Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, July 23, 1995 TAG: 9507210005
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: EXTRA1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By CODY LOWE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
"FOLLOW ME TO ... RAINBOW FOREST BAPTIST CHURCH."
The bottom line, in cursive script, is a little harder to read: "Where Jesus Is Lord."
Apparently, the message is persuasive even though the church - some 51/2 miles east of the U.S. 460-Williamson Road intersection in Roanoke - isn't particularly easy to find,
Thirteen years ago, Rainbow Forest Baptist Church was an obscure congregation in the newly developed Rainbow Forest subdivision of Botetourt County. Today, its 2,300 members make it one of the 10 largest Southern Baptist congregations in the state; in Western Virginia, it's second in size only to Roanoke's 3,500-member First Baptist Church on Third Street.
For the first three years of this decade, its ministers baptized more people than any other Southern Baptist church in the state.
Ask anybody at Rainbow Forest Baptist today how that happened and, after mentioning God's blessings, they'll credit the Rev. Rick Via.
Via, now 42, was just six months out of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, when he was "called" to the pastorate at Rainbow Forest.
The church was ready to grow, Via says, and hired him specifically to provide the spark to fire up the congregation.
He and other church members started knocking on doors in the neighborhood, inviting people to services. The bumper stickers went onto cars. There were TV spots, radio broadcasts, billboards, newspaper ads and direct-mail campaigns to get the word out that everyone is welcome at Rainbow Forest.
A Sunday morning visitor hears over and over again that the warm welcome is genuine, one of the things that brought many members here to stay.
"The attitude across the membership is very nonjudgmental," said 8:30 a.m. worshiper Randy Smith, general manager of WSLS-TV (Channel 10) and a three-year member of Rainbow Forest.
"There are people here who the world would have considered the dregs of society, from all walks of life, including former prostitutes...Regardless of who they were, nobody here looks down on them" as redeemed members of the family of God.
Smith and others say factors that normally divide people - race, income, class, age, religious background - are non-existent at Rainbow Forest. The church has a number of black members, including two Sunday school teachers, though it is predominantly white. On a typical Sunday morning there will be people in work clothes or blue jeans sitting beside people in $1,000 suits, Smith said.
While Via says he believes he provided a leadership role in creating that atmosphere, it was the members' determination to become a "New Testament church" in which there is no distinction between rich and poor, black and white, that has made it a reality.
Over time, Via and other worship leaders made services more "user-friendly." The bulletin passed out to each worshiper includes everything a newcomer needs to know about when to sit or stand. Music is upbeat, and the words of most hymns are printed in the bulletin so newcomers don't have to go searching through the hymnal for them.
When it comes time to pass information cards to visitors, they don't stand up, the rest of the congregation does while ushers seek out those who are still - fairly inconspicuously - seated.
There is a lot of hugging and hand-shaking and talking.
Via is quick to credit the growth first to God, then to the members themselves who have brought friends and neighbors who travel from as far away as Lynchburg to worship here.
Compliments
exceed complaints
Not everyone who lives in the subdivision has been happy about the church's growth. During construction periods, particularly, parking has been difficult. Neighbors have even gone so far as to summon the Botetourt County Sheriff's Department to complain about worshipers interfering with traffic or driveways. Others have just felt the church was too big, causing too much traffic in a formerly quiet subdivision, and ought to move.
"We'd love to have more room," Via concedes, but the congregation has chosen to stay where it is. The church now has more parking space, and neighborhood compliments outnumber complaints, Via said. There is even a traffic light on U.S. 460 to make it easier to turn off for the church - and the relatively new supermarket nearby.
For many making that turn, Sundays at Rainbow Forest begin with Doug Sweeney's "Agape" class. It's named with the Greek word for the kind of love associated with God's love for humankind.
At 8:15 and 9:30 a.m. each Sunday, Sweeney and associate teacher Billy Price work their way through a few Scripture verses for more than 100 class members in the church fellowship hall. It's one of several adult Sunday school classes, many catering to specific needs, such as young couples, singles or "new Christian ladies."
"I've been doing this for 18 years now," Sweeney recalled on a recent Sunday. "I was saved in this room [then the sanctuary] 20 years ago."
Since then, he has dedicated a significant portion of his life to the ministry of the church and now serves as chairman of the committee searching for a replacement for Via, who leaves the church next Sunday to begin full-time work as a traveling evangelist.
Sweeney said it's impossible to set a deadline for hiring a new pastor, but "we are confident God has a man picked out...that he's going to raise someone up for the position."
In this case, that means someone who is capable of preaching at three consecutive morning worship services, and has the experience and aptitude to lead a dozen staff members - including four associate pastors - and such a large congregation.
The church adheres to the theological position that the Bible mandates that a man be selected for positions of leadership that include authority over other men, such as the pastorate.
Every Sunday morning, Via gives an altar call at three services set up to accommodate a membership that is far too large to fit into the 550-seat sanctuary all at once.
The first service at 8:15 is the smallest - 100 to 150 - and the most informal. Via spends much of his sermon walking at floor level down front or moving up and down the aisles. There is no choir and the pace of the service is brisk.
The crowd for the 9:30 service is significantly larger, filling the pews to 70 or 80 percent of capacity. Via spends less time on the floor and more on the elevated platform. Though he uses no notes and spends little time at the pulpit itself, the sermon is virtually a carbon copy of the first one. A full crew of eight ushers will be needed to take up the offering.
At 11 a.m., the sanctuary is truly packed. Parishioners have filled not only the pews but many of the folding metal seats along the back wall and down each of the side walls, as well as the choir loft.
Again, deep collection plates will move smoothly through the crowd. Almost $22,000 will have to be collected on an average Sunday to meet the church's $1.1 million annual budget.
Church administrator George Young, the newest member of the staff, figures the budget can be met, even though at the end of June the total for the year was about $10,000 below what is needed so far. The church operates on an October-to-October fiscal year.
Though he doesn't anticipate a significant drop, Young also knows that most churches experience some decline in giving when a new pastor comes aboard.
The congregation has earmarked $354,000 of this year's budget to pay for the recently constructed children's wing, complete with gym and additional classrooms.
Another $360,000 goes to paying the staff.
The rest - $420,000 - goes for building upkeep, in-house programs, advertising, youth ministry and donations to outside missions such as the Southern Baptist Home Mission Board and Foreign Mission Board.
The church also is a key participant in the activities of the Strawberry Baptist Association, a regional group of Southern Baptist churches.
Seaburn Daniel, the Strawberry Association's director of missions, said the departure of the pastor of the group's largest church is a matter of note, but not particularly of concern.
"Our hope and expectation - and I think it is a realistic expectation - is that the church will call a pastor, not necessarily with the same skills and gifts as Rick, but whose goals and focus will be pretty much the same," Daniel said.
A visitor to the church, in fact, might feel a distinct lack of apprehension about Via's impending departure.
"Am I concerned about Rick's leaving? No," church member Randy Smith said. "Am I a little saddened? Yes."
"I think it was the right decision. There's been a lot of prayer about it. I think he will be a tremendous evangelist. I wouldn't be surprised to see Rick on TV some day leading a crusade."
And when he does, Smith expects another "man of God" to find his way into the pulpit of Rainbow Forest Baptist Church.
by CNB