Focusing on the individuals and families who believed they could restore New Testament Christianity in the city of Bakersfield, An Easy Place to Forget God describes their successes and struggles while at the same time providing the reader with an overview of the Restoration Movement from 1887 to 1962. Among those challenging themselves to 'live in the world but not of it' was the evangelist/dentist-a wagon his office and a tent his auditorium; the slightly built oilfield worker from Florida, whose family was often ill and went without so that he could preach to a "sin-stricken city needing missionaries worse than any other country I ever lived in." The woman, who played a prominent role in one of Nashville's largest congregations, then, after moving west, helped establish not one but two congregations in her Bakersfield home. With little else in common, they shared a desire to serve their God; the labor leader, strike organizer, and preacher who spoke without fear; the Christian from the South, who was good enough to be a child of God but, because of the color of her skin, was not good enough for the local church; the carpenter who worked to construct a church building during the day and a congregation of God's people north of the Kern River in the evenings; and the public relations expert, who attempted to use the latest advertising techniques along with an auto-parts magnate's fortune to bring New Testament Christianity into the twentieth century. Using material gathered from newspaper accounts, religious journals, and church bulletins, some published for the first time, Robbins provides a sensitive glimpse into an area that was An Easy Place to Forget God.
Focusing on the individuals and families who believed they could restore New Testament Christianity in the city of Bakersfield, An Easy Place to Forget God describes their successes and struggles while at the same time providing the reader with an overview of the Restoration Movement from 1887 to 1962. Among those challenging themselves to 'live in the world but not of it' was the evangelist/dentist-a wagon his office and a tent his auditorium; the slightly built oilfield worker from Florida, whose family was often ill and went without so that he could preach to a "sin-stricken city needing missionaries worse than any other country I ever lived in." The woman, who played a prominent role in one of Nashville's largest congregations, then, after moving west, helped establish not one but two congregations in her Bakersfield home. With little else in common, they shared a desire to serve their God; the labor leader, strike organizer, and preacher who spoke without fear; the Christian from the South, who was good enough to be a child of God but, because of the color of her skin, was not good enough for the local church; the carpenter who worked to construct a church building during the day and a congregation of God's people north of the Kern River in the evenings; and the public relations expert, who attempted to use the latest advertising techniques along with an auto-parts magnate's fortune to bring New Testament Christianity into the twentieth century. Using material gathered from newspaper accounts, religious journals, and church bulletins, some published for the first time, Robbins provides a sensitive glimpse into an area that was An Easy Place to Forget God.
