THE HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF CHRIST, 125 FLEGAL RD. CLEARFIELD, PA

The Church of Christ located at 125 Flegal Road, Clearfield, PA, was started on March 19, 2017. But it is a combination of two churches that has had over 90 years of history in Clearfield County. The original congregation was started by a tent meeting held in Surveyor, Pa in the 1930’s by Brother Paul Mackey of the Howard, PA Church of Christ, as a Pioneer work. A building was built at Surveyor, and as the congregation grew, in 1941, the folks attending from LeContes Mills, who walked through the woods to attend church, had an opportunity to purchase the one room school house in LeContes Mills for $1.00. So this building was purchased and services were conducted for over 70 years. As the church outgrew that building it was needful to start a new work in Clearfield, as this was the county seat of Clearfield County. So, in 1951, there were several families that went and started a mission work in Clearfield. The following information is the History of this congregation established on River Road in Clearfield, PA.

THE HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF CHRIST, RIVER ROAD, CLEARFIELD, PA

The members, who were responsible for the establishment of the church at Clearfield, were a part of the development of the LeContes Mills congregation. It was in 1951 that Bro Wilbur Martell and his wife Eva decided to begin this congregation which I guess you could classify as a mission effort. Clearfield was the County Seat and main shopping area of Clearfield County so there was a need for a church there. Brother Martell bought the ground and the building and donated and deeded it to the church. The building is situated on River Road facing the beautiful Susquehanna River. The building had quite a history as it was a Bakery and then a Brewery and then has been a church building for almost 60 years.

Brother Martell owned a coal company and so he would use some of his men to help fix up the building. He oversaw the building of the pews and Von Stiner and Les Smith, as well as others, helped to build them in Brother Martell’s garage. He was responsible for building the pews at LeContes Mills first and then the pews for the church at Clearfield. The walls and the floor had to be redone and of course a bathroom also had to be installed just to get it ready for worship. The building as it exists today has had a face lift. There were new windows installed and new siding put on in the 80’s and then a ramp was built to have easy access into the building because the building was about three steps up off of the level of the ground. The bathroom was originally in the back of the building, behind the pulpit, which of course kept people from getting up during service to go to the bathroom. In the late 80’s or early 90’s there was added a front section to the building for a bathroom and entrance room to the building.

Bro. M. J. Buffington from Austin Texas was the first preacher to hold a gospel meeting which involved two weeks. The first week he would go door to door asking people to come out to the meeting and then the next week conducted a series of meetings in which his powerful preaching produced many results. Bro. Buffington was the favorite preacher of the Clearfield congregation and in fact the Martell’s at one point bought him a car to use in his ministry. The church grew rapidly as there were many of the grandchildren of the Martell’s that would obey the gospel. Sis. Eva Martell was one who truly loved the church and she was relentless in trying to save her family and anybody else that she knew. You were not in her company very long until she would be talking Bible and telling you what you needed to do, and of course she was always right. I have often attributed the great success of the church at Clearfield to her diligence in the Lord’s work. She lived to be 100 years old and attended the services right down to almost the very end until she was bedridden and could not go. This was during an age when people sacrificed to go to church. There was a congregation at a place called East Ridge which was before the Mahaffey congregation. Brother Martell would take one of his coal trucks and many of the young kids would pile into the back of that truck and they would travel the 40-45 miles to East Ridge for gospel meetings. He also bought a station wagon so he could pick up people for church. So, through the dedication of these two, the congregation was off to a good start and continued to grow through the years because of their influence.

In its beginning, the church at LeContes Mills helped out with the teaching and trying to build up the church as well. It didn’t take long until all the seats were filled. What a glorious time that was. There were many preachers that would preach at Clearfield in those days and many of them would bring some of the younger preachers with them that was just starting out to preach. Here is a list of some of the preachers that have held meetings here:

M.J. Buffington, and several times the Raymond Foster family would come with the Buffington family, Barney Welch, Johnny Elmore, Jim and Tommy Shaw, Miles King, David Trayler, Bro. Heimer, Irvin Waters, Billy Orten, Nelson Nichols, Bro. L. K. Alexander, C.O. Etheredge, Dewitt Palmer, Jerry Johnson, Darrell Cline, Guy Mallory, Lynwood Smith, Steve Watts, Larry Robertson, Claude Moore, Billy Willis, and Raymond Stiner.

Bro. Guy Mallory and his wife Marie would move here in 1953 and continue to live here and preach and work with the congregation until 1964 when he moved to Orlando Florida and remained there until his death in 2007. He would spend a lot of time just knocking on doors in the Clearfield area. They lived in a small trailer that was situated on a vacant lot next to the Church building. After just a little while they moved the trailer to the Martell’s residence in Surveyor. After Brother Guy left, the task of teaching the congregation fell on Brother Clifford Ireland, his brother Johnny Ireland and David Martell. Beginning in the 70’s Raymond Stiner would alternate between the church at LeContes Mills and Clearfield helping out in the teaching. Brother Clifford passed away after a bout with cancer and John Ireland moved away so the teaching lineup has greatly diminished. We often never realize how important men like these are until they are gone.

In 1951 the distance between LeContes Mills and Clearfield, seemed like a long way. To those who travelled it in those days said it was like what the bible describes as a, “day’s journey”. But with today’s roads and automobiles it’s only a 15-minute drive, so the two churches decided to combine their resources and start this new congregation. Through the help of sister congregations around the country we were able to purchase the present building and with some modification and remodeling, have been able to create a very comfortable building in which to worship God. So, the history of this congregation at 125 Flegal Road is now in the making and we would like for you to be a part of it.