Thursday, June 02, 2005
History of Oakland Heritage Church of God
It is impossible to appreciate the history of the building now occupied by the Oakland Heritage Church of God without looking at the life of the man who built the church in 1883. Here is his story.
Jacob Blickensderfer was born May 9, 1816 at New Philadelphia, Ohio. At the age of fourteen he was sent to the Moravian academy at Nazareth, Pennsylvania, and later he attended Franklin College in New Athens, Ohio.
In 1837 he entered the service of the State as a civil engineer. In February, 1839, he married Maria Louise Tshudy. In 1845 he again entered the service of the state as member of the Board of Public Works, serving for five years.
In 1862 President Lincoln appointed him to a committee to look into building a transcontinental railroad. In 1867 – President Andrew Jackson appointed Jacob to determine the eastern base for railroad. In 1869 Jacob attended Golden Spike ceremony on May 10.
For almost forty years he served as chief engineer of the Atlantic and PacificRailroad, and again as chief and consulting engineer on the Union Pacific railway. He was one of the original incorporators of the Union Pacific railroad, and located that line west of Green river.
He also located and superintended the construction of the Oregon Short Line railway, and a number of lines in Nebraska, Kansas, Colorado and Wyoming, for the Union Pacific Company, remaining in the service of that company until he retired from business in 1893.
In 1873, Jacob was commissioned to examine and re-measure the grand avenues in Washington DC. He writes of visiting President Grant: “Walking down Pennsylvania Avenue, I followed the iron fence which bordered the park…passed through the gate and took one of the walks to the Executive Mansion..The White House was brilliantly lighted with a thousand candles. Enormous silver urns held yellow roses. (Porter) showed me through East Room, Red Room, Blue Room, and Green Room , then into the conservatory and through State dining room. …..I was shown into the President’s office (where) President Grant received me graciously.”
Jacob’s son, Robert was a Civil War veteran and was given a grant to purchase land in southern Mo. He and Jacob visited the Oakland area for the first time in 1869.
In 1881 Jacob himself purchased his first 494 acres at Oakland in January and planted an orchard. In March he purchased another 220 acres to build his mansion. In April 1882 he purchased 80 acres for a church site for his denomination, the Moravian church headquartered in Bethlehem, PA.
His son Andrew was killed in hunting accident in 1886 and his body was shipped to Lebanon, carried by hearse to Oakland, and placed in the church with his brothers watching throughout the night. He was buried next day at the side of the church.
August 31, 1988 was date set for Jacob and his wife to leave Omaha to take their permanent residence in Oakland. Louisa became sick on their way to depot and they returned to their hotel. She died the next day without getting to live in her new home in Oakland. Mourners gathered at the Oakland house in the red room. She was buried Sept 3, 1888 beside her son in the cemetery next to the church Jacob had built.
The following notes were written by his biographer, taken from entries from Jacob’s diary:
“Once again Jacob sought refuge in the library. Two years have lapsed since Louisa’s death. Railroading was an integral part of the American way of life and the building of this enormous house was a folly. With the ringing of bell for Sunday School, a sudden thought occurred to him. The little church would be his only lasting memory.”
Jacob died at Oakland February 26, 1899.
Joan’s notes follow: (These notes were written several years ago and have not yet been updated.)
The church remained with the Moravian denomination until 1915 when the Moravians no longer felt it was feasible to have a congregation there. They deeded the land to the Methodists, and the Oakland Methodist Church was established there.
In June of 1999 the Methodist congregation had pretty much died out, with only a few families remaining and they decided to close the doors of the church.
I had resigned my pastorate in Farmington MO in May 1998 due to health problems and had moved back to Lebanon, doing some interim work at the Church of God in Columbia, and worshipping as a layperson, along with my husband, Milan, at the Highland Park Church of God.
In the summer of 1999 I was contacted by a Methodist friend who knew of the situation at the Oakland Church and I was told that the Methodists were looking for a pastor and congregation to give the church to. Even though living in Lebanon all my life, neither my husband nor I had ever been out to the Oakland community, which is located 8 miles East of Lebanon in a rural part of the county.
