Travel Notes
Two years ago I wrote in the Gospel Guardian, "The fine Irvington Church in east Indianapolis is one of the best in the nation. With no spectacular promotion they are nevertheless going firmly ahead in planning for the establishment of more and more congregations in that city. There has been no fanfare of trumpets—just a steady diet of straight gospel preaching.'
This column is being written on the day that I close a meeting with that congregation. In the two years that have passed since I was formerly in the city, Irvington Church has established a splendid new congregation (Fountain Square Church) three miles from her location. The new church, now only a year old, was started with about 100 members from Irvington, and within this year's time has become fully organized with her own elders and deacons, is entirely self supporting, and has an average Sunday morning attendance of about 250 people. Brother David Bobo, formerly of Thayer Street Church in Akron, preaches for this church.
The Irvington meeting has been a delightful experience. We had excellent weather all the way through, and Earl West says this meeting has been better attended by Irvington's own members than any meeting in the eight years he has been here. Attendance of visitors from other congregations, however, was disappointing both to him and to me. There were notable exceptions. Austin and Hazel Elimore drove down with their daughter, Susan, from Chicago for the opening day. (That is 225 miles, and they got here in time for Sunday school.) M. F. Cottrell and Joe Miller came over from Terre Haute, 70 miles to the west, bringing with them Lloyd Boyll from Sullivan. Charley Martin came from Lynn, Indiana, which is right near the Ohio line to the east. Although there were about twenty gospel preachers in attendance, including the venerable Ben F. Taylor from Muncie, whom I met for the first time, but who was a friend of my father's for many years.
Indiana in May is everything James Whitcomb Riley ever claimed for her. The air is heavy with the sweet perfume of roses; an almost incredible number of birds fill the air with their wings, and the ear with their music. The smoke and grime of winter are covered now with the verdant foliage of spring and summer.
The Memorial Day racing classic is all the topic of conversation here. It is a sporting event that brings fans from all over the world, and has even crowded the Truman-MacArthur controversy and the Korean war off the front pages of the Indianapolis papers. I went out to the Speedway one day with brother West to watch the preliminary qualifying tests, but think I'd have little interest in he actual race itself. They broke the track record the day I was there—something over 138 miles per hour.
During the Irvington meeting I got to spend a few hours with brother L. R. Wilson who was in a meeting at Garfield Heights Church at the same time; and also had a brief visit with Foy E. Wallace, Jr., and his son, Wilson, who were through the city enroute home from meetings in other sections.