During the investigation that precedes the writing of a paper, the researcher spends many weeks or months pouring over books and records, apart from people, unless of course the topic requires extensive personal interviews. But those times apart, so important for mastering the details of the material, are not always quiet times within, for the historian responds emotionally to the flow of the work and is excited by sudden discoveries and understandings that slowly take shape. This has been quite true during my research for the church's history and I want to share some of those moving experiences with you.

One pleasant experience, repeated over and over, was your eagerness to be helpful. Dozens of church members have provided pictures and documents and have patiently submitted to what must have seemed an endless flow of questions during interviews. And everywhere I have been met by candor and warmed by your trust that I will treat your confidences delicately and positively. Without them I would not have been able to understand the church's past.

I hope the finished work will convey adequately the immense pride all Disciples ought to feel regarding the gifts our movement has made to the nation and to the Protestant faith. Our brotherhood has led, no less than the Baptists, in developing and maintaining through the years a thoroughgoing system of democratic governance. The strict pattern of congregational responsibility and control we pioneered has helped school this nation in the ways of democratic thought and procedure. And, in a cognate area, Alexander Campbell's insistence upon educated ministers and informed laymen resulted in the Disciples contributing to the growth of and respect for education in this nation.

As important as these contributions were, Disciple teachings about the process of salvation were, beyond any doubt, its most priceless gift. Our Brotherhood rejected the reigning theology of the day, namely Calvin's doctrine that man must wait helplessly for God's act of salvation. In its place they emphasized the New Testament principle that ours was a loving God and man was free to respond to Him by faith and repentance. Moreover, the Disciples insisted that the process of salvation did not operate solely on an emotional plane, but was accompanied and strengthened by each individual's reasoned study and interpretation of the Bible for himself.

No less important was the dream of Christian unity, which was Alexander Campbell's passionate concern. The "Kingdom of God", he believed, could come only when Christians everywhere united their efforts on a foundation of the most basic truths of the New Testament, worshipped together in brotherly love, and cooperated in activities that magnified the faith they shared and the effectiveness of their Christian works. Finally, he urged all Christians to deal tolerantly with the personal speculation of those who reasoned differently about the meaning of Biblical passages. His dream of the advantages to be obtained from a unity founded on loving tolerance was expressed in the title, as well as the pages, of his Millennial Harbinger.

From my research I have learned in even greater detail why the Disciples have much of which to be proud. And there remain many tasks, still unfinished, to which the Disciples can speak with tested and effective guidance. The future, like the past, is ours.
 
MISSIONARIES IN EASTERN KENTUCKY'S HIGHLANDS AND THE FOUNDING OF THE PIKEVILLE CHRISTIAN CHURCH

Some church members undoubtedly have been thoroughly surprised by the lengthy preface or preamble I attached to what most anticipated would be a straightforward history focused solely on a single Christian Church, the one in Pikeville.  The building of our new church on Chloe Creek and the advent of the year 1983, considered by most members to be the church's 100th anniversary year, certainly lent credence to such a conclusion. I know I began my research into the history of the Pikeville church with such an anticipation or understanding. But, simply put, I soon became fascinated with the abundant material available in Lexington, at the Lexington Theological Seminary Library, and the even greater resources in Nashville, at the Disciple and Church of Christ Historical Society. That was only the beginning.

In short order I became deeply immersed in the lives of people and church denominations all part of the Protestant Reformation and a widespread religious movement among Protestant reformers called the Restoration. Both of these Christian movements, as some of you are aware, emerged as early as the 1600's but they have persevered and remain active today after four additional centuries. As my preface suggests, I developed a sense of responsibility, particularly toward those who were younger or others perhaps less acquainted, for some reason, with the development of the Christian religion during the previous five hundred years. It seemed proper to refer briefly to those significant changes that had come, and perhaps gone, and the many leaders from dozens of new Protestant groups, which include above all, our own Christian Disciple leaders. Most important are the founding fathers of our larger church body, but the "Restoration Movement" and our denomination's steady commitment to Biblical scripture, communion, and baptism, are topics to which we can point with great pride,

In short, as I researched for useful details about the Pikeville church, I also looked for facts and material about our Disciples Brotherhood, its growth, and its leaders, whether it reflected Stone's "Christians Only" emphasis or Campbell's Christians (Disciples of Christ).

