History

Christway Church

Celebrating

0 years

1997 to 20

HISTORY OF CHRISTWAY CHURCH

On September 29, 1997 Bro. Leo Lytle held the first service of a tent revival on the

corner of Rock Hill

Road and Highway 167. There were about 35

people in

attendance. He announced at that first service

that God had led him to start a new

church in this area. He didn’t know exactly where the

church would be

built but he was

taking a step of faith to begin this church as he felt this was the mission God had for

him.

This church would be for

the lost in the area that other churches didn’t seek out to

be a part of their

church family. Chuck and Margaret Davis provided the music. Some

the people in attendance that night

were Jerry and Terry Johnson, Jerry’s sister and

mother, Dot and Philbert Bordelon, Rod and Vicki Wiley

and

children, Nola Ellington,

Charles and Carolyn McVay, Shirley and Dana Canoe, and many others. This

revival

lasted one week with the last service

being on a Sunday afternoon. Bro. Leo’s family

from

Shreveport came on the Thursday night of the revival. His brother-in-law, Kent,

came and

played the

fiddle. The group, HIS, came and sang on Friday night of the

revival. Brenda Ogden came and sang on

Saturday night of that week.

During the

revival $1,267 was collected to do a mail out to the area. This

was the birth of Christway

Church. During the revival Matthew Wiley and

Mr. Charles McVay were saved

and

made a public profession of faith.

In September of 1997 arrangements were made to lease a lot on the corner of Rock Hill

Road and Highway

167 in Bentley, Louisiana. The cost of the

lease was $1.00 per

year. This was the site on which Christway

Church was to be built. Construction began

in September 1997. Christway Church

was built by Bro. Leo, his

father, Jerry Johnson,

Charles McVay, Bob Ellington, and several others from the community who donated

their time and

labor. The church was built on piers, as we knew this was not the

permanent place. The

ladies in the church prepared lunch for the men while they

worked on the building. This first incarnation of

the church consisted of one building.

There was a small nursery, two bathrooms, and the sanctuary.

The

seating was metal

and wood folding chairs.

Although the building was not fully completed the first service was held on November 23,

1997. The Lord’s

Supper was observed on this first service.

The walls had sheet rock,

which had only been taped and floated

but not painted; and there was no carpet on the

floor. The only heat in the building

was electric heaters

placed around the room.

There was no piano but music was provided by Nola Ellington, who brought a

keyboard

to play for the

service. During the first service in the building the following people

became charter

members of Christway Church: Dillon Wiley, Matthew Wiley,

Rodney

Wiley Jr, Justin Wiley, Rodney Wiley,

Sr., Vicki Wiley, Carolyn McVay, Charles McVay,

Giddian Luke Lytle, Leo Lytle, Adam Lytle, Matthew

Lytle, Alta

Johnson, Jerry Johnson, Terry Johnson, Jackie Bermudez, Amanda

Bermudez, Krystal

Bermudez, Francisco Bermudez,

Elisa Bermudez,

Melba Fletcher, and Mike Fletcher.

The

first service was followed by our first Thanksgiving Dinner and praise service on

November

26, 1997.

December of 1997 was a very busy month for the Christway

Family. Mr. David Kutz, a missionary to Mexico

who resides in Picayunne,

Mississippi,

came and brought an organ which had been donated to the church from a

family in

Mississippi. Iatt Baptist Church, through the efforts of

their

pastor, Bro. Arthur Mora,

donated

a piano to Christway. In this same month the church received a donation of

hymnals from a friend of Bro.

Leo’

s. At

this time we began a building and heating fund

and welcomed Christway’s Church pianist, Nola E

llington.

The first workday to complete the inside of the sanctuary was held in January of 1998.

In February of this

same year the church began a fund raiser

selling blocks to complete

the Sunday school building. In May of

1998 Christway held their first “Glory Day” to

help

raise funds to begin building

Sunday school rooms. We

also welcomed Joe Aulds

our guest speaker in May. The first Vacation Bible School was held in July of

1998.

Moody

Adams was guest speaker at our service on July 14, 1998. The first “Christway

Family

Night” was held in October of 1998 and in November the youth

went to New

Orleans to witness in the French

Quarter.

Collections for the church library began in January of 1999. March 14 was our first

revival with guest

speaker Kent Leonard. In April of 1999 the

original sanctuary was

paid off and moved to its present

location. In May of the same year work began on the

building of a Sunday school addition to

the church.

This building consisted of an office, a nursery, 4 Sunday school rooms, and a kitchen.

In May 1999 the

ladies of Christway Church compiled and

published their own cookbook

to sell to assist in the building fund.

Mrs. Debbie Bryant printed the books on her

computer and also performed the

binding to put the books

together. The ladies raised

a total of $400 by selling the cookbooks. Mr. Buddy Eznack generously cooked

meals,

including

brisket lunches, which were sold enabling the church to raise significant

amounts of money for

the building fund. The church celebrated another first

in May of

1999 with the first graduating High School

Senior, Paul Eznack. July 25th brought

another milestone when it was announced that Christway

Church was

now the proud

new owners of the land directly behind the church. August 11th Christway Church

celebrated

the first ordination ceremony

in the church of its deacon, Bob Ellington. On

August 17th the church adopted

its constitution and bylaws at the monthly business

meeting. Dr. Glen

Bryant spoke at our services on August

29th. We welcomed

missionary from China, Mike Robertson on October 10th. In November of 1999 the

youth went to the Delta Women’s Clinic in Shreveport to provide an informational picket

against abortion.

They went again in 2000 for another

informational picket.

On January 2nd of 2000 the first Sunday school classes were held in the new building.

