Our History...from Thelma's Eyes.
Almost one hundred years ago, the unofficial Williamsburg Church of the Nazarene began, and Thelma Greathouse was there as a teenager.
Thelma’s story, as she recalls, begins in 1928 when the Lord laid on the heart of Rev. Orville Kennedy, from a nearby Nazarene Church, to come to Williamsburg and hold a revival. He obtained a tent and pitched it in the Williamsburg school yard. The revival lasted for two weeks. After the tent meeting, Rev. Kennedy rented the lodge building, which now serves as the local fire department, and different preachers came for revivals and several people attended the services.
The church moved from tents to the Harness Shop (for horses etc., the Post Office still has a hitching post for the Amish horses and their buggies), then to a house. They rented the front part to Dr. Martin, therefore, the church attendees had to enter through the coal shed at the back of the building, which was the pulpit area. Greathouse recalls, “You had to be on time or walk past the preacher as he was preaching.” She also remembered, “One Sunday as Rev. Kennedy was preaching in a big way, his false teeth flew out of his mouth. He reached out into the air, caught them, put them back in his mouth and never missed a word of his sermon. I can’t remember a word of the sermon and why should I remember this?”
In 1932 Harriet Harris Henshaw was elected pianist and Thelma was assistant at the age of 15. While still in the fire hall, Greathouse remembers a committee appointed to see about keeping order in the services. “As I remember, they were making Route 35 at that time and we had several people from off the street coming in and out during the services. When we moved into the church, we got away from this.”
In October, 1933, the time of the evening service changed from 7:30pm to 7:00pm. “In the early days,” Greathouse says, “you didn’t get out of services until 9:00pm. Also, our revivals were scheduled for 3 weeks. I can remember one that lasted 6 weeks.”
In June, 1959, the Gaither Trio, Bill, Danny and their sister, Marianne, sang in our service. Their sister was so small, according to Greathouse, she had to stand on a chair to be seen. By 1965 the revivals went down to 10 days long.
In February 1967, they purchased their first organ. Several families agreed to clean the church and gave the janitor’s fee plus $4.00 per week to pay for it, Thelma writes. In 1973 a $50.00 memorial was given towards a communion table. One of the men contacted a brother-in-law, and he handmade the beautiful communion table that is still used today. “In June 1979, it was suggested we need an air conditioner, so we laid aside our funeral fans donated by a funeral director” Thelma notes.
After moving into the church building, adding several additions during the years, purchasing eight acres of land, constructing a family center and shelter house, Greathouse writes in 1999, “I couldn’t tell you of all the thousands of hours of volunteer work and sacrifices it has taken to give us a beautiful and warm church that we can all worship in today. What a heritage I have of seeing the little seed that was planted 71 years ago (now 90+ years) and being there to watch it grow and see it as it is today.”
Thelma’s story, as she recalls, begins in 1928 when the Lord laid on the heart of Rev. Orville Kennedy, from a nearby Nazarene Church, to come to Williamsburg and hold a revival. He obtained a tent and pitched it in the Williamsburg school yard. The revival lasted for two weeks. After the tent meeting, Rev. Kennedy rented the lodge building, which now serves as the local fire department, and different preachers came for revivals and several people attended the services.
The church moved from tents to the Harness Shop (for horses etc., the Post Office still has a hitching post for the Amish horses and their buggies), then to a house. They rented the front part to Dr. Martin, therefore, the church attendees had to enter through the coal shed at the back of the building, which was the pulpit area. Greathouse recalls, “You had to be on time or walk past the preacher as he was preaching.” She also remembered, “One Sunday as Rev. Kennedy was preaching in a big way, his false teeth flew out of his mouth. He reached out into the air, caught them, put them back in his mouth and never missed a word of his sermon. I can’t remember a word of the sermon and why should I remember this?”
In 1932 Harriet Harris Henshaw was elected pianist and Thelma was assistant at the age of 15. While still in the fire hall, Greathouse remembers a committee appointed to see about keeping order in the services. “As I remember, they were making Route 35 at that time and we had several people from off the street coming in and out during the services. When we moved into the church, we got away from this.”
In October, 1933, the time of the evening service changed from 7:30pm to 7:00pm. “In the early days,” Greathouse says, “you didn’t get out of services until 9:00pm. Also, our revivals were scheduled for 3 weeks. I can remember one that lasted 6 weeks.”
In June, 1959, the Gaither Trio, Bill, Danny and their sister, Marianne, sang in our service. Their sister was so small, according to Greathouse, she had to stand on a chair to be seen. By 1965 the revivals went down to 10 days long.
In February 1967, they purchased their first organ. Several families agreed to clean the church and gave the janitor’s fee plus $4.00 per week to pay for it, Thelma writes. In 1973 a $50.00 memorial was given towards a communion table. One of the men contacted a brother-in-law, and he handmade the beautiful communion table that is still used today. “In June 1979, it was suggested we need an air conditioner, so we laid aside our funeral fans donated by a funeral director” Thelma notes.
After moving into the church building, adding several additions during the years, purchasing eight acres of land, constructing a family center and shelter house, Greathouse writes in 1999, “I couldn’t tell you of all the thousands of hours of volunteer work and sacrifices it has taken to give us a beautiful and warm church that we can all worship in today. What a heritage I have of seeing the little seed that was planted 71 years ago (now 90+ years) and being there to watch it grow and see it as it is today.”
