History of the Orient Street Church of Christ:
The Church of Christ in Stamford began in 1900, with the purchase of a small box house on the corner of Moran and McKinley. In 1904, a small white building was constructed at Wetherbee and Moran Street. Bullington, J. B. Grubbs, and Dr. Jones. In the beginning, there were no paid local preachers for the church in Stamford. However, many gospel meetin
gs were held. Preachers like A. J. McCarty, Price Billingsley, Foy E. Wallace, Sr., J. Bentley, and C. R. Nichols were utilized to help build and mature the congregation Membership grew quickly in the first few years from the eleven original families to approximately one hundred and twenty-five members. By 1935 membership was above two hundred. In l937 a new building was built to help facilitate the new growth. John Rice was the first located preacher to hold services in the new building. The congregation increased to two hundred and fifty by 1940 and was over three hundred and fifty in 1947. Construction on a new building was started 1952. The first service was held in the present location in October of 1956. Elders who have served the congregation since 1920 are: G. L. Ashley, G. W. McClellan, Griffin High, W. D. Black, L. Loop, Elmer Luck, Harry Lavender, Frank Sosebee, W. H. Hargove, D. Fitzgerald, W. E. Forrest, Ira Samuels, F. T. Schoonmaker, James High, James Wilson, lynn Carlton, R. C. Cobb, Don Walker, Dan Cox, Mike Lisle, Terry Wyatt, S. Westbrook, and Mike Sloan. Current Elders are Brad Bevel, Don Cobb, Mike Holt, and Rick Kittley. Preachers who have served the congregation since 1920 are: J. Harvey, John Rice, W. Black, Fred Ross, H. Rye, Lee Hukel, O. Tabor, D. Ashley, Lloyd Connel, Delton Haun, Dale Foster, Fenter D. Northern, Ga***rd Cook, Howard Swinney, Richard Honaker, Stan Harvey, Chad Massie, and Wes Crawford. The current preacher is Wes Horn. Youth Ministers who have served the congregation are: Dorman Holub, Landon Collard, Wilmose Kiplagat, Kevin Hearn, Dwayne Lee, Brandon Pierce, Brad Eason, Matthew Hale, De’Angelo Smith, Jarrell Cunningham, and Emery Dudensing. Orient Street has support numerous missionaries and children’s homes over its 116 year existence. Currently Orient Street supports Johnny and Robin Estep in their work in the Philippines. Additionally, Orient Street continues to support the Lubbock Christian’s Home.
