Introduction

By Dan Dillon

In 1996, Detroit Gospel Assembly, now called Great Lakes Gospel Assembly, celebrated its 50^th anniversary. In the beginning of that year, one of the original members of the church, Sis. Ruth Wheeler, wrote a brief history from the memories of her personal experience. Sis. Wheeler was a devoted member of the church and a servant of her church family all through her life. Sadly, Sis. Ruth passed away in 2003, but we are still left with her influence, and her legacy which she left to us in written form.

A Half-Century of Faith Building

A personal history of Detroit Gospel Assembly, Warren, Michigan

By Sis. Ruth Wheeler

My brother-in-law, Bro. Eugene Wheeler, had been a traveling evangelist and had worked in many churches in need of help. He had also assisted Bro. Will Sowders at the Shepherdsville campground and helped build many of the cabins that cover the hillside. In 1946, he felt the Lord dealing with him about coming to Detroit to preach the Gospel. He talked with Bro. Sowders about this. Bro. Sowders told him to come, try it and see what the Lord would do.

Bro. Wheeler came to Bro. George Euhler, who had a church in Toledo, Ohio at that time. Bro. Euhler brought Bro. Wheeler to Detroit and introduced him to people who already had contact with the Body of Christ and had been to the Shepherdsville campground. These included Sis. Beulah Durham, Her daughter, Sis Juanita (Durham) Ashton, and daughters-in-law Sis. Alma (Crafton) Durham and Sis. Daisy Durham (Lyles); Sis Aileen Shirley; and Bro. Alton and Sis. Clara Crafton. Bro. Euhler told them that “Brother Gene” would be their new pastor.

Bro. Gene said that the first might he was in Detroit he had a dream that he was fishing in the Detroit River. In the dream, he caught two big blue gill fish. This encouraged him as a sign that the Lord had put his approval on him in coming to Detroit.

Initially the church met in people's homes. After a short time, Bro. Gene arranged to rent a hall on Magnolia and held services there once a week for a while.

Bro. Gene wanted to host a local fellowship meeting, but had no building. Down the street, however, there was a black church: The pastor of this church offered Bro. Gene the use of his church. It had a kitchen and all the needed facilities and Bro. Gene was welcome to use it.

This was where my husband Goldburn and I and Goldburn's sister Leona (Wheeler) Chills got started in the church. We wanted to help Bro. Gene with the food and anything else we could do. After the meeting, we never went back to the Baptist church where we had been lifelong members.

In May 1947 Bro. Gene contacted a lady minister, Mrs. A.C. Evans, who had a small church on 16th Street at Buchannan. The building was very small, about 20 feet by 20 feet, with a few benches made of 1 x 4 boards. (We paid $50 for possession of the building.) The church had no piano, so our music was provided by Sis. Beulah Durham and her guitar.

The Lord began to bless the work and new people began to come. Bro. Charley Hamilton was on the same streetcar with Bro. Gene and “something” told him to “Follow that man.” Bro. Hamilton followed Bro. Gene to church and was a faithful member of the church until he had to go live in a nursing home, where he passed away. Bro. Eddie & Sis. Lela Smith (later Carvella) were pushing their son Paul down the street in a baby buggy when they passed the church and heard Bro. Gene preaching. After that, Bro. Eddie was our church's janitor for many years.

Many others were added to the church, including Bro. Travis Matheny & Sis. Gertrude Matheny, and daughters Bernita (Baize, later Toten), Louise (Ellison), Dene (Ashton) and Frances (Ashton), along with Sis. Frances' husband Bro. James Ashton and his father Bro. Braun Ashton. I think Sis. Frances was the first to receive the Holy Ghost after Bro. Gene came. Also added at this time were Bro. Paul & Sis. Myrtle Lambert and Sis. Florence (Wheeler) Hundley.

Bro. Gene fellowshipped with several local ministers. One Saturday night we all went to Bro. Greives' church and the Holy Ghost baptism fell on Sis. Shirley and Sis. Matheny while we were singing. The Lord blessed us in many ways.

