Nazarenes on the Move! Past, Present, & Future
By Tim Jordan, Ph.D.
“This World is Not Our Home . . . or is it?”
“Set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.”
(Colossians 3: 1)
The year was 1929. The American stock market tumbled to the ground with a loud crash! The great stock market crash left the American economy in shambles and led to 10 years of a great depression. 2,500 banks in the United States failed and closed their doors. Many people lost everything. People could not pay their mortgages. Many foreclosures of homes, farms, and businesses.
By 1931, the unemployment rate had doubled to 16.3%. (300% higher than today). Due to a serious drought in the Midwest, food prices skyrocketed as the farm fields turned into dustbowls.
Many U.S. car manufacturers went out of business as people did not have money to buy cars.
The average wages per year in 1931 was $ 1,800. Gasoline was $ 0.10 per gallon. A loaf of bread was $ 0.08. A Ford Model A car cost $ 640.
Ah yes, 1931 was quite a year! Al Capone was convicted that year on tax fraud charges. The Empire State Building was completed and became the tallest building in the world. Work began on the Hoover Dam. Herbert Hoover was President of the United States and Charlie Chaplin’s film, “City Lights” became a top attraction.
That same year, a young married couple in Oregon Township on Cresceus Road, decided to organize a small group in their home and have weekly meetings on Sundays. Mr. and Mrs. Hiram Wescott began to invite their friends, neighbors, and co-workers to their new home group.
In just a few months, the small group of Christians grew quickly and outgrew the Westcott’s home. They moved to a vacant building that formerly housed a café.
On October 29, 1932, they officially formed a new church.
After counting the cost, and testifying to the Saving Grace of Jesus, and to the sanctifying power of the Power of the Holy Spirit, the fledgling congregation was officially organized as the Third Church of the Nazarene.
This group of committed, faithful believers continued to share their faith with others and the church continued to grow. They moved out of the vacant café to a rented hall and then moved again to a larger storefront.
In late 1934, church members gave $ 700 for the construction of the new church building. By 1936, the new building was complete and became known as the East Broadway Church of the Nazarene.
Throughout the decades of the 40’s and 50’s God continued to nurture and grow this community of Nazarenes, bringing about another time of transition and relocation.
In the late 1950’s, property was purchased at 2350 Starr Ave. in Oregon and construction began on a larger church. People of the church gave sacrificially of their time, talents, and money . . . some even mortgaging their homes to help pay for construction costs. On July 16, 1961, the Oregon First Church of the Nazarene was dedicated to the Lord.
In 1999, after much prayer and deliberation, church leaders agreed that the facility and property at 2350 Starr Avenue was too small to meet the needs of future generations.
After four years of searching for property, God miraculously provided 38 acres of property on Starr Avenue Extension. In April of 2003, the congregation unanimously voted to purchase the property. In April of 2004, the congregation voted to relocate to the new property.
On Sunday September 7, 2008, the congregation worshipped together for the first time in the new facility that God provided. The congregation praised God enthusiastically as they celebrated God’s grace and goodness! At the start of the service that morning, they rose to their feet as one, raised their hands to heaven, and shouted, “Thank You Lord! Thank You Lord!”
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