GRACE CAMPGROUND

GRACE CAMPGROUND

This is a brief history of the Grace Gospel Campgrounds as written and recollected by Martin Wisenbaker.

Camp Meetings. There are two camp meetings every year. One begins on the Wednesday evening before Easter and the other one begins on the first Wednesday evening of October. There are three services per day through Sunday noon. There is anointed praise and worship. Anointed teachers proclaim the Grace of God in Divine Order. Prophets under the anointing bring words of direction and correction (when necessary). Healings bring glory to God in the bodies of the saints present and at times in distant places. Stirring testimonies increase the faith of the hearers. Usually there are persons present from near and far locally and internationally. All are welcome to attend.

There are dormitory accommodations (bring your own bed linens and toiletries) as well as local motels available. There is ample space for tents, travel trailers and RV’S. Meals are served at no charge. Location. The campground is located on Loop 340 on the east side of Waco just south of the city of Bellmead. It is easily identified by the large tabernacle with the tin roof and cedar support posts. A brief history of the Grace Campground as related by Martin Wisenbaker of Houston who sat under the teaching ministry of Glen and Robert Ewing in the mid and late 1960’s. These are some things I remember from the times Glen Ewing told them at his daily classes held at Grace Gospel Church, 1917 McKenzie, Waco, Texas. Some items are from other sources. And some is personal testimony.

When he was a little boy, his Presbyterian mother took Glen to the camp meetings at the then Methodist Campground. He remembered seeing the power of God work in dramatic ways in the hearts and lives of the people present at the meetings. They would get under conviction so strongly that they would run to the front jumping over backless benches to get there. They would fall on their faces in deep repentance for their sins. Some would be slain in the Spirit so completely that they had to be lifted by others, placed in their wagons and hauled home. Seeing all this at such an early age made a deep impression on young Glen Ewing. He never forgot it.

Bro. Ewing told the history of the origin of the campground. The two lane road on the east side of the grounds was the main road into Waco in the 1890’s. There was a Methodist evangelist named Uncle Bud Robinson who came in on that road to hold evangelistic meetings. He traveled in a wagon pulled by two horses. (Some say they were donkeys). But what happened was that one of his animals died before he arrived in Waco. He got into the harness and he and the other animal pulled his wagon to what is now the Grace Campground. He was too tired to go any further. He rested for the night and camped out. The next morning he looked around and decided that this looks like a good place to hold meetings. (This was in the early 1890’s).

He spoke with the landowners, Robert G. and Ann E. Wright, and received their permission for the meetings to be held on their property. The word was spread around and people came by the droves. They rode horses. They came in wagons, some with a cow tied to the back for milk and a coop of chickens for eggs. They came out from downtown Waco by train. The Cottonbelt Rail Road ran special trains to bring the people to the meetings. (The tracks have since been taken up but you can still see where they were laid on the north side of the grounds). The people sat on backless benches or stood. There was an atmosphere of expectancy of what the Lord would do. Besides preaching messages that brought repentance from sin, Uncle Bud Robinson had a healing tent where he prayed for the sick.


The Wrights, (the landowners) were so blessed that they donated their land (ten acres) to the Methodist Church for the price of $1.00 with the stipulation it would always be used “for the promotion of holiness” only. This was in 1892. The building that is here now was built in the 1890’s except for the walls. The large cedar support posts that are here now were put in then. Originally they built only an open pavilion, a roof supported by the large cedar posts. This is the way it remained until 1963. Ownership passed from the Methodist Church to the Holiness Church and then to the Nazarene Church. We do not have the dates of these ownership changes. During the time the Methodist Church owned the campground and Uncle Bud Robinson was preaching here, small one room cabins were built on the grounds for families to stay in while here for the meetings.

