WEST ROME BAPTIST CHURCH

Sesquicentennial History
1839 - 1989

11984 ROME ROAD, MANITOU BEACH, MICHIGAN 49253

"The howhistory of the kingdom of heaven-need say very different a thing that is from what isI call-

ed CHURCHHISTORY?-is the only history which will

ever be able to be thoroughly written. It will not only explain itself, while doing so it will explain all other attempted histories as well. Many of those who will then be found first in this eternal record may have been insignificant in the eyes of their contemporaries-even their religious contemporaries. They may have been absolutely unknown to the generations that came after them, and yet were the real men and women of potency, who worked as light and as salt in the world."
-THE LADIE'S CONFESSIONAL

by George MacDonald, Michael R. Phillips, Editor.

Sesquicentennial

History compiled and written by John Borton from the records of West Rome Baptist Church
1839-1989

Sesquicentennial

History Cover and Bulletins illustrated by Matthew Richardson.

This is the record of the West Rome Baptist Church; its struggles and successes, its spiritual battles against worldly falterings, and its defense of the gospel of Jesus Christ down through the decades. This record speaks of buildings, meetings and votes. Much more so, it speaks of people. For it is the people-the vast panoply of humanity which has enveloped a church for more than 150 years-who give meaning and focus to the church organization. This is their story; a story of ordinary people, striving to measure up to the perceived will of a holy God. The story is not one of an ever-ascending glittering road to earthly perfection. It is a story of struggle, of falling backward, of surging forward. It is the story of perserverance borne of faith. As the Bible itself makes no attempt to hide the indiscretions of its cast of characters, this account seeks the unvarnished version of the history of a scripture-based church. The result-as in scripture itself-is not always flattering, but it is honest and insightful as a heritage. Polishing the past is of no help in perfecting the future. Indeed, it does injustice to the heritage we recall. For when there was struggle, there were always those men and women who vowed with ever-deepened conviction to serve the living and true God. When the church lay in its darkest hour, there were those who sought the light of God's word. West Rome Baptist Church stands today for a reason-to proclaim Jesus Christ as savior, the hope of a fallen mankind. It has been protected by a loving God, through servants whom God has entrusted with the preservation and proclamation of the gospel in Lenawee County, the State of Michigan, and to the ends of the earth. It is a heritage worth preserving. On May 20, 1839, a gathering of individuals huddled in a school house near James Knapp's home in Rome Township. These loosely associated individuals, all identified as Baptists, discussed banding together for the purpose of joining a conference. They were the first to come together to form what today is known as West Rome Baptist Church.
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They voted to have sister churches Rome, Medina, Adrian and Rollin send delegates to give them fellowship as a church at 10 a.m. on May 30, 1939. They also voted to adopt the Articles of covenant from the Troy and Elbridge, New York, churches. The group voted to send delegates to the Raisin River Association for admittance on May 31. Further, they voted to set covenant meetings-at which church business, discipline, and other matters were discussed. for the first Saturday of each month. Elder Hervy was hired in July of 1839, on a half-time basis. A committee was formed to "ascertain the ability of each member of this church," according to church records. Such polls were taken regularly, often for the purpose of determining how much each member could give toward keeping a pastor. The first recorded offering netted $87, which was designated for church expenses. The transactions of the church from 1840-41 were lost when the records accidentally burned. But Elder Hervy was rehired in 1842 for two-thirds of the time. He was to be paid quarterly and was to reside with the church, provided it could pay his support. In 1843, Elder Hodge was hired. Under his leadership, the church members visited with those at the church in Rollin to inquire about a possible union of the two churches. The members of Rollin declined, but reversed that decision a year later. The early church served as arbiter in disputes between its members. The church records note an ongoing dispute between a Harriet Abbot and a Brother Bennet, in which Abbot made an accusation (the particulars of which are not delineated) against Bennet. The record of February, 1843, states: "Resolved that in view of all the circumstances and evidence in the case of Sister Abbot, in her alleged accusation against Br. Bennet, the church do say that Br. Bennet is clear of the charge and that Sister Harriet Abbot has stated that that is a falsehood. A committee was formed to inform Abbot of the doings of the church. It visited her and did not find her at home, and was thereafter disbanded. The church, meanwhile, withdrew the hand of fellowship from Sister Harriet Abbot.

Elder J. Young was hired in June of 1845, for $75 a year. A place was to be found for him to live in the Rome church or the First Rollin Church. In January of 1846, 27 people were baptized, but no site for the baptism was listed. These were exciting days for the yet infant church, and covenant meeting notes often referred to such feelings as: "the Spirit of the Lord was felt in our midst." Soon, the spirit of the people was such that they desired a solid and established home for their worship services. On March 7, 1846, members voted to build a meeting house on the southwest corner of section 17 in Rome Township. The meeting house was to have a gallery, entry slips (pews), and a door. The building was to measure 32 feet by 40 feet. Members desired that the building be completed by October of 1847, but that date apparently was not met. In December of 1851, the collector had collected no money, and said he felt he should not do so until the meeting house was finished. The close of a covenant meeting in June, 1846, took a somber tone, as the record reflects: "At the close of the covenant meeting, Br. Young made known to the church that he could not be their pastor the coming year, for the reason that there was a member in the church that had censured him in the past year and would, in all probability, continue to do so the coming year if he should stay. "The church, on hearing this declaration from Br. Young, made an inquiry and found that Br. Ripley was the individual alluded to. He being present, declared that Br. Young had abused him in a public congregation and that he would not hear him preach. whereupon the church resolved that Br. Ripley be required to take immediate steps to reconcile his difficulty with Br. J.M. Young." A special meeting was conducted a week later, which Ripley did not attend. That prompted the church to pass the following measure: "Whereas Br. Ripley has repeatedly complained of Br. Young for abusing him in public and for that reason he would not hear him preach and whereas Br. Ripley has been required to take steps to reconcile his difficulty with Br. Young, therefore resolved that Br. Ripley be and is hereby required to see Br.

Young immediately and become reconciled if possible to him and report in person at our next church meeting." This admonition apparently took effect. On June 16, 1846, the record states: "Br. Ripley ... stated that he had seen Br. Young but did not go to him in the right spirit and that their meeting was very unfavorable, but that they finally agreed to refer all their matter of difference to this church for them to make the final decision and that they both agreed to abide by (the church's) decision. "It was then voted that Br. Ripley move forward and make a statement of all his grievances with Br. Young." This was done, and at a subsequent meeting the record states: "It was found that (the ill feelings) had mostly grown out of misunderstandings and misrepresentations. They mutually confessed to and forgave each other and expressed to the church and to one another that their confidence was fully restored.' , Such a spirit of reconciliation was also evidenced in the case of John Hicks. In a church meeting on Jan. 23, 1847, Hicks was called upon by the meeting moderator ... to state to the church his feelings with regard to his having been intoxicated. "Br. Hicks came forward and confessed that he had brought a wound upon the cause of Christ and also upon the feelings of his brethren for which he felt exceedingly sorrowful, and in a very humble manner begged them to forgive him, as he had resolved for the future not to meddle with the poison. "He also stated that he believed God had forgiven him for his transgression and restored unto him the joy of his salvation. "Whereupon the brethren, after having fully and freely expressed their minds with regard to Br. Hicks, and hearing from him with regard to his making a public confession of the matter, resolved that we are entirely satisfied with Br. Hicks." In 1847, Elder Young left the church to become a missionary in Hillsdale County, and Elder McCoe was hired. Church records mention his wife-the first such mention of any pastor's spouse.
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The church experienced difficulties with members who belonged to secret societies such as the Masons and the odd Fellows. One woman was excluded from the church for being a universalist. Meanwhile, the church, "desirous of repairing the wrong in some measure which she has sustained so cheerfully," restored Harriet Abbot to "the full confidience and fellowship of this church." Society memberships continued to be a concern, with the church continually at odds over such memberships. The church finally resolved the following: Whereas there is no prospect of a union of feeling so long as the subject of secret societies continues to be agitated, and whereas the agitation of the above subject tends to derange and distract the best intentions of the church and to produce coldness, backsliding and unchristian feelings toward one another, also to destroy the influence of the church upon the world ... "Therefore resolved, that we will not continue to agitate the subject at present. Second, resolved that we will extend toward those brethren who are odd Fellows kind and charitable and Christian feelings and manifest toward them and one another that love which Christ has manifested to us and in so doing show to the world that there is a reality in the religion that we profess and thereby honor (and) glorify the great head of the church." One month later, the church passed the following: "Resolved that we cannot fellowship (with) brethren who connect and walk in fellowship with secret societies under whatever name or pretext they exist." On August 5, the matter came up once again. The record notes: "Met in covenant meeting. Had an interesting time, the Lord being with us as we trust blessing us with a spirit of repentance and confession. And upon the suggestion of Br. F. Smith, it was resolved that we disavow all former resolutions and protests whatever else (pertaining) to the unhappy controversy and that we take the covenant and New Testament for our guide." Elder Dickens and his wife came to the church in October of 1848. Under his ministry, a vote was taken and passed to take monthly collections for missions. The first offering amounted to $2.09. A subscription was circulated, with 28 names and $45 obtained. The subscription
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served to defray the cost of upkeep on the partially completed meeting house. The meeting house was being used, and money was needed for oil, candles, brooms, lamps and labor. The church met in covenant meeting on March 3, 1849, and 70 persons attended, prompting the clerk to note," ... the Lord is evidently among his people." On May 13, a collection for the American Missionary Society netted $2.48. On Feb. 9, 1850, the church members met to see what could be done about "improving the spiritual condition of the church." A committee was formed to go visit several members whose church attendance had slipped, the committee being urged to see if those named would "resume their travel with the church." Another member, confronted about his infrequent attendance, charged that several influential members of the church had driven him out. In a subsequent meeting, this member stated, according to the church record, " ... he has not traveled with the church because he felt assured that there was a part of the church that was opposed to him and had no fellowship for him, but on his own part he wished to remain with the church and travel on and be considered as under her watchcare and in fellowship." Another member, a Br. Bates, reflected a seemingly timeless outrage of those members disgruntled in a particular body of believers. "He thinks he has been abused," the recordnotes, "and his rights have been trampled upon and there are members that he utterly abhors." Another pair of church members reported their dealings with an admittedly backslidden member, one Jeremiah Knapp. "Brother Knapp says he cannot give up, but that he did experience religion at our last protracted meeting," the record relates. "He believes in the doctrine he then espoused as being the gospel doctrine. He began to decline in his religious feelings as soon as he began to neglect religious duties and his obligations with the church. (He) had fallen into temptations and had gone so far away from the Savior as to profane His sacred name. (He) feels sorry for his past follies, will try to be at the next church meeting on Saturday if not to

be at the next covenant meeting. He has nothing against any of the members of the church. Feels almost afraid to make another promise. Wishes the church to forgive him." If that experience serves as a reminder of the dangers of church neglect, the following can be interpreted as a call for compassion. "Alice (Hariet) and Lovina (Wilson) state that they are not in fellowship with the church in consequence of the acts of the church in excluding members, contrary to the rules of the gospel. "Hariet states that she attended covenant meeting something over one year ago with the intention of being more faithful. She heard that some member remarked that she had better clear up her character before she asked the watch care of the church, in consequence of which she had not been traveling with the church." A Br. Stockwell was visited, and reported "that the first thing that occurred after uniting with the church that offended and discouraged him and caused him to stop his travel with the church was the time when the subject was brought up at the meeting house whether we would hold singing school therein. (He) did not know as he should ever recover from the shock." Yet another oft absent member said he remained so out of sympathy for another who had been excluded from the church. Church documents state the case this way: "Br. Ferguson says the only reason why he does not walk with the church is because the brethren do not give Br. Bonney a rehearing. He said he believes that a savage ought to have that privilege granted to them. He says that he feels very much grieved on the account but does not want to be excluded from the church ... " No matters were considered too private to be dealt with by the visiting committee. If sin was suspected, sin was discussed. So it was discovered by a Brother Smith. The committee reported: "We visited Br. Smith and conversed with him in relation to the reports that was said that he made in regard to committing adultery with a certain young lady in this neighborhood. We could not get anything definite from him. 6

