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==Washington==
Hope Bible Fellowship in Seattle has its roots in an assembly that was in existence by 1921, and that met then at Taylor Avenue Gospel Hall. The families of Coy, Greenhill, and Hitchman are remembered from that time; they had earlier met to Remember the Lord in a store front in the Fremont area. The parents of Daniel Hayden were saved in 1924 and joined the fellowship at Taylor Avenue. Arthur and Winnie Knight and their family joined with Taylor Avenue in 1930, coming from the dwindling local Grant ‘exclusive’ meeting.
At that time the Taylor Avenue Gospel Hall was situated on the summit of Denny Hill, near the present Seattle center. When Denny Hill was sluiced into Puget Sound to make way for a level northward expansion of downtown Seattle in 1930, the assembly purchased and moved into an existing church building nearby at 40th and Whitman Avenue N; they called it Hope Gospel Hall.
The assembly was blessed with a vibrant young people’s group of about 40, out of whose number some were later commended to missionary service, including Ernie and Helen Crabb to Alaska; Dorothy Munce to India; Ken and Helena Fleming to South Africa; Peter Fleming to Ecuador; Paul and Helen Flint to Emmaus Bible School; Lloyd and Linda Rogers to Ecuador; and Mark and Carol Mattix to Bolivia. Also, in those decades missionary meetings were easily arranged, and scarcely a week would go by without a visiting missionary exposing the saints to the needs and triumphs of the Gospel in many parts of the world.
Frank Hitchman, Charles Joss, James Greenhill, Ray Knowles, Ray Anderson, and Doug Kazen are some of those who have been active in leadership through the years. Many of the Lord’s servants involved in itinerant ministry visited the assembly during the 1930s to the 1950s, holding week-long evangelistic and ministry meetings, and sometimes special children’s meetings. These men included A. N. O’Brien, George Landis, Alfred Mace, Inglis Fleming (who had moved to Seattle), E. K. Bailey, Walter Purcell, Leonard Sheldrake, Harold Harper, [[Alfred Perks Gibbs|A. P. Gibbs]], and Henry Petersen.
Because of the proximity of both Army and Navy bases to Seattle, Hope Gospel Hall enjoyed the fellowship and stimulation of many servicemen during World War II years. These visits were a source of enrichment and increasing awareness of world-wide needs. Annual inter-assembly Labor Day Bible Conferences, rotating among the Vancouver, Seattle, and Portland assemblies were also a source of growth and encouragement.
In July 1987, Whitman Avenue Gospel Chapel and the Wedgewood Bible Fellowship in Seattle merged, and changed the name to Hope Bible Fellowship, but remaining at the Whitman Avenue address. Adult attendance in 1996 was a little over 50. In late 1996, Michael Vederoff was engaged as a full-time worker for the assembly. Current elders are Dex Sederstrom, Aaron Vederoff, Terry Dickerson, and Mike Lytle.
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As the Des Moines Gospel Chapel continued to grow, the building was enlarged in stages. Attendance at the Lord’s Supper was about 150 in 1997, with some 250 to 300 presents on Sunday morning for the Family Bible Hour. Sunday School classes for all ages are well attended. The assembly administrative staff consists of a full-time pastoral worker, two youth workers, and a secretary.
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About 110 adults and youngsters attended Evergreen Bible Chapel in 1996. The assembly has seen blessing in a good Awana Club ministry, as well as Vacation Bible Schools. Workers have been commended to radio station HCJB in Texas and to Papua New Guinea.
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In October 1949, some brethren who were affiliated with the testimony at Hope Gospel Hall, and living in the north end of Seattle, began meeting in homes for prayer and Bible studies, with E.K. Bailey and Alex Ainslie as teachers. In May 1950, they purchased a building in the Northgate area from a Lutheran group and immediately began building up a Sunday School as well as reaching adults in the neighborhood. Northgate Gospel Chapel in Seattle was established in mid-1950 with the full fellowship and cooperation of the Hope brethren. Besides Messrs. Bailey and Ainslie, the people involved in establishing Northgate Gospel Chapel include the families of Bob Flint, Les Reitz, Bill Hitchman, Frank Fulton, and Bernie Salins. Celoa Brown was one of the original groups, and Olive Liefeld (Ainslie) was the first Sunday School teacher. Ray Anderson and Delbert Slattery also helped with the fledgling assembly. Leading brethren from the earlier days include, besides those above, Lee Miller, Sumner Osborne Sr., Virgil Holterman, Edwin Wald, Henry Soderlund, Max Johnson, and Bob Hess.
