What does church mean to me? A story about the Arthur David Beltz (son of Arthur Elmer Betz) Family

I shared the following story at my church (Louisville Christian Church) on November of 2015.  I wasn't sure I wanted to put the story online, but after my uncle, Bill Beltz, published his  book, The Buried War, I decided it might be a nice complimentary segment for those who would like to know more about Arthur David Beltz (the son who lived in Alliance Ohio).    My Mother and Sister have given permission for this information to be shared.

Born in 1951, Art was one of nine kids.  His father, who came home from WWII’s battle of Bougainville, would use alcohol to medicate his wounds.  This would lead to aggressive behavior toward his family which fueled a lot of anger in Art’s life and assured there was no father-son relationship for him from which to grow.

Art’s loving Mother and brothers and sisters did the best they could.  His mother, raising a family of nine kids, was rarely home as she worked as a school teacher in another town trying to raise money for the family.

Raised mostly by his older brothers and sisters, Art began smoking at nine and drinking soon after.  At the age of 10 he would walk/hitchhike from his home in Harrisburg, Ohio to the Hartville swamps for employment.  Work was very important to him as he quit high school when he was a sophomore so that he could help support the family. 

He was part of a very strong network of friends who had a reputation as one of the fierce “Maximo boys.”  They would use whatever means necessary to assure “justice” in the neighborhood prevailed.  There were no rules or curfews from which they were governed. 

As Art grew older, one of his buddies would make a difficult request.  His friend had been drafted to go to Vietnam and believed if his leg was broken he would not have to go.  To try to save his buddies life, Art took two hard swings with a baseball bat that would send his friend to the ED, but would not break his leg.  His friend would go to Nam after all.

Relationships were important to Art.  He was 17 when he began dating a 13 year old cheerleader.  After four years of adventurous and dysfunctional dating, they would become pregnant and have a baby girl when she was 17…. She would graduate from Marlington High School as a Junior and they would begin their lives together.

What might we expect to happen next?   At a time when teenage pregnancy was shunned, what might the outcome have been during this young couple’s lives? 

At that time (1972), a new church was being started by a church planting organization known as Northeastern Ohio Association of Helpers.  The church was being planted in Washington township on the south west side of Alliance.  The pastor- Ed Smith, and his wife Bonnie, were meeting in people’s homes to share Christ and teach them about their new church that was part of what was called the Restoration Movement.  Ed and Bonnie had connected with Art and his wife Charlene.  (Ed and Bonnie would later be integral in starting Louisville Christian Church) 

They met with them in their apartment located in the rougher part of town 1010 and a half South Liberty-on the Northeast side of Alliance.  Ed and Bonnie would be one of Art’s first glimpses of a Godly marriage and Ed would become one of Art’s closest examples of how a loving father behaves.  Meeting in the YMCA in Alliance,  Ed, Bonnie, and their new church family would soon lead Art and Charlene to Christ during an evening church service.  When the church was given the option to join the new couple in Minerva that night to watch their baptism, the whole church drove to first Christian Church in Minerva to support them. 

As baby Christians bringing many habits and teenage tendencies into their future marriage, they would need all the loving support they could get.

As they grew, there were many challenges.   Alcohol would continue to influence the family leading to intense moments of concern for physical harm.  Ed and Bonnie would offer their homes as a safe haven for Charlene, her little girl and new born boy (1976). 

Art loved his family, and wanted to give his children the life he never had…but, it would take a little time and lots of love from his church family before he would decide to quit drinking.  That process would be painful, but would eventually lead to victory.  

As much as I would love to say life was better once the drinking stopped, the marriage still experienced many tumultuous moments.  There are always two sides to the story and I love my parents with all my heart.  They loved us with all their hearts, but loving in a marriage takes time, practice, education, mentors, and determination.  Art and Charlene had determination to work through problems they didn’t even know existed.  In the 80s and 90s, the word Bipolar was hardly heard.  It wasn’t until the mid 2000s that my Mom would receive this diagnosis.   

It was Bipolar tendencies mixed with post alcoholism behavior that lead to many heated moments in our home.  Once Ed and Bonnie moved from Beechwood on to help plant other churches, Vernon and Gina Russel would become the next pastoring family and become best friends of Art and Charlene.    Vernon would often come over to the house during those intense times providing a strong sense of relief, peace, safety and security to me.  Whenever he showed up, I knew things would be better. 

As time went on, my parents would serve the church in many ways.  They would grow and truly work out their faith with the help of many brothers and sisters in Christ.  We actually had a great time together as a church family.  My sister and I would eventually be lead to Christ and were given a very strong foundation from which to grow. 

The Church would demonstrate love to my parents through patience with imperfect behavior, helpfulness during times of emotional need, prayer support during moments of uncertainty, friendship, and presence consistently no matter what.  Through our church in those younger years, we learned about forgiveness even when the same mistakes would occur over and over, hope that Christ would change us with time, patience when it seemed like progress was far away, unconditional love with our imperfections, and how to be a friend and love others. 

Similar to the way Paul was accepted into the new church in Acts, my family was accepted into the church family at Beechwood.  I am 100% confident that changed our lives for eternity.

Now, the challenge is for us to do the same for others here at Louisville.