BEGINNINGS

Pleasant Valley began with meetings at the YMCA in New London, CT in the spring of 1960.  A Southern Baptist missionary, Elmer Sizemore, initiated the meetings to discover what interest there might be in establishing a Southern Baptist church in the Groton-New London area. 

 

Initially only handful of people attended those interest meetings.  But within six months the group had grown to 19 and was claimed as a Southern Baptist work by Dr. Paul James, pastor of Manhattan Baptist Church in NYC.  The meetings continued to be held in a small recreation room with a couple of pool tables at the YMCA, which they rented out for $5 per week.  Babies were often laid on the pool tables to sleep during the meetings. 

 

Since they did not yet have a pastor, the responsibility to deliver the Sunday morning sermon was shared between Rev. Sizemore, a chaplain from the Submarine Base, a chaplain from New York, and Thelbert H. Harper (“T.H.” or “Hop” to those that knew him).  Hop was one of the few that attended the first meetings, but soon had his entire family attending.  Not only did he share in bringing the message, but he led the singing and taught Sunday School as well.  A summer student missionary, Bill Beck, served as mission pastor for the ten weeks that he was able.  By the time Bill left, the group had grown to 38 in attendance.  Enough money had come in through tithes and offerings that the group was able to purchase a small, portable organ and some “Youth Sing” song books.  An additional room was rented to serve as a nursery during the services.

 

Though few in numbers, this little mission work believed growth would continue.  They gave of their time, talents, and resources as generously as they were able; and they continued to grow.  They prayed that God would send them a shepherd – a pastor to lead them.  And God was already working on that… over 1000 miles away. 

CONNECTIONS

James E. Schneider graduated from seminary in May of 1961, was ordained as a minister shortly thereafter, and was living in St. Louis, MO.  Jim was looking for a church to pastor, but was really looking for something almost unheard of in Southern Baptist circles at that time.  He desired to pastor a church where he could share the Gospel, lead people to the Lord, and get them baptized into the church.  But he also wanted to do it in a non-discriminatory environment.  It was radical thinking for a pastor in the 60’s to dream of an integrated church where all racial groups would feel welcomed and accepted.  At some level he knew that his dream could not be realized amidst the racism of the South. 

Through the recommendation of a friend to the Home Mission Board, Jim’s name came up as a possible fit for a mission work in New England.  On his honeymoon, he and his new bride, Louise, drove out to New London, CT in July 1961 in view of a call.  Keep in mind that at this time New England was considered to be a spiritually barren mission field.  So there was nothing that appealed about New England that appealed to them on superficial level.  Pastor Jim recalls telling one of his aunts about the possibility of becoming a pastor in New England.  Her response was that “God surely wouldn’t keep you up there for more than a couple of years!”  But they sensed the unmistakable handiwork of God in this call, and in September of 1961 he and Louise arrived in Connecticut with all of their possessions.

The Schneiders purchased a home which belonged to one of the initial member families who was being transferred; that home was already being used as a gathering place for social functions for group and continued to be the location for their Wednesday night prayer meetings.  In November of ’61, a Pleasant Valley tradition was birthed with the first Thanksgiving Day breakfast – a tradition that continues to this day.

The Schneider family would grow to five over the next several years through the birth of their three children:  Jody, Jim, and John.

BUILDING

The small group continued to see growth and began to explore possibilities for constructing a building.  They looked into 10 acres of property on Pleasant Valley Road (next to Pleasant Valley Elementary School) in Groton.  Although things didn’t work out for them to purchase that property, they did like the sound of “Pleasant Valley” and the name stuck.  On November 17th, 1961, Pleasant Valley Baptist Church held its constitution service at the Church of Christ in Groton.  There were 48 charter members with Jim Schneider as its pastor.  It was the fourth Southern Baptist church in New England and would go on to become a vital part of the Southern Baptist work in the Northeast for the next 35 years. 
 
Pleasant Valley quickly outgrew the space limitations at the YMCA and began renting space at Pleasant Valley Elementary School for their Sunday morning services.  Because of financial constraints, their Sunday evening service was held at the Groton Grange Hall, and their Wednesday prayer meeting at the Schneiders’ home. 

From its earliest beginnings, Pleasant Valley differed from many other churches.  For example, while other churches frowned upon interracial marriages and divorced believers, this loving little group had embraced Elizabeth and Walter.  Elizabeth (a white woman) was the organist for the "church" and Walter (her black husband) and their children joined the group every Sunday.  They said it was the first time they had felt loved and welcomed in a church.  And there was Mary, a divorcee who had remarried and was no longer welcome in her previous church.  But she and her new husband felt welcomed here and came to know the Lord through that love and acceptance.  Then there was Danny; Danny was a male nurse – a profession uncommon for a man in those days.  But he was comfortable amongst this group; he was loved. 