The weekend before

the first classes were held there was a

24-hour prayer vigil held in

the new building. Mrs. Jackie Schneider

was the teacher for the children of school age,

Mrs. Charolyn Lytle was the

teacher for the pre-school, and

Laurah Gray was the youth

teacher. On April 24th of that year we welcomed a new member to the church,

Sam

Lytle. Congratulations to Bro. Leo and Charlene Kay, his proud parents. October 23rd

2000 guest Tim

Wallace and Perry Sober joined us for a

revival.

As of April, 2001, there were 60 members on roll at Christway. There were a total of 10

people saved and

baptized during the first year of Christway’s

existence. With baptism

services being held at Iatt Baptist

Church, Hudson Creek Baptist Church and even a

swimming pool at member’s residences.

On April 22nd of

2001 Christway welcomed

Travis Glenn, grandson of Charles and Carolyn McVay, as our guest speaker. A men’

prayer breakfast

was held on May 29th of 2001. The first baby dedication was held on

September 30,

2001.

On January 20th, 2002 the youth staged an abortion protest by placing a sign and 250

white crosses on the

grounds in front of the church for all

passer byres to see. March

24th 2002 Christway welcomed for the

first of many visits Paul Daly and his family,

performing The Wild Horse Ministries.

In May of 2002 work

began on a larger

sanctuary. In August of 2002 Linda Messing and Carolyn McVay traveled to Mississippi

purchase new pews

for the new sanctuary. On October 22nd 2002 Bro. Leo Lytle

performed his “Baking

Soda Whiskers” Tour in Ruston, Louisiana.

In February of 2003

Christway Church purchased a used electric piano out of Jonesville, La. for $3000 this

money had been raised by the ladies selling lunches.

One special member was Mrs. Lanell Eznack. For 2 years some of the ladies of the

church cooked and sold

meals every Friday. Mrs. Eznack was

there every Friday until

the late summer of 2004. She was able to

attend the first two or three Sundays in the

new sanctuary before going home to be

with Jesus.

Another very special member of our

church family was Curly Maxey, father of Philip Maxey. Mr. Maxey was

a breath of Holy

Spirit when he

entered the church. His prayers were anointed by God and you could

feel

God’s love in Mr. Maxey. We were so blessed to have had both Mrs.

Lanell and

Mr. Maxey in our church

family.

In August of 2005 we provided a temporary home to several families displaced by

hurricanes Katrina a Rita.

We continued to house some of these

people for three

months. There was a lot of work involved in getting

the Sunday School rooms turned

into bedrooms but what a blessing our church

family received by getting to

know and

help these families.

In October of 2005 the Lanell Eznack Samaritan House opened. This was planned

earlier but plans had to be

put on hold due to the hurricanes and

the need for the

church to be a shelter for the people from New

Orleans. The Samaritan House started

out in a very small mobile home behind the

church. Soon after

opening the doors the

Samaritan House became inundated with donations and items were stored in the

unfinished building behind

the church. At that time Buddy Eznack blessed the church

again by allowing the

Samaritan House to relocate to a house he owned at 6979 Hwy 8.

This house has 3 large rooms, a kitchen,

bathroom, and a small room. As of November,

2007 the house is completely full of clothing and other

articles to be sold. The

community has taken notice and almost every time a church member goes to the

Samaritan House the carport is full of

donations left anonymously. The people in Grant

Parish have been so

wonderful in donating to the Samaritan House. The money raised

from the

Samaritan House is used to help

senior citizens. The church has helped many

with utilities, medicines, and sponsored several seniors at the

Food

Bank. The

Samaritan House also aids seniors in completing forms to get signed up for free or

reduced

price medicines. The motto of the Samaritan

House is “ Serving Christ By

Serving His People”, and that’s

exactly what we are trying to do. The Lanell Eznack

Samaritan House was named after

the beloved Mrs.

Lanell Eznack because she loved

the lord, and was always serving Christ’s people both physically and

spiritually. Mrs.

Lanell’s

church family named the Samaritan house after her to remind them of what she

stood for and the wonderful example that she led for her church and

her family. We felt

this was the best

way we could to honor the memory of this great Christian lady. “Who

can find a virtuous woman? for her

price is

far above rubies.”

On May 25th 2006 Christway was joined by guest speaker Bobby Campo from

Montgomery, La. The church

started a fund raising project in the fall of

2006 in order to

pay the remaining balance of the loan for the

church. We established a “Joash Box”.

By the spring of 2007 our church became

totally debt free.

From the beginning of Christway until June, 2007 there have been at least 10 babies

born and 6 members

who went home to be with God. There

have been 6 weddings held

at Christway. C

hristway Church was built by many while being led by two of the best and

most beloved men. From the

first service in 1997 to August of 2004 Bro. Leo Lytle led

the church in worship services. At which time he

began a one year sabbatical until

August of

2005. During this time Bro. Richard Kaufman joined the church

as interim

pastor. Since this time Bro. Richard has gone on to preach at his own

church in

Marthaville, La.

The lord has truly blessed the church and its members by bringing

these two Christian men and their families

to the

community. They have been welcomed

in as part of the family and will remain in our hearts no matter

where the Lord takes

them.

On December 2,

2007 we held a special anniversary service. Bro. Richard

Kaufman read The Church

Triumphant and then gave a testimony on what his time of

being

interim pastor for 9 months at Christway

meant to him. Then Robert Mendenhall,

Deacon, awarded a certificate of Pastor Emeritus to Bro. Leo Lytle.

Several members

gave their testimony on what Christway means to them as part of the church family. It

was a great servce. God has truly blessed

Christway.

In the beginning of June, 2008 we were blessed again when God sent Bro. Delbert

Cates and his family to be

our pastor. He is bringing new life and

growth to Christway

and we are so happy to have him as our pastor.