Photo by Joselyn King Bishop Darrell Cummings of the Bethlehem Apostolic Temple in North Wheeling, welcomes the public to the church’s 93rd anniversary celebration on Sunday. With him is Suff. Bishop Walter Oliver Jr. of the Ebenezer Chapel Church in New Haven, Connecticut.

WHEELING — Bethlehem Apostolic Temple in North Wheeling celebrated 93 years of serving God and the community on Sunday.

The church invited guest pastors in for services throughout the past week, and on Sunday the visitor bringing the church’s message was Suff. Bishop Walter Oliver Jr. of Ebenezer Chapel in New Haven, Connecticut.

That the small church has survived for nearly a century in Wheeling is no small feat, according to Bishop Darrell Cummings.

“We’re just grateful to be here,” Cummings said. “Especially since the pandemic, a number of churches have closed, merged with other churches and are no longer in existence. We do understand that as a church you have to do what you have to do. But we are grateful that for 93 years we have been able to continue.”

The first service at the church’s building at 330 N. Main St. in North Wheeling took place on April 20, 1973. But the church’s history actually dates back more than 40 years before that.

The Bethlehem Temple Church of the Apostolic Faith was initially organized and pastored in Wheeling by the late Elder Fred Lacey of Philadelphia in 1932, and its first location was at 2614 Market St. When that building was later condemned, the church was forced to relocate.

Members eventually would purchase and renovate a residential building directly across the street at 2617 Market St. At about this time, the church became affiliated with the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World.

After the church experienced flooding in the 1950s, Elder George Robinson moved the church to 2609 Market St. The Urban Renewal organization next acquired the property for its inclusion in the industrial program for Center, and the church once again had to move.

In 1961, Bethlehem renovated another building at 60 13th St., and by 1964 Elder J.C. Allen of Detroit had taken over the church. The following year the church’s name was changed to Bethlehem Apostolic Temple.

Allen would lead the church to purchase the property at 330 N. Main St., with worship beginning there in April 1973. Sadly, Allen wouldn’t serve long in the new church facility. On Aug. 19, 1974, he flew to a convention in Denver. Immediately after exiting the plane, he became ill due to the high altitude of the city and would soon after die of a stroke, church history indicates.

The church’s piano player, Evangelist Evelyn E. Moyer, then took over the small congregation and served until her retirement in 1990.

About five years into her 15-year tenure, she received a letter from Cummings — then a young pastor at a church in Ashtabula, Ohio.

“I sent 100 letters to seven churches asking for $7 a month to keep our church going because we didn’t have a viable church in the area,” he explained. “Three churches agreed, and two did it for about three months. One (Bethlehem Apostolic Temple) did it for 10 years.”

Cummings sent Moyer cassette tapes of his sermons in exchange for her donations.

“I thought she might be listening to them on her own,” Cummings said. “I didn’t know that for Bible class they sat and listened to my tapes.”

He said the word “Bethlehem” actually means “house of bread” in Hebrew, and under Cummings the church has become known for its holiday food distributions.

“That’s one of the things we are known for in the community, but we also want to be known for feeding the community Gospel as bread for the soul.

“We’ve also come to be known as one of the most diverse churches in the city. We believe every church should represent the entire community because all are precious in God’s sight. We are grateful to those who have kept our doors open at great sacrifice.”