the 25th Anniversary Celebration

On Sunday we celebrated 25 years of ministry as Pastor and people at the church. It was a great day filled with special music, testimonies and special people. Nearly two hundred members and friends were on hand for the two hour and five minute celebration. Yes, it went that long but it didn't really feel that long. Things moved right along.

The Lord girls, all grown up, sang a beautiful rendition of "His eye is on the sparrow." It was a song that Lori used to sing quite often and was one of Pastor Cal's favorites. Lori and Cal came here a week and a half before Rebecca was born and this has been the only church the girls have known. It was a very special presentation.



The only time they let Pastor Cal speak was when he came up to join Lori for a duet of a song they sang on the Sunday they candidated back in April 1985, the same day that Cal was ordained and officially called to serve as the pastor of the church. The song is titled, "I want hat crown" and features Lori playing guitar. She hasn't done that in 10 years but she did pretty well.




Steve Contois, Cheryl Dutrumble and Paul Johnson also added a special song to the mix when they sang "There's More to the Story." It reminded us that even as we look back to celebrate the past, there is still more to come.

George Strouse and Curt Brockway, two of the young men in the church when Pastor Cal arrived, served as worship assistants for the morning. We read the responsive reading from his very first Sunday and Pastor Greg Hamby read the scripture reading from Isaiah that was used at his ordination. Fran Rogers had the children congratulate the Pastor on his anniversary as part of the Children's Moment. The choir rounded out the special music by singing "Make a joyful noise."



Kevin Mariano also helped out by adding a trumpet voluntary to the prelude and the hymns. It was just the right touch to make it extra special.

Pastor Greg Hamby was welcomed to the pulpit just before noon. He is a good friend of Pastor Cal and he was able to leave his service at the Quaker Hill Baptist Church and get here in time to share the message. He was great. He talked about Isaiah's sense of call and the promise God had given to be with him and bless his ministry. Title of the message was "Rev. Dr. Crackpot." That got a laugh out of the congregation and was a perfect ending of the celebration.

After the service we went downstairs for the reception and the ladies put on a beautiful spread. Cal also received a gift of an autographed ball by players of this year's Connecticut Tiger team and several other special gifts.

The Anniversary Committee was made up of the following people; Nancy Allen, Karen Barber, Oliver Bray, Curt and Mary Brockway, Adele DiBiagio, Judy Dupont, Sue Ferguson, Mark Kane and Cynthia Strouse.