The "little old church" on East Madison Street had been outgrown by the Rochester Congregation in the early 1980's. Deterioration of the building and the cost of repairs and upgrading spurred the congregation to begin the search for property to build a new structure. They hit dead ends on property out in the country and wondered what the Lord had in mind for them; little did they know that the Lord's plan was sitting right across the street from the "little old church!" One of the members donated an empty lot, the Borough approved the closing of an alley and they were able to purchase an adjacent lot. All of this was just across the street from the "little old church."

With that accomplished, they took a giant leap of faith and made definite plans for the new church building. Those plans proceeded smoothly. Ground was broken in the dead of winter (one of the coldest days of that winter), the work progressed and we celebrated our first service in the new building in January of 1990.

The congregation has continued to flourish over the years, welcoming new families, beginning new programs to meet needs, reaching out to unbelievers and seeing God's hand working in all that has happened.

Many people have come to know Christ because of the caring and concerned heart of Rev. Robert T. Singleton who is well known as "Pastor Bob" and for his Annual Wild Game Dinners at the church. Pastor Bob truly followed our church mission: "Doing everything possible to help people know Christ, become like Him and make Him known". He pastored here at RFMC from 1973 to 1981 and returned to us once again in 1988 to pastor at our church for another nineteen consecutive years, for a total of 28 years.

We are excited to see what God has in store in the coming years under the leadership of Rev. Melvern McRoberts as we reach out to our community as the Lord has commanded.

Rev. Melvern M. McRoberts, Jr. graduated from Transylvania Bible School in 1979. Through continued academic studies he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Management of Human Resources from Roberts Wesleyan College in 1990 and a Master's degree in Leadership and Ministry from Greenville College in 2002. He was ordained Elder in 1990. Pastor Mel's first wife, Theresa, went to be with the Lord on February 3, 1999. Two children, Melissa and Michael, came from that union and now there are four grandchildren. On July 1, 2000, Melvern and Marlene Marie Blystone were united in marriage. Pastor Mel served the Freeport, Mt. Pleasant, Bridgeport, Washington, Kittanning and Sarver churches before being appointed to Rochester (his home church) where he began his thirtieth year of ministry on his seventh wedding anniversary with Marlene.