A Look Back

Jerry Person

“Our church building has a most unique look to it,” Pastor Mark

Lebsack of Hope Chapel Huntington Beach once told me.

He said that it is the premiere example of 1960s style architecture

found in the whole of Orange County. This unique building can be seen at

715 Lake St.

A while back we touched on a bit of the Foursquare movement in

Huntington Beach -- when Aimee McPherson came to Huntington Beach to

dedicate the church building in 1935.

This week, we are going back to the rough and tumble oil boom days of

Huntington Beach when a small group of devoted residents began meeting

inside the old Princess Theatre at 207 Main St. in 1925.

The Foursquare movement had only begun a few years earlier. Huntington

Beach retains the distinction of having a church branch founded by two

ladies who served as its dual pastors.

Twin sisters, Myrtle and Nellie Ryan, served as pastors from 1925 to

1930.

One of the church’s first members, Donna Williams, played in the

theater’s orchestra pit and met her future husband there who also played

in the orchestra.

Williams would continue as a church member for over 60 years.

In 1930 the Rev. Sayers and his wife served as pastors in the early

church. The church received its charter in 1931, during their time there.

The Rev. D. Feldkamp took over leadership of the church in 1932 and

was preparing for the 6:30 p.m. service on March 10, 1933 when at 5 p.m.

the great earthquake struck.

Had the service begun earlier many of the Congregation could have been

injured or even killed.

The members thanked God for keeping them safe, and in a short time

afterward installed a large tent at the corner of Olive Avenue and Main

Street where they held revival meetings.

By October of 1933 O.E. Dunn was running the Full Gospel Mission out

of the Princess Theatre and the church members were meeting at 215 5th

St. with Feldkamp.

But the church members wanted a building of their very own and started

a building fund.

One of their members gave the church three lots on Lake Street to

build a church on.

Construction began in 1935 under the guidance of the Rev.s Birkhart,

Rowe and Wilhite.

The exterior of the new church was completed with help from volunteers

from the church and a paid contractor.

But the interior remained unfinished.

The church’s founder, Sister Aimee Semple McPherson, came down from

Los Angeles on Dec. 23, 1935 and dedicated this new church building.

The Congregation continued saving its money and was able to pay off

the $4,000 mortgage.

During the next four years the church was ministered by the Rev.s

Gentry and Janes.

The interior of the church was then completed with volunteer labor

from the church membership just before World War II.

Throughout World War II the Rev. Evelyn Caudill, with the help of her

assistant Thelma Huey, continued to hold the church together even with

many of the young men of the church serving in the military overseas.

During this time the church had no baptistery or parsonage.

This was remedied during the Rev. Nyenhuis’ time from 1946-51 when he

had a baptistery installed and a parsonage built next to the church in

1949.

Nyenhuis not only found time to do this but also time to visit the

sick and to deliver mail in Huntington Beach.

Nyenhuis, his wife and son Ted lived in a house on Main Streetbefore

moving into the new parsonage.

Next week we will continue looking at the history of the Foursquare

movement in Huntington Beach, its members who fashioned its history from

the start of the Korean War through the new addition added to the

building and on down to the people who are continuing its rich history.

* JERRY PERSON is a local historian and longtime Huntington Beach

resident. If you have ideas for future columns, write him at P.O. Box

7182, Huntington Beach, CA 92615.