In 1940,Tom Constance came to Carbon County and began developing the work for the Alliance.  He and his wife, Nellie, began by having prayer meetings and Bible studies in the home of Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Anderson.

Many people moved into Price and the mining towns during the WWII years.  The charter members of Price Chapel were:  Anderson family, Swinburne family, Tucker family, English family, Timothy family and Constance family.

March 3, 1945 Carl and Dorthy Measell came to be the Pastor of the Price Chapel Church.  Services were held in the showroom of a business on the 200 E. block of Main Street.  The church began to grow and a new meeting place was located in the Harding School where the present fire station is located.

When WWII ended, Max Sandervol donated his severance pay from the Army and adding this to a small building fund, property was purchased at 120 N. 200 East and a basement building was constructed.  About 1958 the top floor was completed under the direction of Bud Johnson.  The building consisted of 4,200 sq. feet.  As the church continued to grow, more space was needed.

Doug Grogan was pastor when the Breakaway Fitness Center property became available about 1990.  The building consisted of 10,000 sq. feet and was purchased for $310,000, which at that time was a great act of faith for the congregation.  The move was made and the church continued to grow.

For years the people who came from Emery County desired to have a church building there.  Carl Sitterud, Assistant Pastor at Price Chapel, was chosen to start the sister church in 1997.  About 45 people left Price Chapel to start the church, which is now very successful.

Price Chapel membership grew after the church plant.  The old Price Chapel building and property was sold and the mortgage on the present facility was paid off.  The adjacent property was donated to Price Chapel a few years ago and that property has yet to be developed.

Price Chapel has had 14 pastors:

• 1940-1945  Tom Constance
• 1945-1953  Carl Measell    (District Superintendent CPD)
• 1953-1955  Lee Milligan
• 1955-1961  Bud Johnson
• 1961-1963  Dick Abrams
• 1963-1967  Harold Floth
• 1967-1969  Bud Jordan
• 1969-1971  William Hedgepth
• 1971-1976  Dick Taylor    (District Superintendent CPD)
• 1976-1980  Jim Seims
• 1980-1985  Gary Atwood
• 1985-1992  Doug Grogan   (District Superintendent MAD)
• 1993-2002  Doug Swinburne    (District Superintendent CPD)
• 2003-2011  Dan Samuelson

CURRENT SITUATION

Strengths

Price Chapel is a well respected church family in our area with a congregation evenly distributed along age lines.  Programs that meet these needs are in place and growing.  We have strong Sunday school classes for adults, youth and children, kid’s church and a thriving AWANA program.

Our youth church, The Rising, under the leadership of our youth pastor, Jesse Kobe, has been focused on growing disciples. The Risings’ weekly youth church emphasizes discipleship, youth leadership and service.  The youth volunteer on a regular basis during the summer at the Food Bank and, they prepare and serve a free monthly dinner (Free Dinner Friday) from April – October to anyone in our community in need.  In addition, we give to our greater churched and unchurched communities through events like Vacation Bible School and a free traditional Thanksgiving dinner, prepared and served every Thanksgving by Price Chapel family.

Weaknesses

Although we have seen growth which has made us the largest evangelical Christian congregation in eastern Utah, we struggle with facilitating increased attendance.

Opportunities

We have tremendous opportunity here in Carbon County, to be a church that strongly impacts our community and world.  We have a largely untapped population of college students at USU Eastern, a four year accredited college.  Utah itself is a mission field with an estimated 45-90% Mormon population, many of which are inactive (Price is at the lower end of the statistic).

Concerns

We are in a period of significant transition.  Many administrative tasks need to be accomplished, not the least of which is selecting our new Senior Pastor.  It is a time which we are aware of the real possibility of Satan’s attack if we focus on our own desires, fears, and dissatisfaction instead of God’s will.