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Our History
On February 1, 1951, a charter was drawn up by a group of Christians who had a vision and had been meeting in homes in Broad Creek Village (now Norfolk Industrial Park) and Broad Creek Church of Christ was formed. In 1953, they purchased property at Coleman Place, built the church and changed the name to Coleman Place Church of Christ. There were nine signatures on the charter: Mr. & Mrs. Leslie Burbage, Ethel Ayers, Mr. and Mrs. Burell Brinn, Ruth Inez Burbage, Mr. and Mrs. Forest Burbage, and Ray Downing. The first minister, Cary Dannelly, a Roanoke Bible College student, started on February 8, 1953. The following two ministers were also part time, and then Don Amos became the first full time minister in 1962. He was the minister when the church moved to our Kempsville location. |
| The first Ordained Elders were Harry Brinn and Leslie Burbage. The first Ordained Deacons were Sam Bateman (Elizabeth Weddle's father), Forest Burbage, Murray Brinn and Roy Brinn. Roy Brinn became an elder February 13, 1955, and Leroy Roberson became an elder January 6, 1956. The first marriage on record was Walter and Elizabeth Weddle on March 26, 1956. Commercial property around the Coleman Place Church of Christ was expanding and crowding the church. The members of the board started looking for a place to relocate. On February 4, 1963, Forest Burbage reported that there were 2 1/2 acres on the corner of Kempsville Road and Yoder Lane for sale for $15,000. Leroy Roberson made the motion to purchase the property and Fred Artrip seconded it; 25 voted to purchase, no one opposed. On February 13, 1963, Roy Brinn reported that the land had been purchased. Our original building was constructed and moved into in July 1965. A fellowship hall was added to the original building in 1976 and named "Hardison Hall" in honor of Mrs. Evelyn Hardison. Another addition was made in 1988 enlarging Hardison Hall, and adding a kitchen and 5 classrooms. The adjacent vacant property was purchased in 1976 for future growth and expansion. The parsonage was built in 1969 and is the home of our senior minister. In 1991, the house adjacent to the parsonage was purchased and is the home of our music minister. On November 2, 1997, we dedicated our new sanctuary. With the addition of our new sanctuary, we can seat 700 for worship services and have returned to one Sunday morning worship service and one Sunday School session. This phase of the building program also included a small kitchen, changing room for the choir, restrooms and a large lobby. Then the second phase of our building program began. The old fellowship hall was partitioned into 9 new classrooms and the old sanctuary was converted to a fellowship hall/multipurpose room. In 2001, we converted part of the fellowship hall/multipurpose room into 4 new classrooms. Since the dedication of our new sanctuary, our attendance has increased from 400 to nearly 600 for Sunday morning worship. Since then we have added a second worship service as well as building a new Fellowship Hall and beautiful, spacious Children’s Center with state of the art technology. Other ministers who have served our congregation and the years they started are: Spencer Arnold, 1966; Roy Norville, 1969; John Baldwin, 1972; Jim Stanley, 1977; Mike Stephenson, 1979; Steve Marion, 1980; Terry Tuttle, 1982; and Randall Childress, 1986. Youth Ministers who have served our congregation are: John Leakey, Howard Crow, Jackie Jarvis, Mike Stephenson, Gary Burch, Paul Tucker, John James, Stephen Baker, Rick Watford, Joshua Childress, Clint Demuth, Rick Grayshock and Daniel Farris. Music Ministers who have served our congregation are Paul Tucker, Michael Coppock, Scott Howerin, Brad Mills and Daniel Kline. |
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