HAMPTON: A CENTURY OF TOWN AND BEACH, 1888-1988
Chapter 22 -- Part 4

Back to previous section -- Forward to next section -- Return to Table of Contents The Advent Christian Church began sometime in the 1860s with a group of believers who came together after hearing the preaching of William Miller, who emphasized Christ's second coming in the 1840s. The group adopted the name "Adventists" because they were looking for the second advent of their Lord. They became the Advent Christian Church, observing Sunday as the Lord's Day. The Bible was used as a guide for faith, doctrine, and the practice of Christian life. Piety and baptism by immersion were requirements for membership.

In 1871, Simon P. Towle of Hampton leased a piece of land on High Street for $15 a year to the church, and they built a chapel there. On January 18, 1877, the Advent Christian Church of Hampton was officially organized. In 1885, the land was officially leased for 5 years at $12.50 a year. In March 1897, they purchased it for $40. Through the years, improvements were made to the chapel.

In October 1967, the brick house adjacent to the church was purchased for a parsonage. In September 1975, the name Faith Community was added. The church still retains its affiliation with the Advent Christian General Conference of America. The church has held regular services for worship, Sunday School, and weekly prayer and praise meetings. It has supported missionaries and, not long ago, a pastor to Taiwan as a missionary. Another former pastor is preparing to be a missionary in Japan. In the 1960s, the church young people joined in the Seacoast Youth for Christ at Hampton Beach. Since 1974, college students with the Campus Crusade for Christ at Hampton Beach have attended the church in the summer.

{During the summer of 1989, a second parsonage (120 High St.) was built behind the first parsonage (122 High Street).}

-—Grace V. Philbrick

Pastors
1905-Present

James L. MacLaughlin	1905-1911
Frank Hooper	1911-1912
J. F. Longland	1912-1916
Frank Long	1917-1918
A. B. Thompson	1919-1924
Frederick Viggers	1926-1929
Elvyn Blackstone	1930-1931
A. R. Mead	1932-1934
James L. MacLaughlin	1935-1940
Harold J. Wilson	1941-1943
Lorne Ross	1944-1945
Z. Richard Henley	1945-1947
E. H. Timberlake	1947-1949
Leonard L. Boston	1950-1955
Raymond W. Grasser	1956-1958
David Johnson	1958-1960
Roland C. Kimball	1960-1969
Philip Barton	1970-1973
Gerald Bailey	1973-1977
John Guess	1977-1978
R. Stanley Piepgrass	1978-1979
Douglas Parrish	1980-1981
David Marshall	1981-1984
David Walker	1984-1986
Rex Hutto	1986-1991
Rex Hutto & Bob Lovejoy, (Co-Pastors)	1988-1991
Bob Lovejoy	1991-
Brian Abasciano, (Sr. Pastor)	1998-

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