By May 1951, the Sunday school had grown to more than 100 children, and 60 to 75 adults attended the morning preaching service. An addition providing more classroom space was built in late 1952; remodeling in the late 1950s added more space. Attendance in 1996 was about 150 adults and youngsters. Workers have been commended by the assembly to Chile, Bolivia, and Australia.
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Gordon Strom, who has worked with several Seattle-area assemblies, was closely involved with the group during the early years. Among other leaders have been Dan Covert, who grew up in the assembly at Cosmopolis Gospel Chapel, and James Gray, a product of Emmaus Bible College and the Discipleship Intern Training Program. North Lynnwood Bible Chapel has commended workers to church planting and building in Puerto Maldonado, Peru.
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The Bainbridge Bible Chapel is an assembly which meets in the gymnasium of a school on Bainbridge Island in Puget Sound. In 1997, there were approximately 35 adults who regularly came together for the Lord’s Supper, and approximately 120 adults and children for Sunday School and Family Bible Hour. A Monday evening adult Bible study is held in the Law Offices of a brother in the meeting, with about 30 to 35 attending. Other meetings are held in homes.
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Sunrise Fellowship in Edmonds, on the north edge of Seattle had its beginnings in the 1960s. Composed largely of young families and singles, it is a growing church fellowship in the 1990s.
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In the 1950s, the assemblies in the Seattle area purchased the site for a camp on a lake on Whidbey Island, 30 miles north of Seattle. Lakeside Bible Camp through the years has been a great blessing to young people and adults as well. Camps and retreats are held the year around.
A monthly Missionary Focus meeting for all the greater Seattle area assemblies is held in north and south Seattle assemblies on a rotating basis. This has been continuing for the past 40 years and has been an important factor in stimulating local missionary interest. Missionary speakers are usually drawn from those who may be on furlough.
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In 1901, a business man invited evangelist James Harcus, then living in Portand to come to Everett, then a small town north of Seattle, and hold meetings. With the help of W.C. Arnold, Mr. Harcus pitched a tent in Everett and held meetings for several months. A number found Christ during the meetings. Mr. Harcus later moved his family to Everett and continued to work in the region for many years; he is buried in Everett.
Some of the Christians there, who included Lawrence Kane and William Harcus, a son of James, built a small hall and started a Sunday School. The Everett Gospel Hall first met in Riverside, the eastern, older part of the town. Mr. Kane married William Harcus’ sister Mary, joined William in the printing business, and became one of the strong leaders of the assembly. In 1926, the assembly moved into Parkside Bible Chapel in Everett at 2427 Lombard, its present location. Parkside Bible Chapel has commended workers to Paraguay.
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The Arlington Gospel Hall had its beginning at about the same time. In the early 1900s, several families, all related or acquainted, moved from Illinois to the area near Arlington, north of Everett. These families were all accustomed to attending the Dutch Reformed Church, but because the distance of the nearest church was too far to go by horse and buggy, they met in one another’s homes.
Three Klein brothers, John, Richard, and Otto, and their families, were among these early settlers. The Otto Klein family settled in Everett in 1900. One day Otto saw James Harcus’ tent pitched near his home, so he stood near it to listen and liked what he heard. When Mrs. Klein passed away at about that time, Otto asked Mr. Harcus to share the funeral service. His daughter Mary (later Mrs. Peter Kazen) began attending the Sunday School in the Everett Gospel Hall, and they both attended Gospel meetings there, but did not join the fellowship.
In the fall of 1905, an evangelist held Gospel meetings in the Arlington Baptist Church. Several of the Illinois settlers attended the meetings, with the result that some trusted the Lord. Learning of the interest in the Word of God among these believers, Mr. Harcus began having Bible studies in the home of Otto Klein, who had moved to Arlington, teaching them about believer’s baptism and about New Testament assemblies.