Glen Ewing never forgot what he had seen here as a small boy. Other person’s experiences in the Holy Spirit had an influence on him also. In 1919 a sister named Fannie Dugger had gone to Houston where she received the Baptism in the Holy Spirit. She came back to Waco and stood up and prophesied in their Presbyterian Church. Her brother, Ralph Dugger said he “felt sooo sorry for her”. Some time later Ralph himself, who was also a friend of Bro. Ewing, received the Baptism in the Holy Spirit. Finally in 1929, Bro. Glen Ewing realized that “while many were enjoying their religion he was enduring his”. He went to a full gospel church where he received the Baptism in the Holy Spirit and was slain in the Spirit. He said he “woke up looking at the bottom of a bench and speaking in tongues”. Their Presbyterian pastor, Dr. J. J. Greer, had tuberculosis. He was prayed for and the Lord healed him. The Spirit was moving mightily in that Presbyterian Church.

Bro. Glen Ewing had three businesses during the depression years of 1929 and following. He was a banker, ran a grocery store and sold farms and ranches as a real estate agent. He often said that “the Lord shot the horses out from under him three times before he realized the Lord wanted him in the ministry”.He started by opening, by faith, a rescue mission for men. With the depression going on men were continually traveling trying to find work. He ministered to many men during this time. He operated the mission as “Hope Mission” and ran it solely by prayer. He stated that occasionally a man would look at their sign and ask, “Is there any hope for me”? He would pray and watch to see how the Lord would provide. He often told the story about praying for a cord of wood and a live sheep. He prayed and waited. Finally, days after they should have arrived, a farmer arrived with a cord of wood and a live sheep. Bro. Ewing told the farmer, “You’re late”! The farmer said “Yes. The Lord told me to bring these to you several days ago and I just now got around to it”. The Lord was building Bro. Glen Ewing’s faith for the work he would do later.


The Presbyterian Church started a mission at 1917 McKenzie in north Waco. Bro. Glen Ewing was asked to act as pastor until a permanent one could be found. The “permanent “ one was never found. So Bro. Ewing became the permanent pastor and remained such until about 1966 or so when he was replaced by his son-in-law, Jack Locker. During the early days as pastor of the “mission” he realized that as a church they were just “drifting”. So he and Elder Dove met together every evening for a year for prayer. After a year the Lord began to open up the scriptures to him by the Holy Spirit like never before. This was in the 1940’s. The Latter Rain movement in Canada in 1948 also had an impact on them.


Bro. Glen Ewing began to teach these “new” things to his congregation. If he got anything wrong or omitted something the Holy Spirit would come on him and prophesy that which was correct even though it might have been the opposite of what he had just said. This stand for all of these “new” and “strange” things caused all his congregation to leave except for his wife, four children, and one or two other families. Then the Lord did a sovereign thing. He prophesied through Bro. Ewing that He would bring young men in to receive his teachings. They would come from the North, the South, the East and the West. The truths that the Lord brought to them were written up in the Texas Grace Counselor and other booklets and put out for dissemination to all. (Reprints are available in booklet form at the campground).


In 1946, Bro. Ewing began having conventions at the church on McKenzie. They grew over the years to large numbers of people attending. In late 1964 or early 1965 he felt led to obtain a larger place to hold the conventions. Since he had at one time been in the real estate business he knew the procedures involved. He looked at several places including the present campground. The Nazarene Church still owned it but an independent Pentecostal group, Bethel Tabernacle, had begun making payments on it to the Nazarene Church to purchase it. It was Bethel Tabernacle who built the first walls and rooms in the back under the once pavilion. A couple in Bethel Tabernacle who contributed heavily to this work were Vaughn and Betty Folsom. There was a period of time before they came when the pavilion stood idle and open and became a shelter for cows to graze around and they took protection under it.


Now a few lines from my own experience concerning the purchase of the campground. I first visited the grounds in April, 1964 to hear a speaker visiting from South Africa, Bro. Robert Thom, a white, born again and Spirit baptized dynamic minister who was speaking at several locations that week in Waco. He told how that he had been a drunken sailor in the South African navy until he met Jesus. The pastor of Bethel Tabernacle was Bro. Clarence Dalrymple. Bro. Thom gave an invitation for all to come forward who wanted to receive the Baptism in the Holy Spirit. I went forward. Bro. Dalrymple laid one hand on my head and down I went, slain in the Spirit. I was never the same after that. I was changed for the better, Praise God!


