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The Newport church of Christ |
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A Brief History of the
The church of Christ that meets in Newport assembled itself for the first time in 1920 when Bob and Ben Jones and their wives began meeting together as the local congregation of saints. Having lived in Florida for several years, they had come in contact with the gospel (Romans 1:16), obeyed it (Romans 6:18), and were added to the Lord's church (Acts 2:48). After returning to the Newport area, they continued to meet as the body of Christ in this community. The first preacher to serve this congregation was W. A. Cameron. We grew and in 1923 purchased the old Venoila School Building on the Nine Foot Road (for $40.00), where brethren continued to assemble regularly for several years. In 1954, we moved into our present meeting house on Lakeview Drive. For a great number of years, ours was the only congregation in eastern North Carolina that was faithful to God's word. As the population of this area began to grow, brethren planted (or helped plant) neighboring congregations in Morehead City, New Bern, Swansboro, Jacksonville, and Havelock. Of these congregations, two (Jacksonville and Havelock) have digressed into institutionalism, practicing the sponsoring church arrangement in evangelism and benevolence. Over the years, this congregation has had many outstanding gospel preachers fill our pulpit, including: C. Ledford, Elvis Bogarth, Harry Pickup Sr., Charles Crider, Andy de Clerk, Wiley Adams, Tom Roberts, Leslie Sloan, Paul Nagy, Bill Collett, Dennis Hamlin, Jack Gibbert, Marvin Kelly, Clark Dugger, Thornton Pringle, Hal Snyder, Eric Matthews, Craig Hearne, and Eric Dougherty (who preaches for the Cherry Point Church of Christ in Havelock). Presently, James Clark is doing the preaching. This page was created by Hal Snyder on July 15, 1999 and is based on the recollections of Charles Thomas Pringle and Raymond Simmons, as gathered by the author during the late 80s and early 90s. This page was last updated on Aug. 1, 2008. |
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