History of Niles Christian Assembly
The Early Years
The group got larger and could not fit in Sister Nicolenes house so
they started meeting at various locations around town. They met in old
store fronts, old houses, and anyplace where they could fit and be
allowed to worship and pray. During this time Brothers Santelli and
Fortunato felt that Brother Carmen Grieco (Reigle), who was Pastor
Reigles uncle, was doing well in exhorting the Word and was capable to
take over the services under Brother Fortunatos supervision. This went on
until 1932 when Brother Carmen decided to return to Italy where he had
his family. He was instrumental in starting a church in his home-town
there. Brother Fortunato came again to take care of the services, going
back and forth from Youngstown where he was the pastor.
The group had grown and moved to a storeroom. At that time a man by the name of Brother Antonio DeGiovanni was saved and Brother Fortunato saw that he was doing quite well in the scriptures and had some discernment. He asked him to help with the leading of this group when he could not be there. He agreed and they had services there for a number of years. Once again Satan threw his darts at Gods people. This Brother DeGiovanni began teaching the doctrine of the Jehovahs Witness. When approached about it, he became very upset and left to join the Jehovahs Witness.
Once again the church was left without a preacher. Brother Jim Conde from Youngstown came to help out and later brought his son-in-law (Brother Angelo Fusco) to preach. Brother Fusco could preach in English and a little in Italian. The church continued to grow especially since Brother Fusco began to witness among the English speaking people. The storeroom they were meeting in became crowded and necessitated moving to a larger storefront on State Street which was located right next to a chicken market where chickens were slain and dressed for retail sales. Growth continued where a nice group of around 100 people were attending. The church prospered but once again Satan interfered. This time he caused a scandalous situation to take place that broke up the church.
During the course of the next few years this fragmented but faithful body of believers moved a number of times to various types of buildings in different parts of the city of Niles. The Italian people eventually ended up holding services back in Sister Nicolenes house where Brother Luigi Fortunato came back to preach once a week on Wednesday nights. He asked a young lady from his Youngstown church to come with him to play the piano since there was nobody able to play the piano in the group. So Sister Eleanor Bernard agreed and in the course of time met, began going steady with, and nine months later married Brother Carmen Reigle.