In the summer of 1965 is when I learned that Bro. Glen Ewing was considering a larger place to hold the conventions including the old campground. I was informed of it by Sister Louise Hopson (Sister Hoppi as we called her). She was a widow of many years who had come out of the Presbyterian Church with the Ewings. I had just arrived for the 10AM Bible study that morning. Sister Hoppi immediately informed me of Bro. Ewings intentions. I went straight to the altar to pray. Almost immediately the Lord gave me a open vision of the campgrounds with the cross chart (displayed on the wall of the church then and now at the campground) superimposed over the grounds from NE to SW with the cross arms out over the trees. I told Sister Hoppi about it. She was a very conservative and staid Presbyterian lady not given to excess of emotion. But when she heard me tell what I had just seen in the Spirit she threw up her hands and arms and began praising God in the Spirit like a real Pentecostal woman could do. This was a double witness to both of us that the campground was the right place to buy. (It was first the Wright place).


Bro. Glen Ewing negotiated a deal with the Nazarene church to take up payments to the Nazarene Church since Bethel Tabernacle Church did not want to continue making payments and longer. (They had fallen into some argumentative situations and decided not to continue trying to start a church here). Grace Gospel Church received authority to take possession of the property in August, 1965. One of the first things needed was water. There was none available on the grounds anywhere. During the 1890’s water had been drawn from a well which was now dry. It seemed most feasible to bring water in from the city of Bellmead on the other side of the rail road to the north. Bro. Glen Ewing exercised his gift of faith in that he prayed in tongues forcefully for a few seconds. Then he felt led to call the president of the rail road in Arkansas. Bro. Ewing explained the situation. The president was very sympathetic and understanding. He told Bro. Ewing that a casing pipe would have to be placed under the rail road before a water line could be run under it. He said he would send a man on a hand car out to supervise the digging under the rail road and the placing of the casing pipe. This he did. Everything went well and was all done so that everyone was pleased. Water lines were then laid to the buildings The old well was used as a septic system for the new men’s room.


As the Lord would have it, He had enough men in training present who had just the right variety of skills to prepare the grounds for the first convention to be held in October, 1965. Ronnie Tindall, a Baylor graduate from Mississippi and John Vernon from Oklahoma restrung the Meldorf baby grand piano. Paul Lawrence from Ohio dug ditches with a shovel to prove that he was healed of a heart attack. Wayne Purselley of Waco supervised the remodeling of the dining hall and the second floor dorm (for women at that time). He bought windows, blinds and screens for $3.00 a set from an old motel on the circle that was being torn down. The building was boarded up. We had to break into it to get in. The openings for windows were all open with no windows in them. They were too small for the windows Wayne had purchased. We had to knock enough concrete blocks out to enlarge the openings enough for the windows to fit.


As I mentioned earlier Bro. Vaughn Folsom and his wife Betty of Waco had been very contributive to the grounds as members of Bethel Tabernacle in labor, money and material. They came over to our group and continued contributing. Bro. Vaughn had already supervised the construction of the first walls and the rooms in the back as well as building all the pews (or benches) for the sanctuary. He designed and supervised the construction of all the dining room tables and benches. Sister Betty Folsom was quite the woman. She was a carpenter, an electrician, knowledgeable of business law, a plumber and at this time she shoveled glass at the Owens-Illinois glass factory. I was her helper to install water heaters in the new men’s room and in the kitchen. I learned enough about plumbing from her to later do much of my own plumbing, praise the Lord! Also Wayne Pursellley had me to replace the screen wire on all the screens he had purchased from the old motel. I replaced all the venician blind cords for all the same windows. We then installed them in all the openings. Others who I can remember who did
carpenter work and other kinds of work were: Danny Miller from Washington state, Billy Harris of Waco, John Gunn and father Louis Gunn from Washington state, Bob Martz from Pennsylvania, Wayne Crooke from Georgia, Joe Lehman from Missouri (I think). I’m sure there were others but remembering all of them now 40 years later is not feasible.


