Green Mt. Gospel Chapel Turns 50

The original Green Mountain Chapel was constructed on Forest Street near the high school. The current chapel is on Route 66. (Photo provided)

By Martha Slater

Fifty years ago this month, newlyweds Rev. John and Ruth Gerhart Genco moved to Randolph. In their new home, the young couple felt called to found a new church, and named it the Green Mountain Gospel Chapel.

Now in their 70s, the Gencoes are retired after pastoring a church in Derby Line, but they will return to Randolph this weekend..

A half-century later, the church the Gencoes founded will celebrate the anniversary of that event. Music was always a big part of their ministry, and on Saturday, Sept. 22 at 7 p.m., the Genco family will perform in a concert at the church.

On Sunday, Sept. 23 at 10 a.m., the church will host a service of celebration, with Rev. Genco as the guest speaker. Following the service, there will be a planned potluck dinner and a time to share memories.

The couple began their ministry with a story hour held above the local police station and a youth group that gathered in the living room of their apartment on Randolph Avenue. They also broadcast a weekly radio program called "Gospel Echoes" on WDEV.

They eventually moved their story hour to the fire station, where as many as 70 children would attend. Rev. Genco also coached Little League and his wife worked with the Girl Scouts.

Needing to make a living, Rev. Genco went to work at the canning factory, and later got a job at Randolph Furniture, where he met many of the people who would become his parishioners when he founded the Green Mt. Gospel Chapel.

The first services were held at the American Legion Hall, next to the railroad tracks, where Rev. Genco recalled, "all the preaching had to cease when the trains came though blowing their horns!"

The church began to grow, and the first Easter service was attended by 100 people. They moved from the Legion Hall to an empty church on Route 12 in Braintree, "again, with a railroad in our back yard!" Rev. Genco said. "It was a step up to be in a church building, even though we couldn’t keep it very warm in the wintertime."

Dreaming of owning their own church building, the Gencoes bought land on Forest St., near the high school. After purchasing a duplex house from Norwich University for $250, they managed to move the 24 X 36 ft. building to Randolph, after cutting it into three sections with a chainsaw!

The move had its rocky moments, coming close to disaster when one section slipped off the jacks while Rev. Genco and church member Lauris Deyette were under the house. Deyette was pinned to the ground, but miraculously, survived the incident, although he sustained some broken ribs.

They remodeled the house into a parsonage, and after eventually securing a loan from the Randolph National Bank, the Gencoes were finally able to build an A-frame style church sanctuary.

After 13 years, the Gencoes moved from Randolph to pastor a church in Montpelier, but they left a legacy behind, as a number of the young people they taught at their Bible School classes went on to become active in ministry.

Among those is Sandy Smith Rilling, who, for the past 32 years, has shared the leadership of the Green Mt. Gospel Chapel with her husband, Rev. Ron Rilling. The couple met at Bible College in Pennsylvania. They were married in 1966, when they were both 19, and their wedding was the first one held in the A-frame church building.

The two were called to pastor the Randolph church when they were only 28.

"We already had three of our four kids when we came here," said Rev. Rilling, who noted that, although he grew up in Pennsylvania, "I’ve never wanted to live anywhere else since we came here. This is a wonderful place!"

As the church membership increased over the years, the congregation outgrew the first little building. The new, much larger church on the corner of Route 66 and Hebard Hill Rd. opened its doors in 1995. With about 200 on its membership rolls, an average if 100 people attend services there each Sunday. The church also opened the Justin Morgan Christian School to provide Christian-based education. Now in its 27^th year, and housed on the lower level of the present church building, the school currently has 12 students in grades 1-6.

The public is welcome to attend the celebration events this weekend.