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CENTENNIAL MINUTES
MINISTERS WHO SERVED AT DILLON CHAPEL

March 5 - J. N. Herald

Rev. J. N. Herald served twice at Dillon chapel from 1924-1925 and from 1930-1931. He was a fat, jolly man with snow white hair and a dignified manner, which must have made it all the more embarrassing the day he lost his false teeth while preaching. There was nothing to do but grab them and put them back in -- and continue his sermon!
       Bennie Eden recalls that he preached in the little white church and was a carpenter by trade. He built the Dick Hensley house while preaching here. Bennie says he always thought he was a preacher called by God as distinguished from those who saw preaching as "just another job."
       Ben Blankenship recalls that he was a slow, easy man who warmed up as he went along; and when he was preaching well he didn't pay any attention to the clock. Many a dinner burned while Rev. Herald spoke.
       Virginia Blankenship, then in her 20's, used to tell her cousins that she was going to die in the summer and Rev. Herald would preach her funeral; and they would have to sit for hours, in the heat, listening to the service. She missed the mark a little. She died when she was 30 years old, in November, and Rev. 0. C. Martin preached her funeral; and her cousins were there. But it was a brief service!

Dillon Chapel has had a long history of being a caring church. Ninety years ago, Rev. Marlin Blankenship viewed caring for the sick and laying out the dead as part of his Christian duty. Over fifty years ago, the people of the church cared for Nan Stewart, a childless widow, when she became old and infirm.
       In the 1940's, Rev. Raymond Workman is fondly remembered as a preacher who rolled up his sleeves and helped out in the community. One member remembers Rev. Workman working long hours, mending fences; another remembers his helping to slaughter hogs. Incidentally, he was also the preacher who blew up the pressure cooker canner while canning applesauce -- leaving his face badly burned -- and his mark on the parsonage ceiling!
       Down through the years to the present, Dillon Chapel has earned a reputation for helping those in need. The needs change, but the serving is the same. We have a good record for paying our benevolences, many years reaching our 100% goal. In 1988, we paid $3850, including our apportionment for Ministeral Support and World Service, the charitable arm of the U.M.C. But our church has gone far beyond the minimum set by the Conference. We have collected special offerings for Golden Cross, Asbury Woods, One Hour of Sharing, and Student Day to name a few.
       Dillon Chapel has participated for many years in the World Hunger Drive, including the Glen Holton Walk-A-Thon which has netted our church $100 for each of the last two years. In 1977, we were given a certificate for giving the most in the Huntington District, with over $300, toward World Hunger. In addition, Dillon Chapel has contributed to the Ronald McDonald House, as does the United Methodist Women's group in the church. Each year we contribute $100 to the City Mission, where one of our members, Lola Sargent has volunteered to work weekly for many years. We have also contributed to Beckley Child Care Center, and last winter in addition to collections, provided coats for those teens in the Center who had none.
       Much of this charitable work takes place in the local community and is above and beyond our offical requirements. The David Grove Victory Class, spearheaded by Tommy and Mary Jeffrey, has sponsored a food pantry for the last five years. An idea which grew out of a class meeting, it has helped 15-25 families a year with food on an emergency basis. They are referred by the Information and Referral Agency, local schools, social workers, and by word-of-mouth. They also provide holiday baskets for Christmas, and fruit baskets for the elderly.
       At the Christmas season, we have provided a special ministry for needy children, providing clothing, toys, games, and other gifts for each child in a family. Individual church members select a name and provide one or more gifts for that child. For the last three years, names have been provided by Jeanette Dillon from Merritts Creek Elementary School, where she is acquainted with the needs of children she sees every day. In other years we have selected names for needy children from Davis Creek and Guyandotte Elementary Schools. This tradition goes back many years to Mrs. Lora Linkfield and Mrs. Beulah Paugh who also organized gifts for needy children.
       Many times in the past we have also helped individuals on a one-to-one basis, although it has been sometimes hard to distinguish real need from a scam. Tommy Jeffrey remembers personally offering to take a man shopping for Christmas groceries, he had a long list, only to have him walk off when they arrived at the store. He had wanted money rather than groceries! In another instance, the congregation collected $87.00 for a traveler in route from New York to Tennessee, who had run out of both gas and money. We only hope that from these and many other instances, that the individuals involved remember the love of God and the church that demonstrated it in their lives!
       From the very beginning, Dillon Chapel has recognized the need for reaching out to others. One's Christian duty extends beyond the church door as we minister to the needs of the world. We have never, from our beginnings, been a wealthy church. But we have had a long tradition of opening our hearts and our pocket-books in time of need.

