Faith Works 5-31-24

Faith Works 5-31-24
Jeff Gill

A story with a modest moral for preachers
___

This Sunday I'm looking forward to attending worship in the Wyandot Mission Church in Upper Sandusky, Ohio, and hearing Chief Billy Friend of today's Wyandotte Nation preach there. He's a preacher and a leader for his people, in Oklahoma but with deep roots still in Ohio.

In advance of Chief Friend coming to preach, I was doing some looking around online about the establishment of that Methodist mission station, the first in this county for them, the church building constructed in 1824.

I found an 1884 volume, talking about the early 1830s for a Methodist circuit rider in Ohio, Elnathan Gavitt, who was born in Granville in 1809. Elnathan as a young preacher had an older and perhaps more loquacious partner who at this time helped cover a large preaching circuit in northern Ohio, which centered on the Wyandot mission at Upper Sandusky. He tells this story from 1831 or 1832:

"On the Scioto river, near where the Pisgah Church now stands, was a log tavern kept by a friend, not a member of the Church. This was one of our preaching places where we remained over night with the landlord; and in the morning when we called for our bill he said he would prefer settling with us at the close of the year. This being the best we could do, we had to trust to his liberality in the final settlement, though with our limited means we could have wished it otherwise. However, as he was a friend to the cause of Christianity, we hoped for the best. At the close of the year we called for a final settlement. He said, as there was some credits in our favor, he would have to look over our account.

"This was a mistake, as we had not paid him anything during the year, but he insisted that he had kept a correct account, and knew more about it than we did. His account against us was quite reasonable, and somewhat better than we had expected; and now the next thing was to see for what we could have credit. Turning over the next page, he showed that he had credited us with every sermon preached, with every instance of worship, and with every blessing asked at the table. For a long sermon the credit was twenty-five cents; for a short sermon, fifty cents; long family service, twelve and one-half cents; short prayer and chapter, twenty-five cents, and the same in proportion for grace at the table. Being young and often embarrassed, all my services had received his approbation, and he now fell in my debt. My colleague being older and more prolific, fell in his debt.

"However, considering the benefit the community had received, as well as his family, and allowing something for good company, he would balance the account and call it all settled, provided we would call on him another year, if we were returned to the same charge; he then presented each of us with five dollars."

As a preacher myself, I'm going to keep that fee scale in mind! The Pisgah church is no more; it was near the Shawnee Ford on the Scioto River in Hardin County, Dudley Township, at Pfeiffer Station (unincorporated). On my way home I may stop by there and offer a prayer of thanksgiving for the generosity of Mr. Wheeler (as he was later named in Gavitt's account), in advancing the Gospel on the Ohio frontier.


Jeff Gill is a writer, storyteller, and preacher in central Ohio; he's been known to go on sometimes. Tell him what you thought about this story at knapsack77@gmail.com, or follow @Knapsack77 on Threads.