Below is a set of statements I have drawn up regarding the Christian (Disciples of Christ) that I believe will make you proud about being a member of the church which you attend.

1.  I became fascinated with the quality of the men and women responsible for the founding and rapid expansion of the Christian (Disciples of Christ) and the missions which shaped their lives and the challenges to their spiritual lives that they overcame. Alexander Campbell, Barton W. Stone, Elder John (Raccoon) Smith, John Rogers, Samuel Rogers, and William Rogers, John T. Johnson, Walter Scott (creator of the five-step plan of salvation), Jacob Creath Sr., and Robert Bums Neal, to name but a few.

2.  In Kentucky and Ohio especially, the pace of the Brotherhood's expansion in the early 1800's was phenomenal. However, bordering states on the north, south, and west also displayed rapid growth of the Christian Disciples of Christ. And no other religious denomination was growing so fast.

3. Along with Methodists, it was the Christian Disciples that challenged and overthrew the long established theology of John Calvin regarding salvation. Calvin's assertion that God had pre-destined those few who would be saved gave way to our Brotherhood's assertion (led by Walter Scott's teaching) that all persons with faith can and will be saved.

4.  Stone and Campbell, the organizers of two similar, but not identical churches, sought unity and harmony for themselves and their followers and other denominations as well. At first the chosen path of hope for Christian unity rested upon common acceptance of or extensive reliance upon a shared interpretation of the Scriptures. In time, however, both pledged themselves to the principle of focusing on the essentials of faith, while ignoring whatever personal opinions each might find more comfortable or pleasing to his religious taste.

5. Finally, these were democratic leaders who defended the right of individual churches to regulate their affairs without guidance or dictation from a hierarchy of church officials. They, like this nation's founding fathers, rejected both monarchy and an established church linked to politics.

TRANSITION AND GROWTH

Although I have explained, but perhaps without complete satisfaction, why the Pikeville Christian Church's history has developed as it has, and have, in addition, pointed out important events and achievements of our Brotherhood, it is certainly proper now that, in subsequent writing, I begin to focus more closely on the kinds of information that our congregation had anticipated.

Throughout most of the 1800's economic development in Eastern Kentucky's hills and Cumberland Plateau was hampered by limited means of transportation. But, after 1840, small steamboats became more common on the Big Sandy and other larger rivers of the region. However, towns outside the floodplains still remained small, isolated communities with modest, but growing, populations. Pikeville, which had a population of 50 according to the 1830 census, became a town of 140 by 1870. The economy, however, still remained predominantly agricultural with most landowners content to practice subsistence farming. Until railroads were introduced about 1880, only those farms occupying the lower stretches of the Big Sandy Valley or bordering the bottom lands along the Ohio River were able to engage in commercial farming. Much of the region remained, in essence, a backwater area, not at all like the progressive Bluegrass Region of Central Kentucky or the flat farmland that stretched west to the Mississippi River. In contrast with the rapid rate of development taking place in these prosperous regions of Kentucky, change and improvement in Eastern Kentucky was the direct result of impulses from outside the region in the form of lumber companies seeking valuable hardwood timber, the construction of several railroads, and following that, the opening of large coal mines. Many of these events took place after 1880, as I stated before. Moreover, it should not be surprising that change or development with regard to religion in Eastern Kentucky was the result of impulses that came from outside the region in the form of a multitude of active missionaries largely supported by funds provided by the more prosperous Kentucky counties.

In 1832 several prominent leaders of Stone's Christian movement and Campbell's Disciple group, eager to advance unity, launched an evangelistic effort that lasted for many years.