The one man who by far did the most to improve the existing facility at that time was George Barney from New York. He was a building contractor having done work on thousands of houses. After the first convention in October, 1965, enough money had been given so he was able to put a new roof on the two story dining hall and women’s dorm building. He built the wing on the east side of the sanctuary building which included a nursery. He built the two story addition to the dining hall and women’s dorm. This new part of the building is now the dining hall downstairs and at first the 2nd floor was the men’s dorm. (Later the use of the two dorms was switched around). A new tin roof was put on the sanctuary building in 1967 using Japanese tin. Various other maintenance items have been performed over the years by certain persons. The windows we installed in 1965 have been replaced by whom I do not know. Improvements have been made in the kitchen several times including a new stove purchased with money donated by Grace Tabernacle in Houston in the late 1980’s. An old crippled dog used to come around day after day while the men were working at all the different projects at the campground. Paul Lawrence and George Barney would feed him at lunch time. Finally one day Bro. Paul and Bro. George decided to pray for the dog. The next day here came that same old dog running, completely healed, Praise God!


I mentioned that in the fall of 1965 that the Meldorf baby grand piano was restrung by Ronnie Tindall and John Vernon. And now the rest of the story (thank you Paul Harvey). In 1964 Ronnie Tindall had taught me my first lesson on how to tune a piano. I did it as a hobby for the next eleven years while working at other jobs. My wife and I moved from Waco to Houston in January, 1968 at the Lord’s direction. I went full time into the piano service business in 1975 in Houston also at the Lord’s direction. Ronnie had been keeping the baby grand at the campground tuned. He would arrive early for the conventions and tune it. At some point in the late 1970’s I began tuning it before each convention. After about 10 or 15 years it seemed to me that for a sanctuary as large as this one that a larger piano would be in order. After all baby grand pianos are home pianos. At one convention sometime in the 1980’s Ronnie Tindall, Dennis Chupp and I, Martin Wisenbaker (all piano technicians) discussesd the matter. We all agreed a bigger piano was in order. We agreed also to meet with Robert Ewing to pray about it. At the time Robert Ewing was available Ronnie was not. So Dennis and I met with Robert Ewing for prayer about the situation. We prayed and believed the Lord to provide.


After our prayer Dennis said he did not know of one available at that time. We both did piano restorations and rebuilding but Dennis did more than I did. Some time later in Indiana where Dennis lives and works he was doing some piano service at a school one day. He looked and saw over in a corner an old beat up concert grand piano that looked like it was ready for the junk pile. It was covered with dust and dirt. The lid was in two pieces. It had graffiti carved all over it. He inquired about its availability for purchase. He was able to purchase it for some small amount. He saw the potential it had as the new campground piano. But it had to be sanctified first. He moved it to his rebuilding shop in Indiana. He taught certain members of his church how to do certain tasks and operations of piano restoration. They rebuilt it and moved it here, praise the Lord! Our dream for a larger piano was fulfilled, praise His Holy Name! The baby grand was sold to someone in Bellmead. I have been keeping it tuned ever since it was moved here from Indiana except for a time or two when I could not attend the convention. The piano is a Knabe concert grand made in 1926, the same year Robert Ewing was born.


Coming soon are historical and legal documents pertaining to the acquisition and use of the campground property from 1892 on. Anyone desiring to add to this history may do so by contacting the webmaster, Ray Istre or Martin Wisenbaker. Ray’s web site is www.rayistre.com . Martin’s e-mail is mbjwisenbaker@juno.com

Martin Wisenbaker
March 31, 2005