Faith Community Church of Barre Celebrated Christmas with a Record Crowd

When Faith Community Church began with three families around a kitchen table in the summer of 2004, it would have been hard to imagine that five year later 240 people would gather in a converted printing shop to celebrate the Christmas season. But that is exactly what happened on December 24, 2009 when the church had a record attendance for their 3rd annual candlelight Christmas Eve service. The service began with the children of the church bringing in pieces of the creche' which was assembled on a table in the front of the sanctuary. A combination of traditional and modern Christmas carols were sung and the various candles of the Advent wreath were explained. The church, which seats 180, was hard pressed to find a place for everyone to sit. Matt Maleck, the usher, just kept finding chairs from Sunday School rooms and offices and managed to squeeze everyone in. No one was expecting such a crowd to come and Pastor Terry Dorsett said, "God gets the glory for this, for we sure didn't do anything to warrant such a large crowd showing up. Now let's just pray they heard the Gospel and keep coming!"