NORTH POWNAL

The Rev. Ray St. Pierre is one of many men of God who sees a society that is spiritually “broken,” and in need of repair.

Church services help, of course. They revive people of faith on Sundays, or on whatever days they attend.

But this Saturday and Sunday, the pastor at North Pownal United Methodist Church and the Rev. Greg Ferrill of TnT Ministries of Topsham are going “the extra mile.” They will team up with hundreds of Christians for an oldfashion camp meeting and revival. It will be the first of its kind for the North Pownal Methodist Church, located at 851 Lawrence Road.

Pastor Ferrill will deliver the Saturday evening message at 7 p.m., and Pastor St. Pierre will preach at 9 a.m. Sunday. It is intended as an inspirational time of praise, worship and preaching.

The music and the praise and worship parts of both services will be led by Heaven’s Blend, a gospel quartet made up of pastors from area churches providing a combination of southern style contemporary gospel music.

“Everyone is welcomed to this old-fashion Methodist camp meeting style of worship with a prayer that society will heal from its brokenness beginning with us in the Pownal, Maine, community as we listen to the will of God through his Son Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit, making disciples for the transformation of the world,” St. Pierre said. “Come and join us for a time of spiritual uplifting, and an always-toremember, life-changing experience.”

The spiritual void, Pastor St. Pierre says, has snuck up on us.

“As I look back on my life’s journey, I have noticed a gradual deterioration of the society I once new,” he said. “The basic Christian principals under which our nation was founded have increasingly been compromised and watered down to a point that no one knows what is right or wrong anymore, nor do they even care. We have arrived at a point in our lives where morality and good judgment has become nonexistent, with fears of the consequences of what is called political incorrectness.”

Pastor St. Pierre says that technology “has evolved to a point where living is a matter of pushing buttons, with very little inter-personal relationships. The many remedies that have been tried, with all good intentions of preserving the rights of everyone, by encouraging inclusiveness and love for one another, are in fact failing.

“We continue to see increasing incidents of violence and total disregard for life and property. The nature of these incidents seem like they continue to grow, and are happening in places where one would least expect.

“We continue to see increased incidents of suicide and depression in alarming numbers, within our teen community. And more and more the structure we once knew as ‘home and family’ is soon becoming history.”

It is important as Christians, the pastor says, that we reclaim the values that once guided our society.

“It is my belief, that the only way that is going to happen, is to reconnect to our roots, letting go and letting God,” the pastor said. “As pastor of the North Pownal United Methodist (Church), together with the dedicated members it is our responsibility to lead our community into this reconnection process, and that if we look to God through his Son Jesus, we will recover and be healed.”

Any questions regarding this weekend’s revival should be addressed to Pastor St. Pierre at 837-0682 or to lay leader Deb Larrabee at 240- 1637.

Pastor St. Pierre is a 60- year by-vocational licensed local pastor with the New England Conference of the United Methodist Church. He has been in ministry of varied sorts only in the last 15 years. He also has been a business owner, and a licensed practicing EMT with the state. He presently is serving the Topsham Fire and Rescue Department, and is the chaplain. He has a total of 35 years plus experience in various avenues of public safety, 18 of them in law enforcement.

St. Pierre was appointed as a part-time pastor of the North Pownal United Methodist Church in July of 2012.

lgrard@timesrecord.com