Community Christian Fellowship

COMMUNITY CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP:
THE FIRST QUARTER OF A CENTURY +
first official pastor, and the board of directors selected
Dallas native Don Crum (formerly with Agape Force) to fill
that role. Don led the newly incorporated church as an
In the mid-to-late 1970s a Sunday morning worship
anointed preacher and along with Sonny Jaynes and others
service began for the staff and students of The Agape Force also led worship. In those early days the meeting room was
ministry in Garden Valley, Texas, and soon, other area
much smaller and the chairs were all facing north where
residents began to attend. Agape Force’s founder, Tony
Pastor Don stood to preach. For a time during Don’s
Salerno, was leading the meetings at the Agape Force
pastorate, praise & worship singer/songwriter John Sellers
campus but he wasn’t called to be a pastor so he delegated
was CCF’s worship leader. The congregation at that time
that role to others in their ministry, including Gordon
was under 200 people, and the church elders were Sonny
(“Gordy”) Peterson and Gabriel Arosemena.
Jaynes, Tracy Hansen, Ron Garrison and Bracy Greer.
Keith Green and Last Days Ministries arrived in
In 1976, the year after The Agape Force arrived in
Garden Valley in September 1979, and many of their staff
Garden Valley, a private Christian school was established
began attending the Sunday morning meetings. In 1981, the for the children of ministry & local community families.
singing group 2nd Chapter of Acts moved into the area and
The school was first known as “Agape Force Prep School”
some of them began attending the meetings as well.
but in February 1985 the name was changed to “Garden
By 1982 the Agape Force cafeteria (now Mercy Ships’
Valley School.” The school held classes in what is now the
Oasis) was outgrown, so the predominantly Agape Force
CCF sanctuary which was divided up into classrooms and
congregation moved to the gymnasium at Youth With A
a cafeteria. The first principal was Will Fields. Conley
Mission to make it more of a community church. Wayne
Brown served as principal for three and a half years through
Snyder, a pastor from Montana who had YWAM training, August 1985, and later Robert & Dana Rhodes ran the
was the acting pastor at that time, and the small group
school through the late 1980s.
went by the name “Garden Valley Community Church.”
Don Crum served as pastor of CCF for three and a half
Wayne became terminally ill and soon resigned as pastor,
years from July 1, 1984 to January 30, 1988. In July 1988, Don,
dying shortly thereafter in March 1984. Around that time
Cheri and their two children moved to the foreign mission
Garden Valley Community Church fragmented. Some of
field in Nigeria where they served faithfully for seven years
the group started a congregation at Kaleo Lodge, and others under the ministry name Africa Missions.
met at David Wilkerson’s gathering at World Challenge.
In January 1988, CCF’s elders called on Albie Pearson
Also at that time many of the people started meeting again to serve as pastor. In his younger years, Albie Pearson had
in the Agape Force cafeteria with Gabriel Arosemena as the been a professional baseball player for the California
pastor. On occasion, Winkie Pratney, Leonard Ravenhill
Angels. He and his wife, Helen, had moved to Garden
and other preachers would deliver messages on Sunday
Valley from southern California in 1987 to minister to some
mornings.
of the Contemporary Christian Musicians in the area.
On March 15, 1984, the “Agape Force – Lindale”
Albie functioned as a pastor to the musicians and staff in
church was officially incorporated, using the name
2nd Chapter of Acts, Dallas Holm & Praise, Harvest, etc.,
“Community Christian Fellowship,” with the initial board leading a weeknight Bible study for them every week. Pastor
of directors being Gabriel Arosemena, Conley Brown Jr.,
Albie was a relaxed, soft-spoken teacher—not a preacher—
and Kenneth Turley, all members of Agape Force. The
and rather than standing behind a pulpit he sat on a stool
Articles of Incorporation were filed with the State of Texas and ministered the love of the Father. During Albie’s tenure
on March 28, 1984.
as pastor, CCF’s elders were Sonny Jaynes, Tracy Hansen,
On May 4, 1984, CCF purchased our current
Ron Garrison, Steve Aubuchon, Charlie Moore and
property—nine acres and a 14,000 square ft. building—from Bill Cooke.
The Agape Force for a quarter of a million dollars. The
In 1988 & 1989 Pastor Albie & Tracy Hansen led the
metal building was built by Agape Force in 1975, the year
congregation in praise and worship during the Sunday
they had arrived in Garden Valley. It had been used as a
morning services. Kim (Garrett) Denson, member of the
warehouse, dormitory, office & school facility.
singing group Silverwind, played keyboard and
On July 1, 1984, Gabriel Arosemena resigned as CCF’s occasionally led worship herself, as did Ed Kerr of the
singing group Harvest. In November of 1988, Christian
singer Kelly Willard and her family moved to Garden
Valley to be with Last Days Ministries. Musicians, Paul
and Rita Baloche, who had toured with Kelly, followed her
and her family to Garden Valley and began attending
CCF. They too began participating with the worship team.