"He did not feel disposed to say those things were so or not but said that he had done wrong and wished to be forgiven and hoped that the church would forgive him and give him a letter, as he did not wish to live in this place any longer. We asked him if he justified himself in such acts of wickedness. He said he did not. We also asked him if he had any compunction of conscience. He said he had, and it troubled him very much. We asked him if he was willing to confess to God and the church, but he did not feel disposed to make a public confession. " In May of 1851, William Smedmer became the pastor for $300 a year. The church had communion services once a month. The church meetings were written with reference to the "2nd Baptist Church of Rome," but it wasn't until December of 1917 that the church actually voted to go by that designation. On Dec. 15, 1852, the board decided to assess members and collect $10 to defray expenses of recording deeds, and to become a corporation. The money would also be used to buy a new record book and cover other expenses. A year later, only six of the $10 had been collected. The treasurer's report stated no money had come into his hands during the year 1854. The record shows a Sabbath School was started on May 13, 1855. The church raised $5.74 for a Sabbath School book, but did not organize and invite a brother to superintend the singing until 1865. Covenant meetings in the early 1850s continued featuring the withdrawal of the hand of fellowship from members, mostly for neglecting church duties. Members were called upon to give cause for their presumed backslidden condition, and given opportunity to address church members in the meetings. One individual, announcing he would no longer travel with the church, indicated he thought he could be of no benefit to the church, nor the church to him. He also contended his character was in danger while a member of this church. Elder Babcock was the next pastor, hired Nov. 22, 1855. The church was to provide him the following compensation: $300, moving expenses, a house and firewood. The church voted in 1856 to erect horse

purchase 10 acres of land from D.C. Gillet on which the church intended to build a parsonage. It was further resolved the purchase would be funded "upon the taxable property belonging to the members of the church ... " A committee was then formed to see how many members would willingly pay the unenforceable "parsonage tax." The committee's findings were discouraging enough that the taxation method of financing was recinded at the next church meeting. But not all ideas or programs met with such disfavor. The church seemed in support of Elder Babcock's ministry, as evidenced by the following resolution: "whereas viewing the necessity for having a faithful ministry among us to break to us the bread of life and faithfully preach the word to them that are ready to perish around us; and whereas we believe the course of conduct pursued by Elder D.H. Babcock during the year that he has labored with us not only merits our approval but warrants our highest confidence for the future; therefore resolved, that we cordially invite Br. Babcock to settle permanently with us as our pastor." That resolution, though, passed by a slim majority. In fact, there was considerable division in the church regarding Pastor Babcock, to the extent that one question studied was whether or not the church erred in "continuing Elder Babcock along during the year for the sake of peace in the church. And then after the year had expired in counseling the brethren to drop all matters of contention in regard to having Elder Babcock preach for us any longer and try to unite on some other minister to settle with us." Several members were also excluded from the church during this rather tempestuous period, for signing a protest against an action of the church. The protest may have been with regard to the church's dealings with Pastor Babcock, but church documents do not state so specifically. Elder Church and Elder Ewer each pastored the church for short periods of time in 1859.
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sheds near the church "for the convenience of teams whilst attending all meetings of a religious character." The proprietor of the horse sheds was also allowed personal use of them. The church also voted to build a fence around the outside of the meeting house. A building committee was appointed in 1856 to investigate and lay the groundwork for the construction of a parsonage. A year later, the records state, that committee had accomplished nothing. Still, the church accepted the offer of Rueben Knapp, agreeing to purchase an acre of land on the southeast corner of the Cornelius Knapp farm for the purpose of building a parsonage. A committee of three was appointed to draft a plan for the parsonage. The committee reported back, estimating the construction costs of the proposed parsonage at $400. At this time, the church postponed indefinitely the building of a parsonage. Elder Pack of Hudson came for special meetings the final week of January and part of the first week of February, 1857. A church historian noted, "The church became revived, backsliders reclaimed and souls converted." Shortly thereafter, a movement was afoot to bring in Elder Pack as pastor, and it even got to the point of becoming a motion in a church meeting. The church resolved to seek Elder Pack as pastor, but soon recinded that resolution, and Elder Babcock remained as pastor. The church resolved in September of 1857 to

During this time, the church voted to cooperate with the missionary committee of the Lenawee Baptist Association in carrying out a plan to help sustain a missionary within the association. Missionary offerings were taken from time to time, and the church often operated on a pay-as-youworship basis. The subscription required each member to pay a certain amount to pay the pastor's salary, and collections were taken up for observances such as communion. Once such collection on Jan. 1, 1860, raised 90 cents. On May 5, 1860, the membership rolls of the church were reviewed and corrected. The membership totaled 70 persons, not including Elder S. Ewer. Forty-three of these members were women, and 30 were men. As always, the church rolls were in a state of flux, with new members received, others excluded, and still others in doubt as to their exact status. A committee visit to the home of a Sister Fanny Marks elicited the following report: "She says that she is of the same mind in regard to her religious belief. Says she was told by W. Ripley that Br. J. Potter told him that she was excluded from the church. Thought if that was so she would give herself no more trouble about it and also her husband did not want her to go with the church since he left and thought if her husband should unite with some other church, she would go with him. Still thought she would like to keep her standing in Zion if the church would bear with her, would try to attend meetings as soon as convenient." During October of 1860, Elder Wisner became the pastor. In 1861, the church voted to alter the house of worship by taking down the desk (pulpit) and slips (pews) and converting eight feet of the south end of the meeting house into a vestibule with a gallery over it. A double door was to be put in front, with two windows. The desk was to be put in the north end of the church, and the slips put facing the desk. Stoves were also to be installed in the vestibule, with the cost of the interior overhaul estimated at $200. A church memo notes the following: "The 2nd Baptist Church and Society of Rome, after a thorough repair of their House of Worship, had it dedicated to the worship of God Jan. 3, 1862. A discourse delivered by Elder Kingsberry of Adrian." The church stood firmly behind its pastor in 1864, when Elder Wisnor received an anonymous letter contending his labors were unacceptable to a number of church members. In response, the church drafted and passed unanimously the following resolution: "Whereas there is a letter in the hands of this church written by someone unknown, directed to Elder William G. Wisnor, who is pastor of this church, which letter is well calculated to cause sleepless hours and pain of heart and to drive Elder Wisnor from his present field of labor and also to injure his influence in other fields of labor as a gospel minister and also to create discord and disunion in this church and also stand out as a strong influence against any other minister settling with us as a minister; therefore resolved, that we consider the making and offering of such a letter unbecoming a brother or a Christian and we hereby manifest our disapproval of the same."

On April 1, 1865, the church again took up the issue of secret societies, strongly warning church members against belonging to them. A resolution stated: "whereas we believe that Secret Societies are becoming more numerous and strong in our country and we believe are not founded upon the word of God, therefore are opposite to the cause of Christ, and we have reason to believe detrimental thereto; therefore resolved, that we have no fellowship with secret societies or (their) supporters." The resolution stood for two years, then was recinded in 1867. On April 15, a collection for home missions netted $6, and an additional $6.20 was collected for the Sabbath School. The rather tranquil term of Elder William Wisnor was drawing to a close in late summer, 1866. There were no great upheavals in the church during the-Wisnor years, prompting the following less-than-ringing endorsement: "whereas Elder Wisnor has been pastor of this church for the space of six years, and his labors having been very acceptable to church and society, yet there has been no special outpourings of the Holy Spirit among us, he requests the church to make an effort to obtain the labors of some other man; therefore resolved, that we invite Elder Wisnor to continue his labors with us as pastor of the church for another year or until the church obtain another pastor. Or the Elder may choose to labor in some other field." Elder Asbury was the next pastor, but remained there only five months. That same year, Elder Barnum was hired for one-half of the time. He also pastored in Clayton. The congregation was declining in numbers during this period. A Pastor Beal conducted a series of meetings at the church for two weeks. He was given a donation of $105, and his wife was presented with a set of silver teaspoons. while the congregation was generally shrinking in numbers during these years, there are reports of new members being received, and others returning to the church. At the close of a covenant meeting on Aug. 6, 1870, Levi Bonney resolved to resume his travel with the church, as did E.S. Bonney and his wife Sarah, along with A.N. Bonney and his wife, phebe. Also, "Esther Smith, wife of lB. Smith (was
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received) on the profession of her faith in Baptist doctrine. Was received into the fellowship of the church, coming from the Christian Church (so called)." These additions not only helped with the church's work, but were called upon to share in the 25 cent per slip tax established in 1869. Elder Barnum was rehired in October of 1870 for $600, donations and the use of the parsonage, but moving day was quickly approaching for him. Four months later, the church granted his request to be dismissed as pastor, citing "the reports that were in circulation in regard to the Christian character of william L. Barnum (which) destroyed his influence as pastor of the church." Elder Henry was hired in 1871 for $600. Church record notes that one member gave 196 quarts of milk at four cents per quart toward his subscription. Under the ministry of Elder Henry, the construction of a parsonage was again discussed. In May of 1872, the church voted "to have our beloved brother, Professor Dunn, represent our church at the anniversary of our denomination shortly to take place in New York City." The church also voted to take up collections for the coming year for the various benevolent societies it supported. They were as follows: home missions, foreign missions, the Baptist Publications Society and the American and Foreign Bible Society. On August 3, 1872, the church voted to purchase the house occupied by Elder Henry for $550. The house was to be used as a parsonage, with Elder Henry continuing to live there and serve as pastor for the foreseeable future. That this was actually transacted seems unlikely, as in March of 1873 yet another committee reported on prospects for buying a piece of property-owned by E. Marks-on which to build a parsonage. The cost was not to exceed $800 for both the purchase and the building project. A December, 1873, entry in church records also makes reference to the long-awaited parsonage project. The church voted to use the proceeds of "the concert" to pay debts incurred in building the parsonage.

Elder Bancroft took over the pastoral reigns of the church in January, 1874, coming from Waterford. He was hired for $600 per year, donations, and use of the parsonage. Meanwhile, it was noted the attendance of the church was still falling and a general feeling of depression prevailed. The church heard from former pastor J.W. Henry, who sought a letter of recommendation, "hoping that it may assist him in his efforts to raise funds sufficient to enable him to go as a missionary to the South Sea Islands." The church approved the recommendation. The church adopted a guidebook, The Baptist Church Manual, which contained the declaration of faith, covenant, rules of order and brief forms of church letters. The manual was written by J. Newton Brown, editor of the Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge. Members also chose to use the $14 in the Sabbath School Library fund to pay a claim for rent which J.B. Smith lodged against the church. The Rev. Bancroft tendered his resignation as pastor of the church at a covenant meeting on Sept. 4, 1875. The resignation was accepted, and soon the meeting concluded-but not without some rather challenging observations made and jotted down by church clerk E.S. Bonney. Bonney wrote: "The meeting throughout characterized by a feeling sense of their own unworthiness on the part of the brethren and sisters and an increased desire that the cause of Christ should prosper and our Zion be built up. "Many of our members were absent as has been the case for some time. Why is it that the professed followers of Jesus are so unfaithful and so often neglect their covenant obligations and prove recreant to the solemn vows they have taken upon themselves?" The first recorded mention of a musical instrument was made in a covenant 10 was

meeting report of Feb. 5, 1876. It was then the church voted to use the proceeds from a Pixley 1. Gronnis concert ($2.81) for repairs on the church organ. The 15th pastor of the church was the Rev. H.W. Brayton, who came in 1876, and left shortly therafter because the church didn't have enough money to pay his desired salary. The church went without a pastor for a year. Attendance was still sporadic, as Bonney notes of this April 1, 1876 covenant meeting: "Many members absent. Those present manifested much anxiety for the absentees and hoped that they might be influenced in some way to once more represent themselves at the meetings." But with each defeat, there was a new hope, as Bonney reflected through his musing upon the church's reception of Pastor Brayton and his wife from Seward, Nebraska: "We hope the union thus formed may be blest to their and our good, and that we may so work together for the cause of Christ that salvation may come upon all the people in our vicinity and God's name be glorified." Improvements to the church parsonage were approved in September, 1876, including painting the exterior and creating a well and cistern. This would be funded by raising the assessment paid by each church member. Members further voted to put a new roof on

the meeting house itself. Pastor M.E. Hayne came to the church as pastor in 1878. The church voted shortly after his arrival to build an addition onto the parsonage. -The addition was to be 24 feet long by 16% feet wide, comprising four rooms, with seven doors and four windows. On June 1, 1879, the 40th anniversary of the church was observed, in conjunction with the 40th anniversary of the Lenawee Baptist Association. "The meeting was deeply interesting and greatly enjoyed by all who were present," the clerk noted. A September 6 covenant meeting that same year became a bit intense, as Br. Levi Bonney leveled charges against C.H. Jerrells. Bonney charged Jerrells with neglecting and refusing to pay his subscription for the support of the pastor, sabbath breaking, profaning the name of God, brutal treatment of Jerrell's wife' and for repeatedly abusing and insulting her father. Bonney further pressed charges "For a violent assault upon his wife and her father upon the highway with a horsewhip and coarse, vulgar oaths ... and forcibly and unlawfully taking the child away from the mother while she was fleeing to her father's house on account of his brutal treatment of herself." Moreover, Bonney charged Jerrells with "maliciously manufacturing scandalous falsehoods against his wife and putting them into circulation without the least cause whatsoever, and for his attempt to show that she was cruel to her child and an unfit and improper person to have custody of the same." A motion to suspend Jerrells from all church privileges until the matter could be more fully investigated was voted down, with some saying such action on the part of the church would preclude Jerrells from making a defense. At a Sept. 20 meeting, the pastor noted the parties involved had resorted to the law to settle their differences, suggesting it would then be best if the church let the matter rest until the court had made its decision. There was some disagreement as to this solution, and one member moved that all charges against Jerrells be unconditionally withdrawn. The 11

motion was voted down. On November 4, 1879, the matter was finally settled. Church records give the following account of what transpired at that meeting. "After a patient and somewhat lengthy hearing from both parties by the church, a vote was taken that the first charge (neglecting and refusing to pay pastoral support) should not stand against the defendant. Voted that the second charge had been sustained and therfore should stand against him. "Concerning the third, he (the defendant) pled guilty, expressed much sorrow that he had ever committed so great a sin and wanted to be forgiven. Voted that he should be forgiven. "Voted to consider the fourth, fifth and sixth charges under one general head. "After hearing the testimony on both sides, voted that the charges were fully sustained and made good against him. After much waiting to give the defendant an opportunity to make confession and as he stubbornly persisted in denying the three last charges, a vote was taken that we withdraw from C.H. Jerrells the right hand of fellowship because of his putting away his wife and defaming her character. In all the actions taken during the meeting, there seemed to be entire unanimity and harmony on the part of the church, and in all the votes taken not one hand was raised or a voice heard in opposition to doing what under the circumstances of the case the church felt compelled to do." A meeting in the spring of 1880 focused upon forming yet another investigative committee, this one to contact members said to be engaged in dancing. Others to be contacted had left the church without taking letters of dismissal. Members also voted to insure the church barn. The committee reported back to the church on May 29, 1880, resulting in the following action: "Voted that in the matter of the John Crandle family, we for the present will allow them to remain as they are, non-resident members of this church, but let them be admonished by our pastor that we as a church cannot tolerate dancing on the part of any of our members. "Voted to withdraw from Sisters Ella Knapp

