The Central Georgia Presbytery first called the Rev. Barnes to start the local Presbyterian Church as a mission church. He said that initial church started with just five families in addition to his own. Pastor Barnes said, “I came to Statesboro in April 1981. For the first six months or so, we met in a room at Georgia Southern University on the second floor of the Williams Center. We also met at homes.”

Members of Trinity Presbyterian Church describe their senior pastor of 42 years with such words as hospitable, hard-working, and mission-driven. Those descriptors are of Reverend Roland Barnes, who retires this spring after decades of serving at Trinity. Members of the church will celebrate Barnes and his service with a retirement celebration on Saturday, March 25.

Emily Kochetta is a long-time member of the church and alumna of Georgia Southern University. She will help throw the pastor’s retirement celebration and was very helpful in helping Grice Connect share Rev. Barnes’s legacy and some of the things that made his 42 years with the church so special.

Rev. Barnes is hospitable to many inside and outside of church

As with most pastors, scriptures dictate how the Rev. Barnes does his best to live his life. One such scripture gives an example of this.

Hebrews 13:1-2 in the Bible reads, “Let love of the brethren continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it.”

The pastor, who uses this verse in one of his pamphlets at the church, said the Greek for hospitality translates as “love of strangers.”

One example of this, Pastor Barnes said, “We [his wife, Peaches, and his children] have had somebody over for Sunday dinner almost every Sunday for 42 years. You become less austere. You become more of a real person when you are sitting around sharing a meal.”

Doing the math, the Rev. Barnes and Peaches, doing the cooking, have fed approximately 10,000 people those 42 years.

The pastor said the meals would not have happened without Peaches, adding, “I would like to think that I laid the bricks, but she provided the mortar.”

Emily shared, “Peaches is a very outgoing person…Others can attest to her persistence in getting visitors to come eat on Sundays.”

Emily says others have emulated the example of the pastor and his wife, evidence of his wider influence on the community. She joined Trinity because of a hospitable couple in her apartment complex who were members there. Then, the hospitality continued.

“After I joined the church in January of 1984, I rented a room from a couple (members Charlie and Jan Davis). I got a front row seat to how they also had members and strangers into their home week after week, something I’ve tried to model myself.”

Building the church from just one room 

The Central Georgia Presbytery first called the Rev. Barnes to start the local Presbyterian Church as a mission church. He said that initial church started with just five families in addition to his own.

Pastor Barnes said, “I came to Statesboro in April 1981. For the first six months or so, we met in a room at Georgia Southern University on the second floor of the Williams Center. We also met at homes.”

Read More