History of Englewood Christian Church

As with all family histories, to find the beginnings of the congregation at the Englewood Christian Church, one must take a look at the past. Almost 200 years ago in 1820, a small log church was built in the Liberty Hill community, outside of the present-day town of Englewood. The members of that congregation included names like Casteel, Jacks, Elliott, Daugherty, Burger, Cass, Cole and White. Many descendants of those families continue to attend church at the Liberty Hill Church of Christ today. Other descendants of those families today attend church here at the Englewood Christian Church.

As the town of Englewood grew, many people from Liberty Hill moved to town to find work. There was no Church of Christ here, so many of those people continued to attend church at Liberty Hill.

In 1922, a preacher by the name of Charles Holder came to Englewood. Mr. Holder was born on July 7, 1873 to John Denton and Sue Gillentine Holder in White County, Tennessee. He was baptized at the Jericho Church of Christ in 1902 and began preaching soon after his baptism. Where he preached was determined by where he felt called to preach rather than where he would be paid more money.

In April 1922, Charles Holder preached for three nights in Englewood in the Methodist church building. Later, a tent was placed on the site where the town's water tank now stands, and he began preaching a three week revival on Jul 21, 1922. On August 2, Charles Holder baptized three young people, Laurie Sutton, Clondon Daugherty and Earl Burger.

Charter members of the Church were:

In September 1922, the Sunday School was organized and the first officers and teachers were chosen. A. T. Daugherty was the first Sunday School Superintendent; Mamie Miller, Secretary; E. M. White, J. C. Hunt, A. T. Daugherty and Mrs. G. M. Daugherty were teachers. Earl Burger was the song leader. The average attendance was about fifty people.

For about five years the Church met in the old bottling works building until they were able to build a church. In 1927 the building was completed and the congregation moved to the present site. Along with the change in location came another change which was not so readily welcomed by all. An organ was introduced in the Church which caused the congregation, as well as some families, to split. The members who left returned to the Church of Christ where there were no musical instruments.

For the next few years, young men came from Johnson Bible College to preach. Sometimes the offering was enough to pay the boys' fare back to the college by train. In August of 1936, church officers met to consider how often they could have Willis H. Fowler to come and preach. It was decided to have him come down twice a month and pay him $7.50 a trip.

During the Depression years, attendance stayed around thirty to thirty-five. By 1942, things had improved enough that the Church hired its first full-time minister, J. Wycliffe Busch. When Wycliffe began, the Church owed $1,600 for the building and the baptistry was filled with coal. Preacher Busch insisted that the coal be removed and the baptistry be filled with water. As the Church's first full time minister, Wycliffe Busch received $10.00 a week pay, which had increased to $25.00 by the time he left after two years.

Englewood's second full-time minister was Johnny Phelps who preached and taught school. He remained about a year and a half and was paid $25.00 per week. Elliott Massey began preaching in November of 1946 at the age of 18. He had Floyd Clark from Johnson Bible College come down and preach a revival in 1948, which resulted in twenty-four additions to the Church.

Subsequent preachers included Paul Duckett who remained in Englewood until 1951. In March of 1951, Bill Reece became minister. He asked for a loan for $5,500 to build the education wing of the Church and was told that he could not build that type of facility for such a small amount of money; his reply was to "give him the money and he would show them what could be done".

Virgil McNeil was minister from October 1953 through 1956. In 1954 Marlin McNeil, brother of Virgil McNeil held a revival which resulted in 28 additions to the Church, 22 by baptism and 6 by statement. Also during this meeting the record attendance of 184 for Sunday School was broken two Sundays in a row with 206 and 213 present, respectively.

Lloyd Pelfrey became minister in January of 1957 but remained only a few months after receiving a call to teach at the Central Christian College in Moberly, Missouri where he became President. He has served there for 47 years. Harold McDole completed the year of 1957 and remained until 1961. During this time the church office and vestibule were added. Upon his resignation, Jack Hyder came to Englewood and had a fruitful ministry. He was followed by Ron Bird, John Diamond, Ned Mobley, Steve Young, and Charles Morris. Larry Tedrow began as minister in 1975; during his ministry the parsonage was moved with additions being made. Tom Huffman came in 1981 and during his ministry the parking lot was concreted, the pews were padded, the auditorium and upstairs classrooms were carpeted and other improvements in the church and grounds were made. Tom left to become a missionary in Australia and was followed as minister by David Fasig. During this ministry, the present Church sanctuary was built and furnished and the original church building was remodeled into a new fellowship hall and kitchen. Tom Bogardus followed and upon Tom's departure, Jody Owens was here for about a year and a half, Ron Blevins came in 2004, and was followed by Dan Underwood from 2007-2009. David Caffee is presently serving as ECC's minister.