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The sturdy old building at 1004 Auburn Road, North Lansing, was built in 1851 to be a church. It remains a church to this day. In fact, it gives the appearance of never having had any illusions of being anything but an old-fashioned, plain Jane type church. The name of the denomination holding services in it has changed a few times through its history, some additions and remodeling have been done, but it's a church nonetheless.Even if its year of construction were unknown, the building would be instantly recognized by historians as a church of long standing because the names etched in four of the eight stained glass windows: Beardsley, De Camp, Lobdel and Tarbell. These are the same names that appear in the early pages of many Abstracts of Title to the lands surrounding it and more than a few of the rural roads around.
Inside, soft green paint on the fourteen bench style pews is further lightened by plush gold cushioning, cream-colored walls and the ornate altar. The intricately crafted ceiling, probably original to the church's construction, is made up of panels of narrow stripes of wood, each panel aligned in a different direction. A ceiling fan hangs from the center medallion, whose narrow strips radiate outwards in all direction.
The current pews, built-in shelving on each side of the front doors, a multitude of electrical instruments and an office for the Pastor are relatively new. The basement, added in the mid-1960s, was re-done over the past summer by a volunteer work crew from a Maryland church.
The one-of-a-kind cross above the altar was made for the church by the late Warren Tanner, father of a parishioner from the 1960's. Constructed of two fence posts from the Tanner farm near Odessa, New York, and painted a dark brown, then polished to a fine sheen and back lighted with tiny white Christmas tree lights, Pastor Jason Berga noted the sturdy cross creates a particularly beautiful effect during the evening services at Faith Baptist Fellowship, the name by which the old church is now known.
Pastor Berga is no stranger to old church buildings, speaking with awe of the beautiful one he grew up in on Kent Island, Maryland, and in the places he's lived as he studied for the ministry. These include Coopersburg, Pennsylvania, Washington, DC and Annapolis, Maryland. After spending the past twelve years serving in a large church near Annapolis, he and his family felt called to a smaller congregation. They may not have been quite prepared for just how small Faith Baptist Fellowship was then, or been aware that the building is cleared by the Fire Marshall to only hold 112 people, but Pastor Berga said he has no plans to cause what he terms "synthetic growth". "My goals are not size related, but to minister to the people and to the community".
Faith Baptist Fellowship had had no regular pastor to minister to them for several years before the arrival of Jason Berga in May 2004. He was sent to fill the pulpit by Village Missions, an Oregon based entity, which has supplied missionary pastors to small rural churches in the United States and Canada for over fifty-six years. Village Missions covers his salary so that he can devote full time to ministry.
Faith Baptist Fellowship is in the Northeast District of Village Missions, which covers an enormous area from Maine down thru West Virginia and to the Ohio border with Pennsylvania. Village Missions also supplies pastors to several other New York churches, including Blodgett Mills, Marathon and two in the Oneonta area. A District Representative oversees all churches in a region, visiting each periodically.
Along with wife Kathie, whom he met in college in Pennsylvania, where she was studying to be an educator, and four children, the Berga family moved into the parsonage and settled into small town life. He became a volunteer fireman; they are active on the Ithaca Pregnancy Center Board. Kathie Berga home schools their children and has taught at the New York State Home School Co-op in the Bethel Grove Community Church. They've since added Hannah Kate, born two weeks ago, to the family, joining daughters Sarah, 11 year old, Rebecca, 9 years old, Rachael 7 years old and son Christian, age 5.
The whole family is accustomed to taking part in pastoral care, home visits and the like. For instances, Pastor Berga related how he took at least one child at a time with him when he was making his first getting acquainted visits to his Lansing neighbors. Pointing out "I'm a big, threatening looking guy, so I'd push whatever kid I had with me up front to knock on the door. That way we wouldn't scare anybody".
It is Village Missions policy that there is no signed contract or commitment on the part of the church or the minister. Each may consider the assignment to be open ended. However, the Berga family has settled into the spacious parsonage of Faith Baptist Fellowship and fully intends to stay a long time. There's room for a home schooling classroom on the inside, and a deck to use as study hall when the weather permits, but the Pastor said, "We had to re-fit our wardrobes last winter. It is colder here than it was in Maryland and the kids did get pretty tired of the snow before last winter was over with". Kathi Berga grew up in Fort Kent, Maine, and had appreciated the milder Maryland climate.
Then he laughed heartily and reported, "Now the kids are asking me 'when is it going to snow?' ", indicating that they, at least, are looking forward to another New York winter.
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