The basic plan was to send messengers to small, isolated, reform-minded churches, urging them to join together in keeping with the Lexington agreement of New Year's Day, 1832. John T. Johnson, chosen secretary-treasurer of the program, collected only enough money the first year to send out two missionaries, Elders John (Raccoon) Smith and John Rogers. This effort grew in size as individual congregations became more accustomed to themes of unity and evangelism. Barton Stone, leader of the Christian wing of the reformers, one of unity's most ardent supporters, urged the Christian churches to "let the unity of Christians be our polar star. To this let our efforts be directed". From another perspective, Dr. A.W. Fortune, a well known Disciple and author of "The Disciples In Kentucky" described this program of gathering reform churches as the beginning of the Kentucky Christian Missionary Society.

By the late 1840's the state of Kentucky was reported as having 403 Christian (Disciple) congregations, which was more than any other state. An estimate of the total membership of these churches appeared in a monthly issue of Campbell's Millennial Harbinger in 1848. The estimate given was an astounding 40,000 members. One should remember, however, that this total included the larger congregations in central or western Kentucky, some of which could claim 300 members. At this point it needs to be pointed out that Elders John Smith and John Rogers seemed not to have questioned or doubted this large figure. Instead, after years of visiting reformist churches throughout Kentucky between 1832 and 1835 they reported adding thousands of new members to the smaller churches they had visited.

Their success was due in part to steady financial support from several well organized clusters of larger churches located near major cities and within prosperous counties.  These active congregations referred to their missionary efforts as "cooperations." The funds they collected supported evangelism not only in the counties where the money was raised but also provided surpluses that were used elsewhere. In 1847, one such "cooperation" united the efforts of Disciple churches in seven central Kentucky counties, which they humorously labeled "The Cooperative Society for the Eighth Congressional District." There is a clear pattern of development in these events. Projects launched by only one congregation often became a cooperation, and cooperations often grew larger. Then, as the pace of evangelism accelerated, these larger groups created supervisory bodies, which met periodically to accept reports in order to assess the results of their work and make future plans. Soon these meetings became annual affairs called at local, county, regional levels and, inevitably, at state and national levels also.

This seemingly smooth transition, visible in Kentucky about 1850, and no doubt obvious elsewhere, suggests that the Christian (Disciple) brotherhood might be on the way to adopting a denominational pattern. Such a conclusion is, in fact, quite misleading. The years following the 1832 meeting to achieve unity were difficult. Disagreements continued between those churches that accepted cooperation and those who decidedly did not, between those who regarded annual meetings and missionary societies as steps toward development and growth, and those who saw them as clear signs of the development of a hierarchy of ecclesiastical officials, between Stone's Christians and Campbell's Disciples, and between the two major leaders themselves at times. Disciple churches emphasized baptism by emersion and weekly meetings with communion far more than the Christian churches did. In contrast, the Christians were strongly committed to their name - Christian - and supported trained ministers who were paid a stipend, whereas Disciples regarded such ministers as hirelings. Inevitably disputes arose because leaders in both camps could not always reach agreement with regard to the meaning of all scriptural passage or accept all elements and procedures that had become part of either the Christian or Disciple worship services. Confrontations were not always settled, and it is quite possible that both sides must sometimes have retreated in frustration when one side or the other brought forth that "we speak only where the Bible speaks. Where it does not, we remain silent". At this point, let the author have a moment to observe that it is certainly God's blessing that both sides were ardent supporters of the right of a church and its congregation to choose its own beliefs, processes, and affairs, and that this right has remained strong.

