Alaska history

Alaska

Alaskan assemblies, in the order of their establishment, were formed in Cordova, Chitina, Wasilla (Palmer), and Fairbanks. The efforts in Cordova and Chitina were Gospel works for the most part, the stable believers in both places being imports to the community for the express purpose of evangelizing and teaching the Word to the local people.

There were five or six open assemblies in Alaska in 1975, with fewer than 150 Christians in fellowship. Five assemblies are listed in recent address books, three in Anchorage and two in Fairbanks.

The work in Alaska in the beginning, and to a great extent now, was a missionary effort among the native peoples who lived and died by the shaman taboos and oracles. Most natives were dualistic in their attitude toward the new Christianity it was just another and new phase for religious practice. Many of the white inhabitants were immigrants who had come for adventure and quick wealth and did not want to hear the Word or think about eternity. However, there are many compelling stories of genuine conversions among the native peoples, including Henry Bell and his wife Etta who have solid testimonies among their people and are leaders in the work in the Copper River region near Cordova.

The summer season in Alaska is relatively short and many of the Christians must work during this time. Thus, it is difficult for even the gifted among the local believers to reach the scattered population during the mild summer weather.

The Ernest Crabb and Harold Richards families were pioneers who served God faithfully amid rejection and persecution. They would often team up and cover many miles to reach the unreached.

Ernest and Helen Crabb spent 10 years in the Chitina area. Several others followed in the work in the Chitina Assembly and environs after the Crabbs moved to Fairbanks. May McKeller of Alberta, Ethel Zinn of Michigan, the Robert Fentys from New Jersey, and Ray and Mabel Heaton were among the faithfuls.

In 1937, Harold and Mabel Richards, commended to the Lord’s work by six Los Angeles area assemblies, arrived in Cordova, on the Gulf of Alaska and 150 air miles east of Anchorage. There they were able to establish a small native Indian assembly. By 1939 they were operating a children’s home. The Richards moved to near Wasilla to begin the Valley Christian Home for Children after World War II. This home was a ministry to welfare children of Alaska. In 1945, the Lord sent Mr. and Mrs. Robert Fenty from New Jersey to replace them in the Cordova Assembly work.

When the orphanage system was ended in Alaska and placement of welfare children was done to private homes, the Richards began North Star Bible Camp on the Hatcher Pass Road out of willow.

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Bible Truth Gospel Chapel in Anchorage, the largest city, was established in 1964 in the following manner. Richard Stevens, one of the Indian converts of Harold Richards, had moved to Seattle. Richard Stevens’ brother, William J. Stevens lived in Anchorage, and encouraged his brother to come there to establish a Sunday School work. The 1964 earthquake had destroyed so many properties that no rental property could be found for the Sunday School. So, William and Elinor Stevens opened their large home for a Daily Vacation Bible School, conducted by Elinor and Richard’s wife Marjory, filling it with 50 to 60 children. That encouraged them to begin the Sunday School, and soon they had nearly 100 people in the house.

An assembly was established that year, meeting in the William Stevens’ home. From there the Christians rented a basement room in the Carpenter’s Hall, where they met until 1971, when they moved into a second floor room of a dairy plant in the Spenard area of Anchorage. Clara Eccles, a missionary at Chitina, came and helped until she went to be with the Lord. During that period, the children’s work diminished and the number in regular fellowship dwindled to just a few believers.

Then in the mid-1970s, Jim and Janet McCormick arrived in the area as managers of North Star Bible Camp when Harold and Mabel Richards left for health reasons. They brought John Walden tapes and got instruction classes going. Fred Steenmeyer came into the assembly and started a Christian witnessing course. People were being saved, and the assembly began looking for land. In 1977, the assembly purchased and moved into an attractive church building at 7206 Lake Otis Parkway, where they are now located. Their new location encouraged the believers to work more energetically for growth. An aggressive program was begun, combining visitation, extensive newspaper advertising, and an evening Bible school. The school was staffed by men from the assembly, and moved into its own building, bearing the name Anchorage School of Bible Doctrine.

Stuart and Linda Steenmeyer came in 1977 to help at the assembly and Bible School and assisted at North Star Bible Camp. Dale and Lois Brooks were commended by the Bible Truth Gospel Chapel to work full time there. Dale Brooks became the President of the Bible School in 1979. The assembly congregation experienced a surge from its earlier handful to 116 in 1979.

Elders have included the Stevens brothers, James McCormick, Fred Steenmeyer, and Robert Fenty. Others active in the assembly have included Larry and JoAn Davis, Spencer and Carol Steenmeyer, and Larry and Cindy Kitchen.

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The Anchorage Bible Fellowship was begun in the mid-1980s by some members of the Steenmeyer family.

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The first effort to begin a work in the Fairbanks area was in 1948 when Ernest and Helen Crabb moved to Esther. This gold mining community was the first location of a youth work and was the site of a summer Bible camp in 1949. The Crabbs moved to a location nearer Fairbanks in 1950 and lived there for the next 17 years. Don and Ruth Sauer of Buffalo, New York moved to Fairbanks in the early 1950s. Don was a good minister of the Word, and talented in music and youth work. The camp work was turned over to him. For several years, the camp work was held at Harding Lake. When Leonard Platt donated 40 acres of land for the use of a Bible Camp ministry, Camp LiWa was begun.

Denali Bible Chapel in Fairbanks was established in about 1950. Dwight Mattix and family played a significant role in the development of the assembly. Besides the Crabb, Sauer, and Mattix families, John and Doris Miller were important in the early work at Denali Bible Chapel and have provided a stabilizing force. Other leaders over the years include Greg Johnson and Winston Burbank. Denali Bible Chapel has some 200 in attendance on a Sunday morning. Denali Bible Chapel has commended several to the work of the Lord out of the state.

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In the early 1960s, the Crabb family developed a work on the north side of Fairbanks. The assembly Country Bible Chapel that formed from this work is considered a hive-off of Denali Bible Chapel. Located on Old Chema Hot Springs Road, it was first called Chema Bible Chapel. The assembly was started in 1970 by Doug Crabb, William Herning, and Guy Herning. Doug Crabb and his family served the Lord there for three years. Bill Herning has taken basic leadership of Country Bible Chapel since 1973. Its Sunday attendance is now about 45.

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Everett Bachelder was a faithful itinerant witness of the Gospel in Alaska beginning in the middle 1940s. He and his family moved to Nome in the late 1950s and began a Gospel work in that community of 1500 souls on the edge of the Bering Sea. Many were saved in his various ministries. His family and perhaps others Remembered the Lord in his home for a time, and the gathering was listed in the Address Books of the time as Gospel Home. Mr. Bachelder had a literature ministry in which he placed Gospel floats on the sea ice during the winter. These floats were literally found around the world and even into the Mediterranean Sea.

Sources

• Questionnaire Responses
• Letters of Interest, May 1953, p. 11; April 1954, p. 3; July/August 1975, p. 8; Nov 1977, p. 20; Nov 1979, p. 5