May 25, 2004

‘This is the church that faith has built’
EVUMC celebrates 25 years in Evergreen

By Bea Baechle
Editor

History isn’t just about dates. History is about the people who shaped it and the memories they’ve recorded. So it was fitting that on May 16—during the 25th Anniversary Celebration service of the Evergreen Valley United Methodist Church—that Augusta “Gussie” Kidd read the church’s history.

Gussie was the wife of beloved Reverend Joseph Kidd, who was appointed pastor of EVUMC on July 1, 1981, shortly after the church building program was initiated. It is because Rev. Kidd played such a key role in getting the church built that Gussie returned to Evergreen from Mariposa, Calif., on this momentous occasion for her husband, who passed away March 23, 2003.

“It’s just a thrill for me to see the church ‘grown up’ the way it is now,” said Kidd. “We started from nothing. I’m proud; I’m like a grandma to it.”

Doris Swenson, who joined the church in 1992 and compiled the detailed history, commented, “I wasn’t at the church when it was first built, but it was clear that there was so much love that went into building the church, and dedication and hard work ... and they were all doing it for the right reasons.”
The vision begins

Around 1962, the United Methodist California/Nevada Conference recognized there would be a tremendous expansion of population in South San Jose, so it purchased about six acres of land off San Felipe Road for $60,736 dollars to serve the needs of the population.

It wasn’t until July 1, 1978, that Rev. C. Holtzman Frazier was appointed minister to organize and develop a United Methodist Church in Evergreen Valley. One month later, Rev. Frazier held the first worship service in his home.
By September, the congregation began meeting at the South San Jose YMCA on White Road. Services were held late on Sunday afternoons, since the hall was not available earlier in the day.

On April 22, 1979, Evergreen Valley United Methodist Church was chartered and 58 people became official members of EVUMC. Fundraising began for the new church in about 1980.

At that time, the congregation started meeting at Evergreen Valley College, where a classroom served as a place of worship. The congregation continued to grow and services moved to Montgomery Hall, which held about 200 people.

Church building plans thwarted
Before any construction could begin, the County of Santa Clara required EVUMC to build a 6-foot diameter storm sewer from the north side of the property on what is now Silverland Court to Thompson Creek.
At that time, the area between the church property and Aborn Road was undeveloped land. Since no houses had been built on that property, the church was required to assume the entire cost of the storm sewer. Cost estimates ranged from $600,000 to $5 million, so EVUMC temporarily shelved its building plans.

A “portable” church
On July 1, 1981, Rev. Kidd was appointed as pastor of EVUMC. The congregation continued to meet at Evergreen College, but could not leave anything in the hall after worship.

This created a logistical problem, because the church had acquired an organ, hymnals, communion equipment and other Sunday School and worship supplies. Luckily, Rev. Kidd received a gift of a two-wheeled trailer, which he kept at the side of the church office on Keaton Loop.

Every Sunday morning, members of the church would go to the church office, load the organ onto the trailer and transport it to Montgomery Hall. At the end of the service, the procedure was reversed. Charter member Ed Landucci fondly remembers this as “the organ transplant.”

One night, someone stole the trailer. Rev. Kidd explained the church’s dilemma about transporting the organ and church materials to the leasing official at the college and pleaded to allow the church to store them in Montgomery Hall. It worked. Evergreen Valley United Methodist Church was incorporated in February 1981.

A gift from God
In early 1984, Davidon Construction Co. acquired the property between the north side of EVUMC property and Aborn Road and prepared to build a new subdivision. Seen as a “gift from God” by the congregation, Davidon constructed the 6-foot diameter storm drainage system that had stalled the church building plans in 1980.

With this impediment removed, EVUMC reactivated its building plans. By early 1985, the church had to determine how the congregation could raise the money to build the church. Preliminary estimates for a 4,800-square-foot building came in the $645,000 range.

Rev. Kidd and District Superintendent Newell Knudson had been “beating the bushes” to obtain funding commitments and had come up with about $535,000, leaving $110,000 to be raised from other sources. Subsequently, the building plans were modified, increasing the size of the church to 5,500 square feet.

In March 1985, a Capital Funds Drive within the EVUMC congregation set a goal of raising $70,000 and about $90,000 was pledged. In the meantime, construction costs and city/county fees had increased dramatically. Realizing that it could not afford the services of an outside contractor, the church encountered further building delays.

