Site Created and updated by the Media-Technology Ministry
04/02/2008
The Church Alive
James Frances Whiteside a circuit rider
Rode into the community one day
and folks gathered at the "Woods Meeting"
To hear him preach and pray.
This was the year 1864;
Many souls to the Lord were won
And thus the Methodist Protestant Church
In our community was begun.
Money was subscribed, bricks were fired
Many worked with vigor and vim;
In honor of Whiteside's memory
The chapel was named for him.
In '77 Whiteside Chapel was known
As Fawn Grove M.P. Church,
Here folks gathered weekly
For their souls to search.
A bit of humor 19-0-three
A meeting was wanted by some
One of the fold remarked, "Don't you know,
It's wheat harvest? Nobody will come!"
The preacher - man o' faith -
Very calmly said,
"I take orders from Heaven,
The Lord says, 'Go ahead'".
A great revival followed,
6000 - the need
Less than four decades had passed
Since Whiteside planted the seed.
The present brick church completed,
Dedicated in nineteen-0-five
And since that time with work and prayer
We've been "The Church Alive."
We take up the torch of Christian love
Holding high the flame,
Witnesses of Christ's redeeming power
We go forth in His name.
As brothers and sisters of Methodism,
We reverently cherish our past,
Joyously celebrate the present
And challenge our future, unabashed.
Conceived and written by Mary B. Devilbiss
Collaborator – Marlene B. Manifold