Local church celebrates anniversary
Posted on Monday, October 8, 2007
BENTONVILLE — A tent revival and a house fire mark the early beginnings of Bentonville Church of Christ, which celebrates 75 years of life and growth this year.
In 1932 a group of Christians — who would soon become charter members of the Bentonville church — held a tent revival on the southeast corner of Midtown Shopping Center, where Harps is now located. Oklahoma pastor George Curtis led the two-week meeting, and on the last night, he got word that his home in Oklahoma had burned to the ground.
Curtis and his family moved to Bentonville and, with the help of locals, began what is now the Bentonville Church of Christ. The group first met in an empty building downtown and then in the Benton County Courthouse.
Members and guests of the Bentonville Church of Christ remembered and celebrated these feeble beginnings and subsequent growth at a special anniversary service Sunday afternoon. A narrated slide show told the history of the church through early photos and letters from church members.
Bentonville Mayor Bob McCaslin read a proclamation announcing Oct. 7, 2007, as Bentonville Church of Christ Day in Bentonville.
Martha Mason was recognized at the service as the oldest living charter member of the church. As a little girl, she even attended that first tent revival.
“ We talk about the stones of buildings, but also all of those preachers kept talking about the people, ” said Cliff Harris, a member of the church who presented a commemorative stone from the 1936 church to Mason. “ We are the living stones, and this is one of them. ”
Mason, who has indeed seen a lot of change in the church throughout her lifetime, said after the service that she was surprised by the recognition.
“ I remember sitting on those wooden benches at that tent meeting, ” she said between congratulatory hugs and handshakes from fellow members of the congregation.
Mason was a young person in the church in 1936, when the original group held its first service in a rock building on the corner of Southwest A and Fourth streets. The building was constructed wholly by members of the church, with the outer walls erected from stones gathered in Bella Vista. But after just a few meetings in the new building, it was destroyed by a fire, the source of which was unknown.
The next week, its members were back in the courthouse, but the church resolved to rebuild, which they eventually did with the help of the community.
In 1962, the congregation moved to its present location on North Walton Boulevard. A stone from the 1936 church sits on the present property today.
“ It was super, ” former deacon James Bush said following the church’s walk down memory lane on Sunday.
“ A lot’s gone on in the 37 years since I have been here, ” he said. “ We’ve got a great group. You can’t imagine the love that’s instilled here. ”
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