In the Beginning
by Bob Holtz
Most people associated with any religious denomination or even a casual knowledge of the Bible can quickly identify these three words, "In the beginning," as part of the opening verse in the book of Genesis.
Everything has a beginning and evolves from that early moment when a universe, planet, plant, insect, animal, human or idea is born. The Floyd Lighthouse too had a beginning far removed from where it stands today and most the people who faithfully attend. No one back in those early days in Oak Park could have visualized this transition and progression of their church any easier than those who never saw or experienced Oak Park or set foot in that Church can visualize what it was like back in the beginning. Just as there is connection in all family trees or genealogies from the present to the past beginnings so too the Gospel Lighthouse has its own lineage.
There is no doubt, several family historians can articulate far better than myself the history and remember all the names of the ancestors of the Oak Park Church. They can move through years, dates and decades expertly describing its early beginnings and what it evolved into and continues to grow even today as the Gospel Lighthouse. I cannot duplicate what these historical experts have to offer but my humble contribution is from my own limited personal perspective and timeframe. It comes from the many moments and memories that have left a lasting impression on me during that time of my life which was mainly based in the 1960's. I could literally fill page after page of all the wonder, joy, tears and great memories I have about that time in my life that is connected to Oak Park and the little white church that was located there. There are many people who contributed to the first beginning of that cinder block building but my frame of reference is contained to the period of my childhood and early youth. It is from that vantage point that I will share with those interested enough to read what I recall of a few select special moments and lessons that have left deep impressions from that time now long ago. If a name or face is not included in my short essay from what others may have experienced I am not slighting the memory or contribution of those I do not mention. I will let those better versed in the history of the "old days" fill in all those names and faces. I would ask that while you ponder on my words that we all remember that the beginning of any project is the most important part of a work. That does not mean that the beginning is better but only that there had to be a point where an idea was born and brought into reality.
 Ada & Ed Stillion |
From my earliest memories, other than my mother and father, there were three adults on my mother's side of the family who were a constant in my childhood and in my youth, my great-grandmother, Ada Stillion, my grandmother Hazel Meyer and my grandfather, John Meyer. Like the hub of one of the old covered wagon wheels that carried my great-grandmother Ada, at birth, these three people were at the very center of my life. Most of my experiences in early childhood came out from that hub like wooden spokes projecting out from that same old wagon wheel hub. My life in those days was intertwined in their daily existence and environment. I was part of their world and they were a part of mine.
At the hub of my three grandparents lives in Oak Park were their families, their church and their God all blended together like a fine cake batter. Each aspect of their life was touched by the other parts. You could not enter their world without immediately seeing how all these components were connected and there was really no distinction where one part began and the other ended. Their faith was evident in every aspect of their life, be it in their home where gospel music from a record or their own voice singing gospel songs filled the air. Biblical literature, Bibles or religious drawings or paintings were in every room. God was recognized constantly, be it grace before a meal, a prayer of safety before a short trip or outing or a nightly bedtime appeal to the heavens above. They talked it, they walked it, they slept it and they lived their faith every day.
Everything seemed to be connected back then be it family, neighbors or church brothers and sisters. Even Grandma Stillion's and Grandma Meyer's houses almost seem connected to me. You could easily throw a rock from one house and hit the other house. I know because I remember the first time I achieved such a feat. A narrow dirt path from their back yards connected the two homes. It would be a path I walked many times in moving from one house to the other, hearing, seeing, feeling, and tasting all the similarities these separate homes presented. Both homes were filled with laughter, prayer, song and love. What was found within those small rooms was not for sale or could not be bought in any department store no matter how much money one could offer.
Not far from their small houses was the little white church that was a gathering point and a refuge for them and many families from the area known as Oak Park. I must add that the fact the church was in Oak Park created a completely different flavor to this mix of personalities and families than I ever found in the larger community outside of Oak Park.
