First Church of God marks 100th

CELINA - It began with a tent and the desire to bring salvation to the people of Mercer County.

Now, 100 years later, Celina First Church of God is celebrating 100 years of God's work in the area.

"Basically, Celina Church of God was founded out of a tent-revivalist type movement," current pastor Craig Flack said. "As with many pastors and preachers in 1916, they were circuit-riders. They worked the circuit. They did revivals when they came to town. The first pastor, William Turner, who was referred to as the founder and lead revivalist, was working the circuit for the Churches of God, which included the early Church of God denomination in Ohio and Pennsylvania. Turner is said to have targeted Celina as the place where he wanted to have his next tent revival meeting."

Turner and several others created a strategy to gather people for a great meeting.

"They targeted Celina and put together a group of people, and started with 'Who's going to be on our board,' and 'Who will be the chairman?' and picked some prospective men from the community. One of the farmers in the area donated some land for their purpose, and one person offered to give the church a loan to rent the tent, which was probably rather expensive in the day. Out of that, several hundred people ended up coming," Flack said.

The group that grew out of the meeting continued to flourish even though Turner was occasionally away riding the circuit.

"The church was founded out of this tent revival meeting, and out of that they had enough people stick around from this revival meeting and baptisms and new believers coming to faith that they planted a church out of it," Flack shared. "That kind of unique, almost-Great-Awakening-style story in American history of these revival meetings stirring people up to a new good work, and out of that, Pastor Turner kind of planted the church here, and it has been going ever since."

The fledgling church put up a building near the corner of Brandon and Market streets in Celina. The church has since relocated to 850 Fairground Road. Flack said he believes the first building was being constructed before Turner moved on from Celina.

"He was definitely the founding pastor, got it pretty established into the culture here in Celina," Flack stated.

One distinguishing characteristic of the church has always been the strength of the Sunday School program. Flack said he was told that more than half a century ago, Sunday School attendance would be in the 300s or 400s while the worship service would host 150-250 each Sunday. He also noted that the church has always had a lot of young families in the congregation.

Church members have seen plenty of triumphs as well as challenges over the past century.

"We've seen ups and downs, as a lot of churches have. We've seen very, very difficult days with people problems and culture problems, and we've seen very, very good days. We've seen hundreds and hundreds of baptisms, hundreds and hundreds of professions of faith, two facilities and probably well over several thousand people passing through membership. Many of our older generation are third-generation Celina Church of God members, and some of the younger ones are fourth, fifth, and even sixth generation. God's faithfulness on this community has been abundant because you don't make it this long without some faithful people praying things," Flack said.

The church enters its second century at a crossroads. The 100-year-old church is being led by a 29-year-old pastor and a 28-year-old music minister. Church members face a series of decisions. Flack stated that one of the biggest decision came in January when the church had to replace former pastor Bruce Strine, and they chose a young man to fill the pulpit. Flack is happy for the opportunity to lead a group of people with 100 years of history.

"It is a unique time here at Celina First, but there is also a lot of excitement. We've seen quite a bit of growth. People are coming to know Jesus and being baptized. That's what I care about - actually seeing the Gospel transform lives. The neat thing is with a 100-year-old church, God is still smiling upon it with letting us be a part of his mission," he said.

Another big set of decisions came with the current building renovation project.

"This facility was 26 years old, and it was time. It needed some new coats of paint. It needed some new carpet. Pretty much there won't be an area of this church facility that won't be touched by the renovation that will finish up this year," Flack said.

On Oct. 16, Celina First will celebrate God's faithfulness over the past 100 years. The day will begin with a fellowship breakfast at 8:30 a.m. and then a worship service.

"Hopefully, many people can come out and join us," Flack said. "It's going to be a great day of celebration and hopefully very much honors the men and women who have have put in 30, 40, 50, 60, 70 years into this body."