Our History

“Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, … Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.”  1 Cor 10:11-12

Dr. Charles Poole, professor of education at the University of Alaska, established the church of Christ in Fairbanks in 1944. The congregation first met in a rented hall of the USO building, in downtown Fairbanks. Dr. Poole departed Fairbanks in the spring of 1946.

Then Robert Boyd and Ray Skelton, and their families, arrived in Fairbanks in July of 1946 and found the body meeting at 547 8th Avenue in the home of Jack Perry. Jack Perry worked for the police force. The Perry family returned to the states in the spring of 1947. The church then assembled in the home of Robert Boyd at 603 10th Avenue. Robert Boyd and Ray Skelton both preached off and on during 1946-47, and for several years after. Bro. Tipton also preached in Bro. Boyd’s absence. Bro. Boyd left in 1953.

In 1947 under the leadership of Ray Skelton and Robert Boyd, the congregation purchased two lots at 639 11th Avenue. The first batch of logs was swept down the river in a sudden rise. So another batch had to be ordered and prepared. A log building was begun in 1947, and worship was first conducted in this structure in June of 1948. The building wasn’t finished and the men worked through the summer and part of the fall to finish the building. A Yukon wood stove was used to heat the building. The building was far from comfortable as far as heat was concerned.

The structure was about forty feet wide and about 50 feet long. If you sat close to the stove one side of your body would be too warm while the other side of your body would be to cold. Robert Boyd and Ray Skelton shared in the preaching for the next several years. On June 1, 1953 the city changed the address number to 645 11th Avenue. The church became self-supporting on September 1, 1952.

In September of 1951 a parcel of land, 2 lots, in Tok, Alaska, were given to the church in Fairbanks to build a church in Tok, by Brother Robert Boyd. Nothing was ever done, but the church is still in possession of these two lots today. (2009)

Bro. Oren Emerson preached for the congregation during the winter of 1952-53, and was the first paid preacher. The congregation paid him $350 a month, plus $150 towards the rent of a house. It was decided that he could pay his own utility bill, as he was getting some outside help. However, Brother Claude Douglas stated that before risking losing the service of such an able person as Brother Emerson, that he would pay the utility bill. Bro. Emerson only preached for one year

Ralph Disch arrived in the winter of 1953-54 from Berryville; Arkansas. It was at a business meeting that Bro. Disch volunteered to help with the work of the church while he was here. With Bro. Disch doing the teaching and preaching the attendance began to increase. The members had a will to work and the Lord blessed them in their efforts. In 1955 attendance was steadily increasing and they saw a peak of 182.Our classrooms was crowded and we were using every nook and cranny for space. He labored with the church for 10 years, preaching off and on.

These early preachers were self-supporting. The congregation appointed elders during this approximate period of time. Robert Boyd and Claude Douglas were the elders, and Ray Skelton, Jack Pruitt, Bro Voss and Bro Pickett were the deacons. In 1954 most of the deacons withdrew from the office and all but one elder withdrew. Feeling that one elder was not scriptural, he withdrew also, which left the church without elders or deacons for a few years. However most members felt the church was well established and the church could carry on without them.

In July of 1953 four men were picked to share in supporting a new church at Eielson (Ladd Field) AFB in 1953. At first they met on the base, about 26 miles south of Fairbanks, Alaska. About ten years later the brethren decided it would be expedient to build their own meeting house. They chose a log cabin style and did much of the building of it themselves. Joe Anderson and some of the brethren from the Fairbanks church did much of the preaching in the early days, until Charles Davis was engaged to work full time as the preacher.

The church of Christ, in Fairbanks, suffered a loss in June of 1955 and the log building caught fire and was partially destroyed. This was during a two week VBS. It was right after the last class on Friday after the first week. The second week was spent cleaning up the mess. The building and fire inspector allowed us to continue to assemble.

The men of the congregation decided it would be wise to plan and build a new building instead of repairing the old log structure. By the time plans were drawn, permits obtained, money gathered together and construction started in was the middle of August. The Pruitt Construction Company was to have oversight of the work using as much donated labor as possible A block basement was begun in the fall of 1955 and the work continued through the winter of 1955-56. The building was to 47 feet wide and 90 feet long. Only the basement was to be constructed. Seven classrooms were planned with restrooms and a boiler room. Much of the work was done in cold weather. The roof and roofing was put on in sub-zero weather. The church began meeting in this building in the summer of 1956. The old log structure was renovated and converted into a home for the preacher.

It was in 1954 that the church meeting in the chapel annex at the Eielson Air Force Base was granted permission to have three services a week, two on Sunday and one on Wednesday. Brother Disch would go to Eielson and preach at the 8AM service then return to Fairbanks and preach here at the 10:45 AM service, then return to Eielson to preach at 5PM and return to Fairbanks again to preach at the evening service. In 1955 the Herald of Truth was added to the radio program that they already had going.

Realizing that he could not keep this pace going he insisted that a man be obtained to devote full time to the Lord’s work. After much searching contact was made with Billy Joe Mize. However they could not come until September of 1958.

In June of 1958 word was received that Lt. Malcolm Bartee and family would arrive in Alaska. Bro. Bartee was assistant chaplain on Ladd Air Force Base. They were an answer to our prayers for help. He immediately took the load from the shoulders of Bro. Disch and began to fill the work at Eielson and Fairbanks.

