Pacific Northwest congregation celebrates its history while embracing renewed life.
By Bobby Ross Jr. | The Christian Chronicle
MIDVALE, Idaho — Sunflowers and knee-high yellow grass line U.S. Highway 95, the two-lane blacktop through this blink-and-miss-it farm town.
Little green signs at each edge of Midvale — known as Middle Valley until the post office adopted the shortened name in 1903 — give the population as 222.
Amid barns and pastures, in the shadow of mountains that surround this western Idaho community, a mercantile, a veterans hall and a coffee shop beckon.
Nearby stands a white, wood-frame building with a simple “Church of Christ” sign in black letters.
“We’re the agricultural hub of Washington County,” Mayor Brian Graham said of the town, about 90 miles northwest of Boise. “Everybody knows everybody and looks out for them.”
The 144-year-old church, which Graham and his wife, Shelly, attend, traces its beginning to a wagon train’s arrival from Missouri. A previous building burned, leading to the construction of the one where members have worshiped for a century.
“If people are looking for a good place to go that just studies the word of God, this is it,” Graham said on a recent weekend as about 150 men, women and children gathered to mark the meeting place’s 100th anniversary.
This story appears in the November print edition of The Christian Chronicle.
Photo by Bobby Ross Jr.
Faith. Family. Fastballs. 