Oak Terrace Mennonite Church (Blountstown, Florida, USA)
In the early 1950s, some Mennonite families moved to the Blountstown area of Florida on the panhandle south of Alabama. On 31 July 1955, they formed a congregation with a charter membership of 24 and Joe Esh as the pastor. Because the group was too large for most homes, on 1 August 1955, it held a groundbreaking service for a meetinghouse that became known as the Oak Terrace Mennonite Church. The group sought membership in the South Central Mennonite Conference of the Mennonite Church (MC).
Another group, rooted in four families from the Hopewell Mennonite Church in Kouts, Indiana, also located in Blountstown, Florida, organized a congregation on 21 July 1956, after Samuel S. Miller of their home congregation led revival meetings. This group had 30 charter members in the Floranna Mennonite Mission. Wilmer Good was licensed to lead this group by Bishop Miller.
After Joe Esh left the Oak Terrace church for a pastorate in Pennsylvania, the Floranna Mennonite Mission merged with the Oak Terrace congregation at the Oak Terrace location. J. Kore Zook became pastor of the merged congregation, which took the Oak Terrace name. The congregation then became part of the Indiana-Michigan Mennonite Conference. When the Southeast Mennonite Conference formed in 1967, Oak Terrace joined that regional conference to associate with geographically closer Mennonite congregations.
The Oak Terrace Mennonite Church closed in about 2007; at that time, it had only 14 members. The church building was later occupied by a business.
Bibliography
"Bro. and Sister Laban Martin,..." Gospel Herald 48, no. 44 (1 November 1955): 1052.
"Bro. J. Kore Zook...." Gospel Herald 50, no. 36 (3 September 1957): 768.
Esh, Joe. "Blountstown, Florida." Gospel Herald 48, no. 40 (4 October 1955): 955.
"A Mennonite congregation...." Gospel Herald 48, no. 33 (16 August 1955): 780.
Preheim, Rich. In Pursuit of Faithfulness: Conviction, Conflict, and Compromise in Indiana-Michigan Mennonite Conference. Harrisonburg, Va.: Herald Press, 2016: 311.
Prough, Glenn, Mrs. "Blountstown, Florida." 49, no. 38 (18 September 1956): 907.
Wenger, John Christian. The Mennonites in Indiana and Michigan. Scottdale, Pa.: Herald Press, 1961: 257-258
Additional Information
Address: 16970 NW 22nd Street, Blountstown, Florida 32424
Telephone:
Website:
Denominational Affiliations:
South Central Mennonite Conference
Indiana-Michigan Mennonite Conference
Pastoral Leaders at Oak Terrace Mennonite Church
| Name | Years of Service |
|---|---|
| Wilmer M. Good (1918-2006) | 1956-1957 |
| Joseph M. Esh (1925-1996) | 1955-1957 |
| John "Kore" Zook (1894-1984) | 1957-1959 |
| Oscar T. Schrock (1926-1989) | 1959-1967 |
| John B. Eberly (1933-2019) | 1968-1987 |
| James L. Sebastian (1931-1992) | 1988-1992 |
| Roger King | 1992-1996 |
| Lay Leadership | 1996-2000 |
| Clifford "Dale" Ivy | 2000-2007 |
Oak Terrace Mennonite Church Membership
| Year | Members |
|---|---|
| 1955 | 24 |
| 1960 | 30 |
| 1970 | 56 |
| 1980 | 67 |
| 1990 | 71 |
| 2000 | 18 |
| 2007 | 14 |
Original Mennonite Encyclopedia Article
By Harold S. Bender. Copied by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 3, p. 2. All rights reserved.
Oak Terrace Mennonite (Mennonite Church) Church, Blountstown, Florida, under the Indiana-Michigan Conference, was begun in 1953 by a number of families moving in chiefly from near Kouts, Indiana. In 1957 the membership was 41, with Kore Zook as pastor.
| Author(s) | Samuel J Steiner |
|---|---|
| Date Published | July 2024 |
Cite This Article
MLA style
Steiner, Samuel J. "Oak Terrace Mennonite Church (Blountstown, Florida, USA)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. July 2024. Web. 21 Nov 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Oak_Terrace_Mennonite_Church_(Blountstown,_Florida,_USA)&oldid=179300.
APA style
Steiner, Samuel J. (July 2024). Oak Terrace Mennonite Church (Blountstown, Florida, USA). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 21 November 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Oak_Terrace_Mennonite_Church_(Blountstown,_Florida,_USA)&oldid=179300.
©1996-2024 by the Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. All rights reserved.