Our History

1958 to 2008

April 20th , 2008

It is with great pleasure that we bring this history of the Carrollton Church of the Nazarene to you. God has been very faithful to his church and people over the last 50 years. Contributions for this booklet have come from past and present members including JoAnn Marchant, Helen Marchant & Dosia Marchant. Thank you to all who have contributed to this effort.

In the pages of this book, you will find that the church has worshipped in 9 locations and undergone 3 name changes. Over the years the church was blessed with 15 pastors who contributed vision and leadership to move the church forward. Over 800 individuals have been members of the church at some time or another and the average attendance for the church was over 150 for its 50 years of life. We have enjoyed many blessings and seen many departures of our saints to glory. The individuals who have and make up the church today have the will of God as their chief pursuit.

As you read these pages praise God for His blessings . Then turn to those who are to your left and right and give praise that you are a part of a great church, with a great people serving an even greater God. We want to celebrate the past victories as well as move forward to achieve the purpose of God to make disciples of all people everywhere. We will move forward from this date and strive to make the next 50 years of our churches life even greater than our past.

Pastor Michael L. Johnson

History:

On Sunday, April 6, 1958, a group of 12 people banded together in the name of the Lord and the Valwood Church of the Nazarene was begun. Until the first District Assembly, all the adults of the church were on the board. The men were the trustees and women were the stewards. The first pastor was Rev. Monroe Burkhart. The Sunday School Superintendent was R. A. Holloway. The song leader was Mrs. Jo Ann Marchant. The NYPS President was Mary Holloway and NWMS President was Mrs. Burkhart. The charter members were Rev. and Mrs. R. A. Holloway, Glen and Mary; Rev. and Mrs. M. S. Burkhart and Eldon; Mr. and Mrs. Thurman Marchant; Mr. and Mrs. S. E. Marchant, Jr. and Mrs. Irene Cardwell. The charter members officially joined the Valwood Church of the Nazarene in a Sunday afternoon service at North Dallas Church of the Nazarene on Vandelia Street. Their first service was on a Wednesday evening, April 9. The church was located in a building on

The Rabbit Hutch in 1958

Harry Hines Blvd., commonly known as the "Rabbit Hutch". On April 10, the District Church bought chairs for the church.

In August of 1958, the church moved to its second location which was the community house located at the pre‑

sent site of the City Hall in Carrollton. The average attendance for the first year was 41 and when the District Assembly met, the voting delegates were Mr. and Mrs. S. E. Marchant. In the first year, the following people were added to the church membership: Mr. and Mrs. Jesse Osborne and Mike, Mrs. Elizabeth McMinn, Odell and Mamie Vought, Rev. and Mrs. A. F. Daniels, and Mr. and Mrs. Marvin Dotson.

Rev. Snodgrass with founding members in front of old community center in
downtown Carrollton.

On January 8, 1959, the deal was closed to purchase a lot on Valwood Parkway. In the early part of that year, Rev. Burkhart left and on May 21, 1959, Rev. and Mrs. Robert G. Snodgrass came to Valwood. The church was located in a store building in downtown Carrollton. Bro. Snodgrass recalls a Sunday evening when the Marchants were late to church because Thurman had lost his tithe envelope. After services the group went back to look for it and the dog had chewed the envelope up but the wind blew the money over in the neighbor's yard. Bro. Bob said, "Praise the Lord!!! We needed all the finances we could get in those days."

In the early part of 1960, the Charles Grant family joined the church along with the children of Jesse Osborne. On May 29, 1960, Dr. Garrett preached to the church and he took up a special offering for the new church to be located on Valwood Parkway. The total amount of pledges was $2,620 and the church celebrated that day with dinner on the grounds. In 1960, Mr. and Mrs. Orville Duree joined the church, and Carolyn Marchant was also added to the church. That year the church lost their second Pastor and Rev. and Mrs. F. W. Rogers came to Valwood. The church was located in City Hall in Carrollton and the church also purchased the parsonage that year. The parsonage was purchased by donations from the members. The Smirls also added their membership to the church during that year.

In 1961, members of the church went to City Hall to attend services and were told they could not have

services that morning or any other time after that. They began meeting that morning in homes until they could get a building. They finally settled on services in the basement of the Valwood Baptist Church. The

Workers who helped tear down old army barracks at
McKinney for building supplies for the church at
Valwood.

services were held in the afternoon. Some of the members went to Church at North Dallas in the morning, Val- wood church in the afternoon, and North Dallas again in the evening. What Dedication!!! In January of 1961, Bro. Rogers was elected contractor for the new church building. During that year, he and Thurman Marchant and several others went to McKinney and tore down a building and hauled it back here to build the Valwood Church building. In that year the church obtained another legend ... OLD RED (a 1954 Mercury owned by Thurman Marchant). It is said that on one occasion while OLD RED was diligently hauling lumber for the hardwood floors to Dallas, the trailer came loose and turned the car completely around and caved in the fender. "Little" Donnie Marchant was asleep in the back seat at the time. During that year, Robert and Judy Reager joined the church. On the Sunday following Christmas, the Lee Henderson family joined the church. That day there were 20 members present. There was one teenager present, David Grant. The pastor and his wife sang a favorite of the church,

"God's Ways Are Best Ways." The church reached another land mark in that year .. they became self- supporting.

