammond moved to Montebello to open a business and to establish a testimony there, about 10 miles from Los Angeles. The Montebello Assembly was formed, meeting in the Women’s Club Building. It has disbanded.

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In 1951, several of the saints attending the Riverside assembly began a work in Colton, east of Los Angeles, between Riverside and San Bernardino. They purchased and remodeled a church building, calling it Colton Gospel Chapel, and met as an assembly there. It is still active.

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In 1950 several of the believers in Glendale and the San Fernando Valley bought an old Jewish synagogue and remodeled it into Glendale Gospel Chapel. Tom Westwood through his radio ministry was instrumental in bringing several of the Lord’s people into the Glendale assembly.

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With approval of the Glendale assembly, several young men and women from there began a new testimony in the San Fernando Valley, the Valley Gospel Chapel, North Hollywood. The assembly met initially in the YWCA building on Tujunga Avenue on Sunday and in various homes for the mid-week prayer and Bible study meeting. It has disbanded.

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In 1952, several families in the Valley Gospel Chapel, North Hollywood assembly held Bible classes and cottage prayer meetings in the west end of the San Fernando Valley. In fellowship with the North Hollywood brethren, these families began an assembly testimony in the Woodland Hills/Canoga Park area in July 1952. Meeting at the local Women’s Club, 7515 Winnetka Avenue, the Christians called it West Valley Gospel Hall. They changed the name to West Valley Gospel Chapel in 1958, still at the Women’s Club. In 1961, the Christians built their own West Valley Bible Chapel at 20703 Chase Street.

The principal people starting the assembly include Dennis Mellinger, William Glaser, Dale Munier, E. Davies, Joseph Morrow, Jr., Frank Westfall, George Rake, Charles Lundsford, David Hunt and others. In active leadership over the years have been Dennis and Larry Mellinger, Jack Bitler, George Rake, David Hunt, Ben Werle, Archie Ross, David Brooks, Howard Muir, and Clarence LeLong, and others. The assembly has about 35 adults and children.

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About 100 miles up the coast from Los Angeles at Santa Barbara, evangelist Neil Fraser took up residence some time before 1954 to help the little assembly there, which lasted for a short while.

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Antelope Valley Bible Chapel in Lancaster, north of Los Angeles, began in 1994 and meets in homes. Three families, those of Brian and Malyn Sanders, John and Billie Cattermole, and Mike and Christina McMillan, some of whom had been in fellowship at West Valley Bible Chapel in Canoga Park, formed the group that started the assembly, which consists of about 40 adults and youngsters. Messrs. Sanders, Cattermole, and McMillan share leadership responsibilities. Several Air Force service men stationed at Edwards Air Force Base join the fellowship as their terms of service permit.

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In Atascadero, a town halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco, a work begun in 1949 as a children’s and young people’s effort, developed into an assembly testimony by 1950. A building was leased in the town’s shopping district in 1951, and in 1954, the assembly’s own chapel the Atascadero Gospel Chapel, CA was constructed with an auditorium seating 168. Bert Young pioneered the work at Atascadero. The assembly commended its first missionary Bob Young to Northern Rhodesia in 1954.

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Charles Montgomery came to San Francisco from Ireland in about 1869, began a hotel business, and in a year or two began publishing The Evangelist. The 1873 San Francisco City Directory, referring to ‘Christian Brethren,’ states: “...They meet simply to the name of Jesus. Meetings held every Lord’s Day at 11 AM for Breaking of Bread. Preaching in the evening at half past seven o’clock in the Hall, 155 New Montgomery Street near Howard by Charles Montgomery.” The assembly is not given a name in the 1873 edition of the Directory, but the 1888 edition calls it Gospel Hall (San Francisco). A Bible Depot was also commenced in the neighborhood in the 1870s, moving through various locations.

Donald Ross visited San Francisco in 1887, holding meetings in a tent, and was assisted by the San Francisco assembly. Several were saved, among them some living in Montgomery’s hotel. The same year, tent meetings were held in Oakland, at which time the present Bethany Gospel Chapel in Oakland had its beginning. In October 1887, the first California Conference was held in San Francisco, and this conference, now convening at Thanksgiving time, has continued to this day.

In 1888, the San Francisco Gospel Hall was meeting at 866 Mission Street, with Charles Montgomery listed as correspondent. During the next three decades, the assembly moved through about a dozen locations, all of them at rented store fronts in the general area. The San Francisco earthquake and resulting fire storm of 1906, with subsequent dynamiting to halt the fires, destroyed the area. The assembly could save only a few hymn books and other small items. At that time, a Mr. McFie was one of the leaders, and the assembly met in his home for a time. Open air meetings were held on Sunday afternoons and evenings in some of the refugee camps around the city.

