Deerfield congregation marks 100 years

The Church of God Holiness held its first service on Oct. 8, 1908, two miles north of Deerfield at the Old Bethel Church. Members of the church were; Amos Hamaker, Hattie Welch, Emma Sheets, Carrie House, Mr. and Mrs. Wesley James, Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Carpenter, Ben Moberly, Carrie James and pastor E.S. Parmele.

Memories from Malinda Welch indicate the building was a large structure and believed to be a community owned building, as various religious groups of different persuasions held services there at different times -- but no group used it regularly until the Holiness group began to do so, with Sunday school and preaching services. However, the Holiness church began looking for another place to hold their worship services after conflict sometimes occurred with other outside religious groups concerning the use of the building.

Bert and Hattie Welch made available a large unattached room adjacent to their home and the church began meeting there. Next, the group rented and met in a large hall above one of the store buildings in Deerfield. Later, after purchasing a plot in the northeast section of Deerfield, a church was erected and completed around 1915. The fourth pastor, the Rev. J.W. Hibbs, acted as manager and overseer of the construction, and as a young man, Richie Welch helped build it. Services were held here until a much larger church building became available in 1945.

The Deerfield Methodist Church, which was in a great location, was now sitting empty. One of the dear ladies of the Methodist Church, Fannie Pettibon "Aunt Fanny", became an active member of the Holiness church. She and her husband, Ab, began to use their influence with the Methodist conference to persuade them to sell the empty church to the Holiness group. They succeeded and in 1945, for the sum of $600, the church was transferred.

The land the church sits on was originally deeded to the Methodist in 1890 by the Manzer family from a slice of their farm. The builder of the church was Luco McGehee, the father of Paul McGehee.

The new church was structurally sound and had a good wood shingle roof, but due to it sitting empty, the inside needed considerable work. The plaster was of poor quality and crumbling, so it all had to be removed down to and between the laths. New plaster was applied, doors and some seats were refinished, and the Holiness church moved in. In, 1965, the pastor was the Rev. Verle Jones and on Saturday evening, April 19, he had a passage of Scripture come to him. He remembered wondering why God gave it to him, the Scripture was, "I will give you beauty for ashes." The next morning he received a call and learned the church in Deerfield had burnt -- he took it as a promise of a new church building. The fire had begun from flying embers, from a nearby burning brush pile, landing on the roof of the church. Those who responded were able to save the organ, some pews, hymnals, but very little else.

Temporarily, services were held in the Deerfield school until the land could be cleared and a new church built. A lot of volunteer labor went in to the building of the new church. Considerable funds came from friends of the church, members of the church, and the community in general. It was finished and dedicated on Oct. 3, 1965. Through these years, the church had many pastors, however, due to records being lost, the exact dates of service and the order they served are not all available. Some of the pastors known are; E.S. Parmele, Clarke Spour, T.J. Hackett, J.W. Hibbs, Homer Firestone, Clyde Bunn, F.T. Hart, W.H. Graef, R.J. Patterson, Claude Patterson, Virtle Gragg, Verle Jones, Kenneth Peterson, Robert Tate, and Bill Smith.

Eventually, members of the church saw a need to enlarge the church. Construction began and under the supervision of pastor Bill Smith, the sanctuary and foyer were enlarged, and a kitchen, a nursery, restrooms and class room space were added. With help from many volunteers, the church, as it currently stands, was completed in 1983.

This is a brief history of the Church of God Holiness in Deerfield, Mo. -- mostly concerning where services were held and the buildings the services wereheld in. Hundreds of people have been through the doors of these buildings. How this church has touched those lives cannot be written down on paper, for many have gone on from this life and even though they are gone, their influence is still writing its story on lives they touched. Our lives are doing the same today and to try to write our stories would also be an impossible task, as we know not what the future holds to write down. So the writing of the history for the first 100 years comes to the end with knowledge, we have missed a few names, a few dates and the untold stories. However, we do so with faith in knowing the One who guided us, through the years, to the doors of the Deerfield Church of God Holiness -- does have everything written down.