Oakwood Church History

Officially, Oakwood began on July 1, 1950 when the Wyandotte and Dearborn churches merge red. But where did the previous churches come form; and who made the commitment to organize and raise up the congregation? The Lake Union Herald of Jan 22, 1919 under East Michigan Conference records the aggressive plans by Adventist colporter workers to get thousands of books into the hands of the Detroit area churches. Reports during this period list all local churches then in existence but there were none downriver including Wyandotte or Dearborn.

Their work that winter was fruitful as recorded in The Lake Union Herald of June 4, 1919, page 10, "WYANDOTTE As a result of the efforts put forth by the believers in this vicinity eight willing souls have been baptized and others will go forward on this rite later. Sabbath May 10, Elder Westworth was with us and organized a church of twenty members. The interest is still good and we hope for a tent effort here this coming summer. We are of good courage. H.A. Boylan"

The Wyandotte church continued to grow. 12 separate adult Sabbath School classes were being held when it merged with Dearborn.

Under the direction of Elders Leiske, Zolbrecht and Florea along with the Michigan Conference Oakwood's first sanctuary at 18595 Prospect Road in Melvindale was purchased for $30,000 from a Baptist congregation. Mary Stoia, Hilda Van Norden, Geraldine Pillsbury and Ann Gillam are charter members who pledged the cost. The new church grew so rapidity that on July 24, 1954 when it was dedicated debt free, there were already plans to expand it.

Our first pastor was Jeremiah Florea. He began as a pastor in his homeland of Romania but under communism it was becoming too difficult to witness. Nearby in Detroit was a Romanian SDA church which closed about 1958 and many of it's membership began attending Oakwood. The Detroit area is very cosmopolitan and this has become one of Oakwood's strengths. Today 30 flags in front of our church represent the countries of our membership.

Oakwood soon developed an active character of it's own. It seems once you have been a member, no other church will ever be home! Names like Brion, Carlson, Chaffin, Dumitru, Gillam, Holthe, Betty Johnson, Lui, Marco, Roark, Umlauf, Urso, Van Ardell, can never be forgotten. M.V. programs were held regularly. Ingathering was not a drudgery to the children from the growing Sabbath School departments; a warm cup of hot chocolate awaited your return and socials at Ford Hill in the winter slid by fast.

1962 brought the decision to build a new sanctuary under the leadership of Elder Copsey. It was done as an addition and today many can not tell. Seating 500 people and comprising 11,000' we built on our parking lot. Two adjacent lots were then purchased giving us parking for 30 cars. An agreement with Melvindale Schools allowed us to use their parking lots for Sabbath while they used ours during the week. Additional cars parked along both sides of Prospect across from the High School. You could always tell who was late by how far down the street people parked. 1962 was also the first year for our Southfield Junior Academy Constituency.

The new sanctuary and school association required people and revivals were being held like never before. Our next pastor, Gordon Henderson with his wife Phyllis helped add to it. Phyllis also taught music at Southfield Academy where their daughter Paulette attended.

Elder Erhart was pastor for only and short time until Elder Davison arrived with his wife and two girls. His building talents helped us to finish the basement Sabbath School rooms. During the construction, we never knew where our SS rooms were; hallways suddenly appeared. But the hardest problems faced those with limited mobility since our church was built on 5 different levels. The small bathrooms were down steps and not even a drinking fountain could be found on the main level.

A favorite spot was in the foyer along the outside wall where one of the few radiators allowed warmth into our cold bodies during our Michigan winters. Our boiler took many hours to heat up and as it did the strangest bangs and noises would compete with the SS programs. We finally learned to turn it off for sermons.

Elder Neal cane in the late sixties and with his boys he was always interested in the youth. His camping experience was taught hands on for a week at Isle Royal in Lake Superior where we were required to dip at least once in it's frigid waters and sleep with the wild Moose and wolves. Under his leadership the organization of Oakwood was set.

Elder Anderson came to our church in the early 1970's and was soon faced by not only the expansion of Southfield Academy, but also it's closing. For many years we desired to have a gym and now that it was built, the dangers of being located in a major city began to Medically, Oakwood has always been a leader, with some of the very best in many fields. Besides doctors, nurses and technician, we find ourselves with many medical students attending Wayne State or other area colleges. And we have draw on their talent in our ministry for cooking, health lecture classes, daily needs and even emergency service.

It must be said however that music is the backbone of Oakwood Church. Elder Florea and Helma, his wife began that with their duet "My God an I". Many of our ministers brought music to us. Elder Henderson and Phyllis were singing evangelists who had made a few records; Patty and Stuart Harrison, the Neals, Kraners, it just seems as if good music was a requirement. Others were strong directors, soloists or musicians. .............

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