HISTORY OF THE RODENBERG CHURCH by Dwain Jones     The Church of Christ in Biloxi, Mississippi first began to meet sometime around 1925. Sister Maudie Russell reports the church meeting in the home of her mother, Sister Lee, at 1620 34th Street. Along with the Lees, the Alex Smith and Charles Clark families met as did an unnamed insurance agent and his family. The Smith and Clark families came to America from Scotland.           Later the church met in Sister Russell's home on Howard Avenue, then in her home at 506 Lee Street. Her husband, Austin Logan Russell, delivered many of the sermons during that time. The church continued meeting in that home until 1945 when a Brother Little, who preached a meeting for the church, arranged for the group to meet in the Biloxi City Hall.        In 1947, the first meetinghouse was built at 212 Keller Place. Sister Marie Hickson remembers the tears of joy during the first services of the church. Interestingly, after passing through a couple of different owners, that building is now used by a small group of people belonging to the conservative branch of the Christian Church.       In 1961, a new facility was built at 154 Rodenberg Avenue, and is the present meeting site. With the later addition of an annex, this facility provides some 15 classrooms, offices, a fellowship area and kitchen, and an auditorium seating about 300.        The first full-time preacher was Henry Edwards. Brother Edwards preached when the building on Keller Place was built. The Lishe Avenue church in Nashville sponsored him. After Brother Edwards, succeeding preachers have been:    Woodrow Davidson; Monty Montgomery; Hubert Allen; Winston Atkinson; Gardner Gately; Woodrow Davidson (2nd term); C. R. Fite; Phillip Bradshaw; Roy Doss; James Bowers; Robert Peek; Michael Wimpey; Larry Jones; Bill Denton; Roger Mills; Terry Martin; Kurt Darnell; and our present minister, Roger Mills, for his 2nd term. Out of the 14 men who have preached for the church, only two, C. R. Fite and Bill Denton have been native Mississippians. Previous elders for the church have been:    J. C. Hickson, Donald Davis, Robert Holt, James Bowers, Russell Butcher, Dwain Jones and Joe Rogers.        OPPORTUNITIES        Helping the needy is a constant priority of the church. Each year it provides for many people in the community. The single greatest benevolent event occurred in 1969 when Hurricane Camille struck the Gulf Coast leaving thousands helpless. Aided by sister churches that  sent truckloads of food, clothing and household items, the Rodenberg Ave. church building was converted into a warehouse and for several months was a distribution point for those in need.   MISSION WORK       Robert Martin was supported for several years as a missionary in the Fiji Islands located in the South Pacific. Robert's work was highly successful. Several churches have been established and those churches today are self-supporting with locally trained preachers and teachers. Robert and his family moved to a new work in American Samoa, where we continued support. Locally, the church assisted another church that was meeting on Division Street in Biloxi. Several men of the Rodenberg church have helped the Saucier, MS congregation by taking one Sunday per month teaching Bible class and preaching. This was a cooperative effort with several other Coast congregations and benefited all congregations over south Mississippi.   MORE HISTORY       During the ministry of Kurt Darnell, due to a lack of spiritual food, internal conflict and the reduction of manning at Keesler AFB after the Vietnam War, the membership fell off to less than 20 members. Brother Darnell left to worship in the Jewish tabernacle. After he left we received support from the Fairfield congregation in Centerville until this year. At this time we were excited to welcome Brother Roger Mills back. With his dynamic personality and tireless work ethic the church is beginning to grow. We began by resurrecting Vacation Bible School, gospel meetings, Bible studies and door knocking. We are presently averaging 60 to 70 in attendance each Sunday morning. We have reinstated the TV program on WLOX, but on a smaller scale (1 minute spots at several intervals per day).   THE FUTURE           We are in the preparation stages of getting young men to work with Brother Mills over the summer, doing door knocking, personal work and visiting the members that need help to grow spiritually. When the attendance and contribution reach the desired levels, our goal is to hire a second full time minister to work in this area. This city and surrounding area is a massive mission field needing and desiring to know the Gospel. We are ever watchful for men who are qualified to be elders. We continue to pick up the airmen at Keesler AFB for services and take advantage of every opportunity to strengthen them so they can have the strength to stand when they go out into the world of the Air Force.