and Della Seems the right hand of fellowship because of their almost entire neglect of their duties as professed Christians and members of this church, and also for attending public balls and the engaging in dancing and thus wounding the cause they once professed to love. " Brother Hatch, "The Singing Evangelist," was present at a service on Jan. 2, 1881. There were two young converts also present, and the clerk noted "much anxiety was manifested for the salvation of souls by those present." The church at the time practiced immersion baptism by using a nearby lake. Records do not specify which lake, but the following clerk's entry from May 8, 1881, details one such service: "The 12 converts lately received were baptized. A large company visited the eastern shore of our beautiful lake to witness the ceremony. The scene was solemn and impressive and all felt that what had been done was in accord with the Divine Command." The next pastor was the Rev. H.F. Cochrane, hired in May of 1882. Sister S. Hicks was appointed to visit and speak with those who had neglected their duties and obligations to the church. Another member, Deacon E. Barber, died in the winter of 1883, prompting the following eulogy in the record book of clerk E.S. Bonney: "Funeral of Deacon E. Barber tomorrow at the church of which he has been a faithful member for 42 years and most of that time having served the church in his official capacity as deacon. We as a church are much afflicted by the dispensation of Providence that has removed him from us." Of less laudatory stature was a Sister Harriet Bancroft. According to minutes of an Aug. 4, 1883 meeting." ... Sister B. had been detected in purloining goods from Eaton's Store in the City of Adrian. She acknowledged that she did take a few articles of trifling nature and left the store therewith for the purpose of speaking to her husband across the street, intending to return immediately and pay for the same, but not having done so, she was pursued by one of the clerks from the store and the crime of shoplifting was charged against her by him, and that the matter was finally compromised by her paying him the sum of $3, though the goods taken were only worth a few cents." An investigating committee substantiated the
12

charges, and recommended in a subsequent meeting that Sister Bancroft be suspended from all church privileges for a full year., The church voted to do so. Exactly one year later, the church voted unanimously to restore her to full fellowship in the church. On March 14, 1885, the church conducted a special meeting to address concerns that "some of our young members have for a long time neglected their church duties and covenant obligations and more recently have engaged in dancing and other worldly amusements which we as a church consider derogatory to the Christian character and therefore do not countenance." A committee was appointed, met with the miscreants, and reported: " ... those whom they visited manifested no desire whatever to continue their standing in the church, but rather expressed the wish that the church would exclude them, and said that they should go right on with their dancing and other amusements, and continue their course of neglect towards the church. In short, they manifested entire indifference toward the church and entire disregard for the feelings and wishes of their brethren and sisters in Christ." Those who remained turned their attention to things of a spiritual nature. A covenant meeting in May of 1885 was followed by "the administration of the Lord's Supper. The occasion was one of solemn and yet joyful interest to all, and we felt our hearts drawn nearer to Christ and to one another, as we with no one present but the church, commemorated the death and sufferings of our Lord." About this time, the first record was made of the existence of the Women's Mission and Aid. Membership dues were 50 cents per year and five cents per monthly meeting, which took place the first Wednesday of each month. The first amendment to the group's constitution concerned the food they ate at meetings. It was determined that some of the hostesses were serving too many dishes. Hostesses were to serve only meat, potatoes, a vegetable, bread or biscuits, one kind of pickle, pie or pudding, and tea or coffee. A fine of 10 cents was to be charged to the hostess for each additional dish she served. Church members voted to charge five cents for speaking out of line when the church business was being conducted. Other funds

were generated by the sale of comforters, and a New Year's dinner which cost 15 cents per plate. Records note that coffee cost 15 cents per pound. The Rev. Squires succeeded the Rev. Cochrane in 1882, and stayed for eight months. Under his leadership, members voted to buy Bibles for the church and build a woodhouse. The Rev. John Sheppard arrived in 1887, and later the Rev. B. Morley was hired for $300 and donations. The pastor's compensation was somewhat of an issue during the Rev. Sheppard's term, as the church was delinquent in collecting the subscription. Notes from an April 6, 1889, covenant meeting state: "Minister's salary still unprovided for, but asked the pastor for more time as the prospect seemed good for making up the required sum with a little effort." Three weeks later: "The pastor stated that as he had not received any official notice that his support had been provided for and as that was the last Sunday of the second year and that during the said two year's pastorate he had not missed an appointment, therefore he claimed a vacation of four weeks. He was immediately notified that the salary was raised and asked it he would resume his labors as pastor after his vacation. He said he would answer in four weeks." The vacation proved to be a long one, as Pastor Sheppard never did return, submitting his resignation the following month. A little more than a year later, when the Rev. Morley was serving as pastor, the church received a letter from the Rev. Sheppard, inquiring as to the prospects of his becoming pastor again after the Rev. Morley departed. The church voted that "present indications do not justify giving Brother Sheppard any encouragement that his services as Pastor are likely to be invited." 13

In 1890, Brother J. O. Hick came to the church. He was given $300, a load of wood and a load of hay in the parsonage barn. The church voted to build a platform for singers and the pews would be changed so as to provide a wide aisle down the center and a small aisle an either side. A new pulpit was installed and the floor carpeted. Members voted to install a baptistry in the north end of the church, and to buy 12 anthem books. A collection was taken for those suffering in the Russian famine, gathering $10.22 in relief

funds. The Rev. Hick was ordained in a special service at the church in 1891. Several pastors from area churches attended. The Rev. Fred Hodder became the pastor in early 1893. In December of that same year, the church sought to keep its pastor for the next year. He agreed, provided the church could raise his salary $300 and give an answer within two weeks. Turmoil prevailed in 1895. A covenant meeting on January 5 was reported to be well attended "owing to the general dissatisfaction with Rev. Fred Hodder as pastor of this church." He turned in his resignation at the meeting, and it was accepted at a subsequent meeting. That was not the end of the matter, by any means. Elder Hodder still occupied the parsonage on March 4, when a visit by a church leader produced the following result: "He

(Hodder) stated that he had taken preliminary steps toward the collection of what he claimed would be due him from the church April 5, 1895, the award being $49. Furthermore that unless that amount was paid him he would prosecute the church for breach of contract and bring us to trial in the civil courts. Also that the law firm of Watts, Beau & Smith were his Council and that they take their chances of getting their payout of the church and that it will not cost him one cent to law (sue) us. "We tried to convince him that he had no case, that we had made no contract with him, only for two years, which ended February 3, 1895. That all the motions at the jury meeting at which time he offered his resignation were lost and so declared by the moderator and so understood by the clerk pro-tem and many if not all others. "Who though willing in the strength of his franchise to go on just as he had and do the best he could and on account of the hardship of their breaking up and moving in the winter, in short, out of sympathy and pure Christian charity - I repeat - we were willing to leave them undisturbed until March 5. "But by his own conduct the succeeding month, he forfeited all claim to sympathy or forbearance and at the February meeting it was decided that to continue the existing relations between Rev. Hodder and ourselves would be suicidal and folly. "Therefore we decided to sever at once his pastoral relations with us. But notwithstanding his manifest hostility to the church and his evident desire to injure us to the extent of his influence and ability, we, not wishing to be guilty of seeming injustice and out of sympathy and charity on our part, we would make him an offer of $25." Elder Hodder would not back down, however, and the church elected to avoid going to court by making a "donation" of $49 to the departed pastor. The church experienced further financial difficulties in 1895. The Rev. H. Newberry was hired for only $250 annually, but unlike some of his predecessors, agreed to stay on when the year expired. He said if the Lord had work for him to do at the church, he would stay, regardless of salary. The members did give a special offering of

$45 in support of their new pastor on January 12, 1896. The church also voted to install a furnace beneath the house of worship as soon as $200 was raised for this purpose. For the time being, though, only such steps as were quite necessary were taken. In the fall of 1896, church leaders were concerned about making the house of worship safer and more comfortable for the winter months. The church voted "to patch up the old fallen down wall and get new lining for one stove." Resolutions were passed the following fall which clarified the conditions upon which people desiring to join with the church could in fact do so. They were as follows: "Whereas it is within our knowledge that certain persons who at present have their membership with churches of other denominations but are now desirous for various reasons to unite with us, and would offer themselves for membership did they not fear rejection on account of a difference in views on the communion question; wherefore resolved, 1st, that the door of entrance into this church is ever open unto all such as have repented and believed and have been buried with Christ in baptism; 2nd, we should expect that all who unite with us from churches of other denominations would, while members with us, conform to the regulations and. practices of the Regular Baptist Church, and neither openly nor covertly seek to affect any change in our long established usages." The Rev. Newberry submitted his resignation in the fall of 1898, and it was initially not accepted. The church also voted to cancel Sunday evening services for one month, and conduct meetings at Rome Center on those evenings. Meanwhile the Rev. Newberry was granted a two-week vacation. Eventually, though, his resignation was accepted and the Rev. R. J. Lobb hired for $300 per year in January of 1899. Covenant meetings, though often attended by only a handful, were always recorded as interesting, spiritually uplifting sessions. On November 3, 1900, a letter was read in which a former member requested a letter of referral to another church. The record indicates she said "she would never forget the dear old church where she first learned to love the Lord." 14

The church's annual letter to the Lenawee Baptist Association that year states, in part: "We have come to regard our pastor, Rev. R. J. Lobb, as an esteemed friend and our fellow laborer in the gospel of Christ, and feel that he has greatly comforted us concerning our faith. "Regular services have been a blessing throughout the year. As a young people's society, we have tried to hold two meetings a month and feel by doing so, we have been a help to ourselves and pastor. Regular covenant meetings without exception have been good, and a source of great strength. "Our prayer meetings have not been attended as we wish they might, but there has been one each week, if there was no one present but pastor and Deacon Wannes." The church membership decreased by two persons that year, and the total value of the church property was listed at $2000. Funds were still a dilemma at the turn of the century, and the Rev. Lobb was rehired in 1902 for $60 less per year ($240) than he earned upon arriving in 1898. But the attitude was not one of despair, as this church letter to the association notes: "We have had many things to discourage us: few workers, many have been kept home from church services by sickness, and others to care for the sick. (But) we have had words of encouragement and cheer from our pastor, and with his excellent sermons, and the seed sown in the Sabbath School by our teachers, we are looking forward for a reaping time when many may be brought into the fold of Christ." The Rev. Lobb brought up concerns regarding interest in church work at a covenant meeting in November of 1902. The church voted to conduct prayer meetings on Friday evenings, from 6:30-7:30, and also to convene a half hour early on Sunday mornings to pray before the regular service. The 1903 letter to the Lenawee Baptist Association took on a more somber tone, noting: "We are grateful to God that He has kept us together, and that a few of us have tried to be faithful to the cause. We cannot say we have made the progress in the Christian work we should of done." The letter also reveals the weekly prayer meetings could not be conducted consistently throughout the year. 15

The church went without a pastor for 10 months after the Rev. Lobb's departure, filling the pulpit with a young student from Adrian College, whose name is not given in church records. This situation remained a difficult one, as the church clerk informed the association: " ... it seems to me as a church we have not been doing much in the work of Christ, but we can say we have been trying to keep the house of the Lord open every sabbeth during the past year." The Rev. John Howard came to minister to the church in 1904. His labors with the church were brief, as he declined when the members sought him to stay another year. He said if he did so, it would only be to resign, as the school advantages he desired to give his daughter could not be found in the area. Clerk Elma Poucher penned these words to the association in June of 1905: "We are a little flock, and growing less in numbers each passing year. Again the silent messenger beckoned away another of our loved and faithful ones. "Sister Emma Bonney answered the call to come up higher November 26 last and is greatly missed by all, as she was a favored associate of the young. "Weare looking forward to the settling of another pastor in the near future, and through the perserverance and faithfulness of a few of the remaining ones are keeping open the doors of the church to services, in having the Sunday School session as usual. We need the prayers of our sister churches in the association." The Rev. H. Churchill served as pastor from 1906-1908. Covenant meetings during this time frequently drew only two or three members. Few men attended, and the church considered requesting some sort of assistance from the Baptist governing body at the state level. In July of 1907, representatives from a church in Adrian came to the services for purposes of encouragement. They left the struggling church with this inspiring nugget of wisdom: "God helps those that help themselves, so they will have to lift up their own burdens and plod on. The church again went without a pastor for

different, were restored to fellowship with the Master and the church, and 10 others expressed a desire to follow the Master." The church voted to sell the baptistry tank and to buy a bell for $71.65. The Rev. Hague was ordained on July 2, 1912, and extensive repairs were made on the church during the year. The building was dedicated to the service of God on December 1, 1912. According to the annual letter to the association: "Regular monthly services have been held throughout the year with an exceptionally good attendance. Evening services were discontinued during the summer and autumn months, but were started again the first of December. "Our Bible school is well attended and on the increase in interest and attendance. We have an earnest and energetic corps of teachers and officers; and we believe they are laying the foundation for strong and lasting Christian characters for the young people and children to whom they are faithfully teaching the truth as it is in Jesus. "A weekly prayer and teachers meeting is held. The attendance is small, but God has

