THE PROTESTANT COMMUNITY CHURCH OF MEDFORD LAKES
“The Cathedral of the Woods”
Through Time…
Excerpted from the works and words of C. Clinton Alexander, former church member and former Official Medford Lakes Historian
Beginning in the late spring of 1928 the early colonists of Medford Lakes, mostly summer vacationers from the Philadelphia and New York areas, built a community pavilion near Beach One off Tabernacle Road. By the end of that summer religious activities were organized and conducted in the pavilion by Mrs. Stanley Geipel and Miss Ethel Tappen, including Sunday school and formal services.
1928 – First Community House.
To learn more about the history of Medford Lakes, please visit the Medford Lakes Historic Museum website here
In 1931 the St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church sanctuary was built across Mohawk Trail. That building was sold to the PCC in 1969 after the St. Mary’s congregation built its new sanctuary in Medford. Now known as “Memorial Hall”, the building is used by many groups and for many functions related to the PCC’s ministries and missions.
The next year brought the birth of an idea…a log cabin community church should be built to serve the religious needs of both Protestants and Catholics in the area. That idea came to pass in 1930 when our current Sanctuary was built. The Reverend Cornelius B. Muste answered the call to become the first Summer Pastor of the PCC. He remained in that position until 1955 when he became the PCC’s first year-round pastor.
The first “air conditioning” system was installed in the PCC sanctuary in 1940. It utilized fans to blow air over thousand pound blocks of ice underneath the building into the duct work. The roof was insulated and a heating system was installed in 1945. The first year of year-round services was 1946, the same year an organ and electronic carillon were installed. Lavatory facilities were installed in 1951…hurray! In 1956 the Mohawk Building was constructed and dedicated to Raymond Blattenberger, the PCC’s first Sunday School Superintendent. In the same year the current office building was constructed and dedicated to Reverend Muste.
Reverend Muste retired in 1960 and the Rev. Dr. Richard T. Say was called to become Pastor. The current Christian Education building was built in 1964 and dedicated to the founder of Medford Lakes, Leon E. Todd. In 1975 the Narthex was constructed onto the entrance of the sanctuary, and our current organ, a nine rank 604 Moeller pipe organ, was installed and dedicated the following year. The 50th anniversary of the PCC congregation was celebrated two years later, in 1978.
The Rev. Dr. Virginia E. Leopold first came to the PCC in 1982 as a student pastor from Princeton Theological Seminary. She accepted the call to become the Assistant Pastor in 1985. Thereafter, in 1997, she was named Associate Pastor of the PCC. In 1994 Dr. Say retired as Senior Pastor and was voted by the congregation to receive the title of Pastor Emeritus. Dr. Say was followed by Reverend Richard E. Howard as Senior Pastor beginning in 1996. The sanctuary was refurbished and re-dedicated in 2001.
Reverend Leopold officially retired June 1, 2014. On October 18, 2014, The Rev. Dr. Virginia Leopold was recognized as Pastor Emerita.
The Reverend Steven Winkler answered the call to become Senior Pastor in 2004. Steve, his wife Heather and their family, moved to Medford Lakes from a small church in Vermont. The Rev. Steven Winkler retired December 31, 2015.
The Reverend Dr. R. Timothy Meadows answered the call to become our current pastor February 1, 2016. Tim and his wife Shannon moved here from Loudon, Tennessee.