Amazing Grace Circuit Church Information

Our primary purposes are to provide a Christian witness and conduct church services at living history reenactments of the Rocky Mountain Fur Trade Rendezvous circa 1820-1840. Outreaches to other history reenactments of the 18th and 19th centuries may be carried out as the opportunities present themselves and time allows.

Our secondary purpose is to provide ministerial services and support to those attending these history reenactments. These services include, but are not limited to, weddings, funerals, baptisms, and pastoral counseling. We have a tract rack prominently displayed at all times with a "Free take one" sign. My desire is to be the "pastor" to these reenactors, their families and those observing these events.

Our ministry started in 1996 when we began having devotional times with the friends and family, with whom we attended these living history events. Currently, we attend from six to 18 events each year, traveling several thousand miles. Our travels span the area from Ojai to Bakersfield, California in the south. We travel to Crescent City, and Susanville, California and Winchester, Idaho in the west, north and east. We set up our "church", an 18’ by 18’ marquee style canvas tent, at each of these events. Currently, we sell period appropriate merchandise during the events to help cover our travel expenses. On Saturday night we pack all the merchandise and make ready for Sunday service. Due to our selling trade goods (trading) we are unable to mingle with people at these events as much as we would like. This limits our ability to provide Christian ministry mostly to Sunday. It is our desire to include a children’s Bible story time and an evening sing and study time whenever possible.

Our desire is to be able to obtain support from friends and family so we can stop trading and spend our time mingling with the people and providing a Christian presence along with counseling and other "pastoral" ministry. Attendance at our services is usually less than ten. The notable exceptions are Crescent City; averages twenty plus and Pacific Primitive Rendezvous which has averaged over 100. The events run from 50-100 attendees to over 1000 at the Pacific Primitive.

The events we attend are mostly loose re-creations of the original Rendezvous. The exception is the Pacific Primitive Rendezvous where we enter the event in period appropriate clothing, set up a pre-1840 camp and live pre-1840 for the duration of the event (usually a week to ten days). For the other events we usually take our travel trailer and have the modern conveniences of the trailer. These events are almost always held in a remote area where shooting and other loud noises are allowed. We do enjoy shooting our muzzle loading firearms, when we have the time. We also participate in knife and tomahawk throwing and starting fire with flint and steel. The period dress is enjoyable, too. We both have our leather outfits along with many cloth items. Laverne even made Richard his preachers’ frock coat that he wears on Sunday. I am hopeful this short introduction has given you a slight glimpse of what our ministry entails.