Controversy and Renewed Growth

The renewed Amish Mennonite group initially met in members’ homes every 2 weeks, but in 1866 they began to meet in the Hochstedler School ¼ mile south of the current church building and started a Sunday school. The minister, Benjamin Schrock, was in favor of building a church house, and in 1876 the congregation acquired land to build on at the church’s current location, CR 600 N-700 E in northeastern Howard County near the Miami County line. The first structure the congregation built was a plain frame building measuring 22 x 40 feet.

Howard-Miami, like every congregation, wasn’t immune to controversy. One of the worst happened around 1885, when a disagreement arose over whether it was acceptable for men to use buttons on their vests instead of the customary hooks and eyes. Some men were already wearing them on their coats, but the more conservative members felt they should not be used on the vests.

It became such a divisive issue that the church held meetings to try to resolve the dispute, with ministers from Wayne County, Ohio, coming to help work out an agreement. Instead, the disagreement grew worse, and no communion services were held for over 2 years because of the rift. The church finally resolved the issue in the spring of 1887 by agreeing that the men should follow their own preference regarding hooks and eyes versus buttons.

During this time there were few young people in the congregation. That fall, John S. Coffman from Elkhart, who had been instrumental in resolving the dispute over buttons, returned to preach, and possibly due to his influence younger people began to attend the church in significant numbers. Coffman helped to persuade the church to begin holding services every Sunday.

With the Sunday school thriving, the congregation grew until they needed a larger building. So in 1888 the church sold the old structure to the Brethren Church, and it was moved 3 miles west to serve that congregation. The new building was only slightly larger, at 36 x 50 ft. It was dedicated by Coffman on August 3, 1888. In 1894, the widow Sarah Hensler sold ¼ acre from her farm to the church for $25, and the land was added to the west side of the church lot.

In my next post, I’ll bring the story of Howard-Miami Mennonite Church into the 20th century.

Howard-Miami Mennonite Church

On November 8, Erik Wesner wrote about the Kokomo, Indiana, Amish on his blog Amish America. If you’re not familiar with his blog, I recommend that you hop on over and take a look. I was especially interested in this article since I grew up in the Howard-Miami Mennonite Church, which formed as a result of a church split due to the progressivism he mentions in his article.

When I married I moved away, and over the years I became a member of several different denominations. But deep down I’ve always considered Howard-Miami to be my home congregation. My parents, Alvin and Lula Hochstetler, remained members until their deaths in 2002 as the result of an accident, and we held their funeral there. They’re buried in the Christner Cemetery a couple of miles down the road. I still have cousins who attend, so the ties remain.

After reading Erik’s article, I decided to dig out my copy of the History of Howard-Miami Mennonite Church, published in 1998 for the celebration of the 150th anniversary of the church’s founding, and share some of the history it records. The following condensed version, including the quotes, is taken from this book.

The first Amish settlers came to Miami County from Holmes County, Ohio, in 1848. While they established homes and farms, they met in members homes every other week, as is customary for the Amish. But in 1854, “changing viewpoints as to what was acceptable in regard to all of the new ideas and inventions coming into the world during a time of great and rapid advancement in man’s learning and technologies” caused a church split. “Some people began to see that not all change is evil, while others continued to believe that the more complicated the new things made life, the more readily the element of evil could also enter” (p. 21).

This difference in values led the members to break into 2 separate bodies. “There were many hard feelings among the people on both sides of the split. Each side felt very strongly about the position they had taken, believing themselves to be correct in God’s sight. People on one side looked down on th people on the other side, each thinking the other was falling into sin. Sadly this resulted name calling, and a lack of compassion and understanding created a great deal of ill will in the community” (p. 21).

The progressive group began to meet in an old school house a half-mile east of Waupecong. Roads were almost nonexistent, so getting to the church was difficult. Then the minister, J. Benjamin Schrock, left because of the ill will in the commuity. This led to a decline in the number of members of this group, and for some time they ceased meeting and some members joined other churches. Meanwhile, the conservative group initially flourished due to their continuing, stable leadership.