On December 3, 1989, after serving as pastor of CCF
for just under two years, Albie Pearson resigned as pastor,
and he and Helen moved back to California. At that time
Tracy Hansen took over where Albie left off. Tracy was not
only gifted as a preacher, but also in carpentry as well as the
arts. When not doing his pastoral duties, he could often be
found swinging a hammer as the church expanded its
facilities. From time to time Tracy would perform a skit
during his sermons, putting into practice his gift of drama.
Just prior to Albie Pearson leaving, he and Tracy were
talking with Paul and Rita Baloche in his office. Paul and
Rita were considering serving as youth pastors, but Tracy
felt that Paul should be CCF’s worship leader, and Albie
whole-heartedly concurred. Considering himself only a
guitar player, Paul resisted at first, but before long he was
leading worship, with Ed Kerr accompanying on keyboard.
Soon Ed and Paul began writing songs together, having
both signed contracts with Hosanna! Integrity. On June 26,
1992 Paul recorded his first of many live worship albums—
this one in Dallas—and many CCFers participated.
In 1993 Cindy Ward, formerly with Agape Force, began
directing the newly established children’s ministry and
Sunday School. She served faithfully for five years and then
YWAMer Sue Haines took over as director, beginning in
the Fall of 1998.
By the mid-1990s CCF’s congregation continued to
grow, and Sunday morning services were becoming crowded.
Further expansions were soon undertaken by removing
classrooms along the outer western walls. A smaller, core
group of CCFers were also meeting for midweek services on
Wednesday evenings. There were also Care Groups in
homes at different times during the 1990s.
By September 1996 CCF’s elders consisted of Sonny
Jaynes, Charlie Moore, Ron Garrison and Burt Forney. On
August 30, 1997, Tracy Hansen submitted his letter of
resignation, effective at the end of November. After having
served as pastor for eight years, Tracy and Connie soon
moved back to Idaho to care for Tracy’s aging mother.
After much prayer and fasting, CCF’s elders selected
Longview native, David Hickey to take Tracy’s place as
pastor. David officially became CCF’s pastor on Sunday,
December 8, 1997. David, LuAnn and their five children had
been attending CCF for several years, although because of
his overnight job, David himself was unable to attend very
often. He had served as pastor of several Baptist churches
in the past, but after he and LuAnn experienced a fresh
baptism of the Holy Spirit, a sabbatical ensued. Leading up
to being asked to pastor CCF, David Hickey pastored a
small home church, and held overnight jobs as a stocker at
Wal-Mart and a truck driver driving to and from Dallas,
delivering newspapers.
During the first decade of David’s tenure as pastor,
CCF began to steadily grow again. David’s history of solid
Bible training equipped him for practical, down-to-earth and
to-the-point sermons. And where there had previously only
been Sunday School classes for children, adult classes were
established. Our massive mortgage and other debt began to
be whittled down, and finally, in the spring of 2002, the debt
was completely paid off, culminating with a Mortgage
Burning celebration on May 19th of that year, held in Mercy
Ships’ cafeteria.
During the 2000s, CCF’s congregation continued to
grow, requiring more expansion and building projects. Due
to the crowded conditions in our sanctuary, CCF began
having two Sunday morning services on March 12, 2006.
During that year a large, two-story addition with a
fellowship hall, industrial kitchen and lots of classroom &
office space was built onto the west side of the existing
building, all done without going into debt, thanks to the
generosity and faithfulness of the CCF church body. In
November 2006, a large modular building was donated
which was renovated and used as a High School youth
facility. Further expansions of the sanctuary took place in
2008 to make room for our growing church family.
By the spring of 2011 the men serving as elders were
Steve Miller, Herb Haines, Burt Forney, Ben Davis,
Russell Bailiff, Kevin Karrenbrock and Randy Willmon,
Ron Garrison having gone to be with Jesus on July 22, 2010.
Community Christian Fellowship has experienced the
faithfulness of God in many ways throughout the past
quarter of a century. We serve a wonderful Father who
deserves our whole-hearted praise, worship & devotion. As
our church motto states, we want to keep Reaching Up to
know the Father’s heart, Reaching In to build Godly lives
and healthy relationships, and Reaching Out to our local
community and beyond with the hopeful message of Jesus.
Written by Roland Heddins (revised April 2011)