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THE HISTORY OF BAY SHORE
by Marilyn Slabach
 Bay Shore Mennonite Church was organized April 17, 1945.
Bishops E. B. Frey and 0. N. Johns of the Ohio Mennonite Conference officiated at the service.
This new church emerged after Mennonites had been in Florida—fulltime or part-time—for twenty years.
During the winter of 1925-26, Daniel Kurtz from Geauga County, Ohio, and his three sons came to Florida and worked as carpenters. Kurtz was a member of the Amish Church. He liked the climate, and purchased some land in Venice.
The following winter three other families came to this same area of Venice—Roman Millers, Martin Yoders, and Moses Swartzendrubers.
Daniel Kurtz and Roman Miller then purchased small farms in the Fruitville area east of Sarasota from the Palmer Corporation. The land was ideal for growing vegetables, and they moved here with their families during the 1927-28 winter.
Moses Coblentz, the father of Mrs. Miller and Mrs. Kurtz, was an Amish preacher. He came to Florida also that winter, and conducted German worship services in the homes of the two families on alternate Sunday mornings. “Singings” were held each Sunday evening where both German and English hymns were sung.
Each season a few more young Amish men came to Florida to work the celery farms and avoid northern winds and snow.
Several Mennonite families from Fulton County, Ohio, also wintered here and attended services at the Miller and Kurtz homes.
By 1930-31, the number of people was too great to hold worship services in homes and the group began to meet in the Tatum Ridge School house. Sunday School was conducted in German, and the New Testament was the text book. Among the Amish ministers who served during this time were Eli Bontrager, William Beachy, Bishop Gideon Troyer and Enos Yoder. Some of the Mennonite ministers who preached occasionally were Noah Mack, John Singer, John Moseman, Jacob Frey and Eli Frey. Most of these Mennonite ministers were working at the Tampa mission and would commute to Sarasota for the services.
To accommodate the growing number of people who could not understand German, an English Sunday School class was formed during the winter season of 1933-34. It was taught by John F. Slabaugh, Goshen, IN.
By 1935, there were about sixty persons attending services at the height of the winter season.
In the fall of 1936, Tatum Ridge School was blown from its foundation during a storm. The Board of Public Instruction decided to transport children from that area to other schools, and the building was not repaired. Thus, Amish and Mennonites began to hold open air services in January, 1937 in Pinecraft—a small settlement just outside the Sarasota city limits.
These services, held each Sunday evening, consisted of singing in German and English and a short sermon by Bro. Elmer Swartzendruber. Swartzendruber was a Conservative Mennonite minister from Wellman, Iowa. Later a Young People’s Meeting was added. These meetings included singing, children’s meetings, special music numbers, and talks. They were inspirational and attracted Many. In fact, the good reports of these meetings lured some to spend a month or six weeks in Sarasota.
About the time the open air services began in Pinecraft, permission was granted to Amish, Mennonite and Conservative Mennonites to use the Fruitville School building for services each Sunday morning. Since there was no lighting system in the building, evening services could not be held here.
During these early years, most of these people came after Christmas and had returned to northern homes by the first of April. A few would come after Thanksgiving. Therefore, church services were rarely conducted for more than three or four months each winter season. When they began and ended depended upon the number of people in the area.
By the time the group moved into the Fruitville School building, a large majority of the people understood English better than German. Preaching, therefore, was almost entirely in English, and only one Sunday School class was taught in German. Lesson quarterlies were purchased from the Mennonite Publishing House for Sunday School. Offerings were taken each Sunday for expenses, and surplus money was sent to European War Sufferers through the Mennonite Board of Missions and Charities.
The Fruitville School building, where the group had met for three years, was available for sale when the new Fruitville Consolidated Elementary School building was completed in about 1941. Since the location was central and the facility was adequate, the group decided to purchase the building. It was necessary to appoint a board of trustees to handle legal matters involved in making this purchase. Bishop E. B. Stoltzfus, Judson, Ohio, met with the congregation of about 185 on February 23, 1941 to elect these trustees. Daniel Kurtz was chosen to represent the Amish, Walter Ebersole, from, Ohio, was selected to represent the Mennonites, and Martin Yoder, from Delaware, represented the Conservative Mennonites.
Until this time, meetings of this group were called Union Services. Officially, the group now became the Mennonite, Conservative Mennonite, and Amish Church of Sarasota, Florida.
The church purchased the school building for $450 and it was dedicated Feb. 1, 1942. The church met here for worship until the fall of 1944.
A severe hurricane passed through the Sarasota area in the early part of October in 1944. The church building was moved off its foundation and seriously damaged structurally. Since the building was hardly adequate to accommodate the growing number of winter people, it was decided to erect a new building at another location—preferably Pinecraft.