Because our environment and our experiences in our environment become the optometrist that shapes the lens through which we view the world, life and our experiences, Oak Park would shape the perspective of all who lived there. This is one of the reasons why the lives of these three unique and special people along with a little white church became a valuable asset to Oak Park even though some in Oak Park or on the "other side of the tracks" could never understand it or see its value.
One of Grandma Stillion's favorite quotes was from the book of Proverbs and I can't tell you how many times I heard her quote it but I can still hear her saying, "Where there is no vision the people perish." I would add that when that vision is clouded by negative thoughts about self or thoughts of hopelessness, the people will perish. In a great way it was the vision these three people and others from the Oak Park church had for their families and friends that impacted the lives of so many in such a forceful way. It was the vision that their faith gave them to see themselves differently and special as "children of God" which was just the opposite of the negative labels the greater community often tagged one with when one was from "Oak Park."
In todays political and business world we often hear that it is important for our leaders to have "a vision." Grandma Stillion, Grandma Meyer, and Grandpa Meyer all had a vision that the lives of others could be better by following the principles that they found in the Bible that had worked in changing their lives for the better. They had a vision that a life saved from the ravages of alcohol or other destructive habits was a better way to live and insured one an escape from the bitter dregs of sin many had tasted. In their minds it was a simple fact that if the "old time religion" was good enough for Paul and Silas than it was surely good enough for those in Oak Park.
It has been said that "outstanding people have an absolute sense of mission." These three people, Ada, Hazel and John were pillars in that little church and community because of their vision and their absolute sense of mission. They believed in what they were doing with all their hearts. This kind of passion and purpose has power. Success in any endeavor requires "singleness of purpose." They had it and they shared it with others. This sense of mission and singleness of purpose mixed together with their faith touched my heart and made me and others want to follow them down the path they were on. It is a universal principle that "we go were our vision is." Their vision led them down that "narrow road."
In those long ago days of my childhood I saw Grandma Stillion, Grandma Meyer and Grandpa Meyer as bigger than life figures. I hung on every word they said. If they would have told me the earth was flat I would have believed them no matter how many times John Glenn orbited the earth back in 1962. I thought Grandma Stillion was a modern day Moses as I listened to her sermons, testimonies and stories with wide eyes and an open heart. I thought no one could draw a better picture of Jesus or tell a better Bible story at Children's Church than my Grandma Meyer. When she sang I wondered why they didn't put her voice on all those gospel records she had. There wasn't a scripture my wise Grandpa Meyer couldn't cross reference in his worn Dake's Bible. He even prayed before he went fishing and I just knew that was why he always caught more fish than I did.
One of my fondest memories and favorite things to do connected to the Oak Park Church was to listen and try to play with the music we all shared every Sunday and Wednesday evening. It was the only church I had ever attended up to that time where you could clap your hands and stomp your feet if you felt like it. I have to be honest and tell you that "song service" was my favorite part of the service and in my humble opinion a song will outlive and be remembered far longer than the best sermon. Go ahead and test my premise for yourself. Ask yourself what Rex Humbard's best sermon was or what was Billy Grahams greatest message? Now, try to remember some of the old songs sung in the Oak Park church. "I Shall Not Be Moved," "Royal Telephone," "Go Down Moses," "The Old Rugged Cross," "Shall This Circle Be Unbroken," "I'll Fly Away," the list of songs is endless and we remember all those songs or at least parts of them. I have witnessed elderly people with severe cases of dementia sing the words to these same old songs when they couldn't even remember their children's names. Maybe I wasn't the only one whose favorite part of the service was the singing.