Billy Joe Mize was the evangelist from September 1958-1960 He was full-time and earned a salary from the church. He was followed by Hank Allen who preached until 1963.

In May of 1962 a church was started in Delta Junction, Alaska. They met for the first time on May 20th, 1962 in a garage building, and eventually bought the building for a permanent meeting place. Folding chairs, song books and communion trays were furnished by the church in Fairbanks. A small group of Christians from the Fairbanks and Eielson congregation traveled to Delta Junction for the first meeting. Bro. W. J. “Bill” Mize from Fairbanks preached during that first service, which had three local residents present. Dean Crutchfield from Fairbanks preached for the congregation in Delta Junction and also Eielson for a while, and later moved to work full-time for the church in Unity, Maine. William H. Horton also preached for the church in Delta Junction.

Both Dean Crutchfield and William Horton were self-supporting. Attendance over the years only reached a high of 40 and slowly came to an end in the late 70’s, when brother Horton and brother Crutchfield left the Delta Junction area it left only Ed and his son Richard Crutchfield in charge of the leadership. The attendance fell to 8 to 10 people and they met only on Sundays for worship and Bible class. Ed was doing the preaching and the adult class, and Richard was doing the children’s class. The work in Delta was difficult due to the lack of a local radio or television station. The small local newspaper was used for advertising of services. The church in Fairbanks has the deed to the property in Delta.

In the early 60’s there were three preachers working full-time and three part-time in the state, and eight congregations. By the late 60’s there were seven full-time preachers and three part-time or self supported preachers in the state, and fourteen congregations. In addition to these there were at least two remote military sites where Christian servicemen were meeting on government reservations. None of which had elders or deacons in 1960. And only 450 Christians in the state. By the late 60’s there were thirteen elders in four of the congregations and over 800 members.

Joe Anderson preached from 1963-1973. In 1965 attendance averaged 110. During 1965 the church in Fairbanks went thru a split. Some following Joe and Silvia King who took a few of our members and split off from us and started their own church, called the Small Tracts church of Christ in another part of town. They didn’t believe we should support orphan homes or mission work with the church budget. We hosted our first All Alaskan Lectureship in 1966. The theme for the lectures was “The Power and Glory of a United Church.” It was felt that this would tend to draw us all nearer to one another, especially in view of the splits and splinters that had forced their way in.

In August of 1967 the Fairbanks area was devastated by a flood, when the Chena River overflowed its banks, after two weeks of constant rain. Flood stage was 12 feet, and the river kept rising to 18 feet. Never thinking the flood waters would reach the church building on 11th Ave. beds were prepared for some of the church members who already had to evacuate their homes. And some of the members offered beds for others who had to evacuate.

The flood waters started coming into the church building which was a daylight basement. Everyone who was there started picking up class material, song books and pews and communion table out of the building. They even took the doors off the hinges and the drapes. Anything they could grab, all done by candle light, in 4 to 6 inches of water. Finally having to abandon that work for fear the walls would cave in from the water pressure. A few hours later water was running down the streets and between houses. Sewer and water lines started sinking and caving in on lawns, walks and streets. People were transported to Lathrop High School and the university. The river was supposed to crest at midnight on Monday, but kept rising until late Tuesday afternoon.

One person’s house was lost as it floated down the river. Some of the homes in the low lying areas had flood water up to the eves of their houses, and some only had 6 to 8 inches in their homes. The church building was full, with flood water running in the doors and down the steps. It took two weeks to clean up after the flood waters receded. We only missed one week of worship during that time.

Joe Anderson was followed by Wayne Bettingfield, who only preached for six weeks, as he was a false teacher.

Howard Swinney, from Pampa, Texas, was the full time preacher from 1975 thru June of 1979.

In 1977, an auditorium was started on top of the existing block basement. The congregation helped do the work on this structure which was completed in the spring of 1979. The new addition seated 300 people.

Lynn Wolf came from Anchorage, Alaska, where he preached at the South Anchorage congregation. He came in 1979 and was the full time preacher thru 1983, when he moved to Valdez to work for the news paper there. He also preached while he was in Valdez.

Jack Church, came from Montana to preach for the church in 1983 and stayed until 1993, Jack also preached in Anchorage, Seward and Sitka, Alaska in earlier years.

Willard Holliday came from Texas in 1994 and preached for the church until 1997. He then went to Arizona for two years and then returned to Alaska, preaching for the Eielson congregation for three years, getting them back into the proper work methods after almost losing the whole congregation to false teachers. He then went on to Anchorage to preach at the South Anchorage congregation and then back down to Texas where he is today.

In 1994 the church began a mission work in Magadan, Russia. There was a church planted with the help of a number of our members and those from other places as well.

John Coffman filled in as an interim preacher from 1997-98, until we could find a full time preacher as John was not in good health at that time. John and Marlene Coffman moved to Anchorage in 1999 and continue to work with the Anchorage congregation.

Mark Newton was hired in 1999 and preached until 2002. His family moved to Virginia.

David Boswell was hired in September of 2004. He moved here from Canada and arrived on January 3rd 2005. The Boswells continue to work with the church in Fairbanks today.

The Northern Lights church of Christ continues to be a light of truth throughout the vast interior of the 49th state. It has always maintained the reputation of a close and loving congregation of the Lord’s people.