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Churches of Christ and Christian Churches in Early Oregon, 1842-1882 Jerry Rushford Pepperdine University

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Churches of Christ and Christian Churches in Early Oregon, 1842-1882 Jerry Rushford Pepperdine University Pepperdine University Pepperdine Digital Commons Churches of Christ Heritage Center Jerry Rushford Center 1-1-1998 Christians on the Oregon Trail: Churches of Christ and Christian Churches in Early Oregon, 1842-1882 Jerry Rushford Pepperdine University Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.pepperdine.edu/heritage_center Part of the Christianity Commons Recommended Citation Rushford, Jerry, "Christians on the Oregon Trail: Churches of Christ and Christian Churches in Early Oregon, 1842-1882" (1998). Churches of Christ Heritage Center. Item 5. http://digitalcommons.pepperdine.edu/heritage_center/5 This Book is brought to you for free and open access by the Jerry Rushford Center at Pepperdine Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Churches of Christ Heritage Center by an authorized administrator of Pepperdine Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. CHRISTIANS About the Author ON THE Jerry Rushford came to Malibu in April 1978 as the pulpit minister for the University OREGON TRAIL Church of Christ and as a professor of church history in Pepperdine’s Religion Division. In the fall of 1982, he assumed his current posi­ The Restoration Movement originated on tion as director of Church Relations for the American frontier in a period of religious Pepperdine University. He continues to teach half time at the University, focusing on church enthusiasm and ferment at the beginning of history and the ministry of preaching, as well the nineteenth century. The first leaders of the as required religion courses. movement deplored the numerous divisions in He received his education from Michigan the church and urged the unity of all Christian College, A.A. (1963); Oklahoma Christians through a restoration of New Christian University, B.A. (1965); .Harding Testament Christianity. The Protestant Graduate School of Religion; Abilene Christian University, M.A. (1966) and M.Div. (1969); Reformation had gone astray, they felt, and the Earlham School of Religion (graduate studies various denominations must be directed back with Dr. Elton Trueblood); and the University to primitive Christianity. They believed that of California, Santa Barbara, Ph.D. in this would be possible if everyone would wear American Church History (1977). Dr. Rushford is a member of the editorial the name “Christian” and return to the Biblical boards of Restoration Quarterly, 21st Century pattern of the New Testament church in doc­ Christian, and Image magazines. He served as trine, worship, and practice. the editor forCrest of a Golden Wave (A 50th Those two ideas — the restoration of New Anniversary Pictorial History of Pepperdine Testament Christianity and the reunion of all University, 1937-1987) and for We Preach Christ Crucified (Sermons in Honor of Frank Christians — became a distinctive plea and Pack by His Students) and he is the editor of unceasingly, “in season and out of season,” the Pacific Church News, a news journal for Christians penetrated the frontier with their Churches of Christ on the West Coast. appeal. They called their efforts the For the past 17 years, Dr. Rushford has “Restoration Movement” or the “Current directed the annual Pepperdine University Bible Lectures. Under his leadership, this Reformation,” and they saw themselves as par­ four-day event has consistently increased in ticipants in a movement within the existing attendance and earned a reputation as one of churches aimed at eliminating all sectarian the finest lecture series in the nation. More divisions. than 4,000 people, from approximately 40 This is the story of a courageous genera­ states and 10 foreign countries, attend this tion of Christians who migrated to Oregon conference each spring. He and his wife, Lori, live in Agoura Hills, Territory on the torturous Oregon Trail. Not California with their daughters, Hilary, age 19, all of them survived the journey, but those and Ashley, age 15. who did arrived with well-thumbed Bibles and a stubborn determination to hold fast the About the Cover name Christian and to plant what they called “Bible Christianity” in “the wilds of Oregon.” The dramatic sculpture on the cover is To a great extent they were successful. “We entitled “The Promised Land.” It was crafted by an Oregon artist named David Manuel. now outnumber in the American population Appreciation is extended to the artist and to any of the sects,” claimed Amos Harvey in the Manuel Gallery in Joseph, Oregon for per­ 1848, “and if we only live up to our high pro­ mission to use this image. Bill Henegar, assis­ fession, Oregon will soon become as noted for tant vice-president for creative services at the religion of Jesus Christ, as it already is for Pepperdine University, developed the basic idea for the cover design, and Sonserae Leese, its ever-verdant pastures, its grand and varied of Morningstar Design, was the digital artist scenery,· and its mild and healthy climate.” who created the final production art. CHRISTIANS ON THE OREGON TRAIL CHRISTIANS ON THE OREGON TRAIL Churches of Christ and Christian Churches in Early Oregon 1842-1882 Jerry Rushford COLLEGE PRESS PUBLISHING COMPANY · JOPLIN, MISSOURI Copyright © 1997 Second Edition Revised and Enlarged © 1998 College Press Publishing Company Third Printing 1999 Printed and Bound in the United States of America All Rights Reserved Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Rushford, Jerry, 1942— Christians on the Oregon Trail: Churches of Christ and Christian Churches in early Oregon, 1842-1882 / Jerry Rushford. