WS Chronicle

Dreamland Park Missionary Baptist Church held a retirement service for Rev. Ronald C. Fisher Sr. last Saturday. The service was held at the Hawthorne Inn, bringing together family, friends and co-workers to celebrate Fisher’s time at the church.

The event was packed from wall to wall. It included beautiful singing, a hearty meal, heartfelt reflections and solemn remarks from the Fishers. After 35 years at Dreamland, Fisher felt it was time for someone else to lead the congregation.

“I believe I have gone as far as the Lord has intended me to as pastor,” said Fisher. “It is a lot of things we have accomplished, but now it’s time for someone else to come in with new ideas to take the people where they need to go.”

Above all, Fisher says he will miss the people of the congregation the most. The pleasure of watching the kids grow up and eventually have families of their own was a blessing.

Fisher says Dreamland will always hold a special place in his heart. He says they took a chance on him as a pastor, because he had a speech impediment.

“They really took a chance on me when other churches were saying I was too young,” he continued. “I know they were praying for me and God worked the other part out.”

Just because he will no longer be the senior pastor of Dreamland does not mean he is finished in the ministry. According to Fisher, his plan after retirement is to work hand in hand with the homeless, to try and address their needs.

“I have this burning desire to work with the homeless,” he said about his life after retirement. “While at Dreamland, we started a food bank and I have a desire to do all I can to help them. “It touched me when I have seen people that are homeless come into the church and get saved. Some of them have untapped skills like playing the organ, roofing or even counselors. It’s amazing all of the talent that people overlook and throw away, but God doesn’t have any throwaways.”

Saturday was filled with emotions from all ends of the spectrum, Fisher said. The conversations with the congregation brought back a lot of memories.

“There have already been some tears, just talking with some members and them telling me they will miss me,” he said. “I’m also going to miss them, but right now I have the emotions of happy and sad, because Dreamland has an awesome group of people that I love. They are great to work with and my prayer is that whomever comes in and takes over will love them, too.”

Going forward, Fisher hopes the new pastor can continue building the church physically and spiritually.