City church celebrates its centennial

Events planned at Lynn Street Church of Christ

By DAVE PAYNE Sr., dpayne@newsandsentinel.com
PARKERSBURG — Several hundred people gathered at the Lynn Street Church of Christ for a special Sunday evening service to honor the church’s centennial.

Belpre Church of Christ members also attended the combined service. The Belpre church is one of several daughter churches of the Lynn Street church.

The service is one of several events the church plans to hold this year to honor an important milestone for the congregation. The Lynn Street Church of Christ will turn 100 years old in October.

“We’re going to be celebrating all year,” said Teddy Tackett, who ministers at the Lynn Street church. “We’re going to have speakers coming back to the church and we have two revivals planned.”

The first revival will be held in April and features Earl Williams of Conroe, Texas. The second is slated for October and will feature Buddy Bell of Alabama.

The church started in 1908 on Seventh Street at Williams Avenue. It moved to its current location on Lynn Street in 1913 and parts of the current building date back to the church’s beginning.

The Lynn Street church’s legacy extends beyond its walls, as members of the church have started the Belpre Church of Christ, the Camden Avenue Church of Christ, the North End Church of Christ and the 36th Street Church of Christ in Vienna, Tackett said. It also helped in the beginnings of the Latrobe Street Church of Christ.

Tackett himself worked at the Belpre church for 10 years before working at the Lynn Street church.

Speaking Sunday was Ron Laughery, who serves as minister of the Belpre Church of Christ.

“This is the church who planted the seed for our church,” he said.

The Belpre Church is also holding an anniversary celebration this year, to mark its 75th anniversary, Laughery said.

“We’re having several, what we call, celebration Sundays. We are inviting men who served as ministers previously back to speak. At Belpre, we’ve only had two pulpit ministers in the last 45 years,” he said.

The Lynn Street church has had over 1,100 baptisms over the past century and the church is printing the names of all those members to display in the church this year, Tackett said.

The Lynn Street Church of Christ has been in a period of growth over the last several years, with the congregation reaching well over 300 members. In 2007, the congregation completed work on a new sanctuary in the building it leases from the former Storck Baking Co.

Church members have created a photo display showing all of the Lynn Street ministers throughout its history. A logo is being painted on one of the walls to mark the anniversary.