Late in February, 1962, services were held in our church building on Valwood Parkway. At the time, tar paper covered the floors and they used old opera seats for pews. The James Lewis family, the Charles Kimberling family, Herman Beshears, the Rex McCreary family, Becky Grant, the Ben Worsham family, and the Keith Fleming family were taken into the church during that year. On March 25, James Lewis was elected song leader.

During the first few months the church was in such “fine condition” that Martha Kimberling slipped through a hole in the un-finished floor and ruined the heel on her shoe. The first piano and pews were donated by the District and moved from Lancaster in 1963. The second piano was purchased. During this year Ruth Flood, Mr. and Mrs. McMinn, Darrell and Terry Fleming joined our church. We had our first V. B. S. that year with Christine Grant as Superintendent. The church began to get on its feet and the board agreed to begin

paying Bro. Roger's back pay in the amount of $700. Vera McCreary recalls having an overwhelming pounding for the preacher at Thanksgiving time that year. Also, a revival service was held with Ralph West as Evangelist, and we had a wonderful "Love" service that was hard to forget. During that year of 1964, Donnie Marchant, Bob and Sue Niles, Jimmy Thomson, and Bonnie Grant joined the Church. We lost a member in death in December of 1964, Bro. A. N. Smirls.

or of their deceased Son. The church had a good year spiritually.

In 1966 the numbers grew even more when the Lee White family came into the church. They added seven to our roll. Nelda comments on their first Sunday at the church, which was on December 25, 1965, there were only three people there besides them. Everyone had gone to Grandma's house for Christmas. The most outstanding events were the NYPS program

How many of these young people can you name?

when the men dressed up like ladies and gave a good program. She remembers the teens and their dynamic testimonies.

During the next several years, the church continued to grow and added families. A desire for more room was felt throughout the church. As a result of this growth, a nursery and new entrance were added to the church. In 1968, the 5th year of Vacation Bible School, a record attendance of 110 came for the Sunday VBS Program. In this year, Bro. Rogers left and Rev. & Mrs. Johnny Warrick became pastor of the church. A youth choir was formed and other additions such as a new piano, stained glass windows, new carpet and pew cushions.

Over the next few years under the leadership of Rev. Charles Stuart and then Rev. Robert Taylor, we continued growing. Our Pastor and youth became active in the district and at Bethany

Ground Breaking for new church building at Kelly Blvd.

Nazarene College (now Southern Nazarene University) and a few of our God-called youth held revivals in Oklahoma and Texas. In 1970, we made improvements in the parsonage with new carpet, new flooring and fresh paint. In addition, the church got a new IBM

Executive typewriter (remember these?!)

In August, 1972, Rev. Eugene Emerson came as Pastor. The Valwood property was sold and the church met in a garage for worship and the adjoining white frame house for Sunday school located on Carroll Street in Carrollton. The church met there until October, 1983, under the leadership of Rev. Cecil Adrian, Rev. David L. Donovan, and Rev. Robert Spinks.

Rev. David Wilson was the pastor when we moved to the McCoy Elementary School for worship until the first unit of the new building on Dove Creek and Kelly Blvd. in Carrollton was ready for occupancy on April 22, 1984. The congregation had given to the

30th Anniversary Picture at Kelly Blvd. campus

building fund so they could occupy debt- free, which they did with the exception of the "overruns". At this time, the church became the Carrollton Church of the Nazarene.

In March, 1985, Rev. & Mrs. David Roland came as our pastor. The church grew tremendously in our new facility and by June, 1985, construction was started on expanding the wings of each end of the building giving a larger fellowship hall and four new Sunday school rooms.

In January, 1986, the congregation was challenged to give $125,000 cash to begin the building of the new Family Life Center, composed of the gym, fireside room, kitchen and classrooms, which was completed in 1987. Over $127,000 was received by the generous giving of the congregation.

By late 1987, the church was running over 200 regularly in worship, pressing the seating capacity of the sanctuary and the need for the second wing to be added. In 1992, we purchased 6.5 acres on Hebron Pkwy. in North Carrollton for a future church location. In 1993, the second wing of the church was added, giving more Sunday school classes, pastoral offices, choir room and a chapel. In 1995, the sanctuary was modified to seat an additional 93 people. Now the facility was built to the maximum and as growth continued, parking became a regular problem.