nearly a year prior to May of 1909, when the Rev. F.D. Hague began his first pastorate at the 2nd Baptist Church of Rome. Conditions at the church began to improve, as prayer meetings were established again in November of 1911. A letter to the Lenawee Baptist Association, dated June 1, 1910, states: "It's a year now since Bro. Hague, our young pastor, and his wife cast their lot with us. Have endeared themselves to us and the people, while he has earnestly and faithfully preached the word of life in strengthening Christians in the faith and urging unbelievers to accept Christ, the Savior of men." In December of 1911, two weeks worth of special meetings were conducted. The clerk noted: "Our pastor was assisted by Rev. A. Hughes of Jackson and Mr. Howe of Moody Institute. Owing to stormy weather and bad roads, the meetings were not so well attended as we could have wished for. However, the members received new enthusiasm and zeal, and this alone is worth all the effort, and more. "But this is not all; three of our members and three belonging to other churches who had grown cold and in16

verified His promise that where two or three are gathered together in His name, He will be in the midst of them." The church was now referred to as the West Rome Baptist Church, as it is today. Church records do not indicate the precise date of or reason. for the switch from the 2nd Baptist Church of Rome. The baptistry having been sold, the Rev. Hague is reported to have conducted a baptismal service for West Rome at the First Baptist Church of Adrian on February 12, 1914. West Rome adopted its first constitution and set of by-laws in 1917. A year later, the Rev. Hague, who had served the church for nine years, tendered his resignation. He was succeeded in the work by the Rev. Paul Johns. During 1918, seven people were baptized, four were said to have renewed their faith in God, and nine others accepted Christ as savior. The following year, there were no baptisms or additions to the church. A member made a motion in a meeting on July 8, 1920, to have West Rome Baptist Church alternate services with North Rome Baptist Church, on a two-month trial basis. The motion was voted down. But the account of an April 27, 1921, prayer meeting lists both North and West Rome combining to produce an attendance of 18. The clerk noted: "It was decided the pulpit committees go to Onsted, April 28, to confer with Mr. Lawrence about a minister. A great amount of interest and enthusiasm shown, and we are expecting God to show us how, and to lead us to better His work." The Rev. Clyde Lee became pastor for both the North and West Rome churches in November of 1921. Of his acceptance, a clerk noted, "We are getting back into church work again and we pray that Mr. Lee may be the man for the work here." The man who used to be the man for the work, the Rev. F.D. Hague, was invited to come from his church in Okemos and preach at special revival services beginning January 29, 1922. Church records state that 14 souls were saved during the fortnight of revival. Pastor A.E. Robinson preached at West Rome between 1924 and 1927. He came from Detroit to serve as pastor, and eventually left West
17

Rome to serve in Tipton. Roy Bishop was the superintendent during this period. Frank Cole was an elder, and Mrs. Cole served as church clerk. The only running water for the was from a pump at the kitchen was no interior plumbing. Baths a wash tub, and water heated in reservoir. There was no carpeting refrigeration. parsonage sink. There were taken in a cook-stove or

Ed Kamke and Roberta Kamke-Raymond walked across the field for milk given to them by Frank Cole. Other farmers contributed eggs and other foods. A Mr. Beacher had a large orchard supplying apples and peaches. Baptisms were done in the summer atironically enough-Devils Lake. Further insight can be gleaned from the church letters to the Lenawee Baptist Association. The missive in 1926 stated in part: " ... we feel that the Spirit of God is working in our midst. Our pastor, Mr. Robinson, is finishing his second year with us. During the summer months, Mr. Robinson, with the help of his brother and wife, held street meetings in Clayton and Hudson, where many received the truth and many were born again. "The regular morning and evening services are held every Sunday with a good attendance. The Sunday School, with Roy Bishop as superintendent, is in a thriving condition and much interest is shown. "Cottage prayer meetings are held every week. The Spirit of God is working and much good is being done. One night in the week is given to Bible study. Much interest is shown in these studies. "We pray that in the coming year, we may serve God with more zeal and earnestness, and carryon the work of His kingdom here in West Rome." The Ladies Aid Society was reported to be small in number but very active over this period. It accomplished much for needy families in the area. The Rev. Loren Burch, then pastor of the Manitou Beach church, was called to preach by the members of West Rome Baptist Church

in 1928. He conducted afternoon services for awhile, then switched to mornings. He soon switched churches, and the Rev. Hague returned to the West Rome pastorate after a 10-year absence. He also preached at Onsted, dividing his time between the two churches. The Rev. Hague remained the pastor of the church for more than two decades the second time around. He preached his final sermon at West Rome Baptist Church on April 30, 1950. He had served as pastor of the church for 30 years-longer than any pastor in the church's history. In 1939, the West Rome Board of Trustees was empowered to sell the parsonage, although there is no indication of why such a course was decided upon. Financially, the church was still a very limited operation. Total receipts from the year 1940 were $513 ($123.74 of which came in the form of church collections), with expenses figured at $384.24. In 1944, the pastor's salary was listed at $360, less than had been paid some ministers at the church in the late 1800s. At the end of the calendar year in 1948, the church tabulated the funds it had on hand for missions. A balance of $4.17, added to a birthday offering of $8.47, a Sunday School offering of $29.53, and a donation of $7.00 from the Ladies Aid group brought the grand total to $49.13. This money was taken and parcelled out in eight separate gifts during the year. Missionary Harold Meland received the largest amount, $10.00, while the Hebrew Christian Mission in Detroit and the European Christian Mission in New York each received $8.00. The treasurer's report for the year 1949 reveals the church took in total collections of $478.99 that year. Of that, $360.00 went toward the pastor's salary. Giving to missions had increased, and the missionary fund now stood at $65.65. In the late 1940s, the decline of West Rome Baptist Church was such that it threatened the church's very existence. Alberta Dresser, who grew up in the church, recalled the dire straits which made continuing church meetings a very tenuous prospect. "We had five people coming to church," she recalled. "On a real good day, we might have seven or eight. They had decided it wasn't 18

worth keeping church open. That there just wasn't that much participation. So they had voted, and voted to close it. "We just couldn't accept that. That little church-we thought so much of it, we'd been going here a number of years." Dresser's mother, Elizabeth Skinner, was among the handful of women who refused to allow the church to die. "I knew the Lord, and I knew He was capable of keeping the church open," she recalled. "And I think these other ladies felt about the same as I did. We were willing to do anything we possibly could. "Only five people at that time, and we were going to close. There was two or three others that came in once in awhile. Prayer is what did it, you know. I had a lot of faith, and those other ladies had a lot of faith that the Lord would undertake what should happen here." That undertaking began with a phone call from Dresser to the Rev. Howard Sugden at the Ganson Street Baptist Church in Jackson. That call, and the call ultimately felt by the youth pastor of the Jackson church, dramatically altered the course of events of a dying little country church near Rome Center. "I thought maybe I should get in touch with the Rev. Sugden in Jackson and talk to him about somebody that had just graduated from the Moody Bible Institute or something like that, that would be interested in accepting. I knew Terry (Lytle) ... and I heard that he had graduated. I asked Rev. Sugden if Terry would be a person to come here. He said, yes, he thought that would be very good if Terry would accept it." That would prove to be far from automatic. In fact, the story of the Rev. Lytle's coming to West Rome and God's miraculous securing of his place there became one of the church's richest oral traditions. Here, the Rev. Lytle himself recounts that tale. "I was the youth director," at Ganson Street Baptist, he recalled. "My wife was in the TB san (tuberculosis sanitarium). She'd been there for about two years. She had a hole in her lung about the size of a silver dollar. "This goes back," he digressed. "This tells

you why I came. As a young boy, I had felt the call to work in China. I never wanted to speak in front of people. I would rather take a failing grade in school than get up and say anything. I never recited in school-just too much of an introvert to do that. "Yet I was called to be a missionary, I thought to China, because it was a missionary from China that spoke the night that I felt the call to go into fulltime service. And I thought, but I don't want to preach." Inspired by a local chalk artist (who was able to minister while keeping his back to the congregation), Lytle went off to Moody Bible Institute convinced he would have such a ministry. Before he was out of school, China was overrun by Communists and missionaries expelled, so he readjusted his focus with an eye toward New Guinea. "I got in a quartet-I didn't mind singing in a quartet because there were three others standing there with me," he recalled. "We went down into Paragould, Arkansas, and we went over to Memphis, then we went over to a little place called Woodville, Tennessee. A little spot-some hollows around there, you couldn't see any houses. "In that area, there were over 300 people that attended (special meetings) Friday night, and 300 Saturday night, 300 Sunday morning, 300 Sunday afternoon and 300 more on Sunday night. I said hey, this is fantastic. So I asked the pastor-the preacher that was with us, that came from Paragould, Arkansas-I said I never met the pastor. He said, 'Well, nobody will pastor these churches. This is a closed church. It's been closed for about 15 years.' "I went back to Moody Bible Institute, and every professor I had the first week I was back talked about opening closed churches. God then called me to open closed churches. "After school, I went out into evangelistic work, although I knew I was supposed to go into opening closed churches. And then my wife was put in the TB san and that's where she was for the next two years. Didn't get any better. Our little baby was born. She couldn't touch the baby. She's up looking out a third floor window, and I'm out here holding the baby. That was in 1949. "Now Pastor Sugden had me come and be the youth director, and he was taking me 19

around to different churches-different cities first, just knocking on doors. Just to see about opening closed churches, because he knew what my calling was. "I started coming out to West Rome. There were only about seven people that were out here. Never came here with the intention of becoming the Pastor-that was never the intention. But I came, starting in 1948. Five different times I came. "The furnace was set in the basement-but there was no basement. Just a hole in the ground. The building had been set on stones. Big stones ... all the stones together, that was the foundation. There was no concrete, no poured foundation of any kind. Somebody had gone down and dug out and put a furnace underneath. "The custodian would stoke it about six o'clock on Sunday morning. The heat would come up and hit the ceiling. plaster would crack. Right when I was preaching you'd hear-boom-you'd hear these sounds, andfloooosh-these little bits of plaster dust would fall down. And the paper would hang down from the ceiling four or five feet. "All of the stained-glass windows were in a state of disrepair, almost gross neglect. The lead that would hold those stained windows in had melted, and there was a crack at the top of all those windows. We had barn swallows in there, I'd preach, and the birds would be flying around-I'll tell you, that's difficult. 'If you were there in the wintertime, and I was there many times ... seven people would huddle right around that register that was right in the center of the building. The preacher-myself-weighing only about 160-165 pounds, with no fat on me at all, I'd have to stand way back by the pulpit, freezing myself to death. The heat was pumping up in the center of the room, but not the rest. It was a humorous thing. I, many times, looked down there and saw it had gotten so hot that they were sleeping while I was up there freezing and chattering in my attempt to deliver the message." "They kept saying, 'why don't you come here, preacher?' and I said I couldn't do that. Well, there'd been that group of about five ladies that had been praying the church

would be spared. Well, the church had gotten in bad straits before I came and had sold the parsonage. There was no well or anything like that when I came-it was outside toilet facilities. "The people kept asking me if I'd come, if I'd come, if I'd come. I said no. Well finally, I received a call. They said they voted ... that if I didn't come, they were going to take boards and nails and they were going to close the church. That was on May the 1st, 1950. "When they told me that over the telephone, I had an instant flashback of all of these things. I'd promised the Lord I'd go into opening closed churches, and there I was. I was really at a closed church-if I had not come that Sunday, the church was over. It was done." When confronted with the actual question of coming, he recalled: "My response was, I'll come until you get a pastor. But my response was flashback. All I'd promised God. It wasn't so much that I was thinking about West Rome. I was thinking about the commitment I'd made to the Lord and wanting to fulfill it. For two years I was doing good things, working with young people-I had 360 young people. I just couldn't see leaving them to come out to work with seven. "I looked at the whole picture and I thought, it's ridiculous. I have a wife in a TB san, I have a little baby daughter. I thought, this is where I need to be, in Jackson. Until ... had she not have said those words, that we're going to close the church, I would never have come. "So I came. I was getting $110 a week. I came out here at $25 a month. I was staying at one home one day, another home the next. I took the $25, and put it in the gas tank for fuel. They supplied my food, and they supplied my lodging. My folks were taking care of my daughter, and the state was taking care of my wife." Mrs. Skinner played a vital role in the new pastor's settling into the community, as he recounted. "Mrs. Skinner," he smiled. "Every day-no matter which home I'd be in-she'd come at a certain time, and she just took me everywhere. I met people she'd never met before. If she had anything at all that she could help with

