History of FCC Lawrence

On January 12, 1884 , the Christian Church in Lawrence was organized with twenty-five members. W. T. Parker was the pastor. The church was chartered by the State of Kansas on June 19, 1884 and was located just one block south of its present location at 1000 Kentucky Street. Plans for a new church building were started following a great revival in 1907 held in South Park, with 330 additions to the membership.  The new church sanctuary, our current sanctuary, was dedicated by F.M. Rains on December 13, 1908. C.L. Milton was the pastor.  The church reported 600 members

In 2008 we celebrated the 100th anniversary of the construction and dedication of the Sanctuary building. In 2009 we celebrated the 125th anniversary of the charter of First Christian Church of Lawrence, and the 200th anniversary of the publication of Thomas Campbell’s Declaration and Address, the beginning of the movement now known as the Disciples of Christ.

Pastors of First Christian Church 1884-2010

W. T. Parker, 1884

William Ireland, 1884-1887

E. H. Kellar, 1887-1889

A. D. States, 1889-1890

Charles M. Sharpe, 1894-1896

A. L. Jones, 1896-1898

Baxter Waters, 1900-1901

A. L. Ward, 1902-1903

C. L. Minton, 1904-1912

Eugene T. McFarland, 1912-1915

Dr. Arthur Braden (Interim), 1915-1916

George Darsie, 1916-1918

M. Lee Sorey, 1918-1921

Frank G. Richard (Interim), 1921

Charles A. Richard, 1922-1930

Seth W. Slaughter, 1930-1937

Harold G. Barr, 1937-1944

Warren Hile, 1944-1946

H. Milton Sippel, 1946-1954

Rudolph C. Tatsch, 1954-1958

Benton Roy Hanan, 1958-1975

Ron Goodman, 1975-2001

Dr. Jim Ward (Interim) 2002

Randy Beeman, 2003-2009

Tony Bedora (Interim), 2009-August 2010

David Rivers, August 2010-