In January 1963, the church purchased land at the corner of Grove Avenue and Starr Hill Road in Groton, but they wouldn’t break ground for the original building until over two years later.  In an effort to defer being taxed for the property, the church held a brush burning at the property as a means of “using or preparing” the land.  Funding for the initial construction in 1965 was generated in the form of bonds, most of which were sold to other established Southern Baptist churches, primarily in Maryland.  We owe a debt of gratitude to those bond holders, those charter members, our missionary founders, and especially Pastor Harry Usher whose church (North Hialeah Baptist Church, Hialeah, FL) financially assisted us every month through that construction, and of course, Yahweh our God.

When site work began, a huge piece of ledge rock prevented further progress.  The contractor did not have the equipment to move the rock in one piece and the church did not have the money necessary to blast the rock, so the contractor attempted chip it away – but not much progress was made.  One night the members of the church gathered and prayed that God would take care of that huge rock.  The next morning when the construction workers arrived at the site, they could not believe their eyes:  the huge rock was broken in half!

Our new church home of 20 Grove Avenue in Groton was dedicated in April 1965.  As it turns out, our church property ended up being just a short walk away from the home Pastor Schneider purchased when they arrived in Groton.   

An addition was made to that original building during the late 70’s.  It was built by members of our own congregation, primarily men who were laid off at the time.  It was a two-story addition that provided classrooms, restrooms and nursery space.  As time went on, however, discussion of building a new sanctuary arose to meet the growing needs of the church. 

While agonizing over how to finance such a project, Jimmy Schneider, then only 18 years old, brashly admonished the church from the pulpit one Sunday night:  “You are saying to God, `Show us the money and we'll show you the building.' God wants you to show Him the building, and then He'll show you the money.”  While some of the members cringed at such a challenge, the deacons were filled with an impartation of faith and urged the church to apply for a loan.  It would take a million dollars to build the new addition and pay off what the church already had in mortgages.  It was hard to believe anyone would loan a church that much money, but in faith, the church did apply for the loan.  And the bank did not want to comply. But, one banker, who was not a believer, felt it was somehow God-ordained.  He threw the application papers down on the table before the board and said, “You can turn down God if you want to, but I wouldn't.”  Should we be amazed that we got the loan?

In October 1985, our new sanctuary opened.  The new building included not only the sanctuary, but a commercial kitchen, a fellowship hall, a pastor's study, offices, and a choir room.  The original building was vacated as a sanctuary and was given to the youth for their get-togethers, and the smaller ancillary rooms for Sunday School and the youth office.  In honor of his contribution and commitment to the vision of Pleasant Valley, our original building was dedicated as the T. H. Harper Memorial Education Building (a plaque is located on the wall inside the door).

Since then we’ve upgraded and remodeled our original building.  Sunday school classrooms received new equipment, furnishings, and updates.  Our original sanctuary has been transformed into one of the finest youth facilities in all of Southeastern Connecticut, featuring a fully functional café, and an incredible audio-visual system.  The youth room has become a favored place for smaller gatherings, receptions, and meetings. 

OUTREACH

Evangelism has been on the heart of our pastor since before he ever came to us.  So it’s no small wonder that outreach ministries have a significant place in our history.  Whether by design or default, our efforts have always seemed to gravitate towards the down-and-out, the destitute, the marginalized in our culture. 

 Our first organized outreach began in the 70’s; the “Whales Belly” was coffee house ministry originally intended to target the youth of New London.  Over time, however, the focus of this ministry turned more towards sharing the Gospel with the drug addicts, alcoholics, and prostitutes in downtown New London and continued for several years. 

During the 90's Pleasant Valley began a soup kitchen and a food coop as outreaches to the Groton-New London area.  Catering primarily to the elderly and all who had too much week left at the end of their wallet, we began a soup kitchen at Claude Chester Elementary School in Groton.  Eventually, the Care and Share Soup Kitchen relocated to our own fellowship hall.  Each week, over 200 meals were served with a smile and the "kitchen table" atmosphere allowed relationships to be built.  Each week we encourage those who join us for a meal to join us upstairs for our Mid-Week Service.  Our soup kitchen has been so successful over the years that it has inspired other churches to follow suit.  Our food coop, the Groton Share program, provided food to the needy for very little cost once each month.  To participate one only needed to donate an hour in service to others in the community. 

Other outreach ministries we’ve started, sponsored, or become involved in over the years include:  ministries to the elderly in local convalescent homes, terminal AIDS patients, children in the inner city of New London, the Norwich Navigators AA Baseball Team (an affiliate of the New York Yankees), prison ministry, outreaches to the cadets and staff of the Coast Guard Academy, motivational assemblies in the public schools, broadcasting services on public television, and local evangelistic events such as the Luis Palau crusade.

