A Short History

Monrovia Church of Christ was started on Sunday night, October 3, 1993, by several interested Christian families totaling about 100 people. After our worship, the members met and decided to focus our efforts in the Monrovia community where most of us lived and chose the name Monrovia Church of Christ. For our first few weeks we met in the Yeager's gym. They were kind enough to also let us use their home for children's classes.

Our congregation began to grow and we immediately began looking for a more permanent home. In December 1993 we rented the building we affectionately refer to as "The Warehouse." It was a bit rough on the inside, but it was just what we needed and provided us with an auditorium and several classrooms. From our first meeting together, the men of the congregation took turns speaking. We were fortunate to be blessed with 20 to 30 men willing and capable of speaking to us at worship.

In May, 1994, we selected elders and in September we selected deacons. In November, Nicky Faught was hired as a part-time minister. In August, 1995, Brad Sullivan was selected as a part-time youth minister. Ray Palmer also joined the staff as a volunteer associate minister. His main function was speaking to the congregation on some Sunday Evenings.

After searching for property for a permanent building, we bought 10 acres at the corner of Nance and Capshaw in April of 1995. On our third anniversary, October 6, 1996, we broke ground for our building.

However, our continual growth would not allow us to wait on a new building. In July, 1995, we also rented the building behind ours for additional class space and expanded our auditorium. Because it is "out back" of our main building we called it the "Outback." The added space was greatly needed because we had already expanded our auditorium once and were using every available room, including the front lobby, for classes. In April, 1997, we expanded our auditorium for the third time to accommodate our increased attendance. After growing continually for years, we were now finally constrained by lack of auditorium space, class space and parking and our attendance stayed at about 350 the rest of the time at the Warehouse.

In January of 1998, Hugh Minor was hired part-time as administrator to help manage the business affairs of the congregation. On February 1, 1998, we moved into our new building. On February 8, 1998, we had a dedication service to dedicate our building to the Lord and his work. Since then our growth has continued.

In June, 1999, our Youth Deacons saw the need to increase our youth minister position from full to part time. Brad Minor now serves in that role.

As our growth continued, the need for improved organization and more staff became apparent. In October, 2002, our Elders presented an organizational plan to the congregation which included a Involvement Minister and a secretary.. As part of this plan, Danny Holmes was hired as full-time Involvement Minister. Danny had previously been the Involvement and Education Minister at Fairmont Park Church of Christ in Midland, Texas. Danny's task is to coordinate the ministries and to help our members become more involved by recognizing and using their spiritual gifts and talents for the glory of God. In July, 2004 Danny switched to a part-time role as he became Executive Director for Agape of North Alabama, a Christian social services agency. Angie Minor currently serves as our interim secretary.

In 2002, because of continued growth, we constructed classrooms in half of our unfinished second floor. In 2003, the rest of the second floor was finished with a large part of it becoming “The Loft”, our youth room.

In August 2004, Ray Palmer moved from being an associate minister to being our part-time pulpit minister.

About Our Congregation

On Sunday mornings, Ray Palmer brings us a lesson from the pulpit. Currently we average about 400 in attendance on. On Sunday night we several have different formats: Another lesson from Ray, singing night, prayer night, lessons from our young men in Lads to Leaders or “Care Groups” meetings in people’s homes. We also have "Children's Church" for the young children and Lads to Leaders training part of the year.

We are organized into Care Groups to help care for each other's needs. Once a month, instead of meeting together on Sunday nights, we meet for worship in Care Groups in our member's homes.

We have an active youth program with an annual camp and my retreats and other activities.

Memorable events that we have shared include men's, women's and family retreats, Bible camp, Red Cross blood drives, and learning through sharing a "Passover meal."

Everyone is always welcome to worship with us. We hope everyone is encouraged and edified as we praise and glorify our Lord.