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H. Bender, S. G. Shetler, Daniel Shenk, and George R. Brunk. These leaders seemed to have a stabilizing effect and the correspondent reports, "Especially do we wish Bro. Brunk's earnest admonitions to study the Bible would be heeded. There we believe the secret lies." In conclusion the writer pleads, "Brothers and sisters everywhere, will you pray for the work at Bethel?"

The crisis apparently passed, though for many years its influence was felt and remembered. From that time midweek prayer meetings became a regular feature of the Bethel congregation in West Liberty.

The West Liberty community churches (South Union, Bethel, and Oak Grove) had quarterly mission meetings, beginning in 1903 and continuing until recent years. These meetings were promotional and inspirational and it would seem were effective over the years in stimulating missionary zeal. In 1955 a questionnaire was sent to the fifty young people from West Liberty who participated in the Voluntary Service program of the Mennonite Church, inquiring how they became interested in such service. An impressive number cited the quarterly mission meetings as having nurtured their interest in missions and other church work."

An influential leader in the churches of Champaign and Logan counties was Samuel E. Allgyer (1859-1953). Born in Mifflin County, Pennsylvania, Allgyer moved to Wayne County, Ohio, in 1874, and the following year to West Liberty. In 1883 he married Priscilla Umble of Gap, Pennsylvania. In 1905 he was ordained a minister and in 1908 bishop at Oak Grove. For forty-three years he never missed a district or general conference in the church. His travels took him across the Rocky Mountains eight times; and in 1919 he was a relief and reconstruction commissioner to Europe in behalf of the Mennonite program. Allgyer was well liked as an evangelist and for a period served as field worker for the Mennonite Board of Missions and Charities with headquarters in Elkhart County, Indiana. He preached over 4,000 sermons and ordained thirty-eight men to the ministry.12 His preaching reflected the revivalistic emphasis of a Methodist evangelist who influenced him during a campaign at Mt. Tabor near West Liberty. Allgyer was then a young man struggling with religious doubts and questions about Christian experience. The Methodist revival of the 1880's was a turning point in his life.''

In October 1963 the West Liberty churches were the center for