Along with Lynn and Brenda Wood, and Wayne and Kate Chambers,all of whom had a Church of God background but were not attending a Church of God congregation at the time, my husband and I incorporated as a not for profit religious organization, and began holding Sunday evening services in the local black Methodist church while we worked out the legal details of receiving the title to the Oakland Church.
We received a deed to the church and 30 acres of land in October 1999, and we held our first service there on the first Sunday in November, with 21 people in attendance.
Two of the Methodist families stayed with us to become charter members of the Oakland Heritage Church of God. Our congregation has grown to approximately 70 people who consider this their church home and our attendance runs in the upper 40’s and low 50’s as I write this in May 2005.
None of our members have come from any of the local Churches of God in Lebanon or Bennett Spring. Most of them were unchurched before coming to our church and many came because they were invited by my husband at his barbership, where he has been barbering in Lebanon since 1962. They in turn invite their family and friends and the church continues to grow.
I am blessed now to have my family worshipping with us at Oakland. My mother and father were divorced in 1946. My mother and stepfather made their church home with us immediately, but my stepfather died 3 years ago. Last fall my father and stepmother moved back to Lebanon, and they now worship with us. We are all just one big happy family, Praise The Lord!
My brother and his wife are members of the local Assembly of God, but they worship with us about half the time and help us out in the music program. My sister and her husband live at Gravois Mills and currently have their house for sale there, hoping to move to Lebanon where they can join us in worship.
Brenda Wood, one of the original charter members, is my husband’s sister, so they too are part of the family worshipping with us.
When we took title to the church, which was built in 1883, it was still a very well maintained church. It was furnished with a hand carved pulpit original to the church as were the pews which had been padded in recent years. The sanctuary was equipped with a sound system, an organ, and a piano. There is a fellowship hall with a fully equipped kitchen and a basement beneath the fellowship hall.
Since we began holding services there, we have installed vinyl siding on the church, upgraded the sound system, purchased a new digital piano (donated), purchased new Church of God hymnals, purchased an almost new 12 passenger church van, and a new refrigerator and chest freezer have been donated to us. The church sanctuary has been re-wired, and we built 2 Sunday School rooms and a furnace room in the church basement. We have also built a storage shed for our new riding lawnmower and other items. There is a stone cottage next to the church which still needs some work done on it. It was built by the Moravians in 1900 with walls over a foot thick to house their church records. There is a large masonry fireplace inside the cottage.
Each time I re-read the last passage from Jacob Blickensderfer’s diary, I think of how many sermons have been preached from the very pulpit I stand behind each Sunday, which is original with the church………and how many hymns have reverberated through this beautiful sanctuary……..and how many people have knelt and prayed at that altar………and how many children have walked those floors, from those now gone on, to adults now in their senior years, to the little ones, 2 and 3 years old who meet with us each Sunday. This church has housed worship services now for 122 years. That’s quite a legacy, and a challenge to me to minister there so that the legacy will continue long after I am gone.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Saturday, January 9, 2010
Trying To Keep Your Books Organized?
Go to librarything.com and open a free account. (If you have lots of books like I do, you may want to pay $10 for a lifetime account, but you can list at least a hundred free.) This gives you an online inventory of your library. If your computer crashes or your house is destroyed in some way, you will have a list of your books for insurance purposes, plus you can do a "search" any time and find which books/authors/topics you have.
Article by Noreen Hyslop of Dexter (MO) Daily Statesman
An Essex native, currently residing in Poplar Bluff, recently learned all about angels on earth.
Elizabeth Sagharichi, formerly Elizabeth Black, has an angel of her own named Roya. Roya was stillborn six years ago. In a family of four boys, Roya would have been the only sister of the group.
The loss of their daughter at 20 weeks cessation came as a devastating blow to Elizabeth and her husband, Mahmoud, one for which Elizabeth says there seemed to be no closure.
