Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, May 6, 1990 TAG: 9005040551
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: Frances Stebbins
DATELINE: PULASKI LENGTH: Medium
Sojourning at the suburban Pulaski church last Sunday, I was part of a congregation of about 500 that gave the minister two standing ovations, a string of personal tributes and tears of appreciation.
There also was a special offering taken. Clarice Weaver, the minister's wife, opened a big box offered by the women's group at the church and said she'd be able to do more cooking now with the set of utensils it contained.
It has been a year since the Weavers came from a pastorate in Nassau, British West Indies, to the mountains of Southwest Virginia. Weaver got a Sunday morning off as his associate, the Rev. Bruce Deel, acted as master of ceremonies and several members offered their own thanksgivings.
I saw as I entered the parking lot on this cool and showery morning that this Pentecostal congregation is alive in the spirit. Sunday school was letting out, and a buzz of conversation filled the gathering area and the rapidly filling nave.
Had I been physically handicapped, a ramp would have permitted me easy entrance. The group worships in a large building erected about a decade ago in a relocation from downtown Pulaski.
The worship and education areas bear the marks of the 1980s - blue and magenta Fiberglas windows, thick blue carpeting and ease in getting from one area to another.
The marks of Pentecostalism are equally evident: Eight amplifiers are spaced throughout the choir, there are seats behind the central pulpit and a plastic dove, symbolizing the Holy Spirit, dominates the rear wall.
As in many Pentecostal churches, there was no bulletin that might have hindered the outpouring of the spirit during worship. The liturgy was simple - though, as Deel said, somewhat changed from the usual format - with opening singing, short prayer periods and a message.
To get the service going at 11 a.m., music director Rudell Frazier brought out an overhead projector to guide the singing of three gospel-style hymns. A heavy musical beat, hand-clapping and foot-tapping moved worshipers through "The Lord Inhabits the Praise of His People," "Bless the Lord, O My Soul" and "I Love the Thrill That I Feel With God's Wonderful People."
Deel announced coming events. Bob White Boulevard is a busy congregation with regular visits to homes, baptisms next week, a Mother's Day banquet and fashion show on the parish agenda. In the narthex I picked up a survey form to indicate interest in a Christian school proposed to open in the fall in Dublin.
Except for a few young babies, I saw few children at the service, but a good mix of all ages over 12 comfortably filled the sanctuary. After a short prayer, in which Deel mentioned several ill people by name, Frazier directed his singers in two anthems, "I Will Bless the Lord" and "We Are Victorious." A male duet then performed "He Gave Me Something to Live For" as a tribute to the pastor.
At Bob White Boulevard Church, dark blue hymnals, "Hymns of the Spirit," are in the pews. They were issued by the Church of God in Cleveland, Tenn., 21 years ago but were not used last week.
The choir returned to pews and families by 11:20, when the tributes to Weaver began.
It read: "Mr. Weaver is friendly and funny . . . He enjoys kids. I think he has the mind of a child," read Jonathan Gilbert, who represented the children.
The laughs hadn't ended before Marsha Southern, a teen, spoke of the youth group's pleasure in getting to know Kelly, the pastor's daughter. More enthusiasm came from Sandy Turpin, a young woman who co-teaches with the minister's wife a healing class for young adults.
Then Shirley Stout spoke of the inspiration Clarice Weaver gives midlife women, and Bill Southern, speaking for the men, said, "We prayed for a good pastor, and God sent us one greater than we prayed for."
More remarks were read from Sunday school members: "He's big, nice and good looking," "He don't preach too long," "He's one who can be like God," "He has a personality like our church," "He's down to Earth and been through what I have."
Then Deel had his say as Weaver, his wife and daughter sat beside the pulpit and sometimes wiped their eyes at the tributes.
The youth minister, who has been on the staff for nine months, said the older pastor has been like a father to him. Weaver, said Deel, is honest, compassionate, humble, appreciative, a good leader and authentic in his Christian witness.
The congregation can best thank its minister, said Deel, by praying for him, being faithful in support of his ideas and programs, volunteering to help him and speaking well of the church.
Little remained for the Weavers to say, but both the pastor and his wife said that if Bob White Boulevard Church is growing and influential in Pulaski, it's God, not they, who has been the cause.
by CNB