in identifying the people, she would do it. We didn't limit ourselves-we went to every single house. "I went with him, for I don't know just how long," Mrs. Skinner recalled. "Some people we went to that had never been in a church. I know several of them that did get interested in going to church." The going itself was a sacrifice for Mrs. Skinner. "That gal was crippled, even back then," Lytle recalled. "But every day, every day-she just wanted that church to go, and she was out there. Just a fantastic person." Meanwhile, the young pastor himself was facing a time of emotional upheaval because of the difficult circumstances. But out of that grew an even greater insight into God's working and a reaffirmed resoluteness as to his call. "Within two weeks, a notice came into Florence Dart from the hospital saying, 'Rev. Lytle, your wife is gone,' he recounted. "That was a note. I read that, and they told me to come into Jackson. "Now see, I had sold my Kaiser-I had a brand new Kaiser, I thought it was sharp at the time-I sold that, and I had bought a big Chrysler hearse. I turned that into a church bus. I put seats all around inside-everybody wanted to come to church. I got young people all over the place. "In those days, you could go 100 miles aL hour. I drove 100 miles an hour on those baCK roads all the time-they called mr 'The Flying Parson.' I was an absolute fool. "Anyway, I had this hearse, and in those days, a hearse was a very distinctive-looking vehicle. In those days, if a hearse went by with a funeral procession, everybody pulled off the road. I mean, everything stopped. "Well, I got this notice that my wife was gone. I don't know how you'd take that, but I thought she was dead. So I got in that hearse, and I went through Onsted, Brooklyn, Napoleon ... and I'll tell you, I went 100 miles an hour all that way, and the brakes were not good on it. But it didn't make any difference cause thay'd see that and they'd just get off to the side of the road. "I ran into the hospital and I said, 'What happened?!' and they said, 'Well calm down.
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She's just over at Ann Arbor. Something took place, and they're trying to analyze it. They've flown somebody in from Australia-a specialist in the field. We just didn't want you to get upset if you came around and she wasn't here. "She's alive?" "0 h,yes. " "Well, I went back and looked at that note again, and there it was: 'Your wife is gone.' "Two weeks went by, and I thought it was strange, cause now the doctors called me in and said:' Something's happened. A plug has gone into her lung, and it's like a cork, and we're waiting-it's going to pass through.' "About a week later, I went in and I said, 'Do you know when that plug went in there?' " "oh yes," came the reply. "We know the exact date. May 1st." "Aha! That was significant then to me," Lytle exclaimed. "I said, 'I don't believe that plug will ever go out.' oh yes, they said, it will come out. But to this very day (June 22, 1989) she still has that foreign object in there. She is the only one in recorded medical history where that has taken place. "So, that was significant to me. Terry, you've finally gotten where God told you to go, but two years ago, no, you didn't do it. Two years ago, you went into evangelism. It was almost like God was saying, 'Alright, if you want to take this kind of time, sometime I'm going to get you around to where you need to be.' "NOW,my being at West Rome Baptist Church was far more significant than anybody ever knew. And my not desiring to leave was far more significant than anybody could possibly know. I thought, do I want my wife to go through this again? I put her in this misery for two years, = feel." The relief he felt was intensified by the misery both he and his wife had endured. Beforethe call to a closed church plugged two holes, the young minister battled with the fears and doubts lGl~edby so many in a temporal world darkened by sickness and death. "I bawled," he said, recalling Olive's confinement in the TB sanitarium. "I would stand
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outside and I would hold Lynella (the Lytle's baby daughter) and it was all I could do not to let Olive see me crying up above. I cried every time I took that little child over there. I cried cause I knew her mommy couldn't even touch her-she wasn't allowed to touch her. If I went in there, I would have to have all of my stuff sterilized or burned. "To have to go the first six months and not touch that little baby-it was not an easy thing for her, or for me. But especially, because I put her through it. "So I could never take going to West Rome lightly. It was the most significant timechanging thing in my life. There's nothing else that could compare with my accepting that pastorate. Six months later, she was out." Soon after, the Lytles accepted the pastorate of a church in Manitou Beach, splitting their time between the two churches. They secured a home on Peach Street in Manitou Beach. Later, West Rome member Lawrence Cole allowed the couple to live in a farm house he owned.

Sundays were an incredibly busy time for The Flying Parson. He preached at West Rome at 10 a.m., at Manitou Beach at 11:15, conducted an afternoon service in Morenci, preached at Manitou Beach again at 7 p.m., zipped back to West Rome for a service at 8 p.m., and arrived at the fledging Christian drive-in theatre in Manitou Beach at 9:15 for the film. At West Rome, the impact of the new preacher was felt almost immediately. Within a week, attendance went from seven to around 25 per service. It would eventually grow to a peak of 80 during his eight years as pastor. "Nobody could lead a song service, so I had to bring in a pianist from Jackson for the service," he recalled of his early days at the church. "Every Sunday morning, early, I would go over to Jackson and pick up a pianist and bring them here. Many times, I would bring different music groups in here to help me in this type of situation. "When I stood on the platform, I was up there the whole time. So I led the singing, many times played a sax solo, or I'd sing, or I'd have somebody come out from Jackson to do that. The service would be an hour in length. "Our evening service was at 8 o'clock. They weren't used to that. None of them could recall ever having an evening service. "When our youth group started growing like everything, we needed a place for them. (Lawrence Cole) let me use a little school building, a little one-room school building just north of the church. That became our youth hall, and we would run around 80 people on Thursday night." Despite the surge of life in the tiny church, it had a few problems with name recognition. The church was frequently confused with nearby North Rome Baptist Church. "We'd go around knocking on doors, Elizabeth Skinner and I, and we'd say, 'We're from West Rome Baptist Church.' " 'oh yeah, up on 223.' "No. Nobody knew where West Rome was.
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So ... we had to have a new roof put on, and decided to put the name West Rome right in the roof. Oh, I'm telling you, that just galled a lot of people. They said, 'You only put a name in a barn roof!' They didn't like that. However, from that time on, everybody knew where West Rome was." That wasn't the only opposition the new pastor faced. Despite not having the money to do so, the church voted to expand by building a basement. What followed was a test of the pastor's resolve. "The next day, (a disgruntled church

member) came to me," Lytle recalled. "He said, 'Whaddaya mean? What are you trying to do? who do you think you are? I'm from this church from way back in the beginning. My mother and my father were leaders in this church. And now you're going to put a basement under it?' "I said, they voted to go ahead and build. We need the space. He said, 'You don't need it, and you'll never be able to do it. You cannot build this basement. You don't have the money to do it. What do you have? You've got Owen King over here, you've got Louie St. York. And then you've got Gibbs-you've got three old men and a bunch of women, and you think you're gonna build that? You can't do it without any money ... "I said, well ... we will. Cause God's gonna do it. Let me just say this-I don't want your money. In fact, I won't accept your money. "So, here's Owen King, up in his 80s. You know, about the first thing that gets tired on a man is his eyes. That's what shows. This guy-at 80 years of age-his eyes sparkled. He

couldn't hear ya, he was deaf. He had tilled his field with horses, and now he had just bought a new Case tractor. "He didn't know how to drive that Case tractor. He didn't know how to work that clutch or anything else. What we did, the two of usjust the two of us-began, and we worked for weeks with a slipscrape (a huge shovel with two handles, pulled with a chain or cable).
..

church in there too, while the thing was jacked way up. Guys came out and they drilled holes-I can't tell you how much dynamite was used in that place. Hundreds of sticks of dynamite, to get that loose, and get under there. "One day, there were about 50 guys working there, and I looked around, and there was (the disgruntled church member, with a fellow formerly angered West Rome member). They said, 'Would you consider letting us help you on this?' I said you can help all you want-I'm the one in charge. They wanted to give money-I told them we couldn't accept that." The dark times were few and far between for the young pastor, he recalled. But one of those difficult stretches stood out. A man was put on the board who was not a Baptist, and attempted to change the church into a Methodist organization. A confrontation ensued, and the man eventually left. "In 1953," Lytle recalled, "in a softball game, I had my spleen ruptured, and that was a hard thing for me to understand. We were playing over in Addison, it was after dark, it was already time to conclude the game. We were leading in the game, but the opposing team said, 'No, no, let's play another inning.' "It was so dark you couldn't see. So a throw came from short, and I reached way out. A fellow running ran out of the basepath, way out into the diamond, and kneed me, and my spleen was ruptured. So for the next couple months, I was in the University of Michigan Hospital, in bad shape, and losing weight. "I was down to about 120 pounds, taking morphine every three hours, in serious pain, and at the place where I was so drugged, I didn't care really if I went to heaven or hell. I was that drugged. I would look out the window, and with hollow eyes, I would see people go out there. "The next year, I had five people in my church die of cancer. I saw that same hollow look in their eyes, and I was able to empathize
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"Well, now I'm way underneath that building, and I've got to hold it, because I could have both arms broken. Or if I have my head in the wrong place, I'd be decapitated. when he would let go of the clutchKABOOM-we went out of there like crazy. He didn't know how to drive that. "That building had sat there for over 100 years. You would have thought that dirt would have been powdery and would have fallen apart. It was like concrete. After we'd spent weeks and weeks working on it, we'd gotten a great big mound of dirt outside. Then people started coming around, saying, 'Well hey, if you want to call a bee, we'll come around and help you.' I had people coming around, I didn't know who they were. "I had people that said, 'You know what you ought to do-you ought to dynamite it.' oh my goodness! Dynamite? I didn't know what to do. "Then we decided we had better raise the church. So we jacked that church way up. We got somebody to come, and to do it. We had

with them. I was always a go-go, hyper kind of a guy, loved sports, love sports, just love it, love it, love it. Never required much sleep ... only about three or four hours a night. "But God had to put me in that situation. Because of the kind of temperament that I had, and because I had never had anything more than my tonsils removed ... I didn't know pain, and I didn't know sorrow. I didn't know the loss of anyone close to me. I'd never gone through that, so God had to put me through that. It was the greatest thing that could have taken place. Then I could see how these people were, and then I could also have a different attitude when I went into a hospital. " "Plus, it helped me to understand another thing. When a person's really drugged-a lot of people say I'll wait, I don't want to be a Christian so I'll wait, just before I die I'll receive Christ. Ah, you might be so drugged you won't care. Cause I didn't care-I didn't really care if I went to heaven or hell. I was just drugged." Pastor Lytle did recover, and the church continued to press on. The centennial celebration for the church building itself was conducted on October 25, 1953. Former Pastor F.D. Hague was one of the speakers on that day. In 1955-56, pews were purchased and installed in the church, and a septic tank and rest rooms were also installed. The church was also redecorated during this time. Along with the dark times and the growth, there were wonderful, sometimes whacky, exciting experiences. "Probably the best time had to be in the spring of 1958, when Casey Vanderjagt came," he recalled. "I had Casey come, and Casey's an old street preacher. Casey, he'd go around, and he'd write John 5:24 all around the church-anywhere. Or at John Cattell's blacksmith shop-that's the way he was. "He was a fellow who could not read. He was saved at the old Mel Trotter rescue mission. He couldn't whisper. You couldn't shut this guy up-you just couldn't do it." The two preachers were out making calls in anticipation of a special meeting, when they encountered a couple working in the fields some 15 miles from the church. Pastor Lytle

advised that this was somewhat out of the church's area, and Vanderjagt's booming voice responded there was no such thing as being out of the church's area. "Here we are, all dressed up, nice polished shoes," Lytle recalled, "and we started walking through the field. They were on two tractors ... and we got there right at the time when they were closest together. He holds up his hand and says, 'STOP!' "He was a big Dutchman, you know. His shoulders started at his ears and sort of tapered out. He was just the voice of authority. He invited them to the service, at the West Rome Baptist Church. He said, let's pray. So I bowed my head and I'm waiting, and nothing's happening. "All of a sudden I hear, TAKEOFF YOUR HAT. WE'RE TALKINGTO GOD.' And the guy takes off his hat." On another occasion, he recalled: "We were up to the head of Devils Lake, and they were choppi.ng up the pavement. A Michigan State policeman was directing traffic, and all of a sudden he just stopped. Just stopped. He said, "OFFICER!C'MERE!' I'm sliding down in my seat, thinking oh boy. I can see it now. Pastor and visiting evangelist go to jail for obstructing traffic. The officer came over and (Casey) said: 'OFFICER-SEE ALL THESEMEN WORKING HERE? HERE'S COPIESOF GOD'S WORD'-he gave him a whole stack of Gospels of John. 'I WANT YOUTO GIVE ONE TO EACH ONE OF THESEMEN THAT ARE WORKINGHERE.' "He stuck it right out into the guy's handand the guy took 'em! I'm flabbergasted! I thought, let's get going. Casey said: 'OFFICER! DO IT WHILE I WAIT!' So the officer's going around passing them out. "We went into The Timbers (a local tavern) over here. He said: 'YOU GO IN HERE OFTEN?" I said, never. 'NEVER?WHY, IF JESUSWERE HERE, THAT'SWHERE HE'D BE. I THINKWE OUGHTTO GO WHEREJESUSWOULD GO, DON'T YOU?' "So he backed his car in-he said, 'I'VE LEARNEDTHIS-ALWAYS BACKIT IN, HAVE IT EASYACCESS.KEEP THE MOTOR RUNNING.' We went inside, and he starts passing out tracts and said, 'WELL, I'D LIKETO TALKTO
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THE MANAGERHERE.' "Finally, the bartender comes up and very quietly says: 'I'm the manager.' Casey says, 'I'D LIKETO INVITE THESEPEOPLETO THE MEETINGSWE'RE GONNAHAVE AT CHURCH OVERHERE AT WEST ROME BAPTISTCHURCH.' "He went on and on and on, and finally the bartender said: 'Well the church and the bar don't have anything in common, really. I don't think this is the right place.' Well, the guy had more sense than Casey did, really. "But Casey said, 'YOUMEAN TO TELLME I CAN'TTELLTHESEPEOPLE... ' and he just opened up his lungs. The dancing stoppedeverything. He gave a whole gospel message. I felt awkward, but that's Casey. "Years before, he'd worked for A&P Company, and he was in Battle Creek, Michigan, and he was driving semi, and he got hit by a train. Bang, just like that. The tractor got dragged down the tracks about 600 feet when it had disconnected and turned over in the intersection. They worked for oh, about an hour, to get in there and get him out. "When they got in there, 10 and behold, he wasn't there. The guy up on the bank said, 'You looking for the driver-is that what you're doing?' They said yeah. He said, 'You see that guy standing on that trailer that's tipped over back there, talking to that crowd of people? That's the driver.' "He was preaching to that whole group of people. Well, that's Casey." "So now I have him at West Rome. On Sunday night ... it's invitation time, and I'm leading the singing ... and he goes out in the crowd. As he goes out in the crowd, he grabs someone and says: 'YOU KNOWCHRISTAS YOURSAVIOR?'They said no, and he pulled them up. He pulled five people up to the front of the church. "I'll tell you, I was so upset about that. I said to Olive, 'That's it. The meetings are over. I'm not gonna go through this anymore. God doesn't work in a way like this. I am not going to allow this to happen any longer. I was stewing at midnight, when I went to bed. One o'clock in the morning I was still stewing, two o'clock the same thing, three o'clock. Olive said, Why don't you pray about it? Maybe God wants it .. .' 25

