Photo of 1970's Mission Conference-Who do you Recognize?

[timlan2057]

Okay.

I needed to tell Brother Strange to thank his wife for the wonderful breakfast last week. Sister Strange had to leave on an errand before I left.

So I may as well do that here.

Number one: NO WAY that man on the far right of the first row is Marvin Treece. That man, whoever he is, is obviously in his late forties or early fifties or even older.

Some of you are forgetting what era this is.

Prominent UPC preachers of course have always dressed in the latest styles.

And those ties SCREAM "late sixties or early seventies." Tommy Craft was wearing the brighter ties of the mid-seventies by the time I got to JCM in September of 1975 so this picture is most probably a few years before that.

So my guess is this was around 1970-71 or so.

That's almost 40 years ago, people.

Marvin Treece would have still been Youth President of the Louisiana District around this time and no more than 35-38 years old.

He had a full head of sandy blond hair, was thinner and had a boyishly handsome face with full eyebrows and wasn't wearing glasses.

Here's my contribution:

Tommy Craft: Obvious. Treece is about his age and as you can see, Craft is still pretty close to Conquerors' Age here.

Ron Newstrand: Obvious. He was REALLY a fresh-faced kid back then.

Jess Williams: Obvious.

That's DEFINITELY G. A. Mangun on the far right, second row. This was around the time they moved from 16th and Day and built the first "big" church on Rapides and Meyer. Back then it was "Greater First Pentecostal Church."

(It always amused me how some ignoramuses thought they were bragging with that name when "greater" was a common term for the Alexandria metropolitan area.)

Anyway, Mangun definitely wore his hair slicked back with the wet look during that time. Anthony would have probably been a senior in high school around this time.

Far left third row: I THINK that is Glenn Chance, pastor of First UPC Monroe and at this time just beginning a 35 year long tenure as presbyter of Section Nine of the Louisiana District.

Third Row Second From Left: That's T. C. Bonnette, pastor of First UPC in Oakdale, La. and Foreign Missions Director of the Louisiana District at the time. Bonnette is quite elderly now and I see him around town occasionally.

I'd just about declare for sure that is Fred Foster, third from right, third row.

Back row, second from left, David Theobald.

And ... I THINK the guy on the far right, back row, is John Hattabaugh.

It's interesting to guess the occasion. I know that Craft and Newstrand served on the foreign missions board in the past.

I wonder if this was some kind of impromptu picture at a general conference? Looks like a fancier hotel.

My impression?

Many of these guys like Craft, Fisher, Newstrand, etc. were in their late thirties and early forties and already prominent pastors, leaders and administrators in the UPC.

Generation-wise, NOBODY has replaced them.

If I were the UPC, I'd be highly alarmed about the miniscule number of ministers under thirty and I'd be realizing that - for whatever reason and despite what the rose-colored glasses people are saying - I am a stagnant and dying organization.

Thanks again for the fine hospitality, Brother Strange.