During the dry and hot growing season of 1880, as thousands of farmers in north-central Kansas struggled to make a crop in their fields, the founder and pastor of the Universalist Church in Delphos, Kansas, 65-year-old Reverend Joy Bishop, rode horseback across hundred of miles of parched landscape to, in his words, “go ye into the world and freely preach that gospel to the sinful and needy children of man.” Ron Parks will share the inspirational story of this eloquent, humble, and generous-spirited man they called “Father Bishop” whose spiritual journey began with a mystical encounter in the Vermont mountains in the 1820s and extended  through his remarkable pastoral career in the Solomon River valley of Kansas from 1872 until his death in 1896.

Dick Beeman will convene.

Join us at 481 Zeandale Rd
or on Zoom:
https://zoom.us/j/92604313401?pwd=OXlyeW1RQ0I4U1cxQ1FpU0x2TlZqdz09
Meeting ID:  926 0431 3401
Password:  zeandale

Ron Parks is a retired historic sites administrator whose passion is exploring the intersections of history and geography embedded in his beloved Kansas landscape.  Author of the award-winning book, The Darkest Period: The Kanza Indians and Their Last Homeland, 1846-1873 (University of Oklahoma Press, 2014), Ron is currently writing a series of articles about the history of his native region in north-central Kansas. Ron’s work features stories about forgotten places, events, and people considered of marginal importance by conventional histories.