A Brief History of the Kemp's pastorate, from 1989 to 2003
In the spring of 1989 Revs. Allen and Deborah Kemp
came to Suffern as co-pastors, having completed a year's term doing missions work in Asia.
As of the Centennial, they have been serving this church for nearly 14 years, the second longest pastorate in our history.
Perhaps at another time, in another day, someone can look back on their days as pastors of this church and write a more complete
history than what follows.
Allen and Debbie's first year included the awesome
blessing of one of Peter Adams giving up his home for several months so the Kemps could move to Suffern before their actual
duties began. Baby Micah was to be born around starting day so the goal was to have the manse redecorated and family settled
in. With the tremendous effort of many in the congregation, this was joyfully accomplished. As is usual, the first months
of a pastorate means getting to know people, seeing how things work, finding your way around town, and reaching out to members
who arent particularly involved.
The Kemps brought with them a missionary and
evangelistic focus that would impact the programs of the church. Friend Day brought many new visitors to the church and a
neighborhood Block Party served up hot dogs and games to tell our neighbors we love our town. In the summer of 1990 the youth
group was very active. They raised a record amount of funds in the rummage sale, went to Fun in the Son in Ocean Grove, NJ,
and then did a missions trip to Tijuana, Mexico where they built a house for a poor family and did street dramas, mime, and
a tambourine dance to share the Gospel. Childrens Ministries held a Back Yard Bible Club and kids performed a wonderful Easter
musical We Like Sheep. The Missions Committee was proud to send our own missionary, Miss Betty Nulty, to Zambia, Africa. LeeAnn
Weinberg became the church secretary that year and John Henry, a former member of the congregation, was ordained to the ministry
in the PC(USA). Other events that first full year included the March for Life in Washington, DC, Christ in the Passover celebration
with Jews For Jesus, the PRMI Princeton Conference, Don Atkin and Matt Welde weekend missions, 3D, and Sunday night praise
services. This year, at the urging of the Missions Committee, Session took a big step and voted to tithe all receipts of the
church to missions and ministries beyond the walls of our church. Not surprisingly, because God is faithful, the year ended
with a birthday gift to Jesus Christmas offering and the financial books closed
in the black for the first time in decades (where no endowment funds were drawn down).
1991 continued with the same missions and evangelism
thrusts. The Missions Committee held a large Valentines Day outreach dinner for international students from Rockland Community
College, for many this was the first time they had ever heard of Jesus Christ. The youth group and 17 adults went on a missions
trip to Costa Rica and held a medical clinic and led many to faith in Christ. A dozen folks attended PRMIs Dunamis Conference
in Lake George, a powerful time of equipping and empowering in the Holy Sprit. Archer Torrey (grandson of RA Torrey) and Brad
Long were the speakers. The old oil boiler was replaced and the church office
got its first computer.
An early goal for the Kemps was to bring contemporary
worship into the main Sunday morning worship service. Session took a big step to do this in 1992 in hiring Judy Wiltsie as
our new worship leader. Praise and Worship was slowly integrated into what once was a mostly traditional worship. The youth,
along with Alliance Semiary intern Tricia Jones, did another missions trip to Tijuana, the children went on tour with their
We Like Sheep musical, outreaches were done at the Suffern Street Fairs, and the Wednesday night Intercessory Prayer Group
began in earnest. The highlight of 1992 was our first Spirit Alive with Bill and Weezie Frost as lay leaders and John McWilliams
as guest preacher. This year we learned that God can do a great work in our midst, right here in our own buildings, without
having to travel somewhere else to a conference. Many lives were deeply touched and many made commitements to Christ as Lord
and Savior.
1993 was a year of new beginnings. With the hiring
of Herb Johnson as our music director, praise team leader, worship took on a new level that began to draw many into a deeper
intimacy with Jesus. The church, for the first time in 25 years, stopped its numerical decline. Tricia Weimer of Alliance
Seminary led our youth group and a junior high ministry began. We celebrated our 90th anniversary and Spirit Alive
2 was a real blessing. 1994 continued the blessings of the previous year but new staff were hired. Charles and Marilyn Stevens
came as Music Ministers and associate for Evangelism and Discipleship. The church grew by 15 this year, the first actual membership
growth since the 60s. The highlight of the years was Vacation Bible School, directed by Kristin Leith Miele, where over 150
children heard the Gospel.
1995 was a mountaintop year for our church. Between the two youth groups, often there were 50-60 coming each week and many unchurch
youth found Jesus Christ as Lord when they attended Young Lifes Winter Camp at Lake Champion. The True Love Waits program
saw over 25 youth commit to waiting for marriage, many took part in a youth Concert of Prayer, Autumn Blaze was a highlight,
and nerd night was a blast. This year the SPC youth group was one of the largest and most successful in the county. VBSs Kingdom of the Son drew 165 children and Sunday School had 45 children reguarly attending.
By the end of the year, there were a dozen small
groups meeting, from Ladies Bible studies, to single moms, to Promise Keepers, to evangelistic home fellowships, many were
being discipled and led to Christ in small groups. Some 45 adults completed the Campus Crusade For Christ personal evangelism
training, led by Charles Stevens, and the CrossRoads Café coffee house was fun. The Intercessory Prayer group continued to
pray faithfully for peoples personal prayer requests and many literal miracles are recorded in our monthly newsletters.
