Jefferson Street Christian Church celebrates 50 years

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This year, Jefferson Street Christian Church marks its 50th anniversary. To commemorate the anniversary the church planned special services September 25, October 3 and October 10 and a community wide celebration Saturday, October 3. Special guests during these weeks of celebration included previous church staff.

In a video played at the September 25th service, some of JeffStreet’s charter members shared the church’s early history.

Charter member Ivan Crawford said in 1971, several members of Lincoln Christian Church formed a steering committee to discuss starting another Christian Church. The committee had a consultant, Jim Blessing, do an extensive study on Lincoln’s demographic.

After months of study, Blessing recommended they not start another Christian church. He felt it would impact three areas with the loss of leadership, loss of membership and loss of finances.

Once the committee had discussed the findings, Crawford said they spoke to the elders. Blessing shared his findings with the elders.

Crawford recalls being asked for his thoughts by Lincoln Christian Church Minister Don Sharp. Crawford said he felt God wanted them to birth a new church.

The other committee members said they felt the same thing strongly. This information is something Crawford said is important because many JeffStreet members do not know starting the new church was intentional.

Jewel Strauss and her husband Jim, and their daughters Joy and Jeaneen were other charter members. Strauss said Lincoln Christian Church member Laramie Ruder told her they were starting a new congregation on the west side of town, which is the part Strauss' lived in. Ruder asked the Strauss family if they would help and the family talked it over. The Strauss family was involved in missions, and she felt it was a mission opportunity. They began attending the new congregation, which met in Adams School.

When the church began, Don Leach was asked to be the minister. Strauss said there was no youth group at the time, but there was a choir. They also started Vacation Bible School and had a mission group. Strauss said some thought Lincoln Christian Church had pushed those in the new church out, but she said they actually sent them out.

The people that wanted to go signed the charter and the people who decided to stay at Lincoln Christian didn’t sign it. Strauss said it was Lincoln Christian Church’s way of saying, “We are blessing you to do this work.”

To start Jefferson Street Christian Church, Gerald Carter said they put four ingredients into it. These ingredients were faith, commitment, unity and vision. Carter said the ingredients were the real power behind the decision. With the ingredients, they were off to a start and the excitement was great. Soon the new church needed to start looking for land, which Carter said was not easy.

One day, Carter said he received a postcard from Harold and Marilyn Klemm, who owned a hatchery business on Jefferson Street. The postcard read, “We would like you to come and see us.” Carter asked the Klemms what they had in mind and learned they had decided to retire after 50 years in the hatchery business. Carter told the Klemms he would like to exchange hats, which got a funny look from them.

Carter was a trustee from the church and told the Klemms he would be back after “getting power” from the church to negotiate. Carter came back a few days later to negotiate and offered $50,000 for the price of the land. The Klemms said they would be excited and blessed for their land to become a church. They then negotiated the price of the land down to $33,000.

The youngest charter member of JeffStreet was Angela Wilson Rogers. Rogers said some of her earliest memories are meeting in the chicken coop. Some of the youth group activities were in parts of the chicken coop adults would probably not have put up with, she said.

Rogers was part of the original Bible Bowl Team and worked hard to learn God’s word. The first youth minister Rogers remembers was Rich Bersett and he drove the Bible Bowl team to Denver to compete at the North American Christian Convention. The team made it into the top ten percent and through Bible Bowl, Rogers learned to study God’s word and hide it in her heart. It is one reason she will always be grateful for Bersett and the church.

Community-wide celebration helps mark the anniversary

A free community-wide Jubilee celebration held on Saturday, October 2, had a variety of special activities to mark the anniversary.

Throughout the day, musical entertainment was provided. First up was Bluegrass band Postville Express, next Aaron Hinton shared praise music. After JeffStreet Worship minister Ethan Frontone played, the JeffStreet Choir closed out the day’s entertainment.



In the foyer, a table held a posterboard with photos sharing the church’s history. Albums showed events from years past. People could also browse church directories from various years.

Though the day was overcast with a chance of rain, the church was able to hold many activities outside.

The Big Horse Power Farm out of McLean had a large wagon pulled by draft horses to give rides around the block.



Other activities included face painting, a balloon artist, and roaming juggler. Games included croquet, yard Yahtzee, yard Scrabble, bags and foursquare. Several bounce houses provided a way for kids to get out their energy.

Food included pulled pork sandwiches provided by Nuthatch Hill BBQ. Additional food options included hotdogs, chips, popcorn, and cookies. To satisfy sweet tooth's, Top Hat Creamery provided ice cream and cotton candy.

JeffStreet outreach to the community

As JeffStreet celebrates its past, present and future over three weeks, Senior Minister Michael Mallick (photo 4) said the community-wide celebration is a way to minister to others. Bringing people to a deeper relationship with God and reaching the community for Christ are important parts of Jeff Street’s mission.

Mallick said another reason for celebration this year is the church recently becoming debt free. The October 3 service celebrated JeffStreet’s present and included a mortgage burning by the church leadership.

Over the years, the church expanded and took out various mortgages. The property was purchased in 1971 for $33,000. At that time, the church put in place a $140,000 mortgage and $190,000 in bonds to get everything going.

When the fellowship hall was built, the church added a $200,000 mortgage and $125,000 in bonds. A parsonage was purchased for $175,000. With the expansion mortgage for the church, JeffStreet elder Jason Steffens said the total debt paid off over the last 50 years was $2,863,000.

In a video played at the October 3 service, current members talked about the ministry of the church. Patrick and April Doolin said sometimes there are issues that must be talked about. However, it is done in a way that is not judgmental but draws people to God. Patrick said you can come to JeffStreet and experience God’s love, learn about God and be drawn to him.

When Amber Brainard began attending JeffStreet in 2007, she said it felt very welcoming. The church gave her a sense of family and a place where she belonged. Brainard was invited to start occasionally teaching JeffStreets’ Sisters of Ruth class, which encouraged her to grow in her faith.

As Brainard talked to Cindy Smith, they both felt a need for other women to make connections. The Charis ministry has created a space for women to share and be loved and vulnerable. The women can feel equipped and equip other women.
 

Another important ministry for discipling and reaching out to the community is JeffStreet’s food pantry. It is the only pantry that delivers, which is helpful to those who are homebound or lack transportation. Ivan Crawford said the pantry has fed 13,900 people in the past few years.

To Crawford, JeffStreet’s ministries and programs is a way of the church saying it recognizes the community has needs. The ministries are a way of helping people.

Sunday, October 10, Mallick said his message will be about looking at the church’s future. He will talk about how to best build roads to the community and where the church should go from here.

To Mallick, it is all about moving in to figure out how the church can best minister to the community. He said the church wants to help the community any way it can. Being debt free means the church can do more for the community.

As JeffStreet continues its ministry, the hope is to reach the community for Christ and live out the mission of bringing people to a deeper relationship with God.

[Angela Reiners]