 
EARLY BEGINNINGS

Church historians trying to describe accurately the events that took place in Kentucky during the years between 1830 and 1890 often deplored the lack of information available to them. In some respects they were and are justified. In 1887 the home of John W. McGarvey burned to the ground, destroying many irreplaceable records describing events of the first half-century of the Christian (Disciple) Churches in Kentucky. It is also likely that many small, but useful, details about churches in Eastern Kentucky during the 1840's and 1850's were also lost. There was, however, a seeming window of time and opportunity between the 1840's and on into the 1850's and beyond during which numerous monthly magazines published by various church leaders elected to print the reports of active missionaries. When one reads these reports from the 1840's or later, whether they came from The Millennial Harbinger; The Christian Register, the Ecclesiastical Reformer, the Christian Standard, -- or any other publication, the reader rather quickly realizes that the number of missionaries were growing and their enthusiasm or devotion to their labors were expanding also. Nevertheless, it is not at all clear as you read whether the missionaries were visiting pre-existing churches, maybe those they had not visited before, or were busy establishing new churches in communities throughout Eastern Kentucky in counties that had been assigned to them.

One publication, that of the Christian Register in 1848, which listed Kentucky counties and the churches within them, was an important document. Although hardly complete, it could serve in the future as a base line against which future growth, or decline, could be measured. Pike County, which as counted as part of Kentucky's District Two, was reported as having two churches, a small one at Reedy Bottom with six members, and one in Pikeville (between 1829 and 1881 called Piketon) with thirty members and a "Prominent Man" named W. Ratcliffe. There were two other counties assigned to District Two. Breathitt County, with three churches, had one with a little over fifty members, and also a preacher named McKinley Cockrill. Last came Johnson County, the third county in District Two, which reported two churches, both with large memberships over fifty, and one with a minister or preacher whose name was Hannah.

Although publication of the activities and achievements of visiting missionaries provided some bits and pieces of information, much was left to be desired. When was Pikeville's church established or founded? Did any nearby church play an important role? Were missionaries or a missionary involved? How big was the congregation and Pikeville's population in the 1850's? Were both showing an increase? Was there a minister? What was his name? Obviously if there is a significant lack of information, and a reader who also intends to write, then he must make thoughtful judgments. I presume that this early Pikeville church may have begun as a gathering, in the 1830's or 1840's, of several dozen people out of a population of a hundred or somewhat less. But we have no idea where the congregation met or whether the members tended to follow Disciple practices or the Christian ones.

In the 1840"s and 1850's we know that at least one missionary was assigned to Pike County and labored there, George W. Elley, the Corresponding Secretary of the Kentucky State Board of Directors in Lexington, often listed the county or counties to which missionaries were assigned and also reported the number of new church members added by baptism during revivals or ones who had transferred to the Christian (Disciples) Church from another denomination. It was Reuben McCormack who, in August 1850, was assigned to work as a missionary in Pike County. The Kentucky Board of Missions made this assignment shortly after the Mission Board had assumed full responsibility for Pike County in June, 1850. McCormack's name appeared frequently in the religious publications among the written reports of the activities of Kentucky missionaries. And no wonder! Besides Pike County, McCormack also visited or worked with churches in Morgan, Floyd, Estill and Johnson Counties. There were also several reports by McCormack about his contributions to church memberships increasing, through evangelism and immersion or transfer from other denominations. McCormack also made one brief, rather dour observation about the churches he had visited and worked with in Eastern Kentucky. He found few of them regularly organized in keeping with usual or normal churches, and noted that they were particularly lacking in following the habit of regular worship meetings.

There was however one report prepared by Reuben McCormack and printed in a November issue of The Ecclesiastic Reformer that was informative about practical things. In this case readers were informed about the donations of several Morgan and Pike County churches to the Kentucky Board of Missions from their local funds. In November 1851, Reuben McCormack reports that he had collected and carried to Lexington twenty dollars from Morgan County, five dollars from Russell's Fork of the Big Sandy, five dollars from Pikeville, three dollars from Reedy, or Ruddy, Bottom five dollars and thirty-five cents from John's Creek and eight dollars and sixty cents from Point Union. These bits of information can be used by people, curious about the past, to make some plausible judgments about the early Pikeville church. For example, Reuben McCormack may have played the role of advisor or leader or, perhaps, he may have occasionally or frequently served as the church's preacher.