The group met in a small Presbyterian Chapel in Pinecraft in the fall of 1944 until it was no longer adequate. To help alleviate the crowded conditions, a service was held on the North Trail in the recreation room of Lafayette Cabins. During the 1944-45 season and the following season, services were held at both locations.
Except for the years during the war when gas was rationed, more visitors came to Sarasota each year. And they came earlier and stayed later each year. Soon a few people made Sarasota their permanent home. Permanent residents created a need for a permanent church. The union services were helpful and satisfactory for visitors but they did not meet the needs of the people who lived in Sarasota year round.
Phil Frey met with permanent residents at a picnic on July 4, 1944. The possibility of organizing a Mennonite Church under the Indiana-Michigan or Ohio Conferences was discussed.
After this meeting, five local families petitioned the Ohio Mennonite Conference to organize a church, in Sarasota. The Ohio Conference was selected because four of the five families were already members of this conference.
Bishops E. B. Frey and 0. N. Johns officiated at the service when Bay Shore Mennonite Church was organized on April 17, 1945. Charter members were Olen and Elta Eicher, Irvin and Fern Eicher, Henry and Stella Crossgrove, Ernest and Beulah Miller, and Myron and Elsie May Yoder.
The group accepted property in the Indian Beach area in the northern part of Sarasota, as the site for a new church building. This property is still a part of the Bay Shore Church complex.
It was necessary to have the zoning changed on the property, to get approval from the local building department, and to get the approval of the War Production Board before construction could begin.
On July 13 and 14, 1945, the grounds were cleared. The area had been a cattle pasture, so there was tall grass to be cut and bushes to be grubbed. The following week work began on the foundation, and then there was plenty of work for masons and carpenters.
Most of the work was donated. Permanent residents, who were not part of the new church, and others came to help. At this time Number 27 Civilian Public Service camp was stationed at Mulberry, FL—a town about 75 miles north of Sarasota. The CPS men volunteered to help on their time off. On three occasions, groups ranging from five to sixteen persons, came to help with the new church building.
The name for the new church—Bay Shore Mennonite-was chosen since the new building was near Sarasota-Bay and Bay Shore Drive.
Although the building was far from completed, the first service was held on October 7, 1945. There were no doors or windows in place, and only about 240 square feet of flooring down.
The first minister at Bay Shore was T.H. Brenneman. At the time he was a missionary on furlough from Argentina. He moved to Sarasota with his family in September, 1945.
The building was dedicated on February 3, 1946. Bishop E.B. Frey preached the dedicatory sermon.
The Sunday School Hour, a radio program based on the International Sunday School Lessons, began early in 1947 on WSPB. Bro. Brenneman was the speaker and music was provided by a chorus made up of Bay Shore members. The program was financed through voluntary offerings. Today the programs heard on WKZM, a local Christian radio station. Uriah Mast is the speaker; Bill Miller, announcer; and Lowell Brubaker is the technician. Music is recorded, and the program is financed through the church budget.
After the war more and more families with young children came to Sarasota. The two Sunday School rooms upstairs in the new church house and the space on the main floor was no longer adequate. In the early months of 1948, a Sunday School-Recreation Building was erected South of the main church building.
The number of winter visitors increased each year, and parking became a real problem. At a meeting in the spring of 1949 for members and visitors, it was decided to purchase four lots west of the church property for additional parking space. The land was purchased April 5, 1949.
On Nov. 6, 1949, Bro. Brenneman was ordained bishop of Bay Shore Church. A short time later the Mennonite Board of Missions appointed him bishop for churches in Puerto Rico, also.
By the winter season of 1951-52, Sunday School facilities were again too limited, and it seemed almost impossible to plan a Daily Vacation Bible School with so little space available for classrooms. So additions to the Sunday School Building were made. This added six classrooms, a library, a kitchen, and a nursery.
The first missionary to go out from Bay Shore was Carol Glick. She is still working in education as director of Academia Menonita Betania in Aibonito, Puerto Rico.
There has been a Sewing Circle since the church was organized. It meets one day each month. For a time, beginning in 1952, an evening sewing was also held for women who could not attend during the day. Aside from working through the church wide channels, the group also sewed for local needy families. In 1980, the Sewing-Women’s Missionary and Service Commission—continues to meet one day each month. During winter months there is n “full house”, as retired women visiting from many areas of the United States and Canada join local women. Most of the work done today is channeled through MCC, is sent to Haiti or Puerto Rico. Some products of the Sewing go to Immokalee, FL. Occasionally, the Sewing participates in a local project.
A Junior Sewing was organized in 1950. Today a Girl’s Club meets regularly and has been active for some time.
A Boys’ Club has also been active from time to time over the past fifteen years.
