From July31 through Aug. 7, the true-life saga of Oriskany Square, 24130 ran much like a filming of Beverly Hills, 90210.
The storyline was clear and well defined: Scarpe and paint a 90-year-old community church, hidden in the folds of the Alleghany Mountains-King memorial community Church of Oriskany.
The script was familiar. Mark had written it almost 2000 years ago in chapter 10, verse 45:” For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister…”
Fifteen teenagers in senior high grades captured leading roles in the cast. You may not have heard of them, but they include: Christine Bates, Jay Camp, Kevin Coughlin, Jimmy English, Gail Guenther, john Hitchner, Christina Jenkins, Manu Salas (a foreign exchange student from San Sebastian, Spain), Tim Sastic, Amy Strang, Maureen Strang, Michael Vanlier, Michele Wanlier, Michele Williams and Daniel “Smiley” Wilson. And they’re all members of the First Baptist Church in Elmer, N.J.
Assistant pastor of the Elmer congregation, Steve Snavley, explained that the selection process was lengthy and involved introspection by the students. Steve and his wife, Debbie, were one of three adult couple team leaders responsible for the trip.
The other two couples, Bill and Terri Norton and Cheryl and Dan Static, took vacations from their regular jobs to serve as directors of the refurbishing activities. They come well qualified for this particular project. Norton is an independent contractor and Sastic, a physician, painted his way through medical school.
This is the ninth year the teen mission group has gone “out in the field” to help others and Snavely said he heard of the Oriskany project through referrals and Village ministries.
David Cox, the minister of King Memorial, had purchased the paint earlier this spring through the PTA fundraiser at Eagle Rock elementary School in which Paul Thurston, Devoe distributor, spearheaded a special paint sale to help raise money for the sixth-grade field trip to Washington, D.C. Cox’s two children, Nathan and Jonathon attend school there.
“That was a terrific thing Paul did for our PTA,” Cox said. “We didn’t realize the great price break that they made available during the sale until we had to go pick up a couple of more gallons this week”
Cox’s wife, Ninette, hosted daily lunches for the entire crew. She was excited the project would be appreciated by the 200 people they anticipate for the church’s homecoming, Sept. 18.
The crew assembled scaffolds, scraped, sanded, swept and painted-restoring the wooden frame structure to its classic whiteness. Team member, Amy Strang, described the undertaking as “a real challenge.”
And when they needed a special piece of equipment to reach the top of the steeple, church trustee, Richard Paraday, was pleased that Roanoke and Botetourt Telephone company, came to the rescue with the weekend loan of a company “cherry-picker.”
“Without that truck, we never could have been able to work on the steeple,” Cheryl Sastic said.
But their day involved more than manual labor.
Devotional, prayer and Bible-reading times kept the crew focused on their mission and spiritual goals.
Following Saturday’s lunch, at the Cox’s, it was Tim Sastic’s turn to lead the group in prayer.
“. it’s very important that we don’t live like the world but live in it…it’s not that we don’t know how to do this…sometimes it’s just that we don’t trust God,” he said.
Later that afternoon, everyone celebrated the accomplishments of the week and the success of the mission trip at a “whole town” picnic hosted by David and holly Wadey. Through Wadey’s newsletter, “The Oriskany Grapevine,” former members and relatives of the community returned for the day. Among these were Jim and Linda Surber from Greensboro, N.C., with their four children, Craig (named after the creek) and toddling triplets, Eric, Lauren and Christin.
They all came to see the church, to see each other and to thank the students.
The entire week was a rewarding time for all.
“We’ve liked it here, we’ve has a lot of fun,” said Michele Williams.
Christine Bates added, “The people we are staying with are really nice and have made us feel at home.
-Prepared by Shelly Koon
