Steer Creek Church Of Christ


Gene H. Miller


Dreams Do Come True, thanks to the generous support of such a loving, caring brotherhood and the commitment and dedication of the congregation here! Words cannot express our appreciation to those of you who have been such an encouragement to us, not only with monetary support, but also with prayers and encouraging words, with your donations of time and labor, and your gifts of various items to help furnish the building. At the present time, we owe only $10,000, and, by the end of the summer, we hope to have this paid off. It is amazing what can be accomplished when people have a mind to work (Nehemiah 4:6).


In The Beginning. The Steer Creek congregation had its beginning in August of 2005, meeting in the home of Gene and Patty Miller, and, later, in their renovated garage. One year later, on August 05, 2006, we broke ground for a new building on a donated lot on the Rosedale Road, three and one-half miles above Stumptown. In order to save on labor costs, we did most of the work ourselves, with some help from men from sister congregations. As a result, the building took just over two years to complete. We began meeting in the multipurpose room in the new building on June 8, 2008, and moved into the finished auditorium on September 7, 2008.


Going Green. Due to the rising cost of heating and air-conditioning, we decided to go geothermal. The initial cost was somewhat high, but, from the research we have done, we expect to recoup that extra expense in six to seven years. Due to the size of the building (3,368 sq. ft.), we had to install two geothermal units. We are total electric, and our bill for the first year of operation averaged $92.21 per month. We are very pleased with the system.


Our Facilities. Our auditorium will seat 80-90, and, with the multipurpose room on the side, we can easily accommodate 150 people for funerals and weddings. We have already had one funeral in the building, with a dinner for the family following, and one wedding, with a reception following. We had 68 in attendance from 15 congregations for our first Area-Wide Friday Night Sing. One of our members works with Hospice. In April each year, Hospice has an appreciation dinner for their volunteers. They used our multipurpose room for the dinner this year. So, it brought many folks from the area to our building for the first time. 


Our Congregation. We are a diverse group, coming from varied backgrounds. Even though we are rather small in number, our membership comes from a great many different careers and occupations and from various levels of Biblical knowledge and spiritual development. We are blessed in having a number of young married couples (the next generation) that are in the process of raising their families (the next generation). So, the future looks bright.


Something Different. Some of our members have an hour’s drive to come to services, which makes it inconvenient to return for Sunday evening worship. So we have tried something somewhat different that works quite well for us. We have a meal together after each Sunday morning service, and another service at 1:00 pm. That not only gives us time for more fellowship, which has drawn us closer together as a congregation, but also increases our afternoon attendance. For example, recently we had 35 for morning worship and 31 for the

afternoon service. 


Truth Or Tradition. We are presently running a weekly column called “Truth Or Tradition” in two county papers (Gilmer and Braxton) and on two web sites. You can view these articles on: sanet.com (click on Gene Miller Collection), and hurherald.com (click on Church News). In each article we examine a religious teaching, cite some Scriptures that pertain to it, then close with the question: “What do you think …Truth Or Tradition?


Dedication. The dedication of our new building will be held on Saturday and Sunday, May 16-17, 2009. We would be honored with your presence on either or both days. -3281 Rosedale Road, Shock, WV 26638-8410. 304 462-0384. ghmiller@rtol.net 


(Editor’s note: Schedule of Activities for Saturday and Sunday will include: Saturday, May 16, 9:30 AM Coffee & Donuts; 10:100 Congregational Singing; 10:30 Tom Butterfield; 11:00 Congregational Singing; 11:30 Frank Higginbotham; 12:00 Lunch. Sunday, May 17, 10:00 Roy Pratt; 10:45 Worship; 11:15 Albert Farley; 12:00 Lunch.)


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