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CLIPPING SERVICE1115 HILLSBORO
RALEIGH, Ne 27603l!J TEL, (919) 833-2079PENDER POSTBlJRGAW,
N.o.
AUG 21' ~~
After stint ~~terim pastor
Peterstin now servingas Long Creek minister
By SUE DAVIS
David Peterson came to LongCreek Baptist Church in February1996
as interim pastor, The churchcalled him as full-time pastor in
July.
"I feel I was placed in this churchby the Lord", he said. "I
hope to ac-complish the work that the Lord hasfor me while I'm
here.
Dr. Peterson grew up in the smallcommunity of Flemington,
locatedoutside Wilmington on US 421, andhas two sisters - one older
and oneyounger.
He attended Pine View BaptistChurch where his father served as
adeacon. David was saved at the age of9 and became a church deacon
at 20.
Peterson met his wife, the formerElaine Cavenaugh, at New
HanoverHigh School. They have one daughter- 19 year-old Alisha.
In 1977, shortly after completmgan associate degree in
laboratory tech-nology at Cape Fear CommunityCollege, Peterson felt
the call topreach.
He moved his family to Henderson-ville, NC and enrolled at
FruitlandBaptist Institute.
"I never doubted the Lord wouldtake care of my families' needs",
Da-vid said.
Peterson earned his BS in religionfrm Mid-Atlantic Baptist
College inRock Hill, SC. He completed hismasters and doctorate
degrees at Cov-ington Theological Seminary in Ros-well, Georgia,
graduating magna cumlaude.
While pursuing his degree, Davidpastored several churches in
bothNorth and South Carolina.
Although Reverend Peterson earnedthe title of Doctor, "f'd just
as soonfolks call me David", he said.
DAVID PETERSON
Long Creek is a Missionary BaptistChurch and a member of the
Wilm-ington Baptist Association. SundaySchool attendance currently
runs a ta- .bout 70.
"Our church is involved in a Sun-day School Outreach Ministry
within'the community", Pastor Peterson not-ed. "The whole church is
working'beautifully together. There's a wonder-ful spirit of love
in the church andwe're seeing new faces ever week"!
Both David and Elaine enjoy boat- ;ing and fishing. David is
also an avid .reader.
His favorite author is Andrew Mur-
ray .' Murray lived in the 1800's andwrote over 200 books, many
of whichare in David's library.
Peterson describes himself as a con-. servative, fundamental
preacher whobelieves the Bible is the innate workof God. He adds,
"It's an awesome re-sponsibility to be a messenger ofGod".
Our deadline isMonday at 5 p.m.
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CLIPPING SE~VICE,,"5 HILL~ROI'II"\
_. RALEIGH. NC 27603~r TEL. (919)833-2079
CIftttches need to jointogether, says Peterson
REV. DAVID PETERSON
By PATSY BLACKMON
"Unity" and "Faithfulness are keywords in the ministry of
Reverend Da-vid pastor--of the I.ong
Church. And they arer~-iftri61rtes he wants to see flourish
in his church alone, but in the bodyof Christ as a whole.
"It is important as Christians thatwehave a
clearunderstandingconcern-ing the 'Church' - since it is thebody of
Christ. Church - which is'ecclesia' in Greek - means 'the.called
out ones'," Rev. Peterson ex-plained.
"God has not only called out a peo-ple, but He also wants them
to as-semble together. Hebrews 10:23-25tells to bold fast the
profession.of ourfaith without wavering ...to provokeone another to
love and goodworks...and to not forsake the assem-bling of
ourselves together, but ex-hort one another."Rev. Peterson finds
joy in being a
servant and sharing with others inChristian fellowship.
"When I think of' fellowship, Ithink of partnership, to have in
com-mon, contribution, membership, andthe bond of commom purpose
and de-votion that binds Christians every-where to Christ and each
other."Two words - enthusiasm and ex-
citement - aptly describe Rev. Pe-terson and his work in and
with hischurch.
"I thank God for the love, unity,and fellowship at the Long
CreekBaptist Church," he stressed. "I really
appreciate our five deacons theirstrength and dedication as
God's ser-vants. And the people have been sogood to me. I have
enjoyed, so much,pastoring this church."
Rev. Peterson said that the Lord,through willing servants, has
accom-plished a lot at Long Creek in the al-most two years that he
has pastoredthe church.
"We have just recently started achildren's church, we now have
anoutreachministry through our SundaySchool Department, we have
esta-blished a youth ministry, and we havere-establishedthe choir,"
he said.
"And the Lord has blessed us with apianist," addedMrs. Peterson.
"We arelooking forward to doing even morewith the music ministry in
ourchurch."Being in the will of God is of key
importance to Rev. Peterson."I know the Lord led me and
placed
me here to accomplish His work. Ifeel so strongly that I am in
the rightplace and I believe the church feels thesame. I count it
an honor and joy tobe their pastor - to reach out in
thiscommunity."But he also joins his heart to those
of other pastors who long for that"inter-church" fellowship."We
need that love and fellowship
not only within the local church, butbetween churches. In order
for theBody of Christ to function properlyand accomplish its
purpose, we mustrealize that we need each other - wemust assemble
together and 'be aboutour Father's business'!"
