The Anniversary That Almost Wasn’t
Carole and I had the privilege of attending Liberty Chapel’s 175th anniversary on June 13, 2010. However, it was an anniversary that almost wasn’t, for in 1982 the church, like so many rural churches, came perilously close to closing.
In 1982, the congregation learned of Village Missions and its ministry of keeping country churches alive. Village Missions would assign a Village Missionary and provide salary support so that he and his family could live and minister in the area full time. The church, located four miles northwest of Crawfordsville, Indiana requested leadership from Village Missions. In May 1982, Village Missions assigned Pastor Allen and Ramona Sparks. Ramona died suddenly and unexpectedly a few months later (I remember hearing the news on a Sunday morning on our field in Iowa). After some time Pastor Allen married Diane and they have ministered at Liberty Chapel ever since.
The Lord blessed and the church grew in numbers and spiritual health. Village Missions supplemented Pastor Allen’s salary until 1991. Groups, especially youth groups, have ministered in several locations throughout the country, especially at fields served by Village Missions. Jeremy and Mindi Sarver came from Liberty Chapel and are now serving with Village Missions in Volga, Iowa.
Dick Chastain relates how Liberty Chapel heard about Village Missions here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1azFvwCfAs
You can hear Jon, Sarah, and Kate Sparks sing “God Is My Shepherd” at the celebration here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UawM3QrojE
You can see pictures I took of the anniversary here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=180189&id=604744023&l=f3af29b80e
You can read an article about the celebration in the Journal & Courier newspaper here: http://www.jconline.com/article/20100605/LIFE07/6050308/-Cornfield-church-celebrating-175-years
June 23rd, 2010 at 3:30 pm
Great pictures, Brian.
I couldn’t get the you-tube videos however.
Would have loved to see Chastain’s testimony.
Charles
June 24th, 2010 at 6:41 pm
Brian—
Got the videos today and were blessed by both.
Dick can keep youin stiches and do it with a straight face.
The Sparks kids were great too.
Allen has done a really good job there over the years;
wish we had a whole lot of him.
Charles
June 29th, 2010 at 10:15 am
[...] “The Anniversary that Almost Wasn’t” is the story of how Village Missions helped Liberty Chapel in North Montgomery County, Indiana. You can find links to pictures of the celebration, as well as some video taken at Brian’s blog here. [...]