History

The congregation had its beginning as a body in St. Clairsville in a series of special services conducted in a tent on the Belmont County Fairgrounds, July 26-August 6, 1948, with A.H. Maner and Harold Hill as the speakers. That tent meeting was succeeded by another one the following year with Blain Cook as the keynote speaker. Both series on the Fairgrounds were collective efforts of the churches of Christ in Wheeling, West Virginia, and Belmont, Ohio. The two churches continued their involvement in the St. Clairsville work for several years into the 1950’s and 1960’s.

On October 2, 1949, nineteen people met in the County Commissioners’ Office at the Courthouse; thus, planting the Lord’s body in St. Clairsville. From there, the congregation moved to the City building in 1951. And in August, 1954, they moved to the present location on Woodrow Ave. Construction of the present auditorium and classrooms began in December of 1979 and was completed in June of the following year. On June 29, 1980, the church family worshipped in the new auditorium for the first time.

On September 27th, 2015 the church broke ground for a long-planned building at 47694 Reservoir Rd, just off of Interstate 70 in St. Clairsville. The first worship gathering was held in the new building’s MP room, while the sanctuary was being constructed, in December of 2015. The dedication service for the new completed building was held in February 2017.

For the church’s first thirteen years of her existence in St. Clairsville, several visiting preachers served in helping her become well-established in the community. In 1961, Fred Bennett and his wife, Gladys, moved here from Mansfield, Ohio, to serve as the congregation’s first full time preaching minister. His effective nine-year ministry was followed by that of Warren Lallathin’s who along with his wife, Delores, served as the preacher from 1970 until 1974. Nelson and Rita Kidder worked with the congregation during the summer of 1974. Everett and Judy Hutson moved to St. Clairsville from Boomer, West Virginia, in 1975 and served as the preaching minister until 1989. He was followed by Barry Bryson who ministered with his wife, Teresa, until 1994. In 1994 & 1995, Jim Gillaspie served the church as the preacher along with his wife, Joyce. Everett Hutson resumed his ministry in the Spring of 1996 and continued serving the church until the Summer 2013. In the Summer of 2013, Brad Schrum transitioned from his role as associate minister and began to serve as the congregation’s preaching minister. He served as the preaching minister until May 2019, when he accepted a call to preach for the Morgantown Church of Christ in West Virginia.

The congregation has also been served by six youth ministers beginning in 1988 with Brad Poe followed by Kevin Wolfgong, Wes Crum, Leonard Bearup, Richard Walton, and Travis Sharpe. In June, 1998 a longtime goal was realized when Richard Walton along with his wife Molly, came to work with the congregation as her first fulltime minister to the youth. Since 2001, Brian Games has served as the church’s youth minister being assisted by Brad Schrum in the summer of 2007, 2008 & 2010, and Van Wilson in the summer of 2009 as youth interns. In January of 2011 Brad Schrum & his wife Amanda began work as the church’s associate minister. In June of 2015, Keaton Forsythe began work as the congregation’s second full time youth minister until April 2019.

The church family has been led by sixteen different shepherds, twenty-seven different deacons along with a multitude of teachers since her 1948 beginning.

Presently Jeff Bigler, Dennis Green, Jerry Moore and Robert Miller serve as the congregation’s shepherds being assisted by several deacons—Jason Baker,  Darin Clark, Randy Gallagher, Tony Johnson, Jamie Judge, Scott McDiffitt, Tim McKeen,  and Mike Slatt.