"At 20 weeks, the baby was not saved to have a burial. We never got to hold her. I felt that a part of me died with her and it was very difficult to grasp when we had nothing tangible to hold on to."
An autopsy was performed on the baby, and a letter containing its findings was mailed to the Sagharichis some time following their loss. So devastated were they that they left the envelope sealed until after the birth of their next son two years later.
"That's when we realized we had a daughter," Elizabeth explains. "That doesn't, of course, make us love our boys any less. It just hurts a little worse to know we lost our only girl. I would never have believed it was possible to miss someone so much who you never really got to know, but it is."
A couple of years after their loss, the Sagharichi couple became acquainted with an organization called SHARE. Affiliated with the March of Dimes organization, SHARE holds annual campaigns, much like Relay for Life and the MS Walk held locally, but with a totally new concept at the heart of their efforts.
The group encourages parents of lost children to participate in activities that help to understand and to accept their loss, at the same time allowing them to share their experiences and feelings with others who have similar circumstances. For the Sagharichi family, the group has been "a God-send."
"My husband is a runner," says Elizabeth, "and the group holds a 5K run each August, so it provides him an added opportunity to get involved. I take part in the walk that is also part of the event."
Another event, and the one that has led to this story, is the annual release of balloons at the SHARE event. Each balloon holds a small card with the name of a child who left its parents too soon. The card also depicts the name of a sponsoring agency that helps to make the event possible.
On a hot August day in 2009, a white balloon was released with a brief message of its intent. The balloon carried the name of Roya skyward, and with that sending Elizabeth Sagharichi was content in knowing that the spirit of her daughter had been lifted up. She couldn't have imagined the response that sending would generate a short time later.
A resident in the state of Mississippi, finding the deflated balloon and its message, tracked down the sender by notifying the sponsor listed on the card. Southern Missouri Bank at Poplar Bluff then forwarded the response to the Sagharichi family. The letter would restore her faith that Roya was indeed, in good hands and that miracles do happen. The letter read:
"Dear Sagharichi family,
My name is Peter Nichol. I am writing you from my 50-acre farm located in rural Benton County, Mississippi, a lush, peaceful, rolling parcel of land very rich in history. Part of that history includes a small family cemetery dating back to the 1800s located on a secluded wooded bluff overlooking a wet weather creek. The site was overgrown and essentially lost to the wilderness when I purchased the land seven years ago, but I have recovered the area and attempt to maintain it with the dignity it deserves.
This morning was cloudy and warm with the threat of rain on the horizon. I took the opportunity to mow the grass and do some general cleaning around the cemetery. As I did this, I contemplated the sadness that must have once weighed heavily here. There are a number of very young children buried at this site. Yellow fever, I believe, was taking a heavy toll at that point in history.
Shortly after finishing my work, I noticed a small card and ribbon resting in the grass not far from the cemetery fence. It was the note that had been tethered to a balloon and released in memory of your daughter, Roya. I was very touched by the symbolism of this find and am truly saddened by your loss.
If part of Roya's spirit traveled so far and so high to find this place, she surely was a brave little girl. I know that the gentle breezes that brought her here at one time carried the joyful voices of these small children that now rest in silence, and this soil contains the tears of those who mourned the passing, I want you to know that your child's spirit and memory are safe, cherished and among friends on this small part of God's green earth.
Thoughtfully,
Peter A. Nichol"
And so the Sagharichi family considers themselves blessed, in so many ways.
Elizabeth Sagharichi, formerly Elizabeth Black, has an angel of her own named Roya. Roya was stillborn six years ago. In a family of four boys, Roya would have been the only sister of the group.
The loss of their daughter at 20 weeks cessation came as a devastating blow to Elizabeth and her husband, Mahmoud, one for which Elizabeth says there seemed to be no closure.
"At 20 weeks, the baby was not saved to have a burial. We never got to hold her. I felt that a part of me died with her and it was very difficult to grasp when we had nothing tangible to hold on to."
