Harold Thomas, evangelist ,with the help of Warren Howard and James Black began holding services in the Biltmore Hotel in Providence. .
The maximum attendance was 40 (mostly Navy people)
When Thomas left the area because of his duties as head of North Eastern Christian College,. Jack Lewis came to work in the area and he was followed by Carl York Smith and C. M. Tuttleton With lots of support, a building had been purchased on Beacon Avenue in Providence and home Bible studies were being held in surrounding areas .The church was showing some growth.
Some of the brethren who resided in the Quonset Naval Air Station area now began holding services in Allenton and the work continued in both places. The year was now 1954.
Because of declining attendance, due to the poor location of the Beacon Ave, building it was decided to sell that building which was done in June of 1955 and the congregation along with those in the Allenton group ,moved to the Mechanics Hall in East Greenwich . We were greatly encouraged and rejoiced in the Lord when within 4 months there were 12 local people added to the Lord’s church. Thoughts now were turning towards purchasing another building but in the interim we left East Greenwich. and began meeting in a Grange hall on Tollgate Rd (this hall has since been razed).
It wasn’t long before we were the owners of a large home on Tollgate Rd and it was ready for our occupancy in November of 1955. This building was to be utilized, not only as a place of worship but would also serve as a preacher’s home. Average attendance was 55.
Attendance began to rise and we began thinking about building a church building. Encouragement in this came from sister congregations. We received both spiritual and financial encouragement and with the financial help from Tuscaloosa Alabama. ,St .Mary’s , West Virginia, Shrevesport, Louisiana, Jacksonville, Florida and Sheffield Alabama. We purchased land on East Greenwich Ave and the work began on erecting a· new church building,
C M. Tuttleton had dream also and he was now holding services in the Greater Providence Y.M.C.A. and .Howard Sawyer, who had been the evangelist for the Warwick congregation since its move to Tollgate Rd. had left to accept a work in another area.
James Jarrett was the evangelist working here now and work he did ! Not only did he work tirelessly as evangelist but also in manual labor including pushing a wheelbarrow at the new building site. The church in R.I. was on the move and soon there were 2 buildings belonging to us in R.I. With the Lord’s help and that of caring congregations there was now a new building on Wampanoag Trail in East Providence and one on Greenwich Ave.in Warwick. The building on Tollgate Rd had been sold and in August 21, 1960 we joyfully and with thanksgiving in our hearts held the first service in the newly erected building. We were also able to purchase a preachers home on Hilliard Ave ,which is close to the church building. We also were able to purchase pews from an area group, and so we sold our folding chairs in 1961.
Walter Babcock volunteered to take charge of maintaining the building and it was no surprise to see him on his knees planting trees. A.C. Harpin volunteered to build kitchen cabinets, .a flower box for the baptistry. and put up partitions where needed. Many other sisters and brothers contributed their talents to the Lord’s work in their various ways and the work continued even though the numbers were small when the Navy left the area.
There were times when we were without a regular preacher but we have always been most fortunate in having brethren willing to fill in– Notable among these were Brothers-Thomas Stephens, Warren Howard , James Black, Walter Babcock and in later years, Walter’s son, Gary.
We are really proud of Gary as he is a native Rhode Islander who grew up in the church here and though he left for a while (once to attend a Christian college out of state and once to Connecticut and Massachusetts, where he was instrumental in establishing new congregations He is now back home and doing evangelical work in Warwick congregation and helping to establish a group in South County. At one time there was a congregation in South County (Wakefield) which sister Mildred Grinell was instrumental in starting after she had both attended Warwick congregation and held studies in her home with C. M. Tuttleton.
They met later in a little church building but as of this date I have no knowledge of the group.
EVANGELISTS WHO HAVE SERVED IN R.I. THAT I HAVE KNOWLEDGE.OF:
Harold Thomas. Jack Lewis and Carl York Smith of the Providence congregation
- M. Tuttleton, Howard Sawyer, James Jarrett, Vernon Gahagan, Bill Iden, George Furbish, Bert Newland, James Wright, and Charles Hill.
And Currently in 1989 Norm Seiders, Bill Schindel, Gary Babcock
Many others have worked tirelessly in the Lord’s vineyard and-will no doubt continue to do so till the Lord calls them home.
May God bless all those who care •
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
The church is never a place but always a people: Never a fold but always a flock. :never a sacred building but always a believing assembly. The church is you who pray, not where you pray. A structure of brick or marble. can no more be t a church than your clothes of silk or wool can be you. There’s nothing in this world that’s sacred except man and no sanctuary of God but the soul.
author unknown