PLEASANTVILLE, PA – There’s a mansion just over the hilltop from the place where the first functioning oil well in the United States was drilled. That mansion has been described as “A small country church serving a great big God.”

The church is located outside of Pleasantville, Pennsylvania, just down the road a piece from Titusville. A replica of the Drake Well that struck oil in 1859 still stands, but the oil stopped flowing long ago.

Over yonder on a hilltop outside Pleasantville, stands The Full Gospel Church of Pleasantville. The church was built exactly 100 years after the Drake Well, and the river of life has been flowing freely and abundantly from the Word of God ever since.

Given the density of the Allegany Mountains and the sparse population in that part of Western Pennsylvania, the church may never appear on an earthly list of mega-churches. That’s okay. Churches shouldn’t be measured by the size of their buildings or their congregations.

The Bible is replete with real stories of our great big God using the meekest of men to accomplish great things. That’s just the way He works. If you are looking for fame or reward, dig an oil well. If you are looking for eternal rewards, give yourself away in ministry.

That’s exactly what the Pleasantville church is doing.

It seems that the church was buried under an abundance of donations given for distribution to the underprivileged in the community. There was such an accumulation that some referred to the church as “the Salvation Army of Pleasantville.”

Pastor Benjamin McCauley said, “If somebody needed clothes, if somebody needed food, if somebody needed counseling” the church was the place to find them. “It’s what we do.”

The church has opened its own donation-based thrift store. Some items are for sold for whatever the buyer feels they are worth. Some items are given to folks free of charge or obligation. People come in off the street and “they pick whatever they want, and they pay whatever they want.”

That’s where some ministries like this one would end. For the Pleasantville church, it’s just the beginning. They are serving those in need locally, but they understand the need to provide for the underserved around the world.

Half of the revenues are used to pay the operational expenses of the store. The other half is donated to faith-based missions including Gospel for Asia, Heart Cry, and Love INC where that 50 percent will be used to minister to the unreached as the hands and feet of Jesus.

By supporting these ministries, The Full Gospel Church of Pleasantville knows that their thrift shop, like their prayers, has a global impact that engages others for Christ, encourages them, and equips them for His glory.

All things are possible, even for a small country church, when we serve our mighty big God.

Lord, bless the people who are your church in Pleasantville.

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