Some months, topics for my column come to mind quickly. This month, however, I struggled to land on a topic I thought would entertain and inform you, my readers. Then one morning, in my quiet time, a little voice told me to write about a really good story that has unfolded right in front of me.

I confess: It often requires a good nudge, sometimes a rap up the side of the head, to get my attention. This time it was a rap upside of the head.

Anyway, here’s the story, set in a small village in eastern Champaign County, Ohio – Woodstock. This particular Woodstock has never had a big music festival out in a hilly cow pasture to disturb the peace of its 261 residents, assorted dogs and cats, horses, and the dairy cows that graze in outlying pastures.

But I suspect in its day, the village thrived and burst with civic pride. In fact, during the Civil War, Woodstock contributed to the Union Army more of its sons, per capita, than any other village or city in the state. In its heyday, according to History of Champaign County, Ohio: Its People, Industries and Institutions, Woodstock boasted two general stores, a grocery, drug store, wagon shop, two blacksmith shops, a school, a hotel, the Odd Fellows Lodge and two churches.

Today, though, all that’s left is a tavern, a grocery store that has long been out of business, and a former Universalist church that has not had Sunday services since 1984. (However, as I’ll share with you in this and next month’s column, the church is in the midst of a revival.)

The church, built in 1840, was caught up in an 1892 fire that nearly burned down the whole village. The church reconstruction was started in 1893 by John A. Carpenter and was dedicated on Easter Sunday 1894.

In the reconstruction, Carpenter’s team built a high cathedral-style arched ceiling with stylish trusses. Below, pews were lined up on the new sanctuary’s sloped amphitheater-like floor. Church services resumed and continued into the mid-1980s, when the church’s pastor at the time retired.

Local citizens clung to the hope that this community church would again hold worship services. Several descendants of the village’s pioneering families tried to recruit a pastor. They also attempted to raise money to properly maintain the building. The results of their effort, however, were always inadequate.

The pastors who the community leaders approached did not share their vision for this little outpost of civilization in the middle of farming country. Once in a while the village patriarchs would come up with a couple of grand to spend on band-aid repairs. And they volunteered their time to fix whatever they could.

The church continued to be used for weddings and funerals, but only a couple times a year.

Then a few years ago, the roof began leaking. It was apparent the roof needed more than a little patching. In desperation a couple of the leading families approached a major roofing company in Columbus to determine the cost of replacing the roof. The estimate was a couple hundred thousand.

They had no idea how the community could come up with that kind of money. Upon learning the community’s plight, the roofing company president said not to worry. His company would be there shortly to install a new roof at no cost. The president explained that he felt it was something that his company had to do. The company installed the new roof – with a 40-year guarantee.

When I heard this story, I knew there was a message for all of us to learn.

Later, the church’s steeple began to lean. It threatened to fall over onto the roof. Two community members who had worked in construction before their retirement righted the steeple. And they changed the slope at the base of the steeple to prevent water from pooling there.

The church’s stained-glass windows were also deteriorating. They dated back to the church’s 1894 construction. The village patriarchs managed to get the windows repaired and installed plexiglass on the outside to protect them.

All the while these patriarchs prayed, stewed and sought an answer to make the church a place of worship again. Occasionally a community member would offer to lead a Bible study in the back of the church. But these efforts fell short of returning the church to its former glory. So, the prayers continued.

For the rest of the story, check out my column in January.