Foster Road

Our History

Prior to worshiping in our current location the Foster Road Church of Christ met in many different facilities in the Santa Maria Valley. Just a few of which were the Moose and Eagle halls. Sometimes the facilities were so modest that classes had to be held in parked cars outside the main halls!

To the left is an article that was featured in the Christian Chronicle in April of 1964, it announced the completion of our current worship hall and talked about a few of the ministries the Church was involved with at the time. The Foster Road congregation, then known as the Central Church of Christ, began worshipping March 13, 1960, in Carpenter's Hall with 59 present.

The Moose Hall, the Baptist building and the Eagle's Hall all served as meeting places before building the present building in 1964. These preachers served the congregation: Ralph Shook, J.P. Williams, W.T. Brown, Charles Andrews, and Ray Brown. The church had grown to over 150 in 1964, but massive layoffs at Vandenberg Air Force Base led to a decline and about 30 struggled to keep the building.

Morgan Taylor came to Santa Maria about that time after preaching in San Francisco and Los Angeles and preached for many years while working for the Welfare Department. The congregation grew and hired a full-time preacher again, Dale Loos. After he left, Morgan Taylor preached again until Hank Wiser was hired, followed by Denton Scott, Gordon Herrmann, Lowel Kirby, Brad Dudley, Chris Scott, and presently Dennis Russell.
By February 21, 1981 all indebtedness on the building was cleared on.

Elders were appointed in 1982 for the first time since 1964, and deacons shortly after that. Currently the congregation has three elders and four deacons.

In the 70's the church ran a successful Joy Bus program for ten years. Gospel meetings and area-wide revivals were well attended in the 70's and 80's.

Brochures were mailed to every home in Santa Maria in the 90's with the national "One Nation Under God" effort. Presently the congregation numbers about 160 with an average attendance of 125 for Sunday morning worship.

In Search of the Lord's Way

"In Search of the Lord's Way" is a weekly Nationally Televised Christian Ministry. It is in it's 25th year (as of Sept. 1, 2005) of continual broadcast. Having begun on one small TV station, they are now seen on 80 Broadcast stations, 130 cable and public access stations, 23 radio stations and 2 satellite networks.

You can find out more about the program on their website: http://www.searchtv.org/

World Bible School

The following is quoted directly from World Bible School's Website:

World Bible School is a work of holy love which believes every soul is precious to God.

Jesus once said that the greatest two commandments are,

"Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind." and "Love your neighbor as yourself."

In like manner, John 3:16 expresses God's greatest desire for us.

"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

God's love is elegant and powerful. Christ embodied that love unto death. Today, that same love motivates the people of God to share their faith in Jesus with others using Bible correspondence courses as the teaching mechanism.

Since the 1950's, WBS has been sending Bible correspondence courses free-of-charge to students around the world. We now serve over 2 million students from 141 nations. The courses were first written by Christians for Christians who served in the armed forces overseas. These men and women separated by war and distance from other believers had difficulty finding opportunities to gather for fellowship, Bible study, prayer and encouragement. To their delight, the Christian service men found their fellow soldiers had a great interest and hunger for learning from the Word of God and they began sharing the materials with thousands who were not Christians.

WBS continues to send Bible study correspondence courses to eager students through the postal mail, by email, and on the world wide web. Of course, they are all STILL - free of charge. We encourage you to continue through the site and discover how people's deepest needs are being met and their lives are being changed by learning more about God and His will through World Bible School......

You can visit World Bible School online at: http://www.wbschool.org/

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If you have questions about World Bible School you can visit their Frequently Asked Questions page.

Other Missionary Efforts

We are also involved with Doug Tackett's missionary efforts in India and also missionary efforts in Ghana West Africa.

Minister: Dennis Russell

Dennis is one of the friendliest ministers you will ever meet. Many members of the congregation that have been reeled in, from the kingdom of the lost, by Dennis have mythical stories they love to tell about the him.

