The First Baptist Church on Deale Churchton Road recently celebrated 50 years as a congregation.
Weeks before their official celebration, they got a call from the Workman family in Kings Mountain, N.C. The family was visiting independent Baptist churches in the southeastern United States in an effort to gain support for their fledgling parish outside of Charlotte, N.C. Ray Workman and his family wanted to know if they could come and meet the parishioners at Deale's First Baptist.
The Rev. Robert Mayes of First Baptist, talked to Ray about their efforts to start a church that Ray would head up as pastor. He also learned that the family was very musical, performing with French horn, clarinet, flute, piccolo, saxophone, piano and vocals.
First Baptist was in need of music accompaniment for their anniversary celebration, and so the minister invited Ray, his wife and six children to come to Deale.
Next, Rev. Mayes put out word that he'd need to find a place for the family of eight to sleep.
Ann Brown, a First Baptist parishioner, who lives a few blocks from the church, offered to host the family in her home on Rockhold Creek. And so it came to be that a family of missionaries from North Carolina came to Deale to help celebrate the local church's half-century in the community.
All eight members of Workman family came to the parish to celebrate in June - Ray, wife Wanda, and their six children: Sara, Christina, Allison, Keisha, Valerie and Ray Jr.
When the family arrived, they found a church that had more needs than musical accompaniment. The church needed help with a major construction project - replacement of the roof on the sanctuary.
As Rev. Mayes and Ray got to know one other, the Deale pastor learned that Ray wasn't only a fellow clergyman, but also in the construction business with all of his family, working alongside him. The two men talked about the church's need for a new roof and made a tentative plan for the Workman family to return to Deale to help with the roofing project.
The Workmans celebrated with the parish, then left for travels to other churches to drum up support for their new place of worship.
Rev. Mayes and the family kept in contact, and by the last week in August, the Workman family was back in Deale to do the roofing job.
Once again, Ann opened her house to the family of eight.
"She even stocked the refrigerator," Ray said.
The Deale church had a building fund for the materials, which cost about $2,500. The roof is typical stock - asphalt shingle. They had it delivered and ready to go when the Workman family returned to Deale last week.
Despite the heat, the family got right to work with Ray and his son on the roof along with Ray's daughters, who ranged in age from 15 to 31. All of the women wore full-length skirts with work boots. It was quite the sight, seeing them go up and down the ladder, their long dresses adorned only by their tool belts.
Each evening, they returned to Ann's house, where they got a real feel for Maryland life. Ray Jr., in particular, became fond of catching crabs off the dock behind Ann's house..
"I got a half a bushel using chicken necks on Rockhold Creek," he said with a wide smile.
"Where we're from, they call that a river," Ray Sr. said. "A creek is something real small, that you could walk across," he said, describing one of the regional differences.
"Pastor Mayes then teased, "isn't a creek down there pronounced crik?"
"No, a crik is what you get in your neck," Ray Sr. joked.
The exchange gave everyone on the job site a laugh, and showed how thecamaraderie of the weeks' work had sown a great friendship.
By Saturday morning, the entire roof was completed.
The family spent Sunday morning with the parish, then headed back to North Carolina. They will continue on their rounds to garner support for their church. They've already visited over 100 churches from the Everglades to Pennsylvania.
But they left Deale with the backing of another parish.
First Baptist Church of Deale voted as a congregation last Wednesday to send the family support for their new undertaking.
"They're good people - we'd have done it without their help," Rev. Mayes said.
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