There was a couple, Bro. Calvin & Sis. Beth Slaughter, who were members of the Brightmoor Tabernacle. Sis Slaughter had heard about Bro. Gene being in the city and knew that her mother had received the Holy Ghost under Bro. Gene's ministry many years earlier. The Slaughters supported us with their finances and helped us until we got a better building. However, Sis. Slaughter said that this teaching could not be right, else Bro. Bon Bowman, her pastor, would be in it. We worshipped in this building for about a year.

In January 1948 we rented another storefront on 1211 W. Kirby at Brooklyn. We painted, patched holes, sanded the floor and made curtains for the windows. It looked pretty good! Bro. Matheny gave us a piano. We didn't have a regular piano player, but Sis. Josie Richards, Sis. Renevea Bates and Sis. Beulah Durham each played part of the time.

There were several added to the group that had been at 16th & Buchannan. Among these were Bro. Bob Godfrey, Bro. Clarence Godfrey, Bro. Fred Stolter, Sis. Billie Reynolds (later Arnold) and her daughters Sis. Bernice (Reynolds) O'Brien (later Hawley).

God blessed us in a great way. Bro. & Sis. Asher from “Canton Center” (now Plymouth-Canton, Michigan) brought their people for many meetings and they were always a blessing to us. One year later, in July 1949, the owner wanted the building back, so we had to move.

Bro. Gene rented an old, burnt-out bakery store on 4733 Hamilton at Forrest and we cleaned it up. The Lord continued to bless us in a great way with new people. Bro. Alton & Sis. Inez Dees, Bro Sam Knight, Bro. Lexie (“Buster”) Lyles and Bro. Joe Henderson and Sis. Anna Burton were among these.

While there, Sis. Burton brought a friend of hers, Sis. Dorsie Harmon, who pastored a church in Norfolk, Virginia. When Sis. Harmon heard Bro. Alton Dees testify about the “cloud like a man's hand” (I Kings 18:44), she knew that this was something different, because the Lord had been dealing with her about that scripture.

After service Sis. Harmon met with Bro. Gene and asked him to promise he would visit her church. Bro. Gene went several times to Norfolk and Sis. Harmon came back to Detroit and visited with Bro. Gene and Sis. Leona at different times. From that time to the present, the Norfolk and Detroit churches have had close ties.

The Lord blessed us with more people and more finances. In July 1950 Bro. Gene wanted to get a larger place. He rented a place on 17121 Greeley near Six Mile (McNichols) Road that had been a bar. It had a kitchen and an alcove in the back that we converted to a dining room. Each Sunday the people brought in food and we would eat together. We then had service at 1:00 in the afternoon.

After we finished cleaning the building it really looked good to us. Bro. Gene had his first fellowship meeting where the ministers of the Body of Christ came, such as Bro. Tom Jolly, Bro. Edgar Roach, Bro. Bennie Morris and Bro. Nick Gruick. The Lord poured out his Spirit in a great way and the ministers encouraged us so much with their words. This made us feel like all the hard work we had done had been worthwhile.

It was during this time that Sis. Anna Badten (later Smith) was on her way from her home in Oregon to war-destroyed Germany as a missionary but while in New York City became disillusioned with the life-witness of the other women of that missionary organization. She canceled her plans for Europe and ended up in Detroit, working at Fred Sanders Co., making candy. While there, Sis Hazel Jenkins (later Wheeler), a co-worker, invited her to church. She came and was immediately impressed by the Lord that this is what she had been looking for and was where He wanted her to serve. She served as the church's organist for many years, until she died of cancer in June, 1980.

Others who came into the church at this time included Bro. Eudine Newton; Bro. Eugene & Sis. Maggie-Bell Smith; Bro. Leland Ashton, and his brothers Delbert and Sherman; Bro. Nelson & Sis. Margaret Scarbrough, Sis Lou Jean Gregory (later Parrish); Bro. Wes & Sis. Anneliese Capps, Sis. Pat Wright and Sis. Elizabeth Dillon. The Lord continued to bless us.

We did not have a baptismal pool, so Bro. Gene baptized some of us in a creek at 18 Mile (Long Lake) road and Crooks Road. Once when Bro. Asher had several people needing to be baptized, a large watering trough was set up in a breezeway of a home and Bro. Gene baptized several people in it!