Dennis and his wife Sandy arrived in Santa Maria in October of 2001 to begin his ministry with the Foster Road Church of Christ. Prior to his arrival in Santa Maria, he had worked with the church of Christ in Everett, Washington. He graduated from Sunset International Bible Institute (formerly Sunset School of Preaching) in 1982.

He volunteered as a city police chaplain for 5 years with the Everett Washington Police Department, and is currently a volunteer chaplain with the Santa Barbara County Sheriff Department.

Dennis received his BA in Christian counseling from Carolina Christian University and his MA in Christian Counseling from Evangelical Theological Institute in Dixon Missouri.

Youth Minister: Vince Surra

Vince Surra has been the Youth Minister at Foster Road for three years. Besides his ministry, he also maintains a full-time job as a Quality Improvement Director for the Community Health Centers of the Central Coast.

He was a Flight Medic in the Air Force for ten years, doing Search and Rescue for the first 5 years and managing a medical clinic for the last 5. He graduates from the University of La Verne later this year with a BS in Organizational Management. Although not formally trained in Youth Ministry, Vince is able to teach the Bible in a way that teenagers can understand and stay interested. Vince has a wife, Bobbie, who is fully engaged in the youth ministry also.

Vince and Bobbie have three boys, Dorian (age 8), Derek (age 6), and Dante (age 2).

Elder: Dennis Everson

I was born is Santa Paula, CA and spent the first 11 years of my life living in Ojai ,CA.

My parents moved to Santa Maria in 1959 when my father took a job with Douglas Aircraft at VBAFB.

We attended The Lincoln and Tunnel church for 3 years and then in 1962 worshipped with The New Central Church Of Christ now known as Foster Road Church Of Christ.

I Attended all the local schools, Nightingale, Orcutt Jr. High, And Graduated from Righetti High School in 1967. I met my wife Karen in 1968 and we were married in June of 1970. We have 2 daughters Christy and Jennifer, 4 Grandchildren Caden, Aviry, Felicia, And Rain.

I Served as a Deacon From 1982-1998. In 1998 I accepted the privilege to serve as an Elder at Foster Road.

Elder: Bob Pratt

I agreed to become an elder with David Niedermann and Gordon Herrmann in 1982, the first eldership at Foster Road since the 1960’s. Jim Roberts and Dennis Everson joined me and currently we serve a wonderful congregation with peace and unity, thanks to God, in all we do.

I have a faithful wife of 42 years, Susan, and 4 children and 8 grandchildren faithful to God.

I attended Pepperdine College, 79th and Vermont, and Cal State Los Angeles before starting my teaching career in Whittier. We moved to Santa Maria in 1966 and raised our family here. My wife worked in the Orcutt District as librarian at Lakeview and then taught first grade at Pacific Christian.

I retired from teaching high school in 1999 after teaching speech and English at Righetti High School for 33 years and 4 years in Whittier. I continue to teach speech part-time at Hancock College.

I am active in the local chapter of California Retired Teachers, serving as Vice-President and program chairperson.

I enjoy reading Christian literature and attending workshops, retreats, and the Pepperdine Lectureship.

Elder: Jim Roberts

In April of 1994, I agreed to serve as an elder with Bob Pratt and David Niedermann. Bob and I served together as elders until later when Dennis Everson was also asked to serve. Serving as an elder with this loving congregation has been a tremendous blessing for me, although challenging at times but still very rewarding.

I have been happily married to a wonderful wife for 39 years. We have three grown children and two granddaughters. I have lived all but eight years of my life here in Santa Maria, and have watched it grow from about 8,000 to just under 90,000.

I graduated from Santa Maria High School in June of 1960. I began working for GTE in December of 1960 and by early 1961 I received my draft notice. In August I began serving my time with the U.S. Air Force. After my military service I returned to continue my work with GTE. I attended Hancock College in the evenings and received my ?AS? degree in Supervisory Management. I retired from GTE, Outside Plant Engineering in 1993. I have worked some since retiring but not after 1998.

My wife Phyllis and I like to travel when we have opportunity to do so. We enjoy watching our two granddaughters and spending some time with them each week. My weekly activities are divided between church work, spending time with Phyllis, our children and granddaughters and taking care of the home place.