"I said God isn't in favor of this tyge of a thing. But she said why don't you just pray about it, so I did, and fell asleep. Then I thought, well maybe God does want it. "You know what? He never did that again, and those five people became leaders in the church. That was a significant thing. Frustrating, but wow! Exciting as all get-out." According to church records, Pastor Lytle turned in his resignation in September of 1958, saying he felt led of God to build a drive-in church ministry in Florida. But he noted there was more involved than that. "In 1957, I could see that neither church (West Rome or Manitou Beach) was growing," he recalled. "The Manitou church was running around 120. The West Rome church was around 60-65. The thing was just not growing anymore. "They had come to the place of standing still. So for one solid year I was praying about what to do. I was just involved in too many things (In addition to pastoring the two churches, running the drive-in and heading the sports program among fundamental churches in Lenawee County, he worked fulltime at Ford Motor Company in Brooklyn to raise money to build up the drive-in). "I felt it was time to leave, and my reason for leaving wasn't to go in drive-in-I never planned to go into drive-in fulltime myself. I was going to have my brother be in it, and I was looking around to open another closed church. "Both churches begged me to stay. Begged me to stay with them. I said you are both ready to take on a man fulltime. You can handle it-you need to have someone who can devote all his time to this church. They didn't understand that, and at the time I'm sure they felt that I was letting them down. So each one asked me if I'd come fulltime with them. I said, no, I felt that would not be ethical. "Finally, I had come to my decision. The drive-in would never have been started, had I not been in an area in which I could see the need for such a thing. I think God got me there where I could see the need. "For the good of the churches, I had to get out."

But the memories of West Rome and its people didn't get out of Pastor Lytle's mind, three decades after his decision to leave. "The people at West Rome were some of the kindest," he recalled. "I never expected when they were going to do something special for me, but they did, many times. A very loving, outgoing group of people. In their farming, if they had a bunch of sweet corn, I always had sweet corn. I always had a half of beef. I always had pork. Always had a bushel of tomatoes, or whatever there was. "They were just that type of people-just a giving, giving people." The Rev. Ralph Willis came to minister to the church in 1958, and a new church constitution was adopted in 1959. A church bulletin

In the same bulletin, musicians were reminded of the weekly choir practice, every Wednesday at 7 p.m. The church orchestrawhich played for Sunday evening servicespracticed each Friday at 7:30 p.m. Mothers with babies were advised of a speaker in the basement of the church, allowing a place of refuge "if your baby gets too restless." The item also noted, "One of our future projects is a completely equipped nursery." That was accomplished the following year, with the public address system rigged such that those downstairs could still hear the service. The church voted to join the Conservative Baptist Association of Michigan in 1960, and further voted to clear up some financial matters. Members voted to sell the preferred stock the church owned in Consumers Power Company, payoff a debt at the Onsted bank, and put the rest in the building fund. In addition, members voted to empower church leaders to cash a $100 war bond West Rome owned and use it when needed in the building fund. Later that year, at the suggestion of the Rev. Willis, the deacons and deaconeses set up a missionary board to determine which missionaries the church ought to support. In June of 1961, the church leadership decided to support missionaries through what was designated as Faith Offering, consisting of separate giving via special envelopes in the church. The following month, four missionaries were granted support. They were: the Rev. Terry Lytle with his drive-in church, George Hunt in North Carolina, and both the state and national branches of the Conservative Baptist Association. In addition, members voted to produce a church paper (presumably a newsletter) once a month. In October of 1963, a motion by Chester Dart, seconded by Raleigh Conrad, called for Cletus Brooks to go ahead with plans for installing a public address system in the church. The new system was to be paid for by donations.

from April 17, 1960, gives insight into the church's status at that point, citing the following: church attendance-90, Sunday School-93, young people-22, evening service-51. The morning offering totaled $83.36.
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The Rev. Willis resigned on October 21, 1963, and was succeeded by the Rev.Jack Metzler the following January. In October of that year, the church appointed a building committee to take up the study of constructing a parsonage. A ground-breaking ceremony was conducted

were hurt by it." When the members did reconvene, they voted on a request by building committee chairman Cletus Brooks. A resolution granted the committee "the power to act in the building of a parsonage, and that they be given power to indebt the church to the maximum of $8,000 for the completion of this project." The motion was recinded at the following meeting, in favor of one allowing the church leaders to borrow $9,000 for the proposed project. on April 4, 1965. The business meeting (now conducted quarterly) scheduled for April 16 was delayed two weeks because of the wide-ranging destruction of a tornado which struck the Manitou B.each area on April 11. While the church did not sustain extensive damage, many members were involved in clean-up efforts at various sites. On the night of the tornado, the Rev. Metzler recalled: "We were having a candlelight communion service. It came so fast, that there would have been no time to get everyone down that little tiny stairway-so I just kept right on preaching. 'I heard a pop when the lid went off the bell tower, and I could see the stained-glass windows bowed in on both sides because of the vacuum. But we kept right on going, and we finished up. After we went outside, we could see an ambulance had been blown off the road. The schoolhouse behind the parsonage to the north, that went down. "A lot of people were hurt by the tornado, but everybody pulled together. We set up a clothing station in the church. During the week, people could come in and get clothing, everybody brought clothing in. We had a grocery corner, where we could pick up groceries. "It was a real time of pulling together, because we had some of our own people that
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Prayer meeting was in session as usual on Wednesday, June 9, 1966. But it was anything but prayer meeting as usual, as recalled by the Rev. Metzler. "We were having prayer meeting," he said, and I was preaching and I could see out of the stained-glass windows on the south side of the building. I could see stuff coming down-there was a downdraft there. I couldn't figure out what it was. I couldn't hear rain, but I could see that gray stuff coming down. 'It was smoke. Finally, I told everybody to get up and get out and move their cars away from the building, because we had to call the fire department."

The inside of the church had to be completely redone, and the roof was destroyed. The damage came to a total of $28,000. Furthermore, church members were without a place to worship-but not for long. "Lawrence Cole had just put up a new pole barn behind his house," the Rev. Metzler recounted. "The firemen pulled all the furniture out of the church-the pews and the organ and everything-while it was burning. We put them on hay wagons and set them up there. We put about six inches of sawdust on the floor of the barn, and put the pews in, and we had our services there. "The first Sunday after the fire, we had almost 340 people there. It was great. It was summertime, of course, and everybody wanted to come to the church in a barn. Lots of . tourists. "The night before the fire," he recalled, "we had a board meeting about redecorating the inside of the church. There were six board members there, and they voted three and three. As pastor, you're supposed to break the tie. said, no, we won't do that. We'll pray about it for another month, and if the Lord wants us to redecorate the inside of the church, maybe when we vote again things will have changed. The next night the church burned-we felt, well, the Lord must have wanted it redecorated.

"Towards the end we would record the music portion in the evening service and then we would just put the message on the radio broadcast after it and send them a tape. That was quite good. We got letters from all over the area, from people who had heard the broadcast. " The early 1960s were indeed a time of excitement and innovation at West Rome Baptist Church, and the presence of God was felt in mysterious ways at times. Upon coming to the Church initially, the Rev. Metzler found the church board in what he termed "a state of disarray. " One of his first endeavors as pastor was to reorganize the board, which led to the following incident. "We went to the different people who were nominated for the board, and asked them if they would run, and this one in particular said he didn't know, he'd get back to me," the Rev. Metzler recounted. "We were living down on 223 then. He came down with every intention of telling me how he wasn't going to take it. He was going to make a left turn into our driveway and a dump truck hit him from behind and drove him way out into the middle of a corn field. After he got straightened around-he wasn't hurt or anything-he came in the house after everything was taken care of, and he said, 'Well, came over here to tell you wasn't going to run, but think the Lord is trying to tell me something."

"The year of the fire was very different," the Rev. Metzler explained. "The fire broke out on a wednesday, and the next Monday we were supposed to have Vacation Bible School. We got some tents from the National Guard, and some people had large camping tents, and we put them up in the yard. "The kids thought it was really something to have Vacation Bible School in tents." The Metzler years brought a new wrinkle for West Rome in other ways as well. One of the most significant was the weekly radio ministry. "We had a real good time with the radio broadcasts we had when we were here," he recalled. "Every Sunday night we had a half hour broadcast over WLEN. It went from 10:30 to ii-we pre-recorded it. Most of it was done in Ruth Ostrander's home, because she had the organ there.

Others joined in to help in many ways, needing less dramatic means of inspiration. Upholding a tradition of helping those in need, the church stepped in when one of its own faced bleak circumstances. The Peters family had about 200 sheep, and the barn came down on them," the Rev. Metzler recalled. "It was right after lambing time, and we were pulling orphan lambs out. Everybody was sitting around with a lamb under each arm and a bottle -up to its mouth, trying to feed them, to sa.ve halt of their flock, anyhow. "It was an interesting way to see a lot of people getting together and supporting each other. The family atmosphere of the church is the thing that impressed me most when we
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were here-and

still does."

The Richard Marsh family and the Cleveland Hebrew Mission were taken on as missionaries in 1968. The Rev. Metzler turned in his resignation on January 15, 1969. He returned for the sesquicentennial celebration in June of 1989, and still fondly recalled his years at the church. "The best memories here are the people," he said. "Great people. Everyone was just super nice to us. Not that there were never any disagreements, but there was never any bitterness about them. It was a beautiful experience being here because of that." The Metzlers moved on to Houghton Lake after leaving West Rome, and the Rev. Metzler wrote several published books. The Metzler family ran the Springwater Book Store, a Christian book and music store. Harold Steinman began his ministry at the church on June 8, 1969. He was ordained on January 29, 1970. During this time, a building committee was appointed regarding a propos-

ed basement addition to the church, the ground-breaking ceremony for which was conducted in 1970. "I think both parts that we built on, this and the upstairs," the Rev. Steinman said, "we did without any sort of blueprints-just sort of hand sketches. And, not always knowing really what we were doing, but making it through. "The people really put a lot of hours into it. This bottom section was probably a little more discouraging to the people than any other, because it took so long to get the work done. The people couldn't see what was happening. When we put on the sanctuary up above, it wasn't too long until we'd cut a hole right through the wall and you could see a lot more things going on, and people seemed to be a lot more encouraged during that time." On May 23, 1971, the church celebrated its 132nd anniversary with a service entitled "Old Fashioned Sunday." Later that year, the Larry Groat and Enos Jarvis families were taken on as missionaries. A building program initiated April 12, 1972, furnished the church with a new sanctuary, pews, carpeting, an upstairs nursery, a baptistry and dressing room, a pastor's study, and more cloak room. A new piano was purchased in 1973. While the project was going on, church members faithfully made certain the pastor didn't get too footloose in his assistance. "We'd been working on the upstairs, we'd put that new addition on," he related. "I came over one night to work, and I'd been leaving my shoes over here. I was a little late getting over. So I reached down to pick up my shoes, and they wouldn't pick up. I did that about three times before I realized what was going on-they had nailed my shoes right to the floor. Everyone else was just watching and laughing." With a sense of humor not allowing him to regard the culprits as heels, the pastor pressed on. The new sanctuary was ready for use in June, 1973. "I think probably the biggest shock for a lot of the older members was the first Sunday when they came here after we had switched into the new sanctuary," the Rev. Steinman recalled. "They came in and the whole plat29

form area was torn out, and where the pulpit used to be, there was just a hole in the floor. For some of the older members, that was really hard, just because they had been so used to the church like it was." Two of those older people were among the most revered by church members, and by their pastor. "Two of the people who were the greatest blessing to us were Mr. and Mrs. (Locksley and Alma) Merritt," he said. "They were in their 80s when they were here. They were here every Sunday and every Wednesday. And there were sometimes when they couldn't get a ride, they started walking. Their house was only about a half mile from here, but they started walking at their age.

tired out, but the first year we went up, after they'd canoed probably 40 or 50 miles down the river, they had this old softball glove with them and they tied string around it and used it for a football. There was a big sand hill going down to the river, and on the side of that hill they played football for another couple of hours that night. "I think the rest of the adults were about ready to die, but the young people didn't know enough to." Church records take special note of Sutera Twins Team special meetings conducted in December of 1973. According to the records, a true revival was experienced, with Christians living for God with renewed vigor. Songwriter Virgil Brock led the singing during the meetings. "The time when we had the meeting with the Sutera twins was probably the key to a lot of what happened in the church," the Rev. Steinman stressed. "We started our meetings on a Saturday night. It was supposed to be just a getacquainted time. Well, God really moved in that night and probably a dozen people went to the prayer room that night to start getting things right with the Lord. "The next Sunday morning, things were just ready to go. They preached, and there were a lot of people that went forward that Sunday morning. Really it was mainly Christians getting their hearts right with God, and really settling the issue of the lordship of Christ in their life, and their surrender to Him-letting Him be in control. "The one pastor from the Baptist church in Hudson came during the week, and the Lord really ministered in his heart. He went back the following week and on Sunday morning, he shared with his church what God had done in his heart, and some of the other people who had been here shared. He gave the invitation, and he said he had about 80 of the 100 people in his church come forward that morning.

