Imagination and Faith

The expansion committee of the Roanoke Valley Missionary and Social Union began to explore the need for a new church in the Green Valley area in 1958. In 1959, Howard Sigmon bought the property we now own.

Anyone who saw the small band of nine people who attended our first prayer meeting on February 18, 1960, with 18 inches of snow on the ground, would have had to have a great deal of imagination and faith to envision the church we have now become.

But those people who began with prayer meetings had imagination and faith. By October 1960, we had called our first full time pastor, Emery Elmore. A year later, with $1,000 from the budget, we began our first building fund. One year later, we had our second pastor, Jere Allen.

Imagination and faith carried Colonial Avenue to new heights. Easter Sunday, April 14, 1963 marked our transition from a mission to a church. By November our first sanctuary and educational building were completed.

Imagination and faith became the hallmark of our next pastor, a young Branan Thompson who came to us on the last day of 1968. For the next twenty-nine years, Branan led this church to sustained growth and a loving heart. During those 29 years, we expanded our staff. David Dockery was called as our first associate pastor, and their joint ministry led to even more growth. Our once spacious sanctuary began to feel cramped.

It was step of faith to plan our current sanctuary, finished in 1985. On the day we first worshipped here, it was hard to imagine we would ever need more space. But a progression of imaginative, winsome, faithful associates like John Adams, Jim Baucom and Laney Mofield, joined Branan and we continued to grow, to the point where we once again had to build - adding classrooms, meeting rooms and offices.

When Branan announced his retirement after 29 years of ministry, it was hard to imagine Colonial Avenue without him. But a year of self-study, faith, and yes, imagination showed us new possibilities for ministry, both inside our church family and beyond our walls. The calling of Jeff Scott in September 1998, put leadership to those dreams.

And now, we are on the brink of another step of faith. The plans to improve our current building and acquire the house next door is more than a building program - it is a chance to apply our faith and imagination to God's work. How will we use this opportunity? The possibilities are limited only by our faith and imagination.......