Bro. Alton Crafton felt like he was called to go to Pontiac, Michigan and start a work. At that time work was bad in central Kentucky (Drakesboro-Central City) and many people started to come north to find work. There were several families that came to Pontiac and went to Bro. Alton Crafton's church.

Among these were Sis. Pearl Childers; Bro. Bobby and Sis. Geri Childers; Bro. J. D. Hall; Bro. Winferd and Sis. Ruth Joines and children Neal and Elwanda (Hobgood later Headrick); Bro Pleasant and Myrtle Mayes and children Charlie and Martha (Dunford); Bro. John and Sis Lucille Piper and son Jimmy; Bro. J. T. and Sis. Elizabeth Price; Bro. Lyman and Sis. Mildred (Price) Rager and daughters Karen and Sherrie (TerMarsch); Bro. Bernis and Sis. Marie Travis and children Lois (Griffith), Glendyl, Bernis, Troyce and Bueal Lee.

In 1950 Bro. Harley Price, who had been their pastor in Kentucky, came to Pontiac and became that church's pastor.

The Detroit and Pontiac churches fellowshipped each other until early in 1952, when Bro. Gene began dating a woman in the church, Sis. Hazel Jenkins. Several of our people (mostly married) felt that an unmarried minister should stay single, so they left our church and began attending Bro. Price's church. This caused a division in both churches. When Bro. Gene married we lost a lot of people.

We still had bills, though, and not much money. While my husband was praying one night, the Lord told him to pay the church's rent for five more months. The rent was $105 a month. He paid the rent for the five months, but didn't know what would happen then. During this time, he didn't tell anyone, except me, what the Lord had said to him.

When the five months were up, Bro. Gene decided he could not work any longer under the conditions that prevailed in the church at that time. While at the September Campmeeting, he told Bro. Bennie Morris that he was leaving Detroit to go to Bro. Jolly's church in St. Louis, Missouri. He asked Bro. Morris if he would come and help us until everything was settled.

After leaving Detroit, Bro. Gene never pastored another church. Sadly, he and Sis. Hazel eventually separated and he was living alone when he suffered a stroke and passed away in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, on January 2, 1971.

After that campmeeting, either Bro. Bennie Morris or Bro. Nick Gruick was with us every week until January 6, 1953, when Bro. Willie and Sis. Faye (Hardin) Atwell came from Salem, Kentucky. With his wise counsel, fatherly spirit and long-suffering, Bro. Atwell was able to bring together the churches in Detroit and Pontiac, along with people that began to move to Detroit from his church in Kentucky.

Some who came with Bro. & Sis. Atwell were: the Garland Little Family; the Edelman family; Bro. Willard and Sis. Margaret Fox and children Larry, Jamie, Nancy (Stamm, later Hicks) and Rita (Scott, later Doran); Bro. Jesse and Sis. Agnes Hardin and children Marcena (Hall) and Larry; Bro. Oliver and Sis. Imogene Edmonds; Sis. Alice Hardin; Sis. Fern Kirk; Sis. Agnes Hardin (Travis); Bro. Bill and Sis. Melba Mayhugh (O'Brien); Bro. Ralph and Sis. Anna Lee Bonds; Sis. Ruby Bonds and daughters Margie Henderson, Clara Mayes, Patsie Joines and Glenda Crafton.

The Lord was blessing and everyone was happy with our new pastor.

Since our Assembly had increased so much, Bro. Atwell believed we needed a larger and better place to meet. He founded a basement church at 631 E. Eight Mile Rd., Ferndale. It belonged to a Fellowship Baptist church. A man named Alger Zapf carried the land contract and in the future, whenever the church needed to borrow money, Mr. Zapf was glad to lend to the church.

In October 1953 we moved there. We did a lot of work there too. We re-upholstered the seats and built a new baptismal pool. In 1961 we built the upper level Sanctuary and had our first service in it in December. After we built the Sanctuary, we used the basement for Sunday School rooms. Part of the basement was also converted into a kitchen.