A few pages back this history trail to point out the quality of those traveling Christian ministers or evangelists of the 1850's who sought to organize new churches and also baptized astounding numbers of Christian believers. One item printed in The Ecclesiastical Reformer of January 1851 reported that Reuben McCormack, working together with other, added 104 new members. Moreover, the November issue of that same magazine asserted that William Rogers, working in Estill and Ousley counties, added 150 new converts,

In addition to the determined and productive labors of mountain preachers like those just mentioned, writers have commented upon several other centers or sources in Eastern Kentucky that contributed, not only to the beginning, but also to the rapid growth of the Christian (Disciples) movement. In the mid 1800's Will Kibbey's homestead, a huge two-story log cabin near Grayson, Kentucky, became the central stopping place for all the preachers working in the vicinity, often men on horseback. This was particularly true after John M. Shouse of Lexington converted Will Kibbey in 1863 and Kibbey himself soon became an active and important preacher.

Another important involvement in the rapid growth of the Christian (Disciples) Church came later in 1883, but its support was quickly felt. The source of this strength was the development of a quite large Christian Church at Mount Sterling, and its very active Missionary Societies, sponsored by the women of the church, Their work encompassed both foreign and home mission efforts.

After the early 1850's there was almost no new information or descriptions about the Pikeville Christian (Disciples) Church and its congregation, except from Reuben McCormack. He commented once about its thirty members, referring to them as Campbellites and also said that, like the Baptists, they only attended church once a month.

As the 1850's came to an end and the tragic and gruesome years of the Civil War unfolded throughout the five years between 1861 and 1865, logic would have it that the activities of the Kentucky Board of Missions would have faded away. But such was not the case. In 1861, twenty-five evangelists were sent out and in 1865, thirty-one were employed and 1,800 new members were added to various congregations in Kentucky.

Unfortunately, the 1848 survey by The Christian Register of Kentucky's churches listed by counties, was apparently never repeated. As a result, this researcher approached the last few years of the nineteenth century knowing very little about the Pikeville Christian Church that had existed since 1848. For example, what was the size of its congregation? Did it have a building in which to meet? What ministers lead it through these years? How close was its relationship with the other Christian (Disciples of Christ) Churches in Kentucky? One missing fact seems quite critical at this point. When and why did the earlier church of 1848 cease to exist? The new church founded in 1883 shows clearly, through Mrs. Nancy Harp's well kept records, that its charter members were very determined that their church be a well organized and active one. But the fact that there was never any mention of the earlier church seems adequate proof that the 1848 church may have ceased to exist during the Civil War years or the following decade.

The minister chosen by the Charter Members of 1883, when they met in early fall at the Pikeville School, was an excellent choice. He was an evangelist in the state of Kentucky. However, it is also possible that he was, in part, connected to the Mount Sterling Christian Church, which in 1883 launched two very active missionary societies, one of which was a home missionary program. Rev. Petty's first name was Elijah (or 'Elisha", according to one author). He had grown up in Harrison County, Kentucky, north of Lexington, but I uncovered no information about his ministerial training. In 1884, the year after his visit to Pikeville, he apparently served as the minister of the Blaine Church in Lawrence County, W later rendered similar service at churches in Fleming and Carter Counties. The last information, gathered about Rev. Petty, was that he had continued working as an evangelist for a decade from 1897 to 1907, at which time he suffered a paralytic stroke at the conclusion of a baptismal ceremony.

