History
Recollection on the Past 60 years
By the History Section of our Intentional Interim Program

The time for the start of this brief history of Cambria Baptist Church is 1940, a little over 60 years ago. It was at this time when our little town was forever changed. World War II was beginning and for this area the Radford Arsenal was in its beginning stages. Our church saw many of its young men called into service for our country and our community was over run with people from all parts of the United States especially the south; all seeking employment at the arsenal with every imaginable space filled with people needing housing. At this time, our pastor was Reverend Peter Culbom, a good speaker and leader. At the time we had a very active young people's group and Mrs. Culbom helped with this ministry; their home was always open to young people since they had teens in their family. One of the things that stand out in Reverend Culbom's short time at Cambria was the use of bulletins. He printed them himself and on Saturday would walk and deliver them over town. Due to the increase in the area's population we saw a large number of newcomers in our church both from the north and south; everything seemed to be going well and Reverend Culbom was well liked. His Uncle Sam who claimed priority on his life, called him into the field of chaplaincy to serve his country. It was a shock to the church, but who can argue with the government. So we were without a pastor.

As always, the Lord has something good for His people and He sent to us Reverent W. W. Harrison, and guess what, he was single, quite a change from one that had a wife and family of four. He also was a very evangelistic preacher and speaker and was popular with both the young and old. We had lots of people attending and many old fashioned revivals were conducted leading to a lot of new converts. And, guess what, he did not stay single very long; he had a young lady in the wings back in Tennessee and soon brought her to Cambria as his bride. This period in our history was a wonderful time for our young people, no gas or money, so all our activities outside of school, were centered in the church. We knew the church was the place to go for fun and fellowship. At this time we were blessed with great leadership, not only the Pastor and his wife, but Mr. and Mrs. E.L. Kuhn transplanted from Pennsylvania. With everything going good, Reverend Harrison announced his call to a church in Tennessee so we reluctantly said good-bye and gave him our blessing.

It is now 1943 and we found our new pastor in Pennsylvania, a Yankee of all things, Reverend Gerald Goss, who had been a former pastor of Mr. and Mrs. Kuhn. Gerald and Judy Goss, two young people, with two small boys were now at home in our parsonage. He was a good speaker and an excellent teacher, so we were blessed with deep Bible studies and sermons from the scripture. He and his wife were both talented in music, she played the piano and both sang (often doing duets). The boys were everyone's favorites, but they especially loved Mr. C.J. Woolwine, (Jim's grandfather) and often sat with him during services. They really loved him and called him "the captain," which was his nickname to many. Mr. Goss was a visiting preacher during his first year he tried to visit every family in our church, which he accomplished, often on foot, as gasoline was rationed. We were a growing church numerically but even better we made great strides in the study of the Bible especially the young people who had regular times of Bible training. As always with things going good, the church was shocked to learn that another church has called our pastor, but this time instead of a wife and two boys, he had a wife and three boys with him.

So once again, we go north and find our next pastor, Reverend Robert E. Crawford. Rev. and Mrs. Crawford and four children came to Cambria Baptist Church in 1949. He was able to pick-up where our last pastor left us and continued with good preaching and Bible training. Again, we had a plus with Mrs. Crawford being a good musician, but she was really a mother first, having four children to care for so much of her ministry was spent caring for her family. Rev. Crawford loved people (young and old) and that love was returned. He spent a lot of time visiting both in the homes and hospitals. He was active in the community at large, in our local ministerial association and all our mission organizations; he was very interested in the local, state and national Baptist conventions. Our men today still have great stories on their days with Reverend Crawford as their R.A. leader. In every way Reverend Crawford was a genuine leader even many people outside our church would consult with him and gain advise on their problems. As in all Baptist churches, however, we found ourselves without a pastor again. Good pastors are much sought after and Rev. Crawford was one of the good ones.

This time our church went south and called Rev. Dean Duke who was graduating from New Orleans Seminary. He accepted our call but we were told up front that he felt his calling was to go into the mission field. Again, our parsonage was filled with our pastor, wife and two little girls. They were a family easy to love and were popular with the young people of the church. Reverend Duke, as all of our previous pastors, had a burden for lost people and many of his sermons were warnings to the church of the consequences of not fulfilling our chare of the Great Commission. We always knew that God had allowed us to have him for a short time. He never concealed his longing and desire to go to the mission field and that call was fulfilled when the mission board assigned him to Chile. It was hard to see them go, but we understood that God's call takes precedence to all else; we gave them our blessing and prayers for their ministry.