"Somebody who was coming to church would see them and would pick them up. Their faithfulness was really tremendous." Pastor Steinman's ministry was marked by special services of a wide variety, including Easter and Christmas cantatas, father-son and mother-daughter banquets, and revival meetings. "We did a lot of things with the young people," he recalled. "We had canoe trips almost every year. We went up the Muskegon River to the White Birch Canoe Livery, and would canoe for three days. 'I thought the young people would all be
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"We saw the church (West Rome) just totally full every night, for 11 nights in a row. I think that a majority of the people who were here settled things in their life with the Lord. Not everybody went forward, but the church was just totally changed." Fourteen people were immersed in the new baptistry on January 20, 1974. While there was joy in those acts of obedience, Pastor Steinman sounded a more solemn note by announcing his resignation that day. The pastor had been in contact with another church before the meetings with the Sutera twins, and had helped that church with pulpit supply. After the meetings, the Rev. Steinman agreed to go and candidate at that other church, with what he described as "very mixed feelings." That church called him to minister, and he accepted the call. "From the time when we had the Sutera Twins meetings until we left, our prayer meetings went from 20 to 40," he noted. "The regular church service was growing. When they were without a pastor, from the time I left until the time Pastor Corbin came, as far as I can remember the prayer meeting went from 40 to 80. "One of the people that I talked to at one time mentioned it didn't matter who spoke, the people were coming to pray. I thought that was really significant to see them, without a pastor, carryon a visitation program and to see the prayer meeting go like that. By the time Pastor Corbin had been here a year, he was having more here in prayer meeting on Wednesday night than I had in Sunday School when I was here in our highest year." The Rev. Steinman recalled fondly the deacon board which was in place when he was here, describing it as a very stable board. Its members during that time included Dave Hassenzahl, Cletus Brooks, Raleigh Conrad, Earl Hutchison, John Hassenzahl and Norm Peters. "They were easy men to work with, and had a lot of patience with a young preacher," he said. "That's one significant mark about this church. It's had a number of first-time preachers. I couldn't have wanted a better experience in a first-time pastorate. 1ve seen some pastors have some first-time experiences

I'm glad I never had." Pastor Steinman was also in attendance when West Rome had its sesquicentennial celebration in 1989, giving him a chance to reflect on the growth he has witnessed, both in the church body and individual members. "Jack (Hassenzahl) was one of the young people in the church, and to see what God's done in his life-him in the ministry. Dean Hassenzahl was one of our young people. I can remember there was a time when I wondered whether Dean was going to go anywhere or not. He and another young fellow-it just seemed like they were always horsing around. It seemed like it was hard to get them serious about anything. "To see God just take him on into the ministry ... I can remember when Dean had his back surgery. He was in a body cast for six months. I used to go over every week when he was in that body cast. We would play checkers for three or four hours-I'd just spend the whole afternoon with him. "Those were good days. You look back, and now you see him in the ministry (Memphis, Tennessee), it's just been tremendous. That's one of the blessings, to look back and see where God takes some of the people and see the number of young people that were here then that are still solid in their walk with the Lord these days. "And then to see people like Marion and Marjorie Snead-who were there at that timeto see them off still doing ministry, and building things for missions. Those were exciting times, just to watch God do some of those things." A period of growth unsurpassed in the history of West Rome Baptist Church began in September of 1974, with the arrival of the Rev. E. Keith Corbin, his wife Muriel, and sons Rob, Todd and Ladd. Pastor Corbin did not enter the ministry until he was past 40 years of age. West Rome was his first pastorate, and he related this saga of how it all came to pass: "I had felt God had called me to the ministry through a camp ministry down in southeastern Ohio, that our church down in Ohio was affiliated with. Our sons were going down there to camp, my wife was going there
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as a counselor, and the director of the camp, Rev. Charles Gray, had invited me a number of times to come and serve as a counselor at the camp. "But I didn't really want to do it at that time; I wasn't that sold out to God. I just wasn't interested in doing it. I only had two weeks vacation a year, and I could not see giving up a week of my vacation to go down to camp and counsel kids. So would put him off, and try to get out of that.

Pastor Corbin came to West Rome to candidate for the vacant pastor's position in August of 1974. "I was really impressed with the church," he recalled. "It was a country church, or is a country church. I was green as grass, never had pastored. I was an older man. "I was impressed with the people-their friendliness. I was impressed with their eagerness to want to hear from the Word of God. They told me they were looking for a leader, and would cooperate with me as best as they possibly could. "They've never gone back on that word .." The church voted unanimously to call him as pastor, and he preached his first sermon as pastor of the church on September 15, 1974. The excitement and growth of those early years provided warm memories, recounted by the pastor-who, at this writing, has served the church from the pulpit for 15 years, second longest of any pastor in the history of the church. He tells of that embryonic stage of his ministry: "The church began to experience some growth, people were saved, others came and seemed to be interested. I know a lot of times that happens when a church has a new pastor-we preachers call that the honeymoon. The time when you're first at a church and everything seems to be going good, and everybody's happy and excited about a new program, and a new preacher. "I know all that. But the honeymoon period seemed to last. God kept blessing, and people began coming, and we saw a lot of growth. We started with maybe 90 to 100 (on Sunday morning), and well, last Sunday we had 313, and we average somewhere around 320. "The highest we've ever had in attendance for one service was 476. That was on the day that we had the dedication for the first addition we built on the church." The average attendance of the church peaked in 1984, when the average Sunday morning service found 351 in attendance, with an average 228 coming at night and 219 on Wednesday night for prayer meeting and Bible study.
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"But as God began to work in my life, I finally decided one year I would go on a 4th of July to a special meeting they were having there, where there would be a lot of preaching and singing. So I took my family and went. "And that noon, as we stood in line at the dining hall of that camp to get our lunch, I noticed various verses of scripture and signs that they had around the dining room walls. One of those sign said, 'Only one life, twill soon be passed, only what's done for Christ will last.' "That isn't even a verse of scripture. That's just a saying someone wrote-I don't even know who wrote it. But God used that to stand out to me. I was thinking about my life, what I was doing with my life. I thought, I wouldn't even give God a week of my life, to counsel those kids. "So I was really troubled about that. I couldn't get away from it. So maybe a week after that, I called him and told him that I'd be glad to come. "And so I did, but that week, every meal I ate there, breakfast, lunch and supper, that sign haunted me about my life. Through that, I felt called of God to fully surrender my lifewhatever He wanted to do with it. I felt He was calling me to the ministry, something I really did not want to do. "But after a year of wrestling with that, I surrendered to do it, and ended up at Tennessee Temple College, (now a university, in Chattanooga, Tennessee)." After his years of study and serving as the minister to a senior citizens' group in his church in Chattanooga, Pastor Corbin candidated at two churches. At one of those meetings, a member of the deacon board at West Rome was in attendance.

In 1988, those averages stood at 300 on Sunday morning, 178 on Sunday evening and 202 on Wednesday evening. The increased numbers in the mid-1970s called for upgraded facilites. The building programs soon began, signaling an expansion of proportions unmatched in the church's existence. The first addition involved tearing off a vestibule on the north side of the church. This was done, and the church also replaced the front doors of the sanctuary, prompting Pastor Corbin to recall: "I remember when I first came, the doors they had on the front of the church were a solid door, a painted door, but the wood was kind of warped and scaly. It caught my eye when we first came, and I was bothered about that. I talked to the board about getting some glass doors. "I remember the first night we brought it up with the congregation. The cost for those glass doors was $800. Of course, that was a lot of money back in 1984, but it shocked some of the members of the congregation about spending that much money to replace the front doors. I remember one lady almost cringed when I said it. I said in the meeting, we really ought to consider doing it, because in my estimation, those doors are an abomination unto God. "The people laughed, and then voted to do it. Then after they were in, the same lady that cringed so badly said, 'Oh, what a difference that makes!' So people were glad, and began to see some fixing up would be good, and a good testimony." The addition covered three stories, counting the basement. The basement was expanded to begin a junior church program as well as a senior citizens' group such as Pastor Corbin served in Chattanooga, called the Jolly 60's. On the main floor of the addition, a library and two new restrooms were installed. An upper room was added,

allowing for Sunday School classroom space and a meeting place for the youth group. Next, the church allowed for its everexpanding numbers by adding seating space in the rear of the sanctuary. To accomplish this, a nursery and pastor's study had to be torn out and the space expanded. In 1978, the church put a two-story addition onto the parsonage. The upper story was a master bedroom and bathroom, with the first story a garage and storage space. Two years later, the church was still facing the problem of pinched classroom space. An AWANA program for the youth needed a place to meet as well. Banquets conducted in the church basement were expanding in size every year, exacerbating the crowded conditions. Thus the church decided to construct a pole barn-type building which would house Sunday School classrooms and a gymnasium which could be used for recreational activities as well as banquets and wedding receptions. The dimensions were to be 42 feet wide and 112 feet long. The total cost was to be in the neighborhood of $55,000, with church member Don Milam, a contractor, overseeing the building program and church members doing as much work as they could on the project. The building was started in July, 1980, and by October it was finished and a dedication service conducted. Moreover, the entire project was paid for

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name, there I am in the midst of them. ')" In 1983, the need was felt for a new baby nursery and a pastor's study which would be large enough and private enough to allow counseling to be done. The pastor's study in use was adjoining the sanctuary, and conversations in the study could be overheard in the sanctuary itself. This project occasioned the following story, related by Pastor Corbin: "An estimate of the cost, with Don Milam again doing most of the work, was $10,000 for the materials needed to do the job, and he would donate his time. So again we didn't have the money then to do it, but we were talking about it and thinking about it. "The church decided to go ahead with it. One of the ladies that came to our church worked for a man in Addison-I guess there'd be no secret about it at all, she worked for a Mr. Knight, who is the owner of Addison Products. And from time to time, she said that he would ask her about what was going on at church-he wasn't a member of this church or anything, he was just interested, I guess, because she came here.

through donations to a building fund, and debt free upon completion. Milam himself was a new Christian in the mid-1970s, and as his wife Opal recalled, " ... so on fire for the Lord nothing short of the rapture would keep him from church." Such enthusiasm and devotion led to one of the more interesting services in the history of the church. Opal Milam recalled the unique circumstance: "At that time we lived about the farthest from church as anyone, and the snow had drifted the roads closed and the church cancelled the service. Needless to say, we didn't get the word. "So we started our 18-mile drive with no problems. We went by and picked up Barney and Ginger (Marowelli)-they hadn't received the word for whatever reason. When we arrived at an empty church, you should have seen pastor's face. "He called Muriel over from the house, and we had our church service, remembering Matthew 18:20 ('For where two or three are gathered in My
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'It's a building that's very usable and gets used particularly in the fall through the spring many nights during the week, and of course all of the banquets it just accommodates greatly." So appreciative was the church of the role Milam played in the various building projects, it eventually designated a special day to honor him and his wife. "Don's Day" featured a special dinner, the gift of a step-ladder full of thankyou cards, and a plaque commemorating his efforts. In order to expand further, the church needed land upon which to build. It acquired enough to give it a total of three and one-half acres around the church building itself, and later was able to purchase 11 acres of land on the south side of Rome Road. That land houses a softball diamond and a parsonage built in 1989, costing approximately $78,000. Church members kept the cost down by laboring voluntarily. The second parsonage allowed the assistant pastor, the Rev. Jack Hassenzahl, to move his family into the existing parsonage. West Rome hired Lawrence LaFollette as its first assistant pastor in 1978, and he was succeeded by Rob

"Anyway he heard about this possibility of building a pastor's study and nursery. And so, he wanted her to go back to me and tell me that I should tell the church that he would give us two weeks after the announcement, and whatever money the church gave toward the project, he would meet that amount, because he was interested in doing something. "So I announced it to the church, simply told them what he said, and we decided in two weeks we would take up an offering for this project. As I recall, the offering was four thousand, nine hundred and some dollars, and almost to the penny (if doubled) paid for the whole thing-and of course, he matched that in two weeks. So we had the money for it before we even began." An addition to the church activities building in 1985 provided more Sunday School classrooms, a lobby area and kitchen facilities, as well as an office for the assistant pastor. The addition ran the entire length of the existing building, as well as extending beyond the lobby facilities on one end. This addition cost approximately $50,000. "It's just a great asset to us," Pastor Corbin noted.
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Corbin in 1979. In 1982, Pastor Rob Corbin left West Rome to receive further training at Dallas Theological Seminary, where he would eventually surrender his life to serve as a missionary in Central America. Pastor Jack Hassenzahl succeeded the younger Corbin in the position of assistant pastor. In addition to people and buildings growing in number at the church, West Rome's outreach through various programs swelled as well. The church began a bus ministry in 1975, purchasing a 66-passenger Ford bus for $5,500. A second bus was later added, and the two were used to bring young children to the church. The bus was used for church trips as well, and West Rome voted in 1980 to purchase a brand new bus at the cost of $22,000. A church van was also obtained, allowing a ladies handbell choir to have an easy means of traveling to concerts. The van was also used by other small groups. In addition to the bus ministry, the junior church (a separate church service geared toward children, occurring simultaneously with the regular service) and the Jolly 60's, the church began a traveling puppet ministry. This was another way of presenting the gospel to various groups. A youth choir called "The Sonshiners" was instituted under the direction of Mrs. Corbin. The group traveled to churches in the area and in other states to sing. Mrs. Corbin later directed the ladies handbell choir, and served as the choir director for the regular church choir since the Corbins first arrived at West Rome. The church also instituted a tape ministry. 36