My many experiences in Oak Park with my grandparents and the church taught me many valuable lessons. Some lessons and examples took me forty years to understand. One such truth is that "it's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see." There were many who looked at Oak Park and saw only poverty, tar paper shacks, outhouses and a stretch of flood plain. Too many who looked the little white block church was only a place filled with "holy rollers." But for those who "can see" we know there were people there with vision, who had a sense of mission. There were people there in that little church that needed and found a refuge from the daily storms in their lives. There was a group of kids there who were sincerely trying to follow a path to a better way to live the best way they understood. There was a gathering of people with in those block walls trying to touch the Eternal the only way they thought they could. The simple truth is God and Life meets you where you are. You don't need to be dressed in an Armani suit and sitting in plush pews to be moved by principles of truth. You don't need stained glass windows surrounding you to feel that there is something more to life than just waking up and going to sleep at night. All you need is to open your heart and the Oak Park Church was the only place many of these special people would ever be allowed to open their hearts.
Another great lesson I finally understood after watching these three special people is "success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which they have to overcome." Many of the people in Oak Park and the church were climbing over obstacles daily that others "across the tracks" didn't even know existed. The chains of low self-esteem, the heavy burden of being labeled as an "Oakie" headed down the road of hopelessness created an emotional and psychological wall for many who lived on that flood plain. For many in Oak Park the race had already started and they were not even in running shoes let alone at the starting line when the starting gun went off. For people in the dire straits that poverty presents and all the baggage that goes along with it in a status conscious society, hope is one of your few lifelines. The little church and its message provided that hope and more for all of us.
As I grew older I learned that my childhood heroes Grandma Stillion, Grandma Meyer and Grandpa Meyer, while still unique and special, were only mere humans. Perhaps this was my greatest lesson learned and the best example I could have ever witnessed in observing them. When I saw them as prophets and spiritual giants as a child I knew I could never measure up or reach their status. But when I saw they were human, prone to make a mistake now and then and that sometimes they could actually be wrong about something I learned more about grace, acceptance and unconditional love than all the sermons I had ever heard preached on those subjects. Life didn't require us to be perfect or the best but only that we try our best as we walked in grace. For it is in that trying that we find our vision. It is in that trying that we find our mission. It is in that trying we go through our trials and overcome them. It is in that trying that we make a lasting positive impact on those souls around us.
Watching Ada, Hazel and John face all the challenges they did in their lives, their homes, their community and church with smiles, with tears, with laughter, with songs, with prayer and faith I was given a unique opportunity that I didn't understand fully as a child. When you are a child you can't appreciate the reality that others were giving their very last to feed you at their table and never asked for anything in return. As a child you don't understand the time, effort and money it took just to pick up kids in the neighborhood for Sunday-School or Children's Church. I never saw anyone reward these faithful soldiers monetarily for all they did.
As the years have gone by the core values they lived before me and taught in that little white church will last far beyond those long forgotten cinder blocks that have been crushed into the earth. Those early beginnings they laid not just in brick and mortar but in the hearts and souls of the people of the Oak Park Church have evolved into something just as important and valuable to those the Lighthouse now serves. This is life and the way our Creator has fashioned it. Out of the old comes the new. Any student of the New Testament would tell you that you cannot pour new wine into old wine skins because it would burst the old wine skins. Look at your children or grandchildren and this truth becomes apparent. Their experience of the "Sacred" is very different than ours was when we were children but the influence of that "sacred experience" and the result is still a living reality.
I will always remember, love and be thankful for the vision, the sense of mission, and the lives these three great people offered and lived before me. It is an honor for me to be connected to people who stood up for something they believed in with all their hearts and overcame some huge obstacles to build and maintain a place that offered hope to those who had little. For every barefooted, dirty faced child that came to that church got to feel something that wasn't given to them much in the greater community back then, love and acceptance. It is a fact for sure; God and Life meet you where you are. I know that because I was one of those barefooted kids who found love and acceptance in a little white church in Oak Park so long ago.
Grandma Stillion, Grandma Meyer, and Grandpa Meyer, you left your footprints in my soul. Thanks because I follow those footprints and walk in them often and have found they take me down that same path that connected your homes in the far away past. We are all still connected because of your efforts, examples, love and what you all sacrificed way back "in the beginning."