“Build it yourself”
By early 1987, the Methodist Church had organized a Regional Construction Service that provided technical and other assistance to local congregations acting as their own contractors in building or remodeling their church buildings.
After researching this approach and deciding it had merit, the church met with Harold Campbell, Regional Construction Services manager from San Diego, who reviewed plans, blueprints and contracts with the architectural firm and other engineering firms involved in the project.

Based on the amount of “sweat equity” the church members had committed, the cost estimate dropped to $550,000. In February 1987, the Church and United Methodist Regional Construction Services signed a construction contract stating that the major portion of work in building the church would be done by the church members under the guidance and supervision of a licensed contractor employed by the Regional Construction Services.

On April 5, 1987, the formal groundbreaking ceremony took place to celebrate the construction plans and actual construction started on May 5. Joseph Rayfield served as building coordinator, assisted by Charles Bennett. EVUMC was the first church to use the do-it-yourself services of the United Methodist Regional Construction Services with professional guidance provided by a three-man crew headed by Campbell.

The EVUMC congregation learned on the job. Men, women and children all worked on various phases of the construction or provided lunch for the workers. Charter member Kwang-In Landucci remembers her kids covered in mud from head to toe during the 18 months of construction.

During that that time, Bob and Diane Foster, then owners of the McDonalds on White and Aborn roads, provided lunch and drinks every Saturday to all people working on the church, as many as 25-30 workers.

Building Committee Chair Ron Clark combined theology and practicality as he described the construction process. “We knew God moved in mysterious ways, but we had no idea it would take us this long. The congregation grew, there were stumbling blocks and God said, ‘Keep trying.’ We persevered, there were more problems, and God said, ‘Try again.’ There was not enough money and God said, ‘Build it yourself.’ ”

Rev. Kidd suffers heart attack
In June 1987, Rev. Joe Kidd suffered a massive heart attack and was unable to actively participate in the church construction. This was a terrible blow to the entire congregation and especially to those who were directly involved in planning and executing the project.

Although Rev. Kidd was unable to participate in the actual construction, he visited the construction site many times, providing inspiration to the workers. Because of his health, Rev. Kidd never returned to full-time ministry at EVUMC.

Raising walls, the cross in ‘87
On July 25 – 26, 1987, in the spirit of an old-fashioned “barn-raising”, more than 50 church members volunteered their time to put the wall frames together, raise them and set them into place on the foundation.

Charter member Jim Brent used to work for Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) and offered electrical expertise throughout the building process. “It was such an exciting adventure for all of us,” remembers Brent, who now owns Teton Electric with his sons.

While construction plans were taking shape, Rev. Kidd’s brother Raymond of West Virginia fabricated and donated a 14-foot high steel cross with a 6-foot cross member and an 18-inch decorative steel circle at the juncture of the cross.
He shipped the cross from West Virginia to the church site. Rev. Kidd remarked at the groundbreaking ceremony that this was the first church he had ever been associated with that had been built from “the top down.”

The cross was hoisted by crane and settled atop the EVUMC sanctuary on Nov. 1, 1987, where it still stands today. On Dec. 24, Rev. Kidd conducted the first candlelight (flashlight) worship service in the unfinished sanctuary, complete with no heat, no seats and sawdust on the floor. Many people mention this service when asked, “What is your most memorable experience here at EVUMC?”

Occupancy in 1988
On July 1, 1988, Rev. Kidd was reassigned to the Mariposa United Methodist Church in Mariposa, Calif., before he could deliver a sermon in the completed EVUMC sanctuary.

Rev. Loran G. Berck was appointed as pastor of EVUMC, and by Sept. 30, the church building was completed and approved for occupancy. On Oct. 2, a joyful and excited congregation met together for worship in the completed church building for the first time and on Oct. 23, 1988, the church was consecrated with 360 guests.

At the consecration of the church, Rev. Kidd stated that EVUMC had never been “his church.” It had always been God’s church. Membership had risen to approximately 190 and the average attendance had risen from 70 to between 80 and 145.

“My second husband, Ed, and I were the first members to be married in our new sanctuary,” said Sondra Lamberson (Viau). “I’ve been part of the church since the beginning, and I’ve seen many, many changes, but it has always been a very loving church. It’s more like family.”

In subsequent years, the church hired contractors to build an educational building for its growing Sunday School program and a parsonage for its pastor to live in, but nothing can compare to the experience of building their church by hand.

Doris Swenson contributed much of the historical data and anecdotes for this story. The Evergreen Valley United Methodist Church is located at 3520 San Felipe Road, between Aborn Road and Yerba Buena Avenue. For more information, call (408) 238-7631.