Two other evangelistic outreaches began in 1976. Several Christians started a Youth Bible Hour on the Swinomish Indian Reserve in LaConner. Many Indian children attended and after a few years an adult class was also held. The second evangelistic effort was a radio program on KWYZ in Everett.
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Sometime before 1909, Otto and Louisa Timmreck moved to Everett after a fire destroyed their tavern and hotel. In that city they heard the Gospel preached by W.C. Arnold and James Harcus. Louisa Timmreck was saved, among many others. Later, the Timmrecks moved to farm in the Okanogan valley, which was then a remote area in north-central Washington. In 1911, Mr. Arnold came to Okanogan and held Gospel meetings in a schoolhouse, at which time seven people were saved. His daughter, Mrs. John D. (Betty) Robertson, later wrote: “In the fall of 1911, Dad took Mother with him to Okanogan. It was a trip she never forgot, and she would tell of the terrifying stagecoach ride into that country. Dad had Gospel meetings in a schoolhouse. Very few folks knew the hymns and Dad could not carry a tune, so Mother led the singing.”
In 1924 and 1925, Mr. Arnold returned for more meetings at which several more were saved, including Lester P. Hinde, who was many years later commended by the assembly to minister throughout the region, and was instrumental in starting the Grants Pass Gospel Hall in Oregon.
In 1926, Henry Clifton of the Penticton Gospel Hall in British Columbia, came to the area for cottage meetings and visited extensively. In that same year, Lester and Leone (Timmreck) Hinde visited for a time at the Forest Grove Gospel Hall in Oregon, the home of the Arnolds, to learn of New Testament principles of meeting. Returning to Okanogan in early 1927, they started a meeting to Remember the Lord in their home, and the Okanogan Gospel Hall came into being. Seven people comprised that first assembly, the Hindes, Mr. and Mrs. Sterley, Mrs. Martha Moss; Mrs. Amy Moss, and Mrs. Louisa Timmreck. Garner and Nellie Garrett joined the assembly soon after that.
Soon, Lester Hinde and Henry Clifton began preaching together. Henry Clifton and W.C. Arnold are the pioneers of the Okanogan Gospel Hall. Of several others who led the assembly through the years, we mention Lester Hinde, Alvah T. Williams, Hubert C. Hitchner, J.W. (Chuck) Klein, and more recently Farel Hitchner.
In 1929, the assembly moved into a one-room schoolhouse at 1033 S. Seventh Avenue. In 1939, the Christians built their present hall at 304 Conconully Street. The assembly has always been small, and helped by men such as Hector Alves, Ralph Goff, and Charles Summers. Many others also worked in the area and strengthened the assembly.
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The Shoultes Gospel Hall in Marysville was an outgrowth of the work at the Arlington Gospel Hall. The portable building used by Hector Alves and William Warke in the Mount Vernon area in the 1950s was later used for Gospel meetings in the Marysville area north of Everett. Because of the interest, the portable hall was erected on the Steen farm and used for weekly youth meetings. In 1960, a building for this work was erected on land donated by the Steens. Children’s meetings were held there on Friday evenings, and Gospel series from time to time. In 1981, Sunday evening Gospel meetings were added. Then in 1984, nine acres at 116th Street and 51st Avenue N.E., Marysville, were purchased. A building was constructed, and an assembly was established at Shoultes Gospel Hall in 1994.
Some of brethren involved in the early outreach were Fred and Chuck Steen, John A. Klein, Jack Saword, Al Flett, and George Styles. Later, Ken Kroeze, Phil Kazen, Jim Klein, and Tom Hoy joined to help carry on the Gospel outreach in Marysville. Leadership was carried by Phil Kazen, Tom Hoy, and Tony Flett. The assembly has commended workers to El Salvador. Shoultes Gospel Hall has about 100 adults and youngsters in attendance.
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The assembly now meeting at Tieton Drive Bible Chapel in Yakima had its start in about 1908, when a group of families started meeting in the Yakima area in south central Washington, following the pattern of the early churches of the New Testament. They probably met first in homes. In 1910, the group moved into an old Methodist church building on North 4th Street. The name Yakima Gospel Hall was probably used then, although they did not legally incorporate until sometime later. Some of the men involved in this early group were Robert Stanton, Otto W. Elder, Charles Peterson, and Harry Guthrie; these had no connection or interchange with brethren assemblies at that time. John Mallett and a Mr. Duffield came from ‘exclusive’ assemblies in England.
