ELIZABETHTOWN — A new face is behind the pulpit at Elizabethtown Baptist Church, and he’s hoping to grow the community of faith through social interaction and invitation.
It all started with a cup of coffee near the Campbell University campus, where he ended up meeting with an old friend.
“The interim pastor, Charles Royal, and I went to seminary together,” said the Rev. Rudy Ramphal. “I was in Dunn, and I wanted to meet with a mutual friend, Michael Cogdill.”
Cogdill was the founding dean at Campbell University for the divinity school. Ramphal met with Cogdill for coffee and it wasn’t long before Royal came walking in.
Royal asked Ramphal how he was liking Brunswick Island Baptist Church, where he had been on staff there for 11 years. Ramphal said that he had been thinking about what his next step was going to be, and Royal brought up Elizabethtown Baptist Church.
“I was juvenile court counselor for 10 years and I did some work in the area of the Bladen County Courthouse,” Ramphal said. “So I knew a little bit about the town, but no, never had I considered Elizabethtown Baptist Church.”
It wasn’t long and something stuck. He just couldn’t get it out of his mind after his conversation with Royal.
“I was driving home, and this is the supernatural effect,” he said. “For whatever reason, I could not get Elizabethtown Baptist Church out of my head. And I went to bed that night and could not get Elizabethtown Baptist Church out of my head.”
So Ramphal sent a resume. He didn’t think they would be interested.
“Next thing you know they are calling me for an interview and here I am,” Ramphal said. “It was a God thing. He stuck it into my head. I couldn’t get it out. I think God may have moved on some hearts and some minds here.”
He was born in South America and lived in the Bahamas. Then he ended up in Brunswick County, where he attended South Brunswick High School and later went to Methodist University in Fayetteville. He graduated from high school at 16, and then college at 19, where he received a degree in criminal justice.
From there he ended up being a camp counselor for a week for a cabin full of boys, and that’s when going into ministry started coming into focus.
“So I am always big on bringing or introducing people to the mercy and love of Jesus Christ,” Ramphal said. “I think a lot of people want to introduce people to the judgment of Jesus.
“I feel that it’s not the pastor’s responsibility, but the church’s responsibility to follow the great commission. That every Christian is to follow the great commission.”
Ramphal wants the church members to go out into the community, and find that person that they know that doesn’t have a church, and invite them.
“There’s plenty of people in the town,” he said. “There’s plenty of people in Bladen County who aren’t involved in church and people of faith, but they don’t go to church anywhere on Sunday morning. Go reach them and tell them that there’s a place here for them at Elizabethtown Baptist Church. It doesn’t matter what color they are, doesn’t matter how poor they are, how rich they are; doesn’t matter what they’ve done in their past, I don’t care how stinky they feel, they might be inside or outside. There’s a place here for them.
“And that’s my goal, to train people, on how to go out. And I do believe I do want to impress as well on people that just how important that community of faith is. I don’t want to just get called when you need someone to do a funeral. You know, I want to be that person that I’ve walked with you through whatever your challenges may be. So that’s my goal, to introduce people to mercy and love.”
He’s proud of the grief support group that just started.
“We had quite a few ladies in a very short span of time,” he said. “These are spouses of long-term marriages.”
He said that that need showed him that there was a greater need, in the community as a whole.