During the mid 1860s, the progressive group began to meet again for regular hymn sings. Eventually they ordained ministers and established the congregation that in time became the Howard-Miami Mennonite Church. Originally calling themselves Amish Mennonites, they now prospered while the conservatives, who took the name Old Order Amish, began a decline that lasted until around 1897, when Amish families from other areas began to move into the community. They then developed the 2 church districts that remain today.

The Howard-Miami congregation developed its own schisms as time went on. In my next post I’ll continue the history of this congregation.

Blog Tour for One Holy Night!

Below are the dates and sites for the month-long One Holy Night Blog tour. Be sure to drop in on these blogs to check out my interviews, articles, and book trailer.

Some of the blogs are also doing a drawing for a free copy of One Holy Night, which received the Christian Small Publishers 2009 Book of the Year award. It would make a terrific Christmas gift for you or someone you love!

Monday, Nov. 2: http://thebookrack.wordpress.com/
Tuesday, Nov. 3 http://bookvideos.wordpress.com/
Wednesday, Nov. 4 http://www.thebookconnectionccm.blogspot.com/
Thursday, Nov. 5 http://theplotline.wordpress.com/
Friday, Nov. 6 http://theplotline.wordpress.com/
Friday, Nov. 6 http://www.thehotauthorreport.blogalogues.com/
Monday, Nov. 9: http://myheartbelongs2books.blogspot.com/
Tuesday, Nov. 10: http://reviewfromhere.com/
Wednesday, Nov. 11: http://cafeofdreams.blogspot.com/
Thursday, Nov. 12: http://www.associatedcontent.com/
Friday, Nov. 13: http://bookexcerpts.wordpress.com/
Monday, Nov. 16: http://reviewfromhere.com/
Tuesday, Nov. 17: http://rebecca2007.wordpress.com/
Wednesday, Nov. 18: http://thewriterslife.blogspot.com/
Wednesday, Nov. 18: http://www.divinecaroline.com/
Thursday, Nov. 19: http://www.cherylsbooknook.blogspot.com/
Friday, Nov. 20: http://thestorybehindthebook.wordpress.com/
Monday, Nov. 23: http://booktoursandmore.blogspot.com/
Tuesday, Nov. 24: http://www.broowaha.com/
Wednesday, Nov. 25: http://cafeofdreams.blogspot.com/
Friday, Nov. 27: http://therempels4.blogspot.com/

And coming up in December, Wind of the Spirit will be featured on a blog tour as well. Check back here later in the month for details!

Book Signing at 21st Century

Wouldn’t you know I’d forget to post the time for the book signing! It runs from noon to 2 p.m. Saturday, October 3. I hope to see you there!

Schedule of Events

I’ve been out of town for several days, incorporating a visit with friends with a speaking engagement at a book club in the Warner Robins, GA, area. I had a great time while there, and the presentation to the Houston County Book Browsers went very well, with a number of the ladies buying my books. But the 7 hour drive home yesterday through storms was not nearly as enjoyable. It was a relief to finally get home safe and sound! And now I’m rushing to get caught up on the day-to-day minutia, as usual!

If you’re going to be in the Nashville area this coming Saturday, October 3, please join me and other authors from the Nashville Christian Writers Association for a book signing at 21st Century Christian, 2809 12th Avenue South, Nashville, TN 37204. I’ll be signing copies of Daughter of Liberty, Native Son, and Wind of the Spirit, along with One Holy Night.

Also signing will be Darin W. Montgomery, Membership Guide to the Body of Christ; Dr. Etido Akpan, Strategic Alignment: The Business Imperative for Leading Organizations; Carol Harper, Through the Eye of a Needle; Robin Miller, A Biblical Journey of ABC’s; Sandy Griffin, Free to Be Me: Creating the Dance of Your Life; Chris Fenoglio, Kristin and the Santa Secret; and Catisha Asbury, Jesus Child: Christian Urban Poetry, Volume 1.

