Reverend Bob Crew

Bob was a sophomore when he started working on the Chapel. I was a freshman and for most of the fall of 1953 we spent our Friday night dates driving into Boston and cleaning out an old building. We filled truck loads of junk from the building. During this time Bob went to different faculty members to see if they would pledge $2. a week to support the chapel. The only faculty member who faithfully supported the chapel was Alice Spangenberg.

Close to Christmas time in 1953 I asked Bob if we could do something else on Friday night beside clean the old building. He promptly took me out on a real date which I cannot recall where we went.

When we finally got the chapel ready we started calling in the neighborhood two-by- two. We climbed up some narrow dark stairways and knocked on doors. Mostof the dwellings were dirty and scary. I only recall standing at the door and not going all the way in.

I know the work was very satisfying to Bob and to those who helped him. ~Joan Crew

During the summer of 1953, under the leadership of Beth Goodnow, the student Evangelistic Association organized a Sunday school in the Dover St. section of Boston with an average attendance of forty.

The summer concluded with a picnic in the Blue Hills attended by 70 people, 50 of who were children. A lease was secured for the property at 26 Dover St. for the Boston Nazarene Chapel.

The pastor of the college church, Dr. Gould, contributed used hymn books, and college business manager, Claude Schlosser furnished chairs, Pastor Harry Rich of the Granite St. Church of the Nazarene contributed a pulpit and altar rail.

After a thorough cleaning and painting by the college students, a very dirty building was transformed into a house of worship.

The project was sanctioned by the superintendent of the New England District.

Student Robert Crew was appointed pastor and an extensive visitation program was begun. ~Dr. James Cameron, The First Fifty Years