More recently, our Mid-Week Service changed in focus from a mid-week worship service to more of an outreach service when we got connected with a secular drug and alcohol rehabilitation program: Stonington Institute.  Through a Stonington volunteer, the group was invited to join us for a special event we were hosting; they have been coming faithfully ever since.  It’s amazing to see these folks – some older, some young enough to be in our youth ministry – come each week to give their lives to the Lord.  It’s not uncommon for us to see 10-15 people respond to the altar call each week.

Our desire to help the down-and-out in our community has actually spawned two new organizations:  Malta, Inc. and Community of Hope:

• Malta is a ministry to the homeless and people in transition in our community.  Malta owns a home which serves as transitional living for people, primarily men, trying to get back on their feet.  Additionally, Malta delivers food and clothing to the homeless in our community as well as providing discipleship and financial counseling to individuals.
• Community of Hope provides counseling and support services to recovering substance abusers and homeless individuals desiring to become productive members of society.  Their desire is to have transitional housing for women.

Another extension of our outreach efforts has been church planting.  In 1968 our first “daughter church” Oakdale Baptist Church (Oakdale, CT) was birthed.  We would go on to have three additional “daughters”:  Gallup Hill Baptist Church (Ledyard, CT), Norwich Worship Center (Norwich, CT), and Harvest Christian Fellowship (Niantic, CT).  We have also financially sowed into other fledgling churches like New Hope in Christ Fellowship (Rutland, VT) and The Highway Church (Modesto, CA).

Throughout the years we’ve consistently and generously supported both domestic and foreign missions in addition to several para-church ministries such as Campus Crusade for Christ.  We’ve had more than 50 of our members go into full-time, vocational ministry; more than 20 of which served in churches within New England, several of which are still in ministry in New England to this day. 

CHANGES

A journey that would significantly change us as a church began in the Fall of 1986.  We hosted a conference that year that swept us up into the Fullness Movement that was sweeping through the Baptist denomination.  Our conference was led by Jack Taylor, a long-standing, personal friend of Pastor Jims’.  In the years that followed, we became desperate to embrace the fullness of the Holy Spirit.  As we began to explore and experience this fresh touch of the Holy Spirit, members of our church including Pastor Jim & Louise visited other churches where we heard terms such as “revival” and “renewal” being used.  Although cautious about much of what we saw, heard, and even experienced, we could not dismiss the unmistakable hand of God.  We recognized that the Holy Spirit was being poured out around the world in a way that was unique to our experience.  We searched Scripture and carefully examined what God was doing throughout the world, concluding that the Church (worldwide) was in a time of renewal and awakening.

During that period, a Thursday night service was launched as the Holy Spirit began to move in mighty ways within our church, transforming people's lives.  The renewing touch of the Spirit continued with unusual demonstrations of God's power and a new release of the anointing during the worship services.  Without copying any other ministry or attempting to program anything artificially, we prayerfully attempted to allow the Holy Spirit to move and operate in all our meetings with liberty.

In September 1996, as a result of many members of our church being personally and dramatically impacted an undeniable power of God, we came to understand that we no longer fit the “Southern Baptist mold.”  So after much prayer and consideration, a decision was made to part from the Southern Baptist denomination.  This decision came just a few short months after celebrating our 35th anniversary as a church.  In conjunction with that decision, we changed our name to "Pleasant Valley Community of Prayer & Praise".  We felt that the new name more accurately represented where we were as a body of believers.

Presently, with no restrictions, and our only agenda being the will of God, we have become thoroughly open to the working of the Holy Spirit.  Our times of praise range from vibrant, happy times of singing, clapping, shouting, and dancing to quiet, reverent times of worship.  Most services are followed by a time of ministry, where we believe God for His deliverance: spiritually, physically, mentally and emotionally.

We are a church that combines strong convictions about the Word of God, evangelism and missions (from our Baptist past) and the enthusiasm and openness to the work of the Holy Spirit (of the Charismatic). We want nothing more than God and shall be content with nothing less than Him.  

All in all the story of Pleasant Valley has been a process: a journey from desire for God and for revival, to a thirst for more and more of Him.  Today we find ourselves wanting to expand even more on our worship, our quiet time and our prayer lives.  God is consuming us as we let Him; we are beginning to see more clearly... Who He is and who we are.  The love of our people for each other is growing, too; none of us are perfect, by any means, but we are a pursuit of living for Him.  Thank you, Lord, for a Pastor who wants more of You regardless of the consequences.  Thank you, Lord, for loving us unconditionally and for leading and guiding us as we continue to reach higher and higher.

It would be very presumptuous to say that our church is "like this" or "like that" because we believe that God is on the move.  And we are determined to go with Him.  We are making every effort not to get stuck in a rut, or let our church become another religious institution.  We want only to pursue God, wherever He may take us.