As of late, I have been doing a lot of local church Vice-Moderator visits and today was no exception. This morning I traveled to North Chatham County, NC to preach at Chapel in the Pines Presbyterian Church (CITPPC) with the Rev. Mindy Douglas Adams as pastor. Although this congregation is technically in Chapel Hill, NC which is normally is in the bounds of New Hope Presbytery, it is actually in the bounds of Salem Presbytery because Chatham County is in their jurisdiction.
The short history of this congregation is very interesting and can be found on their website here. To make it a short story, the largest church in Chapel Hill, University Presbyterian Church (UPC) sought a way to organize a New Church Development (NCD) in a growing part of North Chatham County. Through a long process, a group from UPC formed a task force in 2005 with Mindy, who was at the time an Associate Pastor and Presbyterian Campus Minister at the church. As time went on they developed a mission statement, received support from other churches and received a grant from the PCUSA General Assembly. After meeting and worshiping in a few venues including a hall at UPC, a local apartment community room and a restaurant, the congregation was chartered by Salem Presbytery May 4, 2008 where Elders and Deacons were ordained/installed and Mindy was called as Organizing Pastor. They currently hold worship and other educational events at North Chatham School, a county elementary school. They do have land and are in the process of designing plans for a permanent church in a growing housing subdivision. I have to say it was the first time I preached in a school's multipurpose room - and it was great! The congregation is formed into 5 teams and their responsibility is to fix-up the worship space and other rooms to be used on their assigned month.
During worship, CITPPC recognized their link and support for the Campus Ministry at UNC. A student from that ministry spoke of their activities and thanked the congregation for their support. I preached from the Mark lectionary text (9:30-37) with the sermon entitled "Do You Want to Be First or Last?", emphasizing that we are called to become servants and identify with the least of these. After the service, I had the opportunity to speak to many members during the fellowship time and they are truly supportive of the ministry of the church and of Mindy's leadership and guidance through the Holy Spirit.
Thanks to all the CITPPC members and especially to Mindy, who has been my friend and colleague in ministry for the past 13 years with most of those when she was in New Hope Presbytery with me. I am sure that God will continue to bless this 115-member congregation to do great things in the years to come!
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