In the first two decades of the twentieth century, the San Francisco Gospel Hall held many Gospel campaigns, some in tents in the city. Street meetings prior to the evening indoor meeting, and Saturday meetings, were common. A membership list in 1911 shows 50 to 60 in fellowship, which grew to about 80 by 1926. In 1927, a decision was made to construct a building at 910 Santiago Street, and in December 1928, the first Breaking of Bread was held in the Parkside Gospel Chapel in San Francisco. Wednesday night meetings at the Victorious Gospel Mission on Howard Street were commenced in 1931. The assembly continues today at the Santiago address. The assembly has commended many workers to the foreign field.

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An assembly in Oakland began in a home in the early 1870s through the efforts of John McIntyre. From there the Christians rented a storefront for a time, and in 1912 constructed the Bethany Gospel Hall in Oakland on San Pablo Avenue. This beautiful building graces the cover of the book My People, written by Robert Baylis. In 1955, the assembly built the Bethany Gospel Chapel on Tompkins Avenue in Oakland. Bethany has commended William Spees, William Deans, Ruth Johnson, Fred and Jenny Kosin, William MacDonald, and Clifford Beggs to the work of the Lord.

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In April 1954, a group left Bethany Gospel Hall to build the Castlemont Bible Chapel at 90th Avenue and Thermal Street in the Castlemont district of Oakland. About 25 men and women formed the initial fellowship. An auditorium seating about 200 with a lot of Sunday school rooms was ample for many years of progress. A variety of outreaches brought steady growth. In 1959, the Castlemont Christians bought a half-acre site in the neighboring community of San Leandro. The new Fairhaven Bible Chapel was constructed and occupied in 1962, having 300 fixed seats. Houses were added to extend the youth work and Sunday School facilities.

Fairhaven Bible Chapel, with the inspiration of William MacDonald, established a nine-month full-time leadership training program called the Discipleship Intern Training Program. It graduated over 200 men in over 20 years. The program continues today as a five-month program with reduced numbers, largely from other countries. The assembly developed a very popular set of Bible Study Training manuals, which have been effective cross culturally all over the world and published in 25 languages. The assembly operates an Emmaus Prison Ministry, reaching about 4000 men and women. Fairhaven has commended many workers to the foreign field.

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The Alameda Gospel Chapel hived off from Bethany Gospel Chapel in about 1970, the result of a Sunday School outreach in that area. Fairhaven helped start this and three other assemblies: The San Lorenzo Bible Chapel, the Santa Rosa Assembly, and the Valley Bible Church in Pleasanton.

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The Hayward Bible Chapel is one of the older assemblies in the Hayward area. The first assembly meetings were held in a barn in Palomares Canyon. The believers later built a chapel on Meekland Avenue in Hayward. Kenneth Wakefield was one of the leading brothers there in its early days.

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Community Bible Chapel in Hayward began in about 1962 as a hive-off from Hayward Bible Chapel. It was begun by three or four young men, one of whom was Marlin Wakefield, a son of Kenneth Wakefield. When these young men left after three or four years, some of the men at Hayward Bible Chapel went there to maintain the testimony. These included Kenneth Wakefield, Chester Paulson, Joe Wunch, and Avery Wilson. Bob Bruton was a full-time worker there for a time. The assembly is active, with about 80 adults and 40 children, and has commended workers to Zambia, Pakistan, and Indonesia, and to Clairmont College.

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The Hayward Home Bible Fellowship began in about 1977 as a ministry to the older residents at Bethesda Home who were unable to leave because of physical conditions. Ten couples started the assembly, including Dan Kennedy, A. Noble DaShiell, Avery Wilson, Robert Livingston, Carl Swanson, Jack Osterhaus, Robert Scott, and Stan Wallace, and their wives. Some of these had been in the Hayward Bible Chapel. The assembly has commended workers to Russia. About 50 adults are in the Hayward Home Bible Fellowship.

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Valley Bible Church in Pleasanton began in 1988 in San Ramon as a hive-off from Fairhaven Bible Chapel in San Leandro. The originators of the new assembly were Jack Davies, Bill Greenaway, Dean Gossett, and Mark Porter. The latter two are the current leaders. The assembly met in various schools until they were able to purchase a 30,000 square-foot facility, in which about 1200 adults and youngsters now meet. Valley Bible Church has commended workers to the foreign field.

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During 1978 and 1979, Bob Bruton, who was a full-time worker at Community Bible Chapel in Hayward pioneered the start of a church in Fremont in the San Francisco Bay area. By October 1980, seven families (the Brutons, Rumrills, Luckerts, Hulls, Browers, Sowers’, and Berthiumes) were developing the basis for fellowship. On the first Sunday of January 1981, the weekly celebration of the Lord’s Supper was begun, and the Mission Peak Bible Church in Fremont was underway.

