Many people living in the mountain communities have driven past the little white church on Lebec Road. Tourists have stopped to photograph the quaint little church framed by the hills of Tejon Ranch. How many know that the little church has a deep history in the Lebec Community? In 2019, this church celebrated its 100th year in Lebec.
Lebec Community Church started in homes of families on May 9, 1919 under the leadership of the non-denominational American Sunday School Union (now a mission group called InFaith as of 2011) the oldest evangelical mission in the US dating back to 1817. This movement was also heavily influenced by famous evangelist Dwight L. Moody in the 19th century.
The home fellowship functioned as a Sunday school and not a church for the first few years of its existence. In fact the history of schooling children started with this method long before public schools were established in the U.S.
The fledging effort struggled for a few years until it was re-organized by Frank A. Kehril as an American Sunday School Union Mission on September 29, 1926. This organization in Lebec was the first Sunday school in Kern County and it had 37 members. Services were held in the Pershing School No. 1. The Reverend W. A. Stephens conducted the church services.
The work was temporarily discontinued in 1928 due to lack of staff. Some families met in homes until January 14, 1930 when the Sunday school was again re-organized by Mr. B.A. Boynton. He became the missionary for this area in the American Sunday School Union. In 1932 Mr. Boynton held vacation Bible school in the Salvation Army Camp near Lebec and in 1936 he held three months of weekly Bible classes.
The depression years were very hard on the small church and at times members were not sure if they could continue. Many were determined not to let the work of the Lord die in the Lebec community. Families pitched in assisting teaching classes and conducting services to keep the group together. Several families came up weekly from Bakersfield to assist the little congregation in its work.
For a time Sunday school was held in the old barracks of the Fire Department at Lebec, then was moved to the new Tejon School which had just been built. There Perry Woods help was greatly appreciated. He kept the school warm and cleaned after Sunday school. But he entered the service in 1943. Then Paw Borden took over the work.
About that time Reverend Schearer pastored the church from December 1947 until June 1949. John Schearer had come to California from Michigan while in the service and he was planning on attending aircraft mechanics school, but was also taking religious studies as well. Pastor Claude Downs from Bakersfield invited him to visit the Lebec church and he was asked to be the pastor. He traveled weekly from Manhattan Beach where he attended school to preach at Lebec Community Church. During the early ministry of John Schearer, and with prayer and determination, the present building of the church along Lebec Road was completed. The church sits on the site of the old Shady Inn, a way station for travelers along the Old Ridge Route.
Reverend Schearer left in 1949 to get married and complete his schooling. During this time Miss Mary McSperrin and her sister Lee served as American Missionary Fellowship (the new name for the American Sunday School Union) missionaries with Pastor Floyd. D. Waln until June of 1951 when Pastor Schearer returned. He faithfully served as minister until 1953 when he left to pastor a church in Pomona.
Many records seem to be missing from the 50’s thru 1966, but newspaper clippings found in the Frazier Park Ridge Route Museum are able to fill in some gaps. The records show that G.C. Brown was filling in as a pastor in 1954. In 1956, E.B. Claude, an AMF missionary from Bakersfield, was filling in at Lebec Community Church. A newspaper clipping from Feb. 1959, lists Mr. Fred Baltau as intern pastor of the church. Records in 1960 show him as the now permanent pastor of the Lebec Community Church. There are not any records available covering the period between 1962 and 1970.
Richard Mangun was pastor from 1971- 1976. Members shared the preaching responsibilities through 1978 when Charles Verden became the pastor. Pastor Vaeden left the church in1979 due to poor health. Mark Johnson, replaced him in the fall of 1980.
In December of 1981 a Baptist minister, Jim Curry, was called to the church which grew under his leadership, though at times he employed some colorful methods of preaching. One Sunday morning a group of 100 people gathered to hear him deliver a sermon from the church rooftop.
Wayne Lidbeck, the regional AMF missionary and field supervisor, acted as interim pastor from July to October 1988 until Rev Robert Carpenter arrived. He remained until January 1990 until the long commute from his home two hours away made it impractical. Gary Mounts, who lived in Frazier Park, pastored the church for a year until he moved out of the area.
In 1991 Don Hagner became minister, and he stayed for 3 years before being called to another church. During his pastorate, the church stabilized, and he established a board of three men to assist him.
Darrin Hulbert came to the church in 1994. He was asked to fill the position of interim pastor on Jan 12th, becoming full time pastor in May. He stayed thru 2000, and under his guidance the church grew to around 200 members, but it declined some in the later years of his ministry. He left a well-structured leadership core with ministry teams in place to do the work of ministry.
Between 2000 and 2002 the church had visiting pastors filling the pulpit until June of 2002 when Pastor Scott Irwin came to the pulpit full time. Under the leadership of Pastor Scott Irwin community outreach programs were instituted including a food pantry which helped feed our community on a daily basis with fresh and preserved foods. Pastor Scott has also invested time in discipleship groups, including a prayer service and bible study time each Wednesday and men’s breakfast once a month.
Pastor Irwin left the church in October 2020 in the midst of the COVID pandemic. The church filled the pulpit, mostly with students from The Master's Seminary, through the end of 2020 and most of 2021. One such student, David Crandall, became a favorite of the congregation, regularly filling the pulpit until the Elders and Pastoral Search Committee invited him to become the new Pastor. Pastor David officially became the next Pastor of Lebec Community Church on November 1, 2021.
This article has been edited. It was originally written by Chuck Noble in 2019 from sources including church files, American Missionary Fellowship records, newspaper clippings and photos from the Ridge Route museum files, and information from several old time members that had copies of old records.