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Here we will tell the story of the beginnings of our church and how we became what we are today.
The following is a brief account of
the establishment of the congregation known as the Lemon Bay Church of Chist, meeting at 7000 Regina Drive Englewood, Florida
34224. In the late fall of 1993, James Richards called several members and others
who had attended the former Yale Street Church of Christ congregation, to see if there was enough interest in strting a new
group, since most of the previous membership had disbursed and were attending assemblies in nearby communities, such as Venice,
Sarasota, Port Charlotte and Punta Gorda. An organizational meeting was the held
at James and Nancy Richards home in November of 1993. It was the opinion of all present (Approximataly 12 people and others
who could not be at this meeting) that establishing a new congregation in Englwood was needed. A meeting place was obtained by Preston and Kathleen Eason at the old bingo hall at the corner of SR 776 and Old
McCall Road. Brother Ralph Adrian taught the Bible class and preached on Sunday
morning, Brother Steve Shaffer and Preston Eason lead singing and preached in the evening. There were approximately20 members
at that time. After a few weeks we were asked to leave because some of the bingo
hall membership objected to our meeting at their facility, so a very gracious offer was extended to the group by Virginia
Layman to meet in her home on Lemon Bay, which we accepted and which also influenced us to name our congregation the Lemon
Bay Church of Christ. In early 1994 we were able to rent a storefront on North
Indiana Avenue which became our new meeting place for several years (suite 7 and later suite 10). In May of 1995 three Elders
Preston Eason, Ralph Adrian and Steve Shaffer were appointed along with three Deacons Bill Adrian, Dick Davidson and Jim Seaman. The membership continued to grow and remained around 35 to 40 and thoughts about construction
of a permenant facility became a goal and hope for future growth. In 1997 the
treasury was sufficient for us to start the search for a lot somewhere along SR 776. In
1999 a three and a half acre plat of land was purchased just of SR 776 in East Englewood. Architechural drawings were prepared
in late 2000 and early 2001 and several local building contrctors submitted their bids in October and November of 2001. The
cost proposals however, exceeded our estimates and the decision was made to delay construction until a later date. In 2003 Preston Eason decided top resign as an Elder due to health reasons and shortly thereafter,
Tom Taylor was appointed th this office. Attendance continued to remain steady
aproximately 40 to 60 depending on seasonal visitors. In July of 2004 George Tullos was appointed as an Elder and after a
loan was offered by a member it was now possible for us to again explore the possibility of constructing a building. After
obtaining new cost estimates the decision to proceed was made by the membership and construction was stared in late 2004. After approximately 10 months of construction we held our first worship service in July 2005 and
a special dedication service was held in August 2005 with a record attendance of 65. The
Lord has certainly blessed us with this beautiful building and now it is up to us to use it for his glory and to spread his
word thruout the community. We have also been blessed with many brothers and sisters who worship and visit with us during
the winter months and have supported us not only with their attendance but also financially. The Eldership |
