News
Kansas City Church Moves Into New Building
Bill J. Humble On Sunday, August 19, the 39th and Flora church, Kansas City, Missouri, moved into its new building, located at Brush Creek 'Boulevard and Harrison, with 610 present for the first service. Henceforth, the congregation will be known as the Brush Creek Boulevard church. The location at Brush Creek Boulevard and Harrison, one of the best in Kansas City, is only one block from the intersection of highways 50 and 71, two principal arteries of traffic, and only three blocks from the famous William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art.
The building, under construction for nearly a year, was designed by Brother Loyd Scobey of Nashville, Tennessee. The exterior construction in blond brick trimmed in stone. The auditorium will seat nearly 700 persons, and the building also includes twenty rooms for Bible classes, nursery, office and an apartment for the custodian. The building is completely air conditioned.
Adjacent to the building is a parking lot for 100 cars. An unusual feature of the building's design is that from the parking lot, one enters the classrooms without climbing any steps; while from the front of the building, one enters the auditorium without climbing a step.
This congregation, known as the 39th and Flora church for the past twenty-nine years, was established in 1919 when a small group of Christians began meeting for worship in a small building located at 33rd and South Benton in Kansas City, Missouri. There are two families who were included in that small group who are still members of the congregation.
Four years after the church was established, C. Roy Bixler began working with the congregation, the first full-time preacher in the Kansas City area.
By 1927 the congregation had outgrown the building at 33rd and South Benton, and the building at 39th and Flora was purchased from the Methodist Church. This building was used continuously by the congregation until the recent move to the new location. The 39th and Flora building has now been sold to the Kansas City Association for the Blind and is being converted into a nursery school for blind children.
Brother Bixler continued to work with the congregation until 1942 when the Twin City church was established in Kansas City, Kansas. Since then, the preachers who have worked regularly with the congregation are: G. K. Wallace, John Allen Hudson, Ted Norton, and now, the writer. The elders who serve the congregation are Wallace A. Baker, Ivan Hedges and Fred Moore.
James R. Cope of Florida Christian College, will conduct the congregation's fall meeting, November 4-11.
James L. Denison, P. O. Box 325, Agua Dulce, Texas, Oct 17: "I moved to Agua Dulce, from Marianna, Florida, the first of August. We have had three responses sine coming here. The church is progressing nicely. I am available for two meetings next year."
Choice L. Bryant, 165 S. 15th St., 'Salem, Oregon, Oct. 16 "There were two baptisms in the Keizer congregation in Salem last Sunday night. That makes a total of nine baptisms, four restorations, and 15 transfers of membership during the past 12 months in Keizer. Our present membership now stands at 85. I am to be with the Central Church in Tacoma, Washington, in a protracted meeting October 21-28."
Dean Bullock, 319 Austin, Borger, Texas, Oct. 22: "Joe Laird preached in a meeting here at Second and Deahl which closed October 17. Seven were baptized and nine confessed faults. People have come forward for the past eight Lord's days — either for membership, restoration or baptism."
Mack Kercheville, Box 3487, El Paso, Texas, Oct. 18: "During September I preached in two meetings, one in English at Dell 'City, Texas, and one in Spanish at Tucumcari, N. M. There were two baptisms at Dell City. A fine young man was baptized Sunday, October 14th at the El Paso Mexican church. My father, W. A. Kercheville, has gone over a year now completely bedfast, paralyzed on the right side, and speechless. But his mind is alert and he loves to hear from old friends, and wants to thank the many who have written. He is here in El Paso in a hospital."