An autopsy was performed on the baby, and a letter containing its findings was mailed to the Sagharichis some time following their loss. So devastated were they that they left the envelope sealed until after the birth of their next son two years later.
"That's when we realized we had a daughter," Elizabeth explains. "That doesn't, of course, make us love our boys any less. It just hurts a little worse to know we lost our only girl. I would never have believed it was possible to miss someone so much who you never really got to know, but it is."
A couple of years after their loss, the Sagharichi couple became acquainted with an organization called SHARE. Affiliated with the March of Dimes organization, SHARE holds annual campaigns, much like Relay for Life and the MS Walk held locally, but with a totally new concept at the heart of their efforts.
The group encourages parents of lost children to participate in activities that help to understand and to accept their loss, at the same time allowing them to share their experiences and feelings with others who have similar circumstances. For the Sagharichi family, the group has been "a God-send."
"My husband is a runner," says Elizabeth, "and the group holds a 5K run each August, so it provides him an added opportunity to get involved. I take part in the walk that is also part of the event."
Another event, and the one that has led to this story, is the annual release of balloons at the SHARE event. Each balloon holds a small card with the name of a child who left its parents too soon. The card also depicts the name of a sponsoring agency that helps to make the event possible.
On a hot August day in 2009, a white balloon was released with a brief message of its intent. The balloon carried the name of Roya skyward, and with that sending Elizabeth Sagharichi was content in knowing that the spirit of her daughter had been lifted up. She couldn't have imagined the response that sending would generate a short time later.
A resident in the state of Mississippi, finding the deflated balloon and its message, tracked down the sender by notifying the sponsor listed on the card. Southern Missouri Bank at Poplar Bluff then forwarded the response to the Sagharichi family. The letter would restore her faith that Roya was indeed, in good hands and that miracles do happen. The letter read:
"Dear Sagharichi family,
My name is Peter Nichol. I am writing you from my 50-acre farm located in rural Benton County, Mississippi, a lush, peaceful, rolling parcel of land very rich in history. Part of that history includes a small family cemetery dating back to the 1800s located on a secluded wooded bluff overlooking a wet weather creek. The site was overgrown and essentially lost to the wilderness when I purchased the land seven years ago, but I have recovered the area and attempt to maintain it with the dignity it deserves.
This morning was cloudy and warm with the threat of rain on the horizon. I took the opportunity to mow the grass and do some general cleaning around the cemetery. As I did this, I contemplated the sadness that must have once weighed heavily here. There are a number of very young children buried at this site. Yellow fever, I believe, was taking a heavy toll at that point in history.
Shortly after finishing my work, I noticed a small card and ribbon resting in the grass not far from the cemetery fence. It was the note that had been tethered to a balloon and released in memory of your daughter, Roya. I was very touched by the symbolism of this find and am truly saddened by your loss.
If part of Roya's spirit traveled so far and so high to find this place, she surely was a brave little girl. I know that the gentle breezes that brought her here at one time carried the joyful voices of these small children that now rest in silence, and this soil contains the tears of those who mourned the passing, I want you to know that your child's spirit and memory are safe, cherished and among friends on this small part of God's green earth.
Thoughtfully,
Peter A. Nichol"
And so the Sagharichi family considers themselves blessed, in so many ways.
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Burnt Biscuits
I received this in an email today and thought it was SO appropriate for churches, as well as marriages and friendship relationships. Please read it in its entirety.
Subject: Burnt Biscuit
When I was a kid, my mom liked to make breakfast food for dinner every now and then.. And I remember one night in particular when she had made breakfast after a long, hard day at work.
On that evening so long ago, my mom placed a plate of eggs, sausage and extremely burned biscuits in front of my dad. I remember waiting to see if anyone noticed! Yet all my dad did was reach for his biscuit, smile at my mom and ask me how my day was at school. I don't remember what I told him that night, but I do remember watching him smear butter and jelly on that biscuit and eat every bite!
When I got up from the table that evening, I remember hearing my mom apologize to my dad for burning the biscuits. And I'll never forget what he said: "Honey, I love burned biscuits."
