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.
1946-1968
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
1997-Present
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 slipped on the back steps of the educational
wing of the church building, hitting his head on the tile floor. 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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