Local church undergoes a 'faith lift'Local church undergoes a 'faith lift'September 3, 2004
I always thought it would be fun to write a coffee table book where all that would be shown were building signs across America. There are so many of them out there. Some are on businesses. Some people even place them outside their homes. Not like campaign signs. I'm talking about the inspirational signs. Like for instance, the ones that can be seen on Main Street on the way outside of town toward Brentwood. One of the churches sports some entertaining statements.
A few of my favorites are "Try our Sundays, they're better than Baskin Robbins," and "The only thing missing out of ch_ _ch is UR." The inspirational sayings are just some of the contributions that the new pastor of the church has been adding since he took over earlier this summer.
The Delta Community Church of God is getting a "faith lift," according to new senior pastor Robert Roche. The church, which is located across from Gehringer Elementary School on Main Street, is being resurfaced, repainted and beautified.
While other local churches have changed their denominations over the years, the Delta Community Church of God has housed a Christian Church of God for over 40 years. Over the years the church has been renovated a couple of times, but according to Roche it has been a while. The patrons of the church decided that revitalization was in order to keep up with the growing Oakley community.
"We're going for beautifying and making it look fresh and clean," Roche said.
Roche took over as pastor earlier this summer, when longtime senior pastor Dale Ackley left Delta Community Church of God and moved to a new church in Fresno. Roche has been a member of the church for 11 years and an associate pastor for the past seven years.
Roche is very proud of the accomplishments of Delta Community Church of God over the past decade. One of Ackley's accomplishments was to create a chaplain training program that would service police and sheriff's departments. Several of the chaplains are now working in Brentwood and the Contra Costa County Sheriff's Office.
The Oakley Police Department contracts services through the county sheriff's office and as such has a chaplain that was trained through the Delta Community Church of God program. All together, Roche said that there are over 30 chaplains that minister over police and sheriff's departments in Contra Costa County.
Roche said that the church is ministered through Christian beliefs and hosts a wide variety of programs for the entire family. "That is really our focus, families," Roche said.
There is a very lively youth program on Thursday nights at the church as well as a "Joy Belles" and a "Royal Rangers" program on Thursday evenings.
The church meets on Sunday mornings at 10 a.m. and is open for everyone to stop by and be their guest. Roche said that he welcomes new members of the church from wherever they might come from. "We're going all the time and I'm really excited about that," he said.
There is only one Sunday service, but as the church grows Roche said that might change. Right now Sunday nights are spent with choir practice and praise and worship time.
For more information on the church, the community is welcome to stop by their office which is located in the little house behind the church, or to call Roche at 925-625-3343.
Roni Gehlke's column on life in Oakley appears each week in the Brentwood News.
Distributed by the Contra Costa Times