I’m back in Mt. Morris, checking out a church I overlooked in 2017 when writing my first Shining the Light story about the town’s old Episcopal Methodist Church. This frontier faith came with the first settlers in 1825 and is still happily active leading its charges today. But on School Road there is another brand of pioneering Protestantism that came as the twentieth century brought its own challenges and Pentecostals began reawakening people’s need to know God for themselves once more.
My first clue came when my grandkids and their cousins – isolated from their classmates as the COVID-19 lockdown sent them home to study alone – found an outlet for their need to get together and be with friends at Mt. Morris Gospel Tabernacle Church.
Who could have guessed that when I looked into its genesis story in Mt. Morris I would find Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show too?
Pentecostals draw their strength from Peter – a disciple who thrice denied Jesus but found his connection to the Spirit when it came to him like a great wind. That same awakening began in America in the 1890s and became known as the Pentecostal movement. It is alive and well today as an Assemblies of God affiliate, coming to communities where it sees a spiritual need to be filled.
The man who brought the Gospel Tabernacle to Mt. Morris in 1928 lived quite an adventurous, sometimes dangerous life before his own encounter with that great wind Peter spoke of.
According to church historians Amy and Joyce Anderson and Phillip Doug, Walter C. Long was born in 1891 in Maryland and was raised without much formal religious guidance. His mom was Irish Catholic and his dad American Protestant, and they couldn’t decide which formal religious path to take. Long went to work at age 15 as a laborer, then headed West to seek his fortune. He travelled for a time with the Wild West Show and met Anne Oakley – noting later she was one of the “finest shots in the West.”
At some point along the road, Long took up the rough and tumble sport of boxing, then returned home to Maryland to compete in a sport that was dangerous, even for its day. While boarding at a “Methodist lady’s house” Long found himself talking religion in the evenings with her invalid husband. When he was invited to church to hear a woman speak of her own healing, he challenged God to take him on, promised to put up a good fight and experienced his own moment of deliverance.
For the next seven years Long searched for guidance and found a home for his spirit with the Pentecostals. There he met his wife Fannie, fathered eight children and “began a life of preaching and building churches from Maryland to West Virginia.” After being invited to Mt. Morris to hold a revival in 1928 that was greeted with enthusiasm, he sent for his family and stayed to found the present church. It became known for its “great music flowing through the open doors that drew in the curious.”
Pastor Long preached from 1929 – 1934 and returned to minister again until 1960.
His church continued to grow with the times, expanding its building and adding its first youth pastor in 1988.
I call the number my grandkid has in his phone and chat with youth pastor Christopher Zehner, who is happy to hear about the high marks the kids I know are giving his programming choices – especially the field trips.
Going bowling at Alpine Lanes in Washington really was a blast, he agrees, and he sends me a photo full of smiling faces. He tells me about the youth group services every Wednesday at 6 p.m., where those who come are given some kid friendly sermonizing – “We talk about faith, hope and peace” and a chance for fellowship, fun and games afterwards in a “healthy family atmosphere where they can be themselves and feel safe.”
Pastor Chas knows the church pastor well – Pastor Bruce Craig is his father-in-law. He met Briana Craig at River University in Tampa Florida and once married, they joined Pastor Bruce in Mt. Morris to do youth ministry for kids age 13-17 and another for young adults.
“My grandpa was a preacher and I remember standing at the altar when I was five thinking I was up there preaching too,” Pastor Chris admits.
Plans are being made for a Family Life Center across the street from the church that will have a gym, walking track and plenty of room for children to play, learn and grow. When finished, it will also be home for the Children’s Church from nursery to age 12 with Pastor Amy Baker, who ministers to her young parishioners every Wednesday starting at 7 p.m. in the “old basement” of the church.
For now, the youth group meets every Wednesday in the “new basement” with pastors Chris and Briana.
And yes, there are more fieldtrips in the offing.
For more information about the youth group, call Pastor Chris – 813-278-3207 weekdays between 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.
To attend live stream Sunday sermons, go online on Facebook or YouTube. Search for Mt. Morris Gospel Tabernacle.
