Our History in Waco:
On March 5, 1950, a new congregation came into existence at the corner of 9th and Clay Avenue. It was named the Clay Avenue Church of Christ and was the only church of our Lord in south Waco.
Clay Avenue was under the guidance of the Columbus Avenue Church of Christ. Wallace Gooch was the first minister. One hundred and sixty four Christians were charter members of the infant congregation. They met for two years at the 9th and Clay building. The congregation immediately became self-supporting.
The first Elders of the South Waco Congregation were Clyde Sharp, Eldon Hoard and Arvin Connor. After seven years as minister, Brother Gooch was succeeded by Flavil Colley. Other ministers of South Waco followed: Luke Shira, Charlie Tutor, Leo Schumert, Isac Trayler, B.C. McCorley and Clay Mims. Brother Gooch returned to work with the congregation in October 1975 and remained as minister until his death in 1979. In 1980, Charlie Tutor returned as minister. In 1982, he was succeeded by Larry Thomason. The next ministers were: David Wallace, Bert Mercer, Mike Potts, Wayne Wiese and Lon Jones.
During the years the South Waco Congregation had supported many missionaries, orphan homes and homes for the aged.
It had been successful in starting and supporting a Spanish congregation. By 1998, the part of town where the building was located had become old and many members had moved to other parts of town. The membership was down to about 100 people. The members knew that to promote the Lord’s work as South Waco, something must be done.
In order to serve the Lord better, the South Waco Congregation merged with the Highway 6 Congregation. The Highway 6 Congregation had about the same number of members as South Waco.
On November 22, 1998, South Waco and Highway 6 merged and became one. They met in the South Waco Building on 31st and Dutton and chose the name Southwest Church of Christ.
After several years of planning, saving, and almost a year of building, we had our first service in our new building at 3100 S. New Road on August 31st, 2003. At this time we also became “New Road Church of Christ”.
Lon Jones and Alan Ritchie shared pulpit duties for several years, until Brian Gochenour was hired as pulpit minister in 2006. Nathan Burrow succeeded Brian in 2013. Doug Hamilton succeeded Nathan in 2017 and continued until May of 2018.
The members purpose as Christians is to strive to follow the teachings of God as set forth in the Holy Scriptures. The members believe in the congregational support of missionaries, children’s homes and benevolent efforts.
At the present time, support goes to:
- Preaching the word in Cuba
- Rod Kyle of New Zealand
- George Funk of South Africa
- World Bible School that sends Bible lessons all over the world
- Benin School of Preaching in French speaking East Africa