Bro. Atwell was a person who never wanted to take advantage of the people. For instance, when he became old enough to draw Social Security, he had the church reduce his salary by the amount of his Social Security payment, in order to reduce the burden on the church. However, when the Social Security Administration asked who he was turning the church over to, he said he would be continuing as pastor. Social Security wouldn't permit him to draw a Social Security pension as long as he continued to pastor until age 70, so he told them to forget it and that he would just have to wait until he was 70 years old, and that's just what he did.

For many, many years, Sis. Atwell made her home open to people in need. Not only were visiting ministers made welcome and comfortable in her home, but so were young people and the aged. She made a place in her home for both her elderly mother and mother-in-law. She faithfully supported her husband's ministry in every way and was never heard to complain about the demands on the life of a minister's wife. She has been and is a true example.

Bro. Atwell asked Bro. Thomas Wilkinson to come and be his assistant, so in the summer of 1968, Bro. Wilkinson and his wife, Sis. Doris Wilkinson moved from East Moline, Illinois, to Ferndale. A year later, their daughter, Sis. Kay Johnson (Lord), and her daughter Janna (Durham) moved from Jerseyville, Illinois to join them. The people soon loved Bro. and Sis. Wilkinson and found him to be a dedicated man of God. Sis. Wilkinson blessed the church with her gift of music and her willingness to work hard. She worked diligently at training the church's choir and other singing groups. In 1970, Sis. Wilkinson lost a lung to cancer and in 1972, after four years of dedicated service to the Detroit Assembly, Bro. and Sis. Wilkinson moved back to Illinois, where she passed away in 1974.

After Sis. Wilkinson's death, Bro. Wilkinson labored many years in his old age with Bro. Nick Gruick in missionary work in Yugoslavia, Bro. Nick's homeland. Today many Yugoslav believers are the fruit of Bro. Nick's and Bro. Wilkinson's labors there.

In 1968 we built an educational building and larger nursery at a cost of $78,000 on the site of our parking lot. To replace the lost parking space, Bro. Atwell arranged for the purchase of three lots on Bennett, the street behind the church. A new parking lot was built on these.

While we were building, everyone had a mind to work. We took pledges twice a year and had rummage sales and bazaars. The women would make candy and the men would take it to work with them and sell it. Even school children would take it to shopping centers and sell it. We collected old newspapers and Bro. Newton and other men would take the paper to the scrap dealers.

The church increased in numbers and the Lord blessed us in a great way, but as time passed, for one reason or another, some of the people left to go back south. But the Lord always sent someone else to take their places.

As our congregation grew we ran out of parking space. People were parking their cars blocks away and walking to the church. The building had also become much to crowded to host conventions and general meetings. Bro. Atwell started to think about making another move. He looked at several church buildings, but none was what was needed. He decided we would buy land and build a new building. In 1976 we bought 23 acres on Chicago Road in Warren, Michigan at a cost of $160,000. We bought it from a Lillian Kratt on a land contract.

To pay this contract called for another great fundraising effort by everyone. It was back to pledges, newspaper recycling, rummage sales and lots of fudge and peanut-brittle making and selling. We even collected and recycled old coins and jewelry. When we had paid for the land, we applied far a building loan of $250,000. This seemed like a huge amount.

On June 13, 1978, Bro. Atwell turned over the first shovel full of dirt in breaking ground for the new building. Bro. Goldburn Wheeler assisted Bro. Atwell throughout the building project and was able to relieve him of much of this burden, since he had been in construction work since 1945.

When the building was completed, we had the facilities we needed (kitchen, dining room, seating, and parking) to be able to properly host gatherings of the Body of Christ. Sis. Era Newton, who had already served the church for many years as head of the kitchen, finally had a kitchen that would accommodate the large crowds that came from all over and enjoyed her delicious meals.

We moved in on August 12, 1980. We had our first fellowship meeting in the new building in October, 1980. We had a large crowd. Everyone wanted to see our new building. Many expressed amazement at how the Lord had blessed our assembly.

We worked and saved and paid off the mortgage years ahead of schedule. To commemorate this, we held a “Mortgage Burning” on October 31, 1982.

