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The
Church at Redstone
was founded in 1977 by several Crystal Valley families as
a non-denominational Christian church. It was, and is, the
only evangelical Christian church in the Redstone area since
the early days of the century. While the church is patterned
along New Testament lines of organization, and the message
is undeniably Biblical, the ministry approach is geared
to the more casual and hardy mountain community population.
(from a 1985 church newsletter)
The Church at Redstone existed in the minds and hearts of
several people long before it was actually established in
December of 1977. Jim and Bess Clarke, Louis and Melissa
Mc Burney, Jim and Anita Denton and several other families
felt a real need for a fellowship for believers in the Crystal
Valley. They began to meet as a small group and started
praying for a church in Redstone. From that point on the
story is a series of miracles in answer to those prayers.
The
first Pastor was Doug Self who had been serving as an associate
pastor with another church in the area.
The
first meeting place was in a small building then called
the Sacred Heart Chapel (see picture below). The first service
was held in that building on December 13, 1977. They were
able to use the building by the grace and generosity of
the Catholic diocese. Catholic services for the community
of Redstone had been held only occasionally during he summers
in that little building. At that time there was no insulation
in the building, and only a small heater. During winter
the worship services were a “bring your own blanket”
affair! The building has since been expanded, and now houses
the Redstone Art Center and is next door to the current
Church at Redstone building.
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The
congregation
grew steadily during the first few years, and before long the
little chapel was no longer adequate for the number of people
attending. There was talk of building, but the church had little
in the way of financial resources to bring that dream to reality.
The in the fall of 1986, the Catholic Diocese sold the chapel
to help fund a new church building in Basalt. Our congregation
had only three weeks notice to be out of the chapel before November
1. There was no other building in Redstone large enough to serve
as a meeting place. We prayed about our need. We considered
meeting in Carbondale for the winter months. Then Ken Gray “accidentally”
ran in Tom Stom who had bought and was moving the Trinity Lutheran
Church building from Aspen to Marble to use as his cabin. It
just happened to be coming up the Crystal Valley in November
and by then there was too much snow for it be moved all the
way to Marble. We worked out arrangements for it to be stored
behind the coke ovens west of Highway 133 for the winter. We
met there for the winter of ’85-’86, with a portable
toilet and portable generator for power. The propane furnace
was barely adequate and all shivered through some more chilly
services. |
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The
New Church at Redstone |
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In
1982 we were able to buy
the lots north of the old chapel building. Money that had been
put aside into a building fund and a generous gift from Flo
Antonides made the purchase possible. This put the interested
families to praying and planning how a church could and would
be built. Then a remarkable “meeting” happened at
the Chicago, O’Hare Airport: Bud
and Verna Donahue were neighbors of Jim and Bess Clarke and
were also part of the group wanting to see a church built.
Bud was a pilot for United Airlines. While in Chicago, in
line to board his flight home, Bud began talking to the man
next to him, John Freeman, who happened to be from Marble,
CO. John Freemen told Bud he was head of volunteer group from
The Seventh Day Adventist church called “the Maranatha
Builders.” He said, “We build churches, schools,
and hospitals all over the world. I don’t see why we
can’t do one in Redstone.” When Bud returned home
he got together with Doug Self and within the year the Maranatha
group arrived and working together with the community built
the Church of Redstone within three weeks.
Please
refer to the stained glass page to review the stories about
the stained glass donated by several of the parishioners.
From
the beginning the goal was for our worship services to be
informal and personal to reflect the more casual atmosphere
of the valley residents. We felt that by avoiding formality
and pretensions that we would more accurately convey our conviction
that Christianity is a practical matter relevant to everyday
life.
We
decided in the beginning that we would take no offering nor
ask for money. We realized that we would have to really trust
God to be the one to prompt people to contribute.
Some
excerpts taken from 10th Anniversary Book 1977-1987, and an
interview with
Mrs. Bess Clarke, August 2006. |
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