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Pastor Ripple to preach at IUMC
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Posted on Aug 25 2005
The Rev. Barbara Grace Ripple, founding pastor of Saipan’s Immanuel United Methodist Church, will be the guest preacher at this Sunday’s 9am worship service. Her sermon title is “Are We There Yet?” Former long-time residents, the Ripples arrived earlier this week for a 10-day visit with family and friends.
Ripple is IUMC’S founding pastor. Together with Korean-speaking Immanuel Methodist Church’s Pastor Lee Myung Taek, Ripple held the first service on Palm Sunday 1992. In April 1995 IUMC was officially chartered as a local parish of the California-Pacific Annual Conference’s Hawaii District.
“During these early years and continuing to the present, there were two main reasons for IUMC’s existence: a place to worship God in a mainline Protestant tradition; and a base for addressing many of the needs we saw around us,” Ripple recently wrote.
She was invited to be the guest preacher at IUMC’s 10th anniversary Celebrations earlier this year. However, family medical difficulties prevented her coming.
Her husband, Jim Ripple Sr., remains a prominent and well-remembered figure in CNMI’s recent history. Originally part of the Trust Territory government, he headed the Commonwealth Development Authority until the Ripples left here in 1996.
Pastor Ripple was the Hawaii District Superintendent from 1996 until her retirement in June 2004. During that time, she frequently returned to Saipan and other parts of Micronesia for official and family visits. Following retirement, she served as the Interim Senior Pastor of Honolulu’s Crossroads United Church of Christ.
Persons with no church home or unable to attend their own religious services are warmly welcome to join this Sunday’s 9am worship and special time of fellowship with the Ripples. IUMC is located in Koblerville, just beyond St. Jude’s Catholic Church. For further information, call Pastor Bud at 322-6158.