In 1993, the Roland’s left, after nine and a half years of service to the Carrollton Nazarene Church, so that Rev. Roland could become the District Superintendent of the North Arkansas District.

In March, 1994 Rev. James S. Hill came to us. We continued to grow under Rev. Hill's leadership and by January, 1997 we were in need of relocating. In one week of listing the property on Dove Creek and Kelly Blvd., we had a viable offer and the property was sold. We

Ground breaking in 1997 at our current location on
Hebron Pkwy.

leased back our building from North Dallas Fellowship through August, 1997. At that time, in order to put more money to our new building, the Pastor and the Church Board felt we should move to temporary facilities.

On September 3, 1997, we began worship services at the Marie Hue School on Frankford and moved our offices to the Venture Building on Halsey Way. Sunday school classes were meeting in various places either Sunday morning or Sunday evening. Choir, Caravan and Bible study met on Thursday evenings, and we had a monthly Friday night fellowship at the old church building at 2550 Kelly Blvd. Even with the inconvenience of temporary facilities, worship attendance went to 280 on average. God was faithful to meet our needs and the people of CNC were faithful with giving of their time and resources. On November 23, 1997, a ground-breaking service was held at the Hebron Pkwy. location. In December 1999, we moved into our building at 1529 E. Hebron Parkway.

In 2001 because of continued growth, we built a second story in the area of our gym and fellowship hall which added 5 classrooms for adult education and a hotel type room for missionaries and evangelist. The Lord continued to bless His church and in 2002 Pastor Hill felt God’s call to another church. He left and we were without a pastor for one year as we strived to find the Lord’s will for our future. Pastor Matt Rice served as interim pastor during this year.

In 2003 Rev. Gary Hutcheson came to be our pastor. The church went through many changes under Pastor Gary’s leadership and saw new opportunities to reach out into our community through community events . Car shows, Harvest Festivals and many other activities led to the Carrollton Church of the Nazarene reaching out to many of those in our community in new ways. Gary left our church in 2005 and again we found ourselves looking for a shepherd.

In May 2006 our current pastor, Rev. Mike L. Johnson came to us. Our attendance had gone down and some had lost hope. However, it did not take us long to come back and we are currently experiencing a revival. Our attendance has increased over the last two years and people are beginning to have an attitude of expectation and hope. New people are coming into our church. We are reaching out to our community and have seen over one thousand individuals come through our doors in the last two years. God is good and we look forward to the future. We believe that our greatest blessings are ahead of us.

The apostle Paul said it best about our mission here at Carrollton Church of the Nazarene:

"Preach the Word, be prepared in season and out of season to correct, rebuke and encourage with great patience and careful instruction. " II Timothy 4:2

In 1971, Mrs. S.E. Marchant, Sr., who is now with the Lord, gave this testimony, "It is always a pleasure to give a personal testimony to a loving Savior who is able to save and to keep that which I have committed to Him. He first loved me and gave His life that I might have life more abundantly. One Sunday night years ago, He knocked at my heart's door and I let him come in, and what a change it made! He lifted that load of sin! I loved the things I once hated and hated the things I once loved. That will always be the most wonderful thing that ever happened to me. Thank God forever!"

Our Pastors

Rev. Mike L. Johnson came to us from Greenville, TX. where he enjoyed a fruitful ministry to the people of the Peniel Church of the Nazarene. Pastor Mike graduated from Southern Nazarene University in 1992 with a degree in Theology and was ordained in 1994. He has 24 years of ministry experience as an associate of children & youth as well as a senior pastor. He currently holds a position on the Dallas District Advisory Board and is the District Children’s Director. Pastor Mike and his wife Diane have three sons, Brendan(17), Braeden(14)and Brookston(12). The family strongly believes that they are a ministry team and each one takes a very active role in our church and its ministries.

1958-59	Pastors of Carrollton Church of the Nazarene
1958-59	M. S. Burkhart	1978-79 David L. Donovan
1959-60	Robert Snodgrass	1979-81 Robert Spinks
1960-68	F. W. Rodgers	1981-85 David E. Wilson
1968-69	J. K. Warrick	1985-92 Dr. David G. Roland
1969-71	Charles E. Stuart	1993-2002 Jim Hill
1971-72	Robert Taylor	2002-2003 Matt Rice (Interim)
1972-75	Eugene Emerson	2003-2005 Gary Hutcheson
1975-78	Cycil Adrian	2006-present Mike L. Johnson

Sunday Morning Schedule

9:30 am	Sunday School
10:30 am	Morning Worship Children's Church
6:00 pm	Evening Worship Children's Bible Quizzing Youth Bible Quizzing

Tuesday Evening Prayer

7:00PM meet in Sanctuary

Wednesday Evening Schedule

7:00 pm

Something for Everyone!
Caravans for Kids
LIFE Youth Ministries
Bible Studies for Ladies & Men
Leadership Training
Worship Instrumentalist Practice