CENTENNIAL MINUTES
DILLON CHAPEL AND THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, SOUTH

March 18, 1989

In its 100 year history, Dillon Chapel has belonged to three Methodist Conferences. It was chartered as a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Our first pastor, John T. Johnston, was affiliated with the Wayne Circuit of the Church South, and after serving as a Confederate Chaplain resumed duties here after the hostilities ended.
       A word about the founding of this branch of Methodism. The main body of the Methodist Episcopal Church, meeting at Louisville, Kentucky in 1845, found it impossible to draft a resolution on slavery and church leadership which was acceptable to all. So a vote was taken, and the Methodist Episcopal Church South became a separate body on June 17, 1845. This became a prelude to the final breach between the North and South 15 years later.
       As in most wars, there was a break-down in morality: greed, hatred, corruption, secularism, and politics invaded the pulpit. Union Generals regarded Southern preachers "the best recruiting officers in the South", sometimes even signing up soldiers after church services. Prayer meeting and revivals in camp were encouraged, and circuit riders were always welcome. Each side villifed the other from the pulpit; both sides enlisted the aid of God in the justice of their cause.
       Dillon Chapel, existing informally without charter or building, escaped the fate of many sister churches whose property was burned, plundered, or confiscated by invading armies, and whose preachers were replaced by Northerners without regard to the local congregations. The effect on the Methodist Episcopal Church, South was devestating; we lost 100,000 members during the four years of war!
       Church property was tied up for years in litigaiton over ownership. The wounds of war heal slowly -- but the Church of God could and did rise above the bitterness. Next week we will discuss the spiritual awakening and reunification of the largest protestant Church in America, of which Dillon Chapel was a part.

CENTENNIAL MINUTES

DILLON CHAPEL AND THE METHODIST CHURCH -- PART II

March 26, 1989

       After the Civil War, the Methodist Episcopal Church South experienced a great religious awakening. As one author wrote: "The sound of revival was heard from one border to another. The Church began to meet the needs of the Indians, newly-freed slaves, and destitute whites, as well as beginning mission work around the globe. Turning their attention to the spiritual needs of a defeated people whose annual income was $200 a year, they slowly began to rebuild Southern society.
       They stressed the importance of education in teaching ex-slaves and in founding institutions of higher education to train ministers. For that purpose the Church South founded Emory, Vanderbilt, Trinity College (which became Duke University) and Southern Methodist University.
       But the move for unification came slowly. Besides the lingering bitterness, there were important doctrinal differences between the two main branches of Methodism. The Northern Church was more liberal theologically and took a greater role in the social gospel; the Southern Church stressed personal salvation, fundamental theology, and evangelism. However, since Methodists have never set up rigid theological tests for membership, there was room to accommodate both fundamentalist and liberal views. We still make that accommodation.
       In the decades before 1900, the main branches of Methodism was the most evenly distributed church in America, due to the Circuit system which insured every cross-roads hamlet access to religious services. The controversy over formalism and "heart religion" led to many splinter groups including the Church of the Nazarene and several holiness groups.
       Finally, after 94 years of bitter division, a Unity Conference was held in Kansas City in which the Methodist Protestant, the Methodist Episcopal, and the Methodist Episcopal Church, South were the largest bodies. On April 25, 1939, these bodies voted overwhelmingly to form a united church henceforth to be called the Methodist Church, and eight million strong, it was the largest Protestant body in the United States. Thus, the largest unification movement in American Protestantism was complete, and at that time, our congregation at Dillon Chapel became part of the Methodist Church of West Virginia.