Twenty years have passed since these recollections started and we are again searching for a new pastor. We extended a call to Reverend Lloyd Hilton, which he accepted. Our parsonage was now home to Lloyd, Betty and two small boys. Again, we had a musical family; Lloyd had a good voice, as did Betty, both played instruments, Betty being an outstanding pianist. He was a people person, never met anyone too poor or down and out or one too rich for him to visit and try to win to Christ. He was always on the go to see a prospective member and as a result we really began to grow. Reverend Hilton had a dream, he wanted to see our church expand its ministry and build a new church as we were out growing our present building, a big undertaking, and it was, but we did it with the Lord's help. After moving to our new location we continued to grow, but as is often the case when things are going forward, the Lord calls the pastor some place else. It was a difficult time to give up this family, which had done so much for our church; but they must follow their call. Lloyd, Betty, and two boys and a baby girl said good-bye to this pastorate, leaving behind a legacy not soon forgotten.

We extended a call to Reverend Samuel Edwards to be our next pastor to take residence in our parsonage (which, by the way, was build during Reverend Hilton's tenure). After being here a short time, he began to make changes. He was newly out of seminary and the ultra conservative trend was just in its infancy, however, he brought many of their ideas especially our history of long missions support and many of our older members found it unacceptable and as a result he resigned and a good number of members went with him to form another church in our area, not Southern Baptist but independent. This was a terrible blow as we were still under a heavy indebtedness for our new building, but to God be the glory, we were able to pay our indebtedness not only on time, but ahead of schedule.

Now, we had the task of seeking a new pastor. As always, there were prospects, but once you gave them our recent history, they lost interest. Finally, after a number of contacts, Reverend Quentin Lee accepted the call to our church, but not a very happy wife came with him. They had only been on the field a few months when they had to leave due to the death of his brother, and take over the family farm.

Oh, not again so soon, yet we were pastor searching, but God had a wonderful surprise in store for us---as always, God had a plan! We were to be the church for Reverend Crawford and family to come to again. What joy this brought to a congregation who was going through so much hurt. Only those who were there at that time can fully appreciate this part of our history. Back they came and did so much to rebuild this church. Cambria Baptist Church was back on track. He was with us for eleven good years; always the same loving pastor to all who came through the doors. Then, as age has a way of catching up on all of us, he reached retirement and through all of our sadness was a thanksgiving for all he had been able to accomplish in these past eleven years at Cambria. To our pleasant surprise, they would only be moving to Blacksburg to a house they had purchased over there for their retirement years.

Now the big question for our church, who will replace our beloved Reverend Crawford? Again, as always, God had our man and we just had to find him and make a call; we did just that and Reverend Doctor Maurice T. McCarthy, his wife, and two boys said yes and they were the next occupants in the parsonage. Our church grew and prospered in many ways during his pastorate. He was the perfect one to succeed Reverend Crawford; this was proven to us when Mrs. Crawford discovered she had cancer and even though they had become members at a Blacksburg Church, Dr. McCarthy (or Butch as he was affectionately called) became her special minister. Butch, the young minister developed a real rapport with Reverend Crawford, a much older and mature pastor and thereupon is a wonderful story of how God works with His children. Reverend McCarthy not only ministered to Mrs. Crawford, but also invited Reverend Crawford to be a visiting minister for our church. A great solution; help for Butch and Reverend Crawford doing what he loved best. Only a wise God could work out things so wonderfully.

Butch was with us fourteen years and when he resigned to return to his home town in Lynchburg, the church had enjoyed the longest tenure of all our pastors.

Cambria Baptist Church went through a few turbulent years before entering into the Intential Interim Program between June 2001 and August 2003. During this process, the church formed a Transition Team. The team was encouraged by the congregation to thoroughly examine each aspect of the process. Upon completing this, the congregation could organize and release the Pastor Nominating Committee to begin their process as soon as possible. This enabled us to focus on issues and the process rather than "just going through the motions." The church is to be commended for this and it also speaks well of the congregations acceptance of Pastor Burgess as our shepherd during this transition time.

In June of 2004 the Reverend Thomas Harvey was called to be our pastor.