The first Ministers recorded by Mrs. Nancy Harp were Rev. Charles H. Carter and Rev. S. J. Short. Rev. Carter, who lived in Grant County at Williamstown, Kentucky, entered the College of the Bible at Transylvania College and graduated with a diploma in the English Course in 1892. Whether he became the minister of the Pikeville Church that same year is unknown, nor did I find anything more about him during my research. The second minister, Rev. Short, was always referred to as Rev. S. J. Short. He entered Kentucky's Big Sandy River Valley from West Virginia in July 1902 and began work in Carter County with the support of the Christian Women's Board of Missions. He also was an assistant to another evangelist, Robert Bums Neal. He was supported in this position as Neal's assistant by The Christian Standard and its editor, James A. Lord, who visited Kentucky to see Rev. Neal at work in what Neal called "saddlebag country'. In 1906, S. J. Short lived at East Point, Kentucky, near Prestonsburg, and may have served as a regular preacher at the Pikeville Christian Church and several other nearby Christian Churches. One may have been the White Oak church.

Several years before the gathering of the group eager to found a new Pikeville Church in 1883, the American Christian Missionary Society of the Disciples of Christ began publication of an annual Yearbook. I failed to discover when the first Yearbook was published but I did gain access to the 1885 edition. Pike County was reported in 1885 as having a church at Bethel and also one at Piketon (Pikeville), which was reported as meeting monthly and having a congregation of 60 members. The Yearbook also listed a Rev. J. C. Carbott as the minister at Pikeville but no minister by that name was recorded in the material I examined and I believe Mrs. Nancy Harp did not mention him either.

The Christian Missionary Society Yearbook for 1888 was the same as the 1885 report described above. The Missionary Society Yearbook for 1892 listed the Pikeville Church as the only one in Pike County, and it mentioned William H. Sowards as the "contact person". There was a Henry Sowards as well as a William Sowards among the Charter Members of 1883, Those preparing the 1892 Yearbook for the Missionary Society might have combined the names of two men. On the other hand, there was a younger man whose name was William Harrison Sowards. The 1892 Yearbook seems to have made a huge mistake when it reported that the number of church members at the Pikeville Christian Church was six, not the sixty reported in 1885 and 1888. That sort of loss can't be true. Pikeville was growing. The population in 1880 was 246 people. The population in 1990 was 456 people.

In the Yearbooks between 1897 and 1899, no church was listed at Pikeville, and thus, no ministers were listed or reported. In 1900 the Pikeville Christian Church was again listed in the Yearbook, but no minister conforming to Mrs. Nancy Harp's list of ministers was reported in the Yearbook. However, in the following year, 1901, the Pikeville Christian Church was again listed and Reverend John Henry Stambaugh was recorded as minister. Reverend Stambaugh was born in August, 1868, in Johnson County, Kentucky. He attended public school at Blaine, Kentucky, and in 1906 graduated from the College of the Bible in Lexington. In the 1907 Yearbook Reverend Stambaugh was reported as preaching in Lexington. His preaching spread over several decades, during which he served many Christian (Disciples of Christ) Churches in Kentucky, Illinois, and West Virginia. In Much 1939 Reverend Stambaugh died in Catlettsburg, Kentucky, where he was ministering to a Christian Church.

I am not sure whether the Pikeville Church was listed in the 1903 and 1904 Yearbooks, but I am certain that these two Yearbooks recorded no ministers or evangelists as being employed by the Pikeville Christian Church. In 1907 both the Missionary Society Yearbook and The Christian Standard publication reported that Reverend Columbus Miller Summers was, at age 24, the minister at the Pikeville Christian Church that year. Reverend Summers was born in Spencer County, Kentucky, in 1882. That county is somewhat west and a little south of Louisville. Although Reverend Summers was brought up in a Baptist church, he joined the Christian church at age sixteen. In a few years, perhaps at twenty years of age, he entered the College of the Bible, and in 1906 received his diploma in the English course. The same year he married Julie Betty Vincent, a student from Soldier, Kentucky. While at the College of the Bible he often served as a student minister at the Soldier Church, and did the same at Pikeville as well.

