History of the Point Pleasant Christian Church
Late in the fall of 1834 Walter Scott held a two weeks meeting at the old Point Pleasant school house, not a great distance from where the church now stands. The first week he had one convert, Mr. Platt Kennedy and the following week Mr. Park Walton made the good confession. The meeting closed, but the seed sown during that meeting were bound to bring forth fruit in time to come.
Then in the fall of 1839, Walter Scott again held a meeting - one of the most successful ever held at Point Pleasant, for the time had come for the seed sown in 1837 by this same good man had put forth an abundant harvest and ll that was wanting was some one to proclaim the restoration of primitive Christianity and no one was better prepared to do that than Walter Scott.
After the close of this meeting the church was organized with sixty-one members and called Point Pleasant. The following officers were elected: James Ellis, Park Walton and James McGlasson; elders, James Cullom, Jedidiah Foster and Simpson Riggs; Deacons, and John Riggs, Sr., Trustee. They continued to hold services at the school house and at different homes in the neighborhood until 1841, when Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Brown donated land, and a church building was erected. They then had another meeting and had many accessions to the church.
About this time they employed their first regular minister, "Old Father Masters," (as he was called) who was not at all extravagant in his price, as he preached for $12 per year.
By this time H. St. John Van Dake (among the first to unite with the church and a charter member) had become a good preacher and by the way the first preacher sent out by Pint Pleasant. At that time we had no colleges of the Bible to educate our preachers, but Bro. Van Dake would get his elders together, take them to the woods and seat them on a log and preach to them, asking them to criticize him, which was an inspiration to him as well as to the elders. Bro. Van Dake removed to Indiana and became one of the leading ministers.
Elder James Challen held two very successful meetings and had many additions. His last meeting was in 1847. Father Masters became feeble in health and was unable to attend church regularly and the church employed James Weakly in about 1854 or 1855. The minister's salary had begun to increase by this time and Bro. Weakly received $36.00 per year.
Some of the other ministers who served the church were: Bros. William Stratton of Cincinnati; Perrin of Covington; John Taft of Cincinnati (a relative of Pres. Taft); who studied law under Judge Taft and Judge Burnett, but became dissatisfied with his profession, began preaching and made a successful minister.
Between 1847 and 1856, Benjamin Franklin had several successful meetings at our church. His last meeting was in 1856. Bro. Philomen Vawter came to the church about this time, and served it successfully for fourteen years. Bro. Vawter was liked by everyone and at the close of his ministry, the church was at its zenith.
Then came Bro. W. S. Keene, who also served the church for fourteen years-he also left the church in a prosperous condition. Bro. Keene was a splendid church worker. Since that ime we have had a number of good men among whom were: T. M. Hurst, W. E. Rambo, J. A. Setliff, E. J. Curry, G. W. Watkins, Edgar D. Jhones, Roger T. Nooe, P. H. Duncan, and R. H. Carter whom you have all known well.
In some respects we feel quite proud of "Old Point Pleasant Church," for she is the "mother" of churches. Constance is an offspring of Point Pleasant. Burlington once drew on Point Pleasant but finally let her church go down. Florence also drew on Point Pleasant to start her church. Bullittsville organized from Point Pleasant. Ludlow received many of our good members, among them two elders, and last, but not least, Erlanger got many of our members when we most needed them.
There is another thing we can feel proud of - look at the number of young men who have commenced preaching in Point Pleasant Church. F. N. Arnold preached his first sermon here. W. S. Keene was a beginner here. W. E. Rambo, John A. Jayne, Harlen C. Runyan, Walter C. Gibbs, Edgar D. Jones, Roger T. Nooe, R. H. Carter and many others preached for us in the early part of their ministry and have gone into the world to make their mark as ministers of the gospel, which they are doing with credit to themselves and the church. The church erected in 1841 was razed early in 1913 and the present building erected and dedicated September 28th.
Since that time our congregation has not been very large. We have lost so many of our members by death and removal and some by indifference, but a few of us are still trying to keep things going as best we can and would be glad to have everyone in the community join in with us and try to build up our congregation to what it was a few years ago.
Bro. Crawford preaches for us every third Sunday at 11 a.m. and 2:00 p.m.
from the 1930 Historical Edition of the Boone County Recorder, by Katherine White, taken from A history by B. F. McGlasson