In 1984, Bro. Atwell realized that he was getting older and we still needed classrooms for Sunday School. Comerica Bank approved us for a $150,000 loan and we started the building. It consists of 13 classrooms, two storage rooms and a furnace room. The construction was completed in November of 1984 and the loan was paid in full in September 1985. Bro. Atwell had accomplished a great work, but due to his age, he feared leaving the church in debt when he passed on. He was a very, very happy man when the church was debt free.

Over the years, Bro. Atwell continued to maintain close ties with the Norfolk Assembly. After the Norfolk Assembly suffered a church split, it looked to many like it would not survive. Bro. Atwell worked very hard to rebuild and nurture the Norfolk Assembly back to health. Bro. and Sis. Atwell grew to love the Norfolk Assembly and for a while Bro. Atwell served as pastor to both the Detroit and Norfolk churches.

Bro. Atwell thought very highly of the Norfolk church's subsequent pastor, Bro. Lloyd Chalk and his wife, Sis. Catherine Chalk. At one time Bro. Atwell thought that Bro. Chalk might succeed him as pastor in Detroit after he passed away, but he later concluded that this wasn't the Lord's will. Before he died he emphatically told the church that, if problems arose that couldn't be settled by ourselves, we should call on Bro. Chalk for help.

In July, 1985, Bro. Atwell suffered a stroke while at the pulpit preaching. He recovered enough to be back in church for a while, but on January 28, 1986, he suffered another stroke and passed away five days later on February 2, 1986.

It was a sad time for our assembly. Bro. Atwell was a great man in the Body of Christ and was a faithful and true shepherd to the Detroit Assembly for 33 years. He will never be forgotten.

After Bro. Atwell's death, a disagreement arose in the church over who should be the pastor. to keep the church together, Bro. Lloyd Chalk was asked to come and help settle the confusion. Bro. and Sis. Chalk came in December 1986, and stayed three and a half years, living a good while with Sis. Atwell in her home.

For over a year, the Norfolk church operated without the aid of a pastor, as their pastor's attention was focused on the needs of the Detroit Assembly. This was hard for Bro. and Sis. Chalk as well as for the Norfolk church, but many of them expressed satisfaction at being able to help Detroit as Bro. Atwell and Detroit had helped Norfolk years before.

Bro. Chalk asked Bro. Thomas Lord to go to the Norfolk Assembly to serve as its pastor. In January 1988, with their daughter Sarah soon to be born, Bro. Tom and Sis. Gwen (Edmonds) and their two sons Eric and Jason moved to Virginia Beach to serve our “sister church” and the Lord has been blessing their work there ever since.

During his stay here, Bro. Chalk had to make many changes. For instance the church purchased its first computer. Bro. Chalk hired Sis. Loretta (Edmonds) Dillon as a part time secretary and established regular office hours. In the main, however, Bro. Chalk's calling was to be a peacemaker, to keep the church together and to help us adjust to the loss of Bro. Atwell. Our church today stands as a testimony to Bro. Chalk's ministry of reconciliation and we are truly grateful to him.

However, due to Bro. Chalk's failing health he decided to retire and return to Norfolk. Before doing this though, he brought Bro. William Waters Jr. of Charlotte, North Carolina, to Detroit to be our pastor. Bro. Waters was originally of Norfolk, Virginia; he grew up in the Norfolk Assembly and had served as its pastor. He had also been close to Bro. Atwell for many years.

Bro. Waters, Sis. Judy (Williams) Waters and their son William III came in the summer of 1990. Now, seven years later, Bro. Waters is still doing a good work, carrying on the work that Bro. Atwell and many others began. The Lord continues to bless His people through Bro. Waters' ministry, and our Assembly in prospering in the Lord.

Sis. Waters, though physically stricken, continually expresses her love and concern for the people of the church. Her creative hobby is to use her camera to chronicle the events, large and small, in the life of the church.

Their son William, soon entering college, is not only a great physical help to his parents but is also highly respected among the people of the church, young and old, for the example he sets.

Many of the old Saints who walked the road and bore the burdens in the heat of the day are now gone to their rewards. In the words of President Kennedy, “The torch has been passed to a new generation” and they will write the next 50 years' history.