The highlight of the year was Spirit Alive 4
when Rev. Jim Logan came and ministered. At no time in the past has the Holy Spirit been so manifestly present. Perhaps it
was indeed the manifestation longed for by our founding pastor Walter Campbell. The
worship, the preaching, the words of knowledge, the deliverance, the overpowering presence of the Spirit all made this a weekend
to never be forgotten. When people literally cannot stand in the presence of a Holy God and fall down, when people confess
their sins and repent, when people are delivered of demonic bondages and are healed, when people run into the arms of Jesus
Christ with saving faith, it is a time of literal revival. Just when it seemed like our church was a the pinnacle of success
in terms of programs, Sunday worship, numerical growth, youth and childrens ministries, and small group discipleship, the
Lord came down and dramatically changed our lives. At the closing evening service,
when all the leadership were under the power of the Spirit and literally unable to stand, the Lord spoke clearly to this writer,
Pastor Allen Kemp, that the revival is not just for us. Its for the lost, its so the village of Suffern and all Rockland County
can see and hear the Good News and Jesus Christ.
The focus for 1996 was to bring together our
church in the renewal we had experienced and join with the other churches in Suffern to begin a coordinated plan for evangelism.
In the fall we had an awesome weekend with New Jerusalem Hispanic Church and Lighthouse Assembly of God and the Lord touched
our lives and brought a unity between races and Christian denominations like perhaps never before. The 13 small groups in
the church continued to flourish, Marilyn Stevens began a counseling center in the church, and the youth ministry was led
by Kristin Leigh Miele then Arrian Acevedo. Session began a large scale renovation plan to put new roofs on the sanctuary
and Gathering Place. Painting, recarpeting, padding the pews, new lighting, rearranging the pulpit area, and opening up the
choir loft were all part of this.
When the renovations were to begin, it was discovered
that a major structural flaw existed in the Wissler Room where it is attached to the main sanctuary and that the back wall
along the playground was in danger of collapse. Steel girders were installed, major roof work was done, and the Wissler Room
got a new ceiling. While 1997 was a year of physical renovations for the buildings, it was a also the beginning of some very
difficult months to come. We experienced the deaths of many of our beloved senior citizens and several very active families
moved away. The church had grown tremendously in the previous years, a literal revival had come and an evangelistic vision
was given, but unity was disintegrating. Session recognized this and in the fall
produced a Mission Statement (on the back inside cover of this booklet). What is the church for? Why do we exist? Where are
we going as a church? The church membership went from 198 to 167.
The highlight of 1998 was the completion of the
renovation project with a grand dedication service held on Palm Sunday. The spring-time Fifty Day Spiritual Adventure was
a blessing and the falls Spirit Alive program with Alan Leach was very encouraging but Session struggled all year to reconcile
with members of the congregation who seemed to have different visions and purposes for the church. By year end, the associate
staff and youth pastor had resigned and the membership of our church went from 167 to 125. A large percentage of the people
who joined the church from 1993-1995 ended up leaving and forming a new congregation in Tuxedo. These were indeed refining
times, times when one clings to the Lord and looks not to measures of the worlds success.
1999 was a year for healing and focusing. Chris
and Angie Sorensen came to lead our youth and John Fuller drove from Binghamton to be our music minister. These two men were
a temendous encouragment to Pastors Allen and Debbie and they gave much needed leadership for an exhausted Session. LeeAnn
Weinberg also proved faithful and true as our church administrator. Highlights
for the year the Kemps mission trip to Argentina to learn city reaching principles, the summer wilderness hiking trips, Y2K
preparation, and Hurricane Floyd. Church membership held steady this year.
2000 was the year our church came back into focus
and set the course for where we currently are sailing. Y2K turned out to be nothing, a joke on all of us, but the generator
was a blessing for the victims of the hurricane. In the winter we had a huge, county-wide week long evangelistic campaign
with Ron Hutchcraft speaking. This was, we believe, the first of its kind where evangelical churches from all over the county
came together to seek to win lost souls to Jesus. Over a thousand youth participated in the rally at Nyack College. In the
spring, Jim Logan returned for a Faith Festival weekend and in the summer the Kemps were given five week mini-sabbatical to
spend in London at City Temple.
In the fall God brought Karen Shaffstall to us
as our music minister. Soon our worship services began to take on a new dimension of intimacy and we all sensed a renewed
pleasure in the Fathers heart. Allen and Debbie came back from London with a renewed vision for our church and a renewed commitment
to be part of Gods plans for Suffern. The Holy Spirit was again working powerfully in our midst and we had a great sense of
unity in our leadership.
As it goes, it seems like if Satan cant destroy
a church from the inside by making believers quarrel and fight, then he works from the outside. Just before Thanksgiving,
a week after a word of knowledge was given that we were under attack, a satanist enterd Fellowship Hall, performed a ritual
on the stage, and set the building on fire. He wrote Satan rules the earth on
the outside wall of the church office but we responded on Sunday morning with a banner Jesus rules heaven and earth. There
was much media coverage of the incident and we counted ourselves privileged to witness to the love and compassion of Jesus
Christ right on prime time New York City news.
Much of 2001 was spent in orchestrating the massive
renovation done on building, to a tune of nearly $400,000. But ministry continued on and our worship grew deeper and deeper.
In the fall, just in time for the new Alpha Course, Fellowship Hall was completed. 9/11 made all of us think on life differently
and we were blessed to minister to a number of families affected. As of this years annual report, our church is growing again
and we are still experiencing precious unity and common vision. Our hope and prayer for this year is a re-ignited youth program
where we will again see our youth discipled well and unchurched youth led to Christ.