All the services of the church were recorded on audio cassette tapes, and distributed to shut-ins, allowing them to hear the messages, music and concerns of the church as if they were able to attend. The Ladies Mission and Aid Society existed before the Corbins arrived, and was continued. The group makes items for missionaries to use, and assists in many other areas as well. A Faith Promise giving program was begun in the latter 1980s, and in 1989 the church reported supporting 34 missionaries or mission projects. In the first year of the program,

more than $16,000 was promised by church members. In 1988, the promise jumped to better than $21,000, which is in excess of regular tithes and offerings and apart from regular mission giving. The church immediately took on five new missionaries upon seeing the increased pledge. Programs for the youth include the junior church, the AWANA program, a youth group for older youngsters, and two different camp programs. The church installed a library in one of the earliest additions in the Corbin years at West Rome. That has been upgraded throughout their ministry here. Pastor Corbin has preached in the Lenawee County Jail on a regular basis to inmates, and has served as a member of the Bixby Hospital Chaplaincy Program. He also has had many opportunities to preach at nursing homes and retirement apartment complexes. Sports programs in the church throughout the 1970s and 1980s included, at various times, men's and women's softball teams, a men's basketball team, a church bowling league, and men's and women's volleyball teams. Pastor Corbin cited these activities as good not only recreationally, but as opportunities for fellowship. Asked about the purpose of the church, Pastor Corbin said: "Even in our constitution, it says we are to be responsible for the evangelizing of the lost here and abroad. That of course is crucial. The Lord Jesus said, 'Ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and Judea, and Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the earth.' So we're trying to do thatour main goal is to get the gospel out to a lost and dying world. "I think we need to do that here, in this community, in Lenawee County, in our state ... also in our nation and across this world. We do that through our missionary program. "We must also keep before us helping Christians, those who know Christ as savior, grow in the faith. That is my responsibility as pastor in teaching and preaching, that we all might grow, we all might learn about God and the Bible, and the principles that God gives us to live on. We need to grow, to be continually growing, until our time here on the

earth is done." Of the church's sesquicentennial in 1989, Pastor Corbin had this to say: "One hundred and fifty years this church has been in existence. I thank God for the birth of this church, 150 years ago, and the fact that people have remained, through all these years, people that we've never met-and it would be great someday to meet them-have remained faithful in carrying this work on, in keeping this work going for God. For 150 years-not very many people can say that. "We have been facing the reality that today, this is our work now. We're responsible for this today. Our people here at West Rome are all encouraged, and we want to keep before us that we want to continue to carry this work on, that it might grow and be prosperous, that when we pass on, we can hand on that same heritage to someone else who will take over." There were, as with any ministry, good times and difficult ones during the Corbin years at West Rome, and Pastor Corbin recounted some of them. "We've had some great services here at West Rome. I've always found it easy, for the most part, to preach at West Rome. And not only me, but I've had many, many visiting preachers who preached in this pulpit make the same statement-about how easy it is to preach here. It's like people are hungry for the Word of God, and very receptive to it. There's a real good spirit in this place. "The greatest thrill for me as a pastor is seeing lost people reached for Christ, and to see their lives turn around, totally turn around. What a change comes into their heart and life. To see them remain faithful, to see them stay in church, to see the growth in their everyday lives, and to see them victoriously live for Christ-that's the thing that's the greatest thrill for any pastor." One of the more difficult times for the pastor and the church came in the mid-1970s, when, as Pastor Corbin related, "There was an attempt by one of the members, a lady, to bring tongues, the speaking of tongues, into the church. She was a member who was quite active in the church in music, and a Sunday School teacher. "One day she said to me, 'Pastor, I've received the baptism of the Holy Ghost,' and
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(mentioned) speaking in tongues. She felt led of God, she said, to get tongues into the church." Pastor Corbin responded by removing her from all positions of leadership in the church, "Because this was totally against our belief." He then felt led of the Lord to preach a series of messages regarding spiritual gifts, which went on for eight Sunday nights. The woman would nut relent in her belief, and a visit by the pastor and three deacons was to no avail. Ultimately the matter was brought before the entire church body, and the woman and her family were voted out of the church. "That went on for about two and one-half years," Pastor Corbin recalled, "and it was a difficult time. (But) it caused us to be closer to the Lord, to lean upon Him, and I believe it was a unifying thing in the end for our church." There were other times of unification as well, far more pleasant to recall. "I remember the dedication service we had for this first addition we added on, when there was 476 people here. It was a thrilling thing. Dr. Harry Love was the speaker that morning, the Sonshiners sang for the special music ... I remember Dr. Love mentioning what a touching service it was, as we praised God for what He had done. "Other times we had special dramatic plays. Rob was the director of them. We did "The Centurian,' and 'The Robe.' We had all kinds of scenery. I remember we wanted a fog effect for the scene around the cross, with the soldiers and so forth, and we had to go to Toledo to get dry ice-that was the closest place we could find. "So Rob and I made several trips, because we ran this three days, Friday night, Saturday night and Sunday night. They put that in a barrel some way, and Harold Bowman and Kevin Brooks, I think it was, devised some kind of blower on it that would blow that fog out across the stage. "And then in the opening service of that program, for the storm scene at the cross, when the fog was coming out, and we had special sound effects and so forth, but an actual storm came that night. The lightning flashed around here, and the claps of thunder rolled across the sky, and it just fit in perfect. We all talked about that, how it thrilled us, and great crowds of people came for those services each night. God just blessed in a marvelous way. "When Muriel and I had been here five 38

years, Tom Britsch was the Sunday School Superintendent, and he called Muriel and I up to the front to give us our Christmas gift." A game was played wherein the pastor chose one of three envelopes, and had the opportunity to trade for what was in the other envelopes. Two of the gifts were gags-then the third was selected. "It said a round trip ticket to New York City," the pastor recalled. "And we thought, man that'd be great, but we really didn't know what was going on in New York City. Tom said, 'Do you want that?' and we said 'Yeah, we'd take that.' But we still didn't know what it was all about. "He said, 'All right, here's a check for a side trip to Israel, and he gave us a check for $3,000. That was on our fifth anniversary here at West Rome Baptist Church, but it was also our 25th wedding anniversary. That was the most thrilling thing ... we had no idea they were even doing that. "They didn't take that money out of the church. People gave that money out of their hearts and their pockets for that trip, and it was the greatest trip Muriel and I have ever had the opportunity of taking. "Then on our 10th anniversary, unbeknownst to us again, I went up to preach that morning, and our assistant pastor cut me off and said he had something else to say first. I thought that was strange that he would do that, but I sat back down and they had a special program planned for us. "They'd secretly brought our boys back. Todd was in California at the time, and Rob was in Texas, and of course Ladd was here. They had them stashed away, and brought them in, and brought my mom and dad up, and my sister and her husband from Ohio. Dr. Love was here again, and presented us with some gifts. Of course, to have our family united again was an unexpected thrill and surprise." He also mentioned the many concerts, visiting preachers and missionaries, and special services West Rome has hosted down through the years as being a tremendous thrill. The spirit of giving which pervaded West Rome Baptist Church through the 1970s and 1980s extended beyond foreign missions and surprises for the pastor. When difficulties arose for someone in the church, others pitched in to assist. When the Gary Whitson home burned down, church members banded together to donate

food and other material goods, and thousands of dollars were colleced in special offerings for the family. The Carl Funk family was in a serious automobile accident, with Carl Funk bedridden for weeks in an Albion hospital. Again, the church responded, taking up special offerings on several occasions to help see the family through a time when Carl was unable to work. "On just a number of occasions," Pastor Corbin noted, "people have helped one another as a church family, helping one of our own who was having a difficult time, especially financially and physically." The church also initiated a program in which it provides a small amount of monthly support for college students attending Christian colleges. The church sent numerous such students to school, many of whom went on to fulltime Christian service in various capacities. As West Rome Baptist Church entered 1989, many plans were laid for its sesquicentennial year. A committee headed by Tom and Judy Britsch helped in the preparations. Special services were conducted, church members signed up to read the entire Bible through during the year via a program supplied to them, and special speakers (including several of the former pastors named in this document) were enlisted to help the church celebrate.

A theme song was adopted for the sesquicentennial year, entitled "Find Us FaithfuL" Written by Jon Mohr, the chorus of the song states Oh may all who come behind us find us faithful May the fire of our devotion light their way May the footprints that we leave Lead them to believe And the lives we live inspire them to obey Oh may all who come behind us find us faithful. A special church bulletin was devised, citing the sesquicentennial and bearing the slogan adopted for the year-long celebration: "150 years of faithfully preaching the gospel ... Lord, find me faithful." Pastor Corbin commented further on the sesquicentennial, saying: "When we think about our sesquicentennial, how the gospel has been preached here for 150 years, it's remarkable to me. This country church, standing here on the corner of Rome Road and Hawkins Highway, really not close to a town ... how could a church like this survive? How could it be successful? "I believe it's because it's been quite evident the people through the years have remained faithful to God, and to the best of their ability tried to serve God in the way that He would have them to do. "I know that through these years, there must have been the lean years, good times, hard times, sad times, joyful times, just like we experience today. But they remained faithful. It came to my attention that particularly during the late 1940's and early 1950's, that the church was the next thing to finished, the next thing to being closed. Attendance was down to-at a good service-12 people totally. "But I understand five ladies banded together to pray that God would keep the doors open. I believe
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that there was talk about closing up the church, as you see many country churches close today. But they didn't want to see that, they didn't think that would be the will of God, so they prayed that God would keep the doors open. "God heard their prayers, and answered their prayers. Terry Lytle came in the early 50's. I think he was youth pastor of a church in Jackson at the time. He came to fill in, and they called him as their pastor, and for a number of years ... he remained here as pastor of West Rome Baptist Church. He got it going, and attendance picked up and their church began to thrive again. "Again, I think about what God is doing now, and what are we to do in the future? My vision, my prayer, and the prayer and vision

of this people is that we are excited that we are part of it. We're a part of it today-this is our time now, and we want to continue on, and we want to do our part in the work. We want our children and young people in the church to be brought up in this work, and to carry it on after our time is finished, should the Lord not come before that. "Our concern is that we don't become apathetic and lose the vision or that we don't press on as the Bible says we are to do. That we get lax, which would allow it to slip, and to fail, and to die. "That would be a tragedy. Certainly, we don't want that to happen. With God's help and God's grace, I trust that will not happen, and that we'll be found faithful until the Lord takes us home."

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HERITAGE
Celebrate the Past - - - Create the Future
We are celebrating West Rome Baptist Church's heritage, marking 150 years of FAITHFULLY PREACHINGTHE GCSPEL. We look back with spiritual pride at what God has done through our founding fathers and their successors. We want you to celebrate with us. We recognize we had little to do with the past. We have everything to do with shaping the futurewe are the history and heritage for the generations to come. If the Lord should tarry another 100 or 150 years, how will our children and our children's c~ildren view us? will they see a people who lived each day purposefully for Jesus Christ, whose drivitlg daily motivation was to serve an almighty God? Or will ours be a legacy of hedonistic shallownes8r will they celebrate another 150 years of FAITHFULLY PREACHINGTHE GOSPEL?Or will the saints of that time travel by these buildings and mention in passing: "They left their first love." Celebrate our heritage with us. More importantly, help us build a heritage for those who will come after us. Our desire is that you will purpose to live the life of a HERITAGECREATORso aptly described in a song by Jon Mohr entitled "Find Us Faithful:" Oh may all who come behind us find us faithful May the fire of our devotion light their way May the footprints that we leave Lead them to believe And the lives we live inspire them to obey.

0000000
oh may all who come behind us find us faithful After all our hopes and dreams have come and gone And our children sift through all we've . _ 't behind May the clues that they discover ar.e' [he memories they uncover Become the light that leads them to the road we each must find. Oh may all who come behind us find us faithful May the fire of our devotion light their way May the footprints that we leave Lead them to believe And the lives we live inspire them to obey Oh may all who come behind us find us faithful May the fire of our devotion light their way May the footprints that we leave Lead them to believe And the lives we live inspire them to obey oh may all who come behind us find us faithful Oh may all who come behind us find us faithful.

FIND US FAITHFUL
Words and Music by Jon Mohr We're pilgrims on the journey of the narrow road And those who've gone before us line the way Cheering on the faithful, encouraging the weary Their lives a stirring testament to God's sustaining grace. Surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses Let us run the race not only for the prize But as those who've gone before us Let us leave to those behind us The heritage of faithfulness passed on through godly lives Oh may all who come behind us find us faithful May the fire of our devotion light their way May the footprints that we leave Lead them to believe And the lives we live inspire them to obey.