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THE HISTORY OF GOD’S FAITHFULNESS TO RIPC:A STORY THAT BEARS REPEATING
(First presented on April 6, 1998) Today I want to say something about “Preparation and Praise.” God has done the preparation and our job is to praise Him. As I thought about the history of this congregation, I sort of realized how our story is like the story of Moses and the people he led. “Who, us? Why us?” |
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RIPC Time LineThis is a story of faith at work - and a story of God at work, even when there was little faith!1985 The former Albemarle Presbytery appointed the Manteo Task Force to start a church in the county seat of the eastern-most county in North Carolina. 1986 Presbytery bought 1.6 acres of land on the north end of Manteo on Highway 64/264, a block away from Manteo High School. 1987 A handful of people, sometimes only two or three, first met in the chapel of the local funeral home, then at Manteo Middle School, and then in the Manteo High School auditorium. 1988 The State of the Child Conference identified child care as a real community need for Dare County. Our focus for ministry in the community began. 1989 World Communion Sunday: The Roanoke Island Presbyterian Fellowship was formally commissioned and received nine adult members. Pastor Tom Murphy agreed to serve as part-time Stated Supply Minister. 1990 The Fellowship bought a small house on a half-acre adjacent to the land purchased in 1986. The house was converted to multi-purpose use for a child care ministry during the week and worship and church school on Sundays. The Fellowship led a year-long effort to amend the county zoning code to allow day care homes in residential areas. 1991 The Fellowship obtained a state license to care for up to five infants and toddlers and began caring for its first babies of teen mothers who were students at Manteo High School. 1992 Roanoke Island Presbyterian Church was chartered January 5. Charter members totaled 20 adults and 14 children. 1994 With grants from the Outer Banks Community
Foundation and the By the mid 90's, RIPC had over 40 active members and knew it had out grown the little church house. But how could such a small congregation afford to build a larger church building? 1997 At a Presbytery meeting, Pastor Tom Murphy and Elder Nancy Griffin met Tom Westfall, a building contractor and ordained minister who led a construction crew that built and repaired homes and dreamed of building a church. 1998 RIPC conducted a Capital Funds Campaign called "Faith at Work". In addition to a substantial grant from Presbytery, 25 churches in the Presbytery contributed over $46,000. RIPC also was awarded a $30,000 Walton grant for New Church Development. The two-week period around Labor Day 1998 was full of excitement when scores of people from churches throughout our Presbytery, from churches in the county, even from churches in Virginia and Pennsylvania showed up to take part in an old-fashioned church-raising. June 1999 The new Roanoke Island Presbyterian Church building was dedicated to the glory of God and service to the community. This beautiful building is truly a gift from God! A gift channeled through God's people to do God's work in the world. 2000 RIPC was featured in Seeds of Faith, a Presbytery stewardship video about ways churches are answering the call to serve God and their communities. 2001 RIPC received a grant from the Meekins Trust to expand its capacity for outreach to the community. 2002 RIPC accepted and housed its first Summer Intern Minister, Jeff Ackley, from Columbia Theological Seminary. 2003 Barry Chance, studying at Union Theological Seminary in Richmond, served as RIPC's second Summer Intern. RIPC established its first Board of Deacons. 2004 Pastor Tom Murphy retired after serving RIPC for 15 years as part-time Stated Supply. Rev. Lori Pistor began her 19-month service as part-time Interim Pastor. The Mission Study Task Force began its work to discern next steps for RIPC's ministry. 2005 RIPC's first Pastor Nominating Committee was elected to search for the church's first full-time pastor. With help from Presbytery and a local realtor and generous donations from RIPC members, the church purchased a manse.
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God said, “I want you to start a Presbyterian Church on Roanoke Island. I’ve already picked a location for you and had Presbytery purchase the land. “ “But Lord, there aren’t enough Presbyterians on Roanoke Island to start a Church.” The Lord said, “Don’t worry about that. I’ve given you two or three Presbyterians, then I’ll throw in a couple of Catholics, two or three Baptists, a Quaker, maybe a couple of people from the United Church of Christ. Don’t worry, you’ll have enough people – Look what Jesus did with twelve.” And then we said, “Lord, we don’t have a preacher. The Lord said, “I’ll take care of that. Not only will I give you a top-notch preacher, but I’ll send you one with a wife who will serve as Director of Christian Education. She’ll do great work with the young people.” And God sent us Tom Murphy and Mary Helen Goodloe - Murphy. And we said, “Lord, we need a place to worship that we can call our own. We can’t keep meeting in funeral parlors and schools forever.” And the Lord said, “I’ll get you a place that adjoins your existing property.” And we said, “Lord, we want to provide a place where we can keep the children of teenage mothers so they can continue their education – but the laws of our area forbid this. “ And the Lord said, “ This is wrong and I will appoint you to head the fight to get the law changed." And then we said, “Lord, we have outgrown our building and we want to build a sanctuary and expand your kingdom in this place.” And the Lord said, “It will be done.” “But, Lord, we cannot afford a new building. We can’t even hire an architect.” The Lord said, “I’ll send you an outstanding architect.” And God sent us John White. “But, Lord, we cannot afford a contractor.”The Lord said, “I’ll introduce one to your minister at a Presbytery meeting and he will bring a group of people here to build your building and not charge you a cent.” And God sent us Tom Westfall, a contractor who became a minister. “But, Lord,” we said, “we need some local people here with the knowledge to help them. We need carpenters, electricians, painters, and landscapers.” Then the Lord said, “Look in your midst.” And we already had Glen Sutherland, Tom Murphy, Tom Pearce, Ward Mosedale, Don Spencer, and Jeff Lewis. “But, Lord, we have to have someone to help us raise money to buy building supplies and furniture.” The Lord said, “I will send you a professional fund-raiser who has raised millions of dollars for churches.” And God sent Bill Miller. And we said, “Lord, what must we do now?” And the Lord said, “Attend the fellowship dinner at Rebecca Lodge on Sunday, April 26. This will be your preparation.” Praise God…. The rest of the story is history. That meeting was held and this small group of God’s people pledged enough to go through with our building project. The history of this church is full of one small miracle after another. There were so many times this little group could have disbanded. In my mind, we were and are a part of God’s plan. What we call miracles are the working parts of God’s plan Another story, like the one written in 1998, could be written today. More parts have been added to the plan and more names could be mentioned. The challenges continue to come and God continues to respond. With the retirement of Tom Murphy came strong leadership in Lori Pistor, who as Interim Pastor has led us through what could have been a frustrating time in the life of this church. Out of the Mission Study came the decision to direct the Pastor Nominating Committee to search for a full-time minister and the congregation met the challenge to prepare for the call. Another challenge was to purchase a manse and God worked more miracles through the church. Every one of you is here because you are in God’s plan for this church. It was not an accident. God wanted you and selected you to be here. I think God has great things planned for Roanoke Island Presbyterian Church. Let us keep that in mind first and foremost and continue to support God’s work through this church to the best of our ability.
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TOGETHERNESSI PASSED A PLACE OF WORSHIP TODAY
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