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History of the

FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

MOORCROFT, WYOMING

1903-Current

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t was a cow town. It came straight out of the Old West legends of cattle drives, Sioux Indian, cowboys, taverns and sagebrush. It was just a dot… a dot of a town pockmarked on the high plains. Men and women and their children began to settle around and in it. It was a railroad center for the cattle market to Omaha. Somewhere amidst the trial of new land adventure, Christians began a church; a church that would serve through many generations. Amidst the droughts, amidst the snow blizzards, amidst the loneliness of being alone, they gathered from miles around to hear the good Word. At first a Sunday School, secondly a Ladies Aid and then a church. The Lord came.

 

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t was a “community church. The only one laying in the dot on the low grass prairie. If one was Christian, he or she came here. The church grew over time and a building was erected and worshipped in. The town, however, remained small and the dot was still a dot. The preachers were missionaries, students and first-year ministers. Not many stayed too long.

 

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il was found. It came gushing out of the drilled ground that cattle used to mildly pass ver. With oil, came people. More Christians found their way to the town. New churches were founded in the dot, but the old community church through trial and tribulation pursued its course. Brick beside the stucco composed a new Christian Education wing.  A new manse was erected. The Lord was moving the people and setting the stage for a new era.

 

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oal was found. It wasn’t too deep lying below the hardpan surface, easy to strip in a new mineral-conscious world. The second boom began, promising to be even larger than the first. God gave the opportunity to the church. Just as men and women throughout 100+ years eked out a living on the hard land and remained steadfast to Jesus Christ, so it was a preparation. It is the ‘new bride,’ the new church prepared beforehand by the people who first obeyed the will of God.

 

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he past of our church was sometimes struggling, sometimes, rejected, sometimes disappointed. But it kept the faith of the moment. It carried on with an even firmer resolution to accomplish the will of God. And that is our lesson today. We also, in many ways, are struggling, rejected, and disappointed. But we also have a springboard. We have an example that spans 100+ years. We move with renewed and exuberant faith in dedication to our Lord Jesus Christ. We thank Him for 100+ years of life and vitality in this church. We seek a renewal of that life and vitality.

Condensed from Pastor Rob Davidson

“A History of First Presbyterian Church”