One other occupation regularly attracted Reverend Summers interest, particularly during the World War I years, and in the later years of his life. Both the Red Cross Organization and the Y.M.C.A. serve those who desperately need assistance, physical training, a lot of friendliness or a sense of home while away from one's home. Reverend Summers chose to serve the Y.M,C.A., mostly in Kentucky and Tennessee. He often worked part time in the years from 1916 to 1928. He retired at age fifty in 1930 and two years later died in Lexington, Kentucky.

The minister who came to the Pikeville First Christian Church about 1908, Robert Bums Neal, was well known in Eastern Kentucky and Pikeville, and in others parts of the nation. He seemed endlessly ready to pursue his task in life as a missionary or evangelist, traveling by horse (Daisy was her name) through "saddle-bag country". He was always hoping to establish or strengthen another Christian Church or its Sunday School, here or there, or perhaps to discover a young man whom he thought would make a good evangelist or preacher if only Reverend Neal could discover a way to raise money to help him.

This outstanding man was born in Georgetown, Kentucky, in February, 1847. He was well educated having attended college at Georgetown and Transylvania and studied four years at the College of the Bible. He joined the Christian Church at age nineteen, on the e of March, 1866, the very night Alexander Campbell died. Nine years later, in 1875, Reverend Neal, age 28, was chosen as the Christian Church's city evangelist for Louisville and had soon organized two new churches. In 1877 he married Lucy Snyder of Louisville. Shortly after this happy event, Reverend Neal sustained a serious accident in Louisville when he fell from his horse. The effect of his fall returned periodically during the rest of his life, as periods of withdrawal for a rest in 1896 and 1898 indicate. One of Reverend Neal's major undertakings with other Louisville churchmen was the establishment of a Christian Home for widows and orphans which the Child Welfare League of America reported as the first home sponsored by the Christian Church.

Reverend Neal was also devoted to several other personal goals. He lectured, especially young people, about abstinence from alcohol and was such an ardent supporter of Prohibition that he ran as a Prohibition candidate. He also conducted an extensive campaign against the Mormons and Mormon teachings to the extend that he published a monthly newspaper which he named The Sword of Lab .

In April 1893, Reverend Neal moved to Grayson, Kentucky, close to the Will Kibbey two-story log cabin where the paths of the active evangelists seemed constantly to cross. As one reads about the place a picture emerges of hard working men, enjoying a well deserved rest, while exchanging reports of past achievements and of future dreams about what might be accomplished on this trip or the next one, or perhaps on the trip next month. They shared as well new ideas about reaching more people, founding more churches, or recruiting more men like themselves. This writer feels that this description is an apt one, certainly of Reverend Neal, and of the others also.

One of Reverend Neal's reasons for moving to Grayson, he said, was his health, including a bout with malaria. When he apparently recovered, by 1896, he returned to what he usually called "the field". But at this time, or shortly after, he began to write in his news notes to The, Christian Standard of the "Empire of Pike". He was referring to railroads under construction in the Big Sandy Valley and the coal mines that would soon be opened. Soon Eastern Kentucky would no longer be isolated, no longer poor. Congregations would no longer be churches without buildings where they could gather and worship. But these were not all of his plans for Grayson. He had great interest in the Board of Missions, which had been given the property of a local school, and had opened a Christian Normal School for training teachers. Reverend Neal wanted to build a college at Grayson and mentioned that it might cost $25,000.00. A college eventually did emerge. The Normal School property was sold to the Kentucky State Board of Education and a college, now Morehead State University, exists there today.

Reverend Robert Bums Neal's hand and influence shaped many communities in Eastern Kentucky. He was aware that the Pikeville Christian Church lacked a church after a fire in 1893 destroyed the congregation's church that was built in 1887. It was during his four years (1909 - 1912) of serving Pikeville's Christian Church that a sturdy brick church was built on the Scott Avenue lot donated to the church in 1893 by Mrs. Kentucky Ferrell. And it was the same lady, now Mrs. Kentucky Powers, who donated both the lot and the first wooden church, and later in 1909, the brick church.