The Founding History Of Lone Chapel

The Lone Chapel church was established in the home of Boyd and Della Thompson in 1931. Della had been converted in a revival service in the Hazel School House seven and a half miles northwest of Pryor, Oklahoma which was across the road from where she grew up and 2 ½ miles southeast of the present day church building. Not long after their marriage, Boyd and Della opened their home for church services. Soon a congregation was meeting regularly. Their home wasn’t large enough for all the services, so they began to conduct services in the local schoolhouses that were located every few miles apart in Mayes County. 

Sometimes it was difficult to schedule buildings as some school board members objected. The two most frequently used schools were Oak Grove and Lone Chapel where weekly services and frequent revivals were held. During the first decade, they had one evangelist after another. In the late 30s the congregation realized they needed their own building with a fulltime pastor. The services were drawing people from across Mayes and Rogers Counties. Many people received the Baptism in the Holy Ghost in the Lone Chapel and Oak Grove School houses. 

Reverend Poole, a member of the Faith Tabernacle Assembly of God in Tulsa had become the minister of choice. As Pastor Poole and the congregation started discussing his becoming their permanent pastor and owning a building, some of the congregation who lived in town wanted the church to be built there. 

When they reached out to the state office regarding affiliation, they found the district office was not interested in affiliating a country church but preferred one in the town of Pryor. George and Geneva Lewis and a group of people who had been attending the rural revivals and services had been praying for a Pentecostal church to be established in town. 

Geneva had been baptized in the Holy Ghost in the Lone Chapel School building, but Lone Chapel was a long way to drive regularly, so Clyde and Geneva began renting a house in Pryor for services. Three state board members met with Pastor Poole and donated $150 to buy two lots on North Adair Street, a tent for temporary services, and $25 to assist the new congregation. So the lots were bought on March 3, 1941. Thus, First Assembly of God in Pryor was established. Many individuals attending these early services became the nuclei of other Pentecostal churches in Pryor. 

The original core of the Lone Chapel Church continued functioning as they had been but didn’t give up on having their own building and fulltime pastor. They soon bought property and in the summer of 1943 moved a building onto it and held the first service there on June 27, 1943. On November 21, 1943 the church was “set in order” and officially “affiliated with the Assemblies of God” with Reverend George and Mattie Barnes as pastors. On January 17, 1954 the building burned to the ground due to a faulty flu. That same year Lone Chapel rose from the ashes and continued doing the Lord’s work. In which the existing facility was constructed.

 Our mission statement is Love God - Love People - Share Jesus. We adhere to the 16 fundamental truths of the Assembly of God.