The Mountain View church......traces it's origins
to the late 1860s, within 10 years of the time the Mormons were first sent here from Salt Lake City on the orders of Brigham
Young, erstwhile head of the Utah Mormons. According to published sources, the church in San Bernardino began just a few years
after the seed was planted for a church of the Lord in Fremont. At that time, Fremont was quite the transient community, due
to the coincidence of time with the Gold Rush and the growth of San Francisco. But, that gave the San Francisco Bay area a
headstart, if only from the standpoint of people flowing into and out of that area.
On the other hand, the growing
importance of Southern California, and particularly the San Bernardino area as a significant railhead, gave it a unique position,
also. Not only was San Bernardino strategically located at the base of one of the most significant mountain passes (now known
as Cajon Pass), but that location was undoubtedly a principle factor in the development of the major railroad presence that
has defined San Bernardino for 120 years.
A New Beginning
Around the turn of the 20th century,
the church in San Bernardino ceased to meet for some time. It is postulated that this may have been due to the growing
division in the disciples of Christ, particularly as was evident surrounding the introduction of the Missionary Society (c.
1849-1865) and instrumental music (c. 1870-1890) controversies. This unfortunate, but apparently
necessary separation of those who had formerly worked and worshipped together, resulted in the distinctive identities of the
Undenominational church of Christ and the denominationally-organized First Christian church. There were also a couple of other
churches located in the immediate San Bernardino area, which were somewhat connected to the so-called Restoration Movement
of Alexander Campbell and Barton W. Stone, including the independent Christian church (at 18th and G) and the no-Bible
class church (which met in the northwest area of Redlands). Following a few years of having no
undenominational church of Christ in San Bernardino, a group of charter members met in October 1908 to agreed on their intentions
and began to pool their resources and abilities in order to accomplish their goal to be a simple, New Testament-based, church. They assembled
in the old Women's Club facility in Colton. It is this reorganization that is the direct ancestor of the current
Mountain View church, as well as the church in Colton. Extant records from 1908 and the next
20 years or so are in the archive of the church, constituting an important record of the church for future generations to
read and study. In late 2006, contact was made with Herman Reed--the nonegenerian, but sole surviving son of E. M. Reed, the
local preacher for what would become the Mountain View church--who provided an important document produced by the elder brother
Reed and which directly traces the development of the church from about 1923.
1923-1946
By 1923, a number of other Christians had moved into
the San Bernardino area and a decision was made to unite in the interest of peace. It was decided that the central
location of San Bernardino made it an attractive location to establish a permanent facility and in 1925 a new building was
built on Bellevue Avenue, just south of the Santa Fe railway yard (west of Mt. Vernon Avenue). During
that time of great growth in San Bernardino, the church grew tremendously and it was not very long before it became evident that
a much larger and commodious facility would be most desirable. Property was secured at 1354 North Mountain
View Avenue, about 10 blocks north and east of the Bellevue building. Since Mountain View was a primarly north/south
artery through the city and many members of the church lived in close proximity to the new location, the church continued
to grow and by the time the new facility was opened, the church numbered in excess of 400 members. In a recent count
from a period membership directory, one of the Mountain View elders discovered the church had 379 members in 1957. The first couple to be married, utilizing the facilities of the Mountain View church, were Chuck and Carol
Childs, who were married on December 30, 1946. The current cry-room did not have a sound-insulating window over it at
the time, and Carol's friends from the Pepperdine College Choir were located high above the rear of the auditorium, providing
the music. Carol's matron of honor was her sister, Neva (twin of Gerald), attended by Eileen (Burnham) Evans,
daughter of Orville and Elsie Burnham (long time members at Mountain View, originally from Oklahoma). As of this writing, in November 2008, Chuck and Carol Childs are still members of the Mountain View church.
For several years, Chuck served as a deacon and was considered by many to be an ideal candidate to be ordained as an elder.
When presented with that possibility, Chuck always politely and humbly declined the honor, believing that he was
not adequately qualified by the revelation of the Holy Spirit (as given in 1 Timothy 3:1ff and Titus 1:5ff).
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1968-1991
In November, 1995, the Mountain View church held a gospel meeting,
utilizing Royce Bell (of Refugio, Texas) in an evangelistic capacity. He and Jack Gilliland had known each other
for many years, going all the way back to Royce's work with the Westside church in Irving TX, from 1976-1981.
During the 1950s, Jack had served as a deacon at the old Beltline Road church, whence the Westside church began
surrounding the continued decline into institutional practices by the Beltline church.
During the 1995
meeting, brother Bell was asked by Jim Horton (one of the elders at Mountain View) to lay significant emphasis to
the cause/effect relationship that is inherent in all Biblical teaching. While brother Bell had prepared his material
in advance for the meeting, he tried to meet the expectation of brother Horton's request. It was during that
meeting that Jack Gilliland first asked brother Bell if he might consider relocation to San Bernardino in the future,
since he (Jack) was considering resigning within a year or so. In mid-1996, Jack Gilliland announced his desire
to retire from local preaching obligations and expressed his plans (with his lovely wife, Chris) to move back to
Texas. Contact was made with Royce Bell and plans were first laid for the Bells to move to San Bernardino, sometime in early
1997. In the meantime, George Harris, a highly respected brother in Christ who had labored in the Word for many
years, agreed to do fill-in preaching and the church was greatly edified by his efforts.
In early 1997, Jim Horton fell at his home, hitting his head. It was to prove to be the beginning of the end
of his ability to serve the church in the capacity for which he is so fondly remembered by many. Soon, serious memory
lapses and other evidences of encroaching dementia of the Alzheimer sort began to develop and within just a few
years, he would be rendered incapable of continuing as an elder. The loss of brother Horton to the eldership was--and
continues to be--an incalculable loss. He was a great Bible student, soft-spoken and exceedingly wise.
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