First Baptist hires new minister - WakeSpace Scholarship · PDF fileRumley started bartending...
Transcript of First Baptist hires new minister - WakeSpace Scholarship · PDF fileRumley started bartending...
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CLIPPING SERVICE 1115 HILLSBORO
RALEIGH. NC 2.7603 ~ TEL. l919) 833-2.079
NEWS CARY, N.C.
Matthews church and had not planned to leave. "I was very happy in Matthews
and only by God's leading did I end up in Cary," he said. "But I'm excit ed. When you're where God wants you to be there is peace in your heart." Rumley held the positions of
youth minister and then associate pastor at Burlington First Baptist Church from 1979 to 1986. Previously, he was a youth director of the YMCA in Burlington and a youth minister at the International Baptist Church in Honolulu, Hawaii. He earned a doctorate degree in
ministry from Drew University in 1990, and a master's degree in the ology from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in 1984. He studied Christian education at International College in Hawaii and attended Elon College. He and his wife, Lynn Cole
Rumley, have four children: a grown daughter, Chastity Cole; Camilla "Cami" Brooke, 15; and two sons, Jason Allen and Steven Allen, who are sophomores at Appalachian State University. Rumley said there are demo
graphic similarities between the Matthews and Cary churches, as well as the two communities. Matthews, a bedroom communi
ty of Charlotte, is experiencing rapid growth similar to Cary. And like the Matthews church,
Cary First Baptist has experienced rapid growth and wants to encour age more because it has the facili ties, Wright said.
First Baptist hires new minister 8v SHERRY WILLIAMSON STAFF WRITER
The congregation of First Baptist Church in Cary voted overwhelm ingly Sunday to hire Dr. Steven A. Rumley of Matthews as their new pastor. Rumley, a minister since 1975
and pastor of Matthews First Baptist Church for the last decade, will begin his duties in the pulpit Jan. 5. He replaces Dr. Harvey L. Duke,
who was the pastor of the 2,500- member church for 26 years until retiring in June 1994. The church is the largest Southern Baptist affili ated one in the Triangle. Rumley was recommended to
the congregation by a 9-member search committee from among more than 200 applicants during an 18-month search. The committee was comprised of a cross-section of the congregation. "We firmly believe our future
years with Dr. Rumley will be as pleasing and as productive a time as when we were led by Dr. Duke," said Don Wright, chairman of the deacons and church moderator. Wright described the new pastor
as personable, a 45-year-old "baby boomer" in the same age range as a large percentage of the congrega tion, and from a town experiencing rapid growth similar to Cary's. "He's also a dynamic speaker,"
Wright said Monday. "He will lead us the way we want to go." Wright said it was obvious that
Rumley was the best candidate because he shared the same vision as the church - growth, outreach to
the Cary community, increasing and strengthening youth programs, and missions in the local communi ty and world. The congregation also responded
in a survey that one of the most important issues was women hav
ing leadership roles in the church, includ ing serving as deacons and committee chairmen, Wright said.
"One of the requirements for a new pastor was that he respect the role of women in church 'leader
ship positions, and Rev. Rumley does," Wright said. The congregation, overflowing
the church sanctuary, voted during the church's two services on Sunday after Rumley gave an intro ductory sermon.
"I feel honored, number one, that they chose me," said Rumley, while in Cary on Monday looking for a house. "I feel extremely excited about the opportunities available to the church. "My immediate plans are to get
to know people, preach the gospel to people and see them come to know Christ and then disciple them as they grow," he said. "That's my major goal." Rumley, who initially turned
down requests from the church to apply for the position, said he was happy at the 1,525-member
Rumley
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CLIPPING SERVICE 1115 HILLSBORO
/J. RALEIGH, NC 27603 \I TEL. (919) 833-2079
NEWS & OBSERVER RALEIGH, N. C.
