Thu Feb 09 2012
by Jeff Saunders
Reporter
Macedonia -- The Church of the Nazarene on Valley View Road may be small, but its founding 50 years ago was eventful, involving the construction of a freeway, demolition of the original church building and a brick-laying, house-riding pastor.
The church, which is off Valley View Road near the City Center, is marking its anniversary Sept. 12.
"It was officially organized in 1960," said the Rev. Arnie Yost, the church's pastor for the last five years.
Yost added that church members began meeting in the late 1950s.
Yost said the observance will include a special speaker, Dr. David Downs, superintendent of the East Ohio District Church of the Nazarene. A reception will follow the service.
Yost said the church, which has a small congregation of just 35 adult members and a handful of children, has had a "break in continuity," with no current members having any memories of the church's founding.
"We don't have anyone now who was part of the church back then, or even had parents or grandparents who were," said Yost.
However, he said he hopes that members will still be able to "reflect on the past" with the presence of Doris McClung, the widow of the Rev. J.L. McClung, the church's founding pastor, and McClung's daughter, Carolynn Hawes.
A long tradition
Hawes was 5 when the church members began meeting in about 1959. She was a high school junior in about 1970 when her family moved so that her father could take over as pastor of a church in Massillon. He died in 2000 at 90.
Hawes said that as a brick mason, her father literally took part in the construction of about 12 Nazarene churches in Ohio, including the one in Macedonia.
Initially, the church leased space in what was then the United Methodist Church of Macedonia on Route 82, then bought the building when the Methodist church constructed its current building down the road.
After the state bought the property to allow for the construction of Interstate 271 and for a time, church members met in a series of homes her parents rented.
The church then bought a ranch house and began meeting in its basement, but then found that it too was slated for demolition because of the freeway project.
But this time, church members decided to save its building by putting the house on a large truck trailer and moving it to the Valley View Road property.
"I remember my father riding on top of the house, which they probably wouldn't let you do today," said Hawes. "He used a big pole to push power lines up."
Church members continued meeting in the house until the current building was constructed in about 1965, with Hawes' father acting as contractor. Yost said the house now serves as a parsonage, which he lives in.
Yost said that besides its own congregation, the Macedonia church also hosts two other churches, the Korean Holiness Church of the Nazarene and the Community Christian Center, an independent church, as well as Hope Academy, a home schooling cooperative.
"We may be small, but I think we're having a big impact," said Yost.
E-mail: jsaunders@recordpub.com
Phone: 330-688-0088 ext. 3169
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