The first fruits of the work became evident in February, when a couple professed faith in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation. In May 1981, the first baptismal service was conducted. Sixty six persons, constituting 24 families, were in the assembly in 1996. The assembly now occupies quarters at 32701 Falcon Drive in Fremont.

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The Sun Valley Bible Chapel in Lafayette on the east side of Oakland, hived off from the Gospel Auditorium of Oakland. It was started in homes in 1951 by the families of David Gerke, David Jones, Harry Fisher, Travers Welch, Bain Jackson, and Edna Soroka. Outgrowing the homes, they rented space in downtown buildings (Portugese hall, Town Hall, Veterans Building) in Walnut Creek, and then moved to their present location at 1031 Leland Drive, Lafayette. In 1996, there were about 100 in attendance. Several workers have been commended by Sun Valley Bible Chapel.

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San Jose Bible Chapel was started in the late 1950s by families moving into the rapidly growing area. Most of these were young families from assemblies in other places, including Bob and Bernice Miller, John Payne, Bob and Barbara Sherrard, and Gordon and Christine Westwood. The Family Bible Hour and Sunday School were initially held in an American Legion Hall, and the Sunday evening Breaking of Bread and midweek Bible study and prayer meetings were held in homes. The assembly has relocated to Hillview Bible Chapel in Cupertino, at 1160 S. Stelling Road. It has over 200 in attendance and has commended many people to the Lord’s work. Elders have been Bob Bunce, Wallace Carroll, Gordon Westwood, Phil Hamilton, Bill Davis, Pedro Dillon, Rick DeVaul, and Jim McCarthy.

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The Twelfth Avenue Gospel Chapel in Sacramento was built in the late 1940s. After a series of meetings with Neil Fraser in June 1954, 23 were baptized and Sunday school attendance was well beyond the 200 mark. It has discontinued.

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The Sacramento Bible Chapel assembly at 1931 Silca Avenue, Sacramento’s second assembly at the time, expanded its facilities in 1959. It continues today.

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In the middle of the state, White Avenue Gospel Hall in Fresno began in 1911. Evangelists Sam Greer and Fred Hillis are credited with starting the assembly. Meeting first in a home on Divisadero Street, the Christians moved later into the Fresno Gospel Hall, their present location at 2818 Olive Avenue. Leadership over the years has been held by Tom Mulligan, John Royer, Harry Thorpe, J.C. Drake, Roy Argleben, Roy McDonald, Robert Leerhoff, and Gene Paulson. About 55 persons attend the assembly.

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Valley Bible Chapel in Napa began in April 1966 in a home. At the end of the year, the believers rented an abandoned church building at 1747 Second Street for their meetings, and in 1971 they purchased and moved into a building 1550 Second Street, their current location. Those initiating the assembly were the families of Homer Williams, Charles Arthur, Edward Parker, Dean Chase, Clifford Olson, and Byron Bradford. Leadership over the years has been shared by Homer Williams, Michael Westfall, Edward Parker, Byron Bradford, August Lanum, and James Wright. About 30 adults and youngsters are in the assembly.

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At the beginning of 1953, a few believers began meeting to remember the Lord in the northern California mountain community of Loomis, forming the Loomis Assembly. In mid-1954, about 25 were in fellowship. In addition, the assembly supported a Sunday school work at Peardale, 35 miles east of Loomis, where 25 children regularly attended. David Sharp was commended to the work in northern California by the brethren in Bethany Gospel Chapel in Oakland and labored in and about Loomis. He carried on an extensive visitation program at Auburn and labored also in the Sacramento assembly.

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Crescent City is in the far northwest corner of the state. It was there that Samuel Cardy, who had spent many years as a full-time worker in Ireland, began the assembly in 1993 called the Crescent City Christian Chapel. The assembly met in a single room in the Fishermen’s Hall. Mr. Cardy and Pearl McJimpsey were the leaders of the assembly, which had grown to about 30 adults and 15 children before it disbanded after just a few years. A weekly Bible study continues in homes, and Mr. Cardy continues with a local television ministry.

Sources

• Questionnaire responses
• Grace Bible Chapel History, by Bruce Merritt, March 1, 1997
• In the Beginning, a History of Laurel Bible Chapel, by Doug Foight and Cliff Peterson, undated; based in part on an article entitled Birth of an Assembly by Arthur Brunner
• History of West Jefferson Boulevard Assembly, by Adam Joseph Thropay, 1993
• History of Mission Peak Bible Church, by Bob Bruton, October 1996
• Avenue 54 Bible Chapel, by Rodney Hippenhammer, November 27, 1996
• History of Parkside Gospel Chapel, 1998; *www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~jonafon/history.html
• Letters of Interest, June 1954; July 1954, p. 17; November 1957, p. 26; June 1959, p. 11; July 1961, p. 8