DEC 27 96
( ~i- - G."1 Cary Baptist church appoints pastor
CARY
F irst Baptist Church of Cary, one of the largest churches in the
Triangle, has chosen a new pastor. Stev_fill._~5, will begin his
duties Jan. 5. Rumley has served as pastor of the Matthews Baptist Church, near Charlotte, for the past 10 years. He received a divinity degree
from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest and a doctorate from Drew University in Madison, N.J. He is married and has four children. "It was obvious that Rumley was
the best candidate because he shared the same vision as the church," said Don Wright, a chair man of the deacons. Wright said that vision included church growth, strengthening youth pro grams and a mandate for mission work in the community and abroad. First Baptist Church of Cary, at
218 S. Academy si, has 2,500 members. , ....
The Naws & Obsarvar Raleigh. NC
o - 163,974 S - ?.08,762
Fcb1Lary 11, 2003 ·- Carolina Clipping Service
Raleigh, NC 27503
Pastor quits; control
• an issue Leader's initiatives divided First Baptist
BY YONAT SHIMRON STAFF WRITER
CARY -The Rev. Steven Ruml..§7, pastor of First Baptist Cfiurch, has resigned his P?st after a tumultuous six years in wj:tlch he tf!-ed to steer the congregation in a new direction but was met with resistance from lifelong church members. At a meeting Sunday evening, ch?fch men:
hers accepted Rumley's resignat10n unani mously and voted to give him a six-month sabbatical with full pay and benefits. Rumley and his wife, Lynn, left for the beach shortly afterward. During his tenure, which
' began in 1997, Rumley sked for many changes to ~llow him and his staff more l£tx00fU LU uldl\.c uc\...l<>iums. !For years, the pastor had I worked with volunteer-led church committees to get things done. But Rumley said the size of the church, which reached about 2,800 registered members under his tenure, made the process cumbersome. The new staff-led structure proved divi
sive, and so, too, did the pastor's other ini tiatives. In the end, many were either with drawn, because they were unfavorably received, or defeated. "He pushed a little too fast, a little too
strong," said David Martin, a longtime mem ber and a former deacon. "He was failing to carry the people with him." In 2001, the congregation gathered to con
sider whether to keep Rumley. The vote was 661 to 328, and Rumley stayed. But about 500 people, among them many of the old-time members, left the church for other Baptist congregations in Cary, Apex or Raleigh. "When he first came, everything was OK,"
said Janice Wade, who along with her hus band, Alvin, left for another Baptist church. "Then he wanted to take full control." Don Wright, the chairman of the church's
deacon board, said there was little acrimony among remaining church members. "We appreciate his six years of service,"
Wright said. "We wish him the best in his fu ture endeavors. We know he will be a strong voice for Christianity." Rumley could not be reached. His wife said
he planned to start a new church at a yet undisclosed location in Cary. The new church will be contemporary in style but will align with the Southern Baptist Convention. . .
Steven Rumley resigned after
six years.
Staff writer Yonat Shlmron can be reached. at 829-4891 or [email protected] • .___,
CLIPPING SERVICE 1115 HILLSBORO
RALEIGH, NC 27603 TEL (919) 633-2079
NEWS CARY, N. c.
i3 p APR 02 ~7
rofile BY SHERRY WILLIAMSON STAFF WRITER
Steven Rumley, who once resisted religion itself as Wen the Rev. Steven A.
Rumley was growing up, his working class parents
took him and his siblings to church every time the doors were open. "It was not a question of whether
we were going or not, it was 'you're going,' " said Rumley, the new pas tor of First Baptist Church in Cary. But asateenager and young
adult, he started resenting and resisting going to church. He left his hometown of
Burlington for college on a football scholarship, but his dreams of turn-
well as any call to ministry, thinks the pulpit at First Baptist Church of Cary is where he was meant to be.
STEVEN ing pro ended with an injury so he joined the Air Force.
While stationed in Honolulu, Hawaii, a resentful and angry Rumley started bartending and being a bouncer at an NCO club. He also started drinking a lot. That all changed one night when
he came home after drinking and being in a fight to find his wife, Lynn, threatening to leave him and take their daughter back home to North Carolina.
