In this issue of the Air Hill Church News Letter, we have interviewed Carl and Ethel Myers for information on memories from the early days of the Air Hill Church near Chambersburg, Pa.  We had many good Sunday School teachers and a lot of enthusiasm was created for perfect attendance.  Even the children wanted that diploma to be filled with seals to show their perfect attendance record in the Sunday School.  It was an honor to have PERFECT ATTENDANCE and even some came on Sundays when they were not feeling well.

Carl Myers was given a special plaque a few years ago for 50 years of service at the Air Hill Church. Carl was involved as a Sunday School teacher, Sunday School superintendent, and church secretary for many years.  In 1949 Carl and Ethel Myers were the FIRST and ONLY couple to have a wedding in the old Air Hill Church.  The church was remodeled in 1950.  Previous to that the new couples had a home wedding or went to a minister to be married.

Bertha Sollenberger/Crider/Heisey was the first Bible School superintendent.  Air Hill and Mt. Rock churches joined together for the first Bible School in 1948.  Pearl Rife/Eberly/Lehman/Musser recalls that the bus coming from the Scotland area via Greenvillage and Culbertson was full and kids were standing.  Another bus came from the Strasburg/Pleasant Hall area.  Carl Myers remembers a record attendance of 339.  Teachers were from Mt. Rock and Air Hill and Pearl remembers that she had a class in the church ATTIC and it was hot up there!  One class was in the furnace room.  Another class was in the old shed and Ethel Myers remembers that she had a class of 33 children in the ladies' coatroom.  Kids sat on benches but knelt on the floor and used the benches as their table to do the workbooks or craft work.

Bertha often gave children’s talks at Air Hill and in some other churches and used the flannelgraph board with many pictures.  Her mother, Frances Sollenberger, had one lone rose bush with pink roses – Bertha went to the garden one day and found worms had bored holes in the roses.  Bertha said – “Lord, use me to keep the worms of sin off our children”.  She got phone calls to give her flannelgraph talks to children in many different churches.

Sunday evening services were on the second and fourth Sunday evenings each month at the Air Hill Church so people could also go to Mt. Rock or Chambersburg on the off Sunday nights.  From 7:00 PM to 8:00 PM was the Christ Crusaders hour mostly involving youth followed by a preaching service.  A planning committee often assigned topics such as Bible characters or a subject.  You were told to speak for 5, 7,or 10 minutes.  The youth got involved at a very young age to participate in the evening services. Some would memorize their talks and some would read them.  It was almost like the young people in the church could present their own little sermon.  Looking back, Ethel Myers remembers that she gave a talk in about three churches.  Now, she would like to know – “Just what did I say?” Sometimes on Sunday evenings, it was “Old People’s Night”.  There had to be a limit as to how long they could talk on a special topic, as the program was to end by 8:00 PM so there was time for a sermon.  Older people could talk longer than the youth.  There was also lots of music on Sunday evenings and old fashioned hymn sings with groups from other churches participating.  Sometimes, people stood up along the walls of the church for a Bible Quiz or a spelling bee.

Sam Wengert was involved for quite a few years as a coach of the BIBLE QUIZ TEAM and later Norma Sollenberger and later Donald and Donna Wengert were quite involved as coaches for the BIBLE QUIZ TEAM.  These youth would memorize chapters of the Bible to know the answers to the Bible questions.  When the questions were given out, it was interesting to see which one of the youth was the first one off the seat with the answer.  A light would go on when someone raised up off the seat.  It was an interesting evening when the youth participated with Bible Quiz teams from other churches to choose a winning team!  Many of those youth from years back became great preachers, teachers, missionaries and musicians as a result of the spiritual training and involvements in their youth. 

For Love Feast and the General Conference, people slept in the old church attic over night.  Two rows of beds, possibly 8 to a side were in the attic. It was divided off so that women slept on one side and men slept on the other side.  The beds were the old rope-type beds and the mattress was like a bag of chaff ticks.  The pillows were full of duck feathers, known as “down”. (Wow!)  For special occasions such as General Conference, people attended from quite a distance and if they did not sleep in the church attic, they slept in homes of the church members.

During the General Conference held at Air Hill in 1930, a large 3-pole tent was erected near to Smith Road and evangelistic services were held in the tent while church business was conducted in the church. Besides meals being served in the church basement for special occasions such as General Conference and Love Feast, some people from Nyesville would set up a snack stand near to Smith Road and sell ice cream, candy, etc., but some parents did not like that because the children would get dirty.  There were 3 big iron kettles fed by a wood furnace in the basement where they would make the beef and noodle soup or chicken and noodle soup for Love Feast.  Men and ladies serving the food always wore aprons.  They always served a lot of cheese and bologna for sandwiches.  People brought in food including chickens, stewed apples with raisins, dried apple snits, and many pies.

There were usually two-to-three week revival meetings each year. Many families would try to attend every night--2 or 3 weeks at Air Hill...2 or 3 weeks at Mt. Rock…2 or 3 weeks at Chambersburg Mission.  (That is 6 weeks of revival each year with special evangelists).  Some families would also go to other churches to attend revival meetings.  There were tent meetings frequently in summer months to attend.

There was usually a large number of new converts each year who needed to be baptized and join the church
before the annual Love Feast held on a Wednesday and Thursday (later just Saturday) each year in May.  They had to be members of the church in order to take communion and take part in the foot-washing service at the annual Love Feast services.  A reception of new members was always held and the baptismal service was usually held at the creek at Red Bridge.  Bishop Charlie Byers was always there at Red Bridge to baptize the converts. The bank of the creek was crowded with cars and people to witness the big baptismal service occasion.  Now mobile homes line those banks as it is now a trailer court.  We always had a galvanized tub with water for every two seats of people in the church for the foot washing and a common shared cup passed around for the grape juice. The communion service also included the breaking of bread at Air Hill Church.

The churches were usually full for the special services.  At the Air Hill Love Feast service, people would attend from all around the area including other churches and some people sat on benches outside.  There were not enough seats inside the church.  Over the many years, many families have entered the church doors of the Air Hill Church.