In the period 1910 to 1913, two events occurred which had a major effect on the believers at the Gospel Hall. David Little came to Yakima from Spokane and preached on the second coming of Christ, then a radically new notion in the area. As the result of his teaching, area churches split over the issue. Some individuals then came over to the Yakima Gospel Hall, which was in full accord with Mr. Little’s teaching. Among these were J.V. Mohr and his daughters.
George L. Hunt, a dynamic evangelist-preacher, had also come to Yakima at that time and held a series of tent meetings in the Fruitvale district. He moved to Yakima and joined with the group at the Gospel Hall. His ministry drew many people to the assembly. Among the outreach ministries that Mr. Hunt helped foster were Sunday afternoon meetings in country school houses. O.W. Elder, Bert Stewart, J.V. Mohr, and Ira Meyer helped in this ministry. Baptisms during this period were in the cold and gravelly Yakima River, and in an irrigation ditch on Park Avenue.
Around 1914, the building on North 4th Street was sold. The assembly met in various homes until about 1917 when a building was rented on west Yakima Avenue near 8th Avenue. In 1918 they rented a wood frame house on the southwest corner of 10th and Yakima Avenues.
The well-known writer and teacher A.C. Gaebelein visited the area around 1918, staying in the home of Harry Guthrie. While there he taught in the Yakima assembly. Many people were attracted to the Yakima Gospel Hall through his teaching.
Saturday night street meetings were a regular part of the evangelistic outreach of the assembly from its earliest days, usually at 2nd Street and Yakima Avenue. These continued until the 1930s when automobiles became popular and dominated the scene.
Itinerant preachers came often to hold series of meetings, sometimes every night of the week. John Smart, Neil Fraser, and Wallace Logan are remembered. Henry Petersen had a series on Pilgrim’s Progress that lasted for three weeks. In the 1930s, Edward G. Dillon held a series of meetings and was instrumental in getting the assembly involved in door-to-door distribution of tracts. Leonard E. Brough and H. Allister Thompson were effective workers at the Gospel Hall in that period.
The 1940s brought dramatic change. World War II took many away, into the military service or ship building or aircraft facilities. The assembly founders passed from the scene. The itinerant preacher era began to phase out. The number of men in the assembly dwindled and did not revive much until after the war. Then John E. Crawford and Harold Buckley returned with their families. These men were much used in the assembly.
In 1950-51, the Christians remodeled their building and changed the name to Yakima Gospel Chapel. In the 1960s, Ernie and Helen Crabb and their family, who had served as missionaries in Alaska, came to live in the community. Mr Crabb was a real driver for gospel outreach and he involved the assembly in door-to-door visitation. People were saved and added to the assembly. With the growth and the movement of the city population toward the west part of the city, the elders decided that the assembly should buy a property on Tieton Drive. Total attendance was running around 150 at that time.
The assembly recognized elders and deacons in the 1990s and was growing again after a period of decline. Workers over the years have been commended to Malawi, Argentina, Mexico, Africa, and to Immanuel Mission in Arizona.
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Other men active in leadership in the assembly have been John Covert, Charles Smith, Al and Gary Geddes, Robert Smith, and Don Norkoski. The assembly has had several full-time workers over the years: Leroy and Debbie Junker, Jack and Irene Heseltine, Ray and Lynne Wald, Sam and Margaret Stewart, Larry and Wincie Anderson, Peter and Louise Daley, Scott and Marsha Blair. Paul and Helen Flint worked in the assembly before moving to Emmaus Bible School.
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The Centralia Bible Chapel in Centralia, south of Olympia, began in 1962 through the efforts of Richard and Nora Barada, and Ken and Anne Schrier. First meeting in rented space in the Carpenters Union Building in Centralia, the assembly moved in 1970 to a vacant school building, and then in 1973 to its present location at 209 North Pearl Street. Mr. Barada was a chaplain at the local hospital at the time of the formation of the assembly. Centralia Bible Chapel has commended workers to Bolivia, Thailand, Peru, and other areas, including a military chaplaincy.
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