Pastor takes first pulpit at historic local church
BY REBECCA MORTON Staff Writer

The Rev. John Sanders

MARLBORO - In an old brick church that has a long history in Marlboro stands a 36-year-old pastor fresh from seminary school. John Sanders has recently taken over the pulpit at the Old Brick Reformed Church, Route 520.

Sanders, who is a native of Michigan, and his family moved to Marlboro in December after he accepted the position at the Old Brick Reformed Church. The former computer programmer graduated from the Western Theological Seminary, Holland, Mich., in May 2007.

In an interview, Sanders said he enjoyed his work as a computer program- mer, but believed there was a bigger plan for his life. He said that after only a few weeks in the seminary, he knew he had made the right choice.

Upon graduating from the seminary, the pastor searched for a while to find the perfect fit for him and his wife, Rhonda, to bring their three young daughters, Emma, Megan and Grace.

Sanders said he was looking for a smaller church in a populated area and found just what he was looking for when he came across Marlboro's historic Old Brick Reformed Church.

The history of the church dates back to 1699. Consisting primarily of Dutch families who moved to Monmouth County from Long Island, by 1699 there were enough congregants to hold regular services. According to the church's Internet Web site, three ministers from Brooklyn, N.Y., each of whom would travel for the service on a rotating schedule, conducted services for the congregation.

By 1709 the congregation had a permanent minister in Joseph Morgan. The first church stood on what was known as Hendrickson's Hill, near Hudson Street in the village of Marlboro.

The congregation wanted a larger building and a church was built on the Route 520 site of the current house of worship in 1731 and housed the congregation for more than 90 years. The present church was built on the same Route 520 property in 1826.

Through the congregation's 300 years, Sanders is the 27th pastor to serve the members of the church.

"Three hundred years of history this church has - it's incredible," Sanders said.

The graveyard surrounding the church is a landmark of Marlboro history and contains graves of veterans from every war, beginning with the Revolutionary War up to the Korean War.

Sanders said he and his wife had hoped to move to the East Coast to have a change of scenery. The cultural differences between Michigan and Marlboro have been eye-opening in some aspects.

In Michigan, "the church takes such a higher precedence on people's priority list. We found that out here church is a little bit lower than what we're used to, so it's kind of been an adjustment for us to get used to the East Coast culture," he explained.

The realistic expectations that people have of the clergy in the area as opposed to the high, sometimes unrealistic ones people hold in the Midwest is refreshing, Sanders said.

He said the people who practice different religions in the Marlboro area is great to see and added that he would like to bring the Old Brick Reformed Church back to taking part in a universal Thanksgiving service that is held among local houses of worship.

Overall the expectations he had about coming to the Old Brick Reformed Church have been met, Sanders said.

"Fortunately for this church we have been blessed and we have a good core group of members who are dedicated to the church," Sanders said of the current members, which ranges from 30 to 40 people on any given Sunday.

Sanders is hoping to cheer members of the church following a two-year period in which there was no permanent pastor.

One goal he has is to have new and younger families join the congregation, a task which he has put to the church members. Walking into a church for the first time may be awkward for some people, Sanders said, and that is why he encourages members to bring friends they know who may be seeking a church.

Of the congregation's long history possibly being intimidating to newcomers Sanders said, "it's a balancing act of affirming the history, but also at the same time not letting the history and the tradition be something that would be a barrier to those coming in."

In building upon the old traditions and introducing some new ones, Sanders said he has introduced more contemporary music in addition to traditional gospels. An avid comic book reader, the pastor keeps his sermons fresh with references to characters such as Iron Man.

"(I am) trying to make faith more meaningful, or at least have some sort of reality wrapped around it," Sanders said of adding life examples to his sermons.