Changes

Then the Ottsville Church building, which had not been used regularly for services for a long time, was made ready and two weeks of Gospel meetings were held therein. Services followed in the Mechanicsville Chapel, and Harleysville Chapel until the close of May, 1923. The Gospel of God’s grace was faithfully preached in these meetings and between seventy-five and one hundred precious souls learned their deep need for Christ and trusted Him as their Lord and Saviour. The meetings were made attractive by the singing led by Mr. [[Samuel Godshalk Detweiler]] and the Deep Run Male Quartette, from the Mennonite community, who never joined Grace but several of his children did.

"In the Doylestown-Deep Run region the challenge was focused in the advent of a young evangelist, one Harold Harper, a pleasant young graduate of [[Moody Bible Institute]]. Former Methodist Mahlon Gross, now a Mennonite preacher at Doylestown, had Mr. Harper as a houseguest. The young man preached earnestly in local chapels and schoolhouses, drawing quite a few Mennonites who were impressed by his evangelical messages, the enjoyable choruses he taught, his object lessons, and his encouraging teaching on "assurance of salvation".

The traditional Mennonite stress on humility, which had led people to say they "hoped" they were accepted by God through the work of Christ, was seen in the newer "evangelical" perspective to show a lack of faith. Now schoolchildren in the community discussed whether they were "saved". Several Mennonite preachers offered Mr. Harper their pulpits on a Sunday morning. Some members who had not been happy about the recent stronger Franconia Conference (forementioned in the book) requirements regarding the "bonnet" began to prefer Mr. Harper's fervent preaching to that of their own ministers. Even Mahlon Gross at Doylestown was drawn, for a while, by the attraction of Mr. Harper's "eternal security" emphasis.

These early 1920s were not a period of strong leadership among the Deep Run Old Mennonites. When Mr. Harper, who had earlier told his audiences to "leave your money at home," began collections to build a chapel of his own, his talk of being nondenominational was seen in a negative light by the more traditional people at Deep Run. Yet a number of Mennonites were making substantial contributions, and eventually about fifty joined the new "Grace Gospel Chapel" near Fountainville, including all but two of song leader Sam Detweiler:Sam Jr. The new group turned out to be identical in doctrine with the "Plymouth Brethren". FrankWilmerMabel (who married Walton Detweiler),Monroe

The new group turned out to be identical in doctrine with the "Plymouth Brethren". Apparently before their new chapel was completed one of the new members, an elderly woman of the Deep Run Tyson family, died, and the funeral was held in the Deep Run Mennonite meetinghouse. Mr. Harper expressed his happiness that Mrs. Tyson had been saved. Minister Jacob Rush, speaking from the same pulpit a bit later, commented that she had been saved long before Mr. Harper had come to the community."  They were often referred to as "Harperites".  

• [[Howard Hockman Tyson]] (1902-1982)married Hilda Snape, daughter of Margaret.

• '''Miss [[Mabel Derstine? Detweiler ]] (1908-1998)?, who married Walton Detweiler Mabel, Wilmer, Monroe were among the five children of Samuel G. Detweiler that left the Mennonite Church to join Grace, also [[Sam Detweiler Jr.]] and [[Frank Detweiler]]. Sam's daughter Carrie Detweiler married William Tyson and raised five children in the assembly; Welcome and Walton Detweiler were brothers, the latter which was an elder in the assembly, another brother that died at 6, possibly Howard. Their parents were senior people in the Mennonite church that came to Grace, and influenced many others to transition: [[John B. Detweiler]] (1875- and [[Ella Myers Detweiler]]. John's parents were Ephraim Detweiler (1840-1922) and Elizabeth Bryan Deweiler (1838-1918). Ella's parents were Cornelius Myers (1839-1906) and Anna Wismer Myers (1841-1926).