Later that night, I went to kiss Daddy good night and I asked him if he really liked his biscuits burned. He wrapped me in his arms and said, "Your Momma put in a hard day at work today and she's real tired. And besides - a little burnt biscuit never hurt anyone!"
Life is full of imperfect things.....and imperfect people. I'm not the best at hardly anything, and I forget birthdays and anniversaries just like everyone else. But what I've learned over the years is that learning to accept each others faults - and choosing to celebrate each others differences - is one of the most important keys to creating a healthy, growing, and lasting relationship.
And that's my prayer for you today. That you will learn to take the good, the bad, and the ugly parts of your life and lay them at the feet of God. Because in the end, He's the only One who will be able to give you a relationship where a burnt biscuit isn't a deal-breaker!
We could extend this to any relationship. In fact, understanding is the base of any relationship, be it a husband-wife or parent-child or friendship!
"Don't put the key to your happiness in someone else's pocket - keep it in your own."
God Bless You...... Now, and Always....
So Please pass me a biscuit, and yes, the burnt one will do just fine.!.!.!..! And PLEASE pass this along to someone who has enriched your life.... I just did
HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!
Subject: Burnt Biscuit
When I was a kid, my mom liked to make breakfast food for dinner every now and then.. And I remember one night in particular when she had made breakfast after a long, hard day at work.
On that evening so long ago, my mom placed a plate of eggs, sausage and extremely burned biscuits in front of my dad. I remember waiting to see if anyone noticed! Yet all my dad did was reach for his biscuit, smile at my mom and ask me how my day was at school. I don't remember what I told him that night, but I do remember watching him smear butter and jelly on that biscuit and eat every bite!
When I got up from the table that evening, I remember hearing my mom apologize to my dad for burning the biscuits. And I'll never forget what he said: "Honey, I love burned biscuits."
Later that night, I went to kiss Daddy good night and I asked him if he really liked his biscuits burned. He wrapped me in his arms and said, "Your Momma put in a hard day at work today and she's real tired. And besides - a little burnt biscuit never hurt anyone!"
Life is full of imperfect things.....and imperfect people. I'm not the best at hardly anything, and I forget birthdays and anniversaries just like everyone else. But what I've learned over the years is that learning to accept each others faults - and choosing to celebrate each others differences - is one of the most important keys to creating a healthy, growing, and lasting relationship.
And that's my prayer for you today. That you will learn to take the good, the bad, and the ugly parts of your life and lay them at the feet of God. Because in the end, He's the only One who will be able to give you a relationship where a burnt biscuit isn't a deal-breaker!
We could extend this to any relationship. In fact, understanding is the base of any relationship, be it a husband-wife or parent-child or friendship!
"Don't put the key to your happiness in someone else's pocket - keep it in your own."
God Bless You...... Now, and Always....
So Please pass me a biscuit, and yes, the burnt one will do just fine.!.!.!..! And PLEASE pass this along to someone who has enriched your life.... I just did
HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Amazing Grace
Grace. It’s been called “amazing”, “marvelous”, “limitless”, “unbounded”, and several other adjectives of a superlative nature.
We know it emanates from God. It has been defined as unmerited favor…… in other words, something God bestows upon us that we don’t deserve and could never earn no matter how hard we worked.
Grace is distinguished from justice and mercy in this way:
Justice is when you get what you deserve.
Mercy is when you don’t get what you deserve.
Grace is when you get what you don’t deserve.
Grace is one of those words Christians skip over a lot in reading the Bible, or hearing it preached, thinking we know what it means, but most of us don’t have a clue most of the time.
But when you can put a “face” to grace, the meaning comes forth in all its glory.
Last week we had an opportunity to see how grace works in real life. One of the men in our church “messed up”. He didn’t mean to. He really didn’t do anything bad. Like the proverbial definition of beauty, the immaturity of his actions lay more in the eyes of the beholders, but in our day and time, when perception equals reality, all of us who claim to be Christians must be very aware that people, both inside and outside the Christian community, are watching us, and making judgments, whether rightly or wrongly.