An American colonial and Revolutionary War reenactors event will be going on at the same time in Hendersonville. The annual Daniel Smith Colonial Days Reenactment and Fair takes place October 3 and 4 at Historic Rock Castle. I plan to drop by before or after the book signing or on Sunday as reenactors bring to life the period from 1779 to 1820. I attended last year’s event and it was excellent! This year I’m hoping to get some good high res pictures that I can use for covers for my series, including the new editions of Daughter of Liberty and Native Son we’ll be doing within the next couple of years. Bob Dulany of Dulany Printers, who participates as a reenactor, also has wonderful pictures available. Either way, I’m going to have excellent choices for covers for the entire series.

In addition to winning the Christian Small Publishers 2009 Fiction Book of the Year Award, One Holy Night also finaled in the Long Contemporary category of the American Christian Fiction Writers Book of the Year contest along with 4 other excellent novels. Although it didn't go on to win, I’m greatly honored that it was considered worthy of this recognition. My heartiest congratulations go to Sharon Hinck whose novel Symphony of Secrets took top honors!

One Holy Night Wins CSPA Book of the Year Award

Tuesday I received notice that One Holy Night has been chosen as the 2009 Fiction Book of the Year by Christian Small Publishers Association! Needless to say, I am thrilled—and admittedly a bit stunned. I’d forgotten I even entered the contest. LOL!

It’s also entered in the American Christian Fiction Writers Book of the Year contest for long contemporary novels, and it’ll be interesting to see how it does there. Winners in all the categories will be announced at the ACFW conference in September, so I’ll have to wait a while to find out, and that’s always hard. In the meantime, however, Sheaf House will be doing additional promotions in upcoming weeks featuring the award and will also feature One Holy Night again for the holiday season.

Tomorrow, April 18, I’m having a book signing at the Perry Bookstore, 907 Carroll Street, in downtown Perry, Georgia, from 11 to 1. I’ll also be signing Wind of the Spirit, and will have copies of books 1 and 2, Daughter of Liberty and Native Son, available at a discount. I appreciate your prayers for a good weather and a good turnout, and if you happen to be in the area, I would love to have you stop by! This is also the weekend for the annual Dogwood Festival in Perry, and there’ll be lots going on downtown, not to mention the Mossy Creek Barnyard Festival, which is close by. Come on out and join in the fun!

Below is an excerpt from a recent review by Jackie Cooper, who is known in the middle Georgia area as the “entertainment man” for his entertainment reviews. His short stories have been used as commentary on Georgia Public Radio, and he is also a popular after dinner speaker as well as a noted author. Jackie’s latest release is The Sunrise Remembers.

“Author J. M. Hochstetler has crafted a story that will drive us to tears but also lift our spirits at the same time. . . . It is a “family” story that all readers can enjoy and one to which they can relate in some way. Hochstetler takes us on a journey with these characters as they move through times of joy and times of sadness. Each person described in the story comes alive and takes his/her place in the order of things. The author even brings in side characters to flesh out the story and she does it with inventiveness and skill. If you do not enjoy or appreciate a story of faith then this is not the book for you. But for those who do like this type of religious material as the backdrop for a good story, this is an excellent choice.”

Interview and Book Drawing on Amber Stockton’s Blog!

Hey, everyone! Head on over to Amber Stockton’s blog and leave a comment on the March 13 post with my interview to be entered into the drawing for a free copy of Wind of the Spirit! You only have a week from yesterday to get in on the drawing, so you’d better hurry. I appreciate your support, and you may win a free copy of the latest installment of this thrilling story to boot!

Thursday my husband and I are heading off to Dallas for the Christian Book Expo, which runs from Friday, March 20th, through Sunday the 22. More than 200 of your favorite Christian authors will present seminars, do readings and book signings, participate in panel discussions, and more. The event is open to the public.

I’ll be signing Wind of the Spirit in the American Christian Fiction Writers booth on Saturday, March 21, from 3 to 4 p.m. So if you’re going to be in the Dallas area next weekend, I’d love to see you there!