On Oct. 15, 1961, the doors of a former summer camp mess hall opened, welcoming 131 people into the first gathering of the Evangelical Free Church of Felton.
Fifty years later, many things have changed, but the community of the Evangelical Free Church — now Felton Bible Church — has stayed true to its roots.
From its very beginnings, the church has grown through the dedication and hard work of its members.
“When we first started, this place was a mess,” Cay Ellen Thornley said, describing the scene at the former site of Captain Ed Dougherty’s Boyland, a 2-acre summer camp that had sat unused for several years when the fledgling church purchased the property for $35,000.
Thornley, who was a child at the time of the founding, grew up alongside the church itself, watching and helping as the dilapidated camp buildings gave way in 1962 to the first section — the sanctuary — of the present church building.
Her mother, Marceille Campbell, who served as the congregation’s organist fairly consistently until 2006, recalled the efforts to create the church building.
“As we grew, we needed more space,” she said. “We all came down every Saturday and worked.”
Campbell, whose mother also attended the church, now regularly attends with her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
“There’s always been about four generations of us here,” she said.
As the congregation grew in size and attendance, so, too, did the families it comprised, often within the church’s bounds.
“Kids grew up here, fell in love here,” Thornley said. “It’s a loving place, very family-oriented.”
That sense of family was one of the main attractions for moving back to Felton for the Rev. Randy Kay.
As a young pastor in the late 1970s and early ’80s, Kay served as the youth ministries director, leading children’s activities at Felton Bible Church along with his wife, Linda, until early 1983.
It was the sense of family and community he saw and experienced during that time that led Kay to jump at the opportunity to return as the church’s spiritual leader in 1997.
Kay, now senior pastor and the longest-tenured pastor in the church’s 50 years, has consistently served the church ever since.
“I’ve always desired to pastor long in one place,” Kay said.
Looking back at the 50 years of the church, Kay said the church’s primary focal points have consistently been its emphasis on mission work, families and youth.
“We’ve always had a heart for world missions, and we’ve always had a heart for youth,” he said.
The church offers a plethora of activities for children, such as youth groups for middle school- and high school-age children, Awana for younger children and summer programs such as Vacation Bible School.
These days, Kay said, the church is sponsoring one of its former pastors as he works in Haiti.
Such generosity is a value that is encouraged from a young age, Kay said.
This year, children attending the church’s annual Vacation Bible School contributed nearly $4,000 in pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters to help build clean water wells in Haiti.
The church can afford to sponsor missionary work and to be an active contributor to the San Lorenzo Valley community largely due to the congregation’s generosity, coupled with the fact that the church has never been mortgaged, operating debt-free.
“I’m constantly amazed at the giving of this church,” Kay said.
In line with the church’s history of giving, the church donated 50 backpacks loaded with school supplies to local schoolchildren this year through Valley Churches United Missions.
The weekend of Oct. 15 and 16 — the church’s official 50th anniversary — will be a reunion of sorts, with past and present church members gathering for songs, sharing God sightings and a catered dinner.
“I think it’s exciting that our theme for this 50th year is that we’re blessed to be a blessing,” Kay said. “What we want to do is turn that blessing around to the community.”
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