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-89900-777-5 (hardcover) 1. Disciples of Christ—Oregon—History—19th century. 2. Restoration Movement (Christianity—Oregon—History—19th century. 5. Oregon Trail. 4. Oregon—Church history—19th century. I. Title. BX7317.07R87 1997 286.6'795—dc21 97-12265 CIP To Lori, Hilary and Ashley; my three sojourners on the trail of life Acknowledgments My interest in Oregon was late in developing. I began with a desire to write a history of Churches of Christ in California, but in the opening chapters I kept running into Oregonians who were responding to the California gold rush. Many of these Oregon Christians had already been on the West Coast for several years, preaching in meetings, establishing congregations, and preparing to open Christian schools. The more I learned about their experiences, the more I wanted to know. The sheer priority of the Oregon Christians was the ultimate attraction. They were among the first to carve out a trail, and among the first to die on that trail. They were in the vanguard of those who preached Christ in the western territories, and they were ahead of California Christians in establishing churches and schools. The heroic dimensions of their epic 2000-mile journey across the continent captured my imagination, and I longed to know more about them. So, California was put on hold temporarily, while I made numerous trips to Oregon and became overly familiar with Interstate 5 from Portland to Medford and back. My main source in the beginning was C. F. Swander's Making Disciples in Oregon. When the author published his book in 1928, he closed with this appeal: "I sincerely hope that future historians will keep the work up-to-date, and may be able to correct the inaccuracies in this, so that in the far future generations yet unborn may be better informed as to our progress . ." Then with a note of professional generosity, Swander concluded: I shall have no jealousy in my soul should some future historian excel this work to a degree that it shall be overshadowed. Hoping that this work may inspire some one to make the attempt I gladly write the dosing word. Acknowledgments Swander's work did inspire me to want to know more about our spiritual ancestors, and I completely agree with his sentiments. I too look forward to the day when future historians will build on my research and "correct the inaccuracies." It is a story worth telling, and we can never have too many storytellers. Many debts have been incurred along the way as I have badgered people for information on early Oregon. One of my former students in church history, Bonnie Miller, has been invaluable to this project. Her work as church secretary for the Andresen Road Church of Christ in Vancouver, Washington was often delayed while she responded to my frequent pleas for help. Bonnie was my pipeline to the wonderful resources in the Oregon History Center in Portland, the Clark County Genealogical Society in Vancouver, and numerous other libraries and historical societies. She pursued every lead with tenacity, and much information would have been left undiscovered without her enthusiastic commitment to locating primary source materials. She read the text with a passion for accuracy and assisted in culling out numerous errors. I am grateful to Doug Dornhecker, who was minister of First Christian Church in Lebanon, Oregon at the time, for making it possible for me to obtain a copy of his excellent thesis entitledA History of Annual Meetings of Disciples of Christ in Oregon to 1877. Doug never wearied of showing me cemeteries and old churches and answering endless questions. He generously shared his research on the annual State Meetings in Oregon, and then assisted me in tracking down elusive information on obscure delegates to those meetings. Charles Dailey of Northwest College of the Bible in Portland, and John McKeel, the former minister of the Eastside Church of Christ in Portland, are two of the most knowledgeable sources on the history of the Restoration Movement in Oregon. They have devoted years of study to this field, and they willingly shared their insights with me. Christians on the Oregon Trail Sue Rhee, librarian at Northwest Christian College in Eugene, Melanie Bailey, librarian at Cascade College in Portland, and Lotte Larsen, librarian and archivist at Western Oregon University in Monmouth were helpful in locating rare items.
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