And sometimes our actions extend beyond the bounds of what is socially acceptable even into the realm of what could be considered a violation of the law.
So as a church we dealt with this issue in love, making our brother aware that his actions were being questioned and even criticized.
He accepted the Biblical and legal caution given to him and sought forgiveness for his actions and a willingness to use better judgment.
And while it was difficult for him to come back to church on Sunday because he genuinely believed people no longer liked him, he took that difficult step, and when he walked into the church, he walked into the arms of grace extended to him by a loving church family.
Only God knows the human heart, and He extends grace to all who repent and seek forgiveness for their sin. I do not believe our brother had sinned. The Biblical definition of sinning is “the willful rebellion and rejection of God and His law”. Instead his need of grace was due to some errors in judgment which he genuinely acknowledged and repented of.
Who among us does not need God’s grace on a daily basis, and for grace to be extended to us by our church family from time to time. Sometimes our actions have been hidden from all human eyes and only God knows our need for grace. Sometimes our actions are public, and when that happens we need the grace that only a loving church family can give.
As a church family, we have reached out to him, some with simple declarations of love and support, some with handwritten notes of their love, and the assurance of prayer, but all with the full knowledge that not one of us is any better than the other, that we all have sinned from time to time, that we all have made mistakes in judgment, that we all have failed the Lord and each other many times in this daily journey we call the Christian life.
And so we extended this amazing, marvelous grace which we received from the Lord back to the brother we love so much because we know……someday…..inevitably….we will need him and others to extend it to us.
We know it emanates from God. It has been defined as unmerited favor…… in other words, something God bestows upon us that we don’t deserve and could never earn no matter how hard we worked.
Grace is distinguished from justice and mercy in this way:
Justice is when you get what you deserve.
Mercy is when you don’t get what you deserve.
Grace is when you get what you don’t deserve.
Grace is one of those words Christians skip over a lot in reading the Bible, or hearing it preached, thinking we know what it means, but most of us don’t have a clue most of the time.
But when you can put a “face” to grace, the meaning comes forth in all its glory.
Last week we had an opportunity to see how grace works in real life. One of the men in our church “messed up”. He didn’t mean to. He really didn’t do anything bad. Like the proverbial definition of beauty, the immaturity of his actions lay more in the eyes of the beholders, but in our day and time, when perception equals reality, all of us who claim to be Christians must be very aware that people, both inside and outside the Christian community, are watching us, and making judgments, whether rightly or wrongly.
And sometimes our actions extend beyond the bounds of what is socially acceptable even into the realm of what could be considered a violation of the law.
So as a church we dealt with this issue in love, making our brother aware that his actions were being questioned and even criticized.
He accepted the Biblical and legal caution given to him and sought forgiveness for his actions and a willingness to use better judgment.
And while it was difficult for him to come back to church on Sunday because he genuinely believed people no longer liked him, he took that difficult step, and when he walked into the church, he walked into the arms of grace extended to him by a loving church family.
Only God knows the human heart, and He extends grace to all who repent and seek forgiveness for their sin. I do not believe our brother had sinned. The Biblical definition of sinning is “the willful rebellion and rejection of God and His law”. Instead his need of grace was due to some errors in judgment which he genuinely acknowledged and repented of.
Who among us does not need God’s grace on a daily basis, and for grace to be extended to us by our church family from time to time. Sometimes our actions have been hidden from all human eyes and only God knows our need for grace. Sometimes our actions are public, and when that happens we need the grace that only a loving church family can give.
As a church family, we have reached out to him, some with simple declarations of love and support, some with handwritten notes of their love, and the assurance of prayer, but all with the full knowledge that not one of us is any better than the other, that we all have sinned from time to time, that we all have made mistakes in judgment, that we all have failed the Lord and each other many times in this daily journey we call the Christian life.
And so we extended this amazing, marvelous grace which we received from the Lord back to the brother we love so much because we know……someday…..inevitably….we will need him and others to extend it to us.
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