(pictured above – 1950 Lake Region Conference office staff included F.N. Crowe, secretary-treasurer (fourth from left), and T.M. Fountain, president (sixth from left).
Take a look back at key moments in the celebration of the Lake Region Conference 80th anniversary.
- September 1944 — The Lake Region Conference is officially formed during a specially called meeting at Shiloh Church in Chicago
- Jan. 1, 1945 — The conference becomes the first regional conference organized with 2,320 members and begins official operations in Indianapolis in the parsonage of the Capitol City church.
- 1945 — Conference office moves to 619 Woodlawn Park Ave, Chicago
- June 1948 — The first annual camp meeting is held at Camp Wagner, vital for spiritual renewal and community bonding among members across the region.
- 60s and 70s — The Temperance Department conducts five-day Stop Smoking and other lifestyle care programs for the communities.
- 1960 — Conference office moves to 8517 South State St, Chicago
- July 1973 — C.D. Brooks conducts an evangelistic tent meeting and 243 people are baptized at the close of the eight-week series. Straford Memorial is organized as a result. The church is named Straford after its first pastor, Harry Straford, died.
- 1975 — Lake Region has the distinction of being the first regional conference to have an organized Spanish work connected to it, when a group of Hispanic laymen approach the conference asking them to accept their church, Spanish West/Logan Square into the fellowship.
- 1980 — Lake Region Conference membership exceeds 10,000
- 1992 — Membership exceeds 20,000
Read more and see pictures of LRC history HERE.