He agreed to stop. A Christian from an early age,
Mrs. Rumley also told her husband that she expected him to be in church with her the coming Sunday.
RUMLEY Rumley did go, but was miser
able. He went back the next Sunday and midway through the service, Rumley says he heard God calling. "I asked Christ to forgive me of
the past and to come into my heart and give me eternal life," he said. '~t that point, the anger I had in my heart left and was replaced by the peace and joy that comes from knowing Christ." After becoming a Christian,
Rumley said he would do anything God wanted him to do - except preach.
Today, Rumley has a reputation
)
SEE RUMLEY, PAGE 38
THE CARY NEWS Wednesday, April 2, 1997
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om Maple View Farm to Cary tables: bottled milk Belinda Hayes
CREATIVE COOKING
t of business or bite the bullet d start doing it ourselves. "We wanted to stay in business, we built a whole separate build g and bought all the processing uipment. We also bought all our
bottles and a bottle washer. e started bottling last vember." Since then Maple View Farm ttles have been appearing in the iry case of local grocery stores. d people are buying it. "We've had it a couple of months w, and everybody loves it," said II Hornish, head dairy clerk at oger's on Kilmayne Drive. "It's e genuine thing. The customers e talked to say the taste of the ilk is really good. And the skim ilk, it doesn't taste like skim ilk." Nutter said the farm feeds the
milk taste better," he said. "We're pretty proud of it. And our skim milk is something we're extremely proud of. It doesn't have a watered down taste. It even looks differ-
. ent." Looks were also on the minds of
the dairy owners and managers when they set about selecting a container for their milk. "The number one reason we
decided to use glass bottles was that milk tastes better out of the glass. Most any product is better out of glass. Another big reason, if we had put our milk in plastic jugs and put it on the shelf, it would look like anybody else's," Nutter said. Maple View Farm Milk company
supplies whole, low fat, skim, and chocolate milk, as well as butter milk and whipping cream. Dairy clerks in area grocery stores seem partial to the chocolate milk, in particular.
"The chocolate milk is great," said Hornish. Robert Connolly, manger at
Fresh Market, agrees. "You can definitely taste a big
difference compared to other milks," he said. "I had the choco late milk from Maple View and it blew it (other chocolate milk) out of the water." 'Iy Cornwall, dairy clerk at
Harris Teeter in Cary Towne Center, agreed that the chocolate
chocolate seems to sell the best." Two factors make the chocolate
milk such a popular item, accord ing to Nutter. "We make our chocolate milk
with whole milk, and we have a custom cocoa mixed up for us," he said. "We did some experimenting on different cocoa mixes before we decided on the one we would go with." The nostalgia of drinking milk
from a glass bottle also seems to have an appeal. "I haven't seen milk in glass bot
tles since I was a kid growing up in Pennsylvania," said Don O'Neil, dairy clerk at Harris Teeter in Crescent Commons. "You pay a deposit on the bottle when you buy the milk, but you get a full refund on the bottle when you bring it back. People don' t seem to mind that." The returnable bottles are an
idea whose time has come again, according to Hornish. "It's like back in the days when
they delivered milk on the doorstep. The bottle is 100 percent refundable, and the milk is com petitively priced," he said.
"I even had one guy who wanted to see the crates they were deliv ered in. He said they were like the ones that used to be delivered to him and he wanted me to sell him one. I told him he would have to talk to the dairy about that."
some of the following es, featuring milk and milk ucts, from the American Dairy ciation. Enjoy!
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STAFF PHOTO BY BELINDA HAYES
Bill Hornish, head dairy clerk at Kroger on Kilmayne Drive, says Maple View Farm milk from glass bottles is popular with customers.
f FR-EECfR-OCERTES!!, 1 Cut your Grocery Bill by : I 20% • 50% I I With Coupon Connection you I I choose from 1200 name brand I
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