[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 152 (Tuesday, November 4, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2174]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[[Page E2174]]
  A TRIBUTE TO THE CHRIST COMMUNITY CHURCH OF STONY BROOK, LONG ISLAND

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. MICHAEL P. FORBES

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, November 4, 1997

  Mr. FORBES. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor and congratulate the 
Christ Community Church of Stony Brook, Long Island, as the church's 
members and friends celebrate its 30th anniversary year.
  For more than three decades, before Christ Community Church was 
built, the Reformed Church of America has served the spiritual needs of 
this bucolic North Shore community. Since the founding of the Christ 
Community Church in 1967, a myriad of forces have changed the cultural, 
commercial, and political face of America and Long Island. But the 
steadfast devotion of the Christ Community Church and its members has 
neither wavered nor waned.
  The origin of the Christ Community Church followed the 1962 birth of 
the State University of New York at Stony Brook. The new college and 
research hospital brought new jobs, thousands of new residents, and a 
demand for new houses of worship in this sleepy hamlet. So on land 
donated by businessman and legendary Long Island philanthropist Ward 
Melville, the Reformed Church of America began plans for its newest 
congregation.
  So hungry for Christ's words were the first congregants that during 
construction the first pastor, Rev. Howard Newton, would lead the 50 
charter members in worship in the garage of a home on Stockton Lane, in 
Stony Brook. Though the building was not fully complete and congregants 
had to use wooden planks to navigate across a sea of mud and puddles, 
the first formal worship service was held there on Palm Sunday, 1967.
  Since its inception, congregants of Christ Community Church has 
sought to discover and apply Christ's word by serving God and 
community. Whether hosting the first organizational meetings of the 
Three Village School District, donating food, clothes, and money to the 
ministries at Coram or opening their doors to the Beth Emeth Reformed 
Congregation so that they could hold Sabbath services while their 
synagogue in Mt. Sinai was being built, the members of Christ Community 
Church have worked to serve their neighbors.
  That is why, Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues in this hallowed 
Chamber to join me in congratulating the members of the Christ 
Community Church, and all of its friends and neighbors, on this 
historic 30th anniversary year. I pray that the Stony Brook community 
and all Long Island will forever enjoy the spirit of the Christ 
Community Church and the good work of its members.

                          ____________________