Mennonite Youth Fellowship was organized at Bay Shore in 1949. Early projects were distributing tracts and singing for patients at the Welfare Home on Sunday afternoon. In 1979, the -MYF earned money to pay for travel to Alabama for a week of Voluntary Service work with Mennonite Board of Missions.
The first Daily Vacation Bible School was held in 1945 in Pinecraft. George and Anna Brunk came from Tampa and conducted the school. In 1946, the school was held in the Bay Shore Church and superintended by a group of workers from Pennsylvania. Since that time, there have been enough qualified permanent resident members of the congregation to staff the school. The first year there were 50 students. In 1953, there were 140. In 1979, 166 attended Summer Bible School.
Bible-Study and Prayer Meetings have been a part of Bay Shore’s program- since its beginning. The first few years, they were held in homes. When the group became larger, meetings were held in the church. In 1958 small groups met in homes for a while again, and total attendance ranged from 99 to 135. There were 122 members at Bay Shore at that time. Today, in addition to a meeting held at the church most of the year, small groups meet in various homes and one group meets in the Fellowship Hall. Three of these groups in 1979-80 are Project Timothy groups.
Bay Shore annually has revival or renewal meetings. Those first years, these meetings lasted from ten days to two weeks. Renewal meetings in recent years are from, five to seven day.
Regular Sunday services at Bay Shore consist of Sunday School, and morning worship service, and an evening service. Several years ago the order of the morning service was changed, and it continues in 1980. The worship service is held first. This helped to alleviate a problem of Sunday School workers with children. They were unable to find adequate space where their families could sit together as a unit during the winter months when the church was filled to capacity.
The first church building comfortably seated 250 people. When attendance increased beyond that, an amplifying system was installed so people seated in the vestibule, outside on the sidewalk, or in the Sunday School Building could hear the service,
During the 1951-52 and 1952-53 winter seasons, it was necessary to have two preaching services on Sunday morning to accommodate the crowd.
Sunday School was conducted between the two preaching services.
As the Sunday morning attendance continued to increase, it became apparent that other changes would need to be made. Land was purchased south of the church house and Sunday School Building. A new sanctuary with a seating capacity of 700 was built. The church family pulled together, and many long hours were put into the building project.
The larger building was dedicated April 9, 1961. The old church building was remodeled to be used as a Fellowship Hall and Sunday School rooms. Later, a new and larger kitchen was built adjacent to the Fellowship Hall.
When Bro. Brenneman had a serious heart attack, Nelson Kanagy came from West Liberty, Ohio in 1966 to serve temporarily as pastor at Bay Shore. He was installed as pastor in May 1966 and served the church for five years-retiring in April, 1971.
Merle Stoltzfus came to Sarasota with his family to pastor the Bay Shore church until June, 1972.
For the next six months the church was without a pastor. However, under the leadership of Elders Omar Mayer and Irvin Grabill, the congregation worked together and prospered.
In January, 1973, Paul R. Yoder, Sr. moved to Sarasota to pastor the church. Three years later Sherman Kauffman was installed as associate pastor. This pastoral team continues to minister at Bay Shore.
When the Southeast Mennonite Convention was organized in 1968 to include churches in Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina, Bay Shore related to both the Ohio Mennonite Conference and the Southeast Convention. In March, 1976, Bay Shore discontinued its membership with the Ohio Conference and now belongs solely to the Southeast Convention. The Convention is one of twenty-two conferences in the Mennonite Church and is within Region V of the Mennonite Church organization.
In the fall of 1978 property southwest of the church building was purchased. The house on the property is used by the MYF. To conform with a Sarasota City beautification program, it was necessary to pave the parking lot, also. Parking facilities are still inadequate, but Sarasota Jungle Gardens—a tourist attraction across the street—has always allowed the church to use their parking facilities on Sunday morning. Jungle Gardens may also use the church’s parking facilities during the week.
When Bay Shore was organized in 1945, it began with twelve members. In 1950, there were 88 members and 122 in 1953. By 1994 there were 950 members. From its beginning, most of the growth at Bay Shore has been Mennonites moving into the area and transferring their membership to the church. However, during the past several years, more people from the community are finding a church home at Bay Shore. Currently the congregation numbers 465.
During the winter months the church is filled to capacity… which can mean 800 to 900 people at times.
The church is attempting to provide an opportunity for winter residents to have a more active role in the church. A Senior Citizens Council is reviewing the role of older members and winter residents in the congregation.
The Church Growth Team is meeting regularly to seek the Lord’s leading for growth at Bay Shore at both its present location and possibly other locations.
Truly Bay Shore is a part of the Family of God,? as resident members, winter residents, visitors and vacationers come together to worship one Lord.
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