A hush fell over 140 volunteers gathered at First Presbyterian Church of Fayetteville participating in a years-long quest to help alleviate global hunger as Jennifer Fueston held up a package of food and announced, “I have in my hand, your one-millionth meal.”
Mick Noland, a member of the church’s mission committee, banged a brass gong commemorating the milestone as cheers rang out, sealing a 15-year effort to help feed underserved people around the world.
“The impact you have made together over 35 meal-packing events and many years together is not something we can put words to,” said Fueston, partnership manager for Rise Against Hunger, a Raleigh-based global organization devoted to alleviating global hunger and the church’s partner in this effort.
Then everyone went back to work, packing more meals. By the end of the day, they would pack 15,120 meals, bringing the grand total to 1,020,194 meals.
On this sunny winter morning, the church fellowship hall was a flurry of activity — “organized chaos” — as church leaders described the scene.
Hairnet-clad volunteers of all ages worked stations, carefully measuring rice, soy and dehydrated vegetables into plastic bags, and including vitamin and mineral supplements before passing them to others who weighed, sealed and packed them for shipping to Haiti and the Philippines.
Church member Dan McInnis has participated in every meal-packing party since the effort was launched in 2010.
“This is a great event for all ages and a way for the church to come together to help those in need far away from Fayetteville,” he said. “And it’s a way for the volunteers to be a part of something much larger than themselves.”
History and legacy
Mission and outreach have been as much a part of First Presbyterian Church as its centuries-old brick walls and magnificent steeple.
Those walls stood strong around the building’s charred shell when Fayetteville burned in 1831, and survived General William T. Sherman’s “March to the Sea” during the Civil War, two World Wars, the Great Depression and shifting political winds.
Across 225 years, the church has seen 46 U.S. presidents, the advent of motor vehicles, the Wright brothers’ first flight, NASA’s man on the moon and the evolution of technology.
While church leaders are proud of the legacy the building symbolizes, they know a house of worship is more than a building, no matter how beautiful or historic. First Presbyterian’s legacy is about the people who have nurtured their faith and each other for generations.
“Our 225th Anniversary is an important milestone for our congregation,” said Mike Garrett, First Presbyterian’s 31st pastor, who has served the church in that role for the last decade. “We want to observe it in a way that honors the past, and looks to the future.”
Bengie Hair’s family tree has roots in the church dating back to its beginnings. He recently compiled First Presbyterian’s story starting in the mid-18th century, when a lineup of Presbyterian ministers began arriving from Scotland and preaching in the area.
Reverend John Robinson of Cabarrus County was the inaugural pastor at First Presbyterian Church when it was chartered in 1800. He ordained the church’s first board of elders and led its first celebration of The Lord’s Supper on Sept. 6, 1801, with 150 communicants participating. In 1816, the church laid the cornerstone for the original sanctuary building where the congregation worshiped until the Great Fire of Fayetteville burned it and most of the town in 1831.
“When the fire was extinguished, the outer walls still stood tall amidst the ashes and are still in place, supporting the current building,” Hair said. “And for more than 200 years, the steeple has served as a beacon to people in this community.”
If those walls could talk, what stories they could tell.
Ann Highsmith, a longtime member and church leader who was baptized and married there, has a favorite story that stands out among the many church legends and lore.
Highsmith describes the 1824 gift of a silver communion service set by the Society of Young Ladies at the church. In 1865, during Sherman’s March across part of the South, which took his Union troops through Fayetteville, members of the congregation hid the silver in a wooden trunk and spirited it away to a home outside town.
“As the story goes, Sherman’s troops went to the home where the communion silver had been hidden, and found it,” Highsmith said. “But inexplicably, they left without taking it, and to this day, we still use those original pieces for special occasions.”
One of the oldest Cumberland County churches
First Presbyterian is recognized as one of the oldest organized Presbyterian churches in Cumberland County. It stands on the corner of Ann and Bow streets in downtown Fayetteville.
Garrett, the current pastor who arrived in 2015 from his post as senior pastor at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Snellville, Georgia, is carrying on the church’s legacy and mission.
“I feel responsible for shepherding the church and believe I serve a dual role to lead our living community of faith in honoring the past but also remaining actively engaged in our future,” he said.
Perhaps no other story can describe the power of the congregation in keeping First Presbyterian alive during tough economic hardship than the generosity of its members. Garrett illustrated how wealthy church members ensured the church’s books stayed balanced by contributing money.
“They provided financial support year after year for decades and would not allow our church to go into debt,” Garrett said.
For Bud Lafferty, a church elder, service to the church and the community are among First Presbyterian’s chief tenets.
“Our congregation has always believed in reaching out beyond the walls of the church to serve others, and this has been key to our membership stability and growth,” Lafferty said. “Over time, we’ve become a haven for people seeking a church home.”
Today, church membership numbers 587, Lafferty said.
Standing strong
In 1976, the United States Department of the Interior placed First Presbyterian Church on the National Register of Historic Places, after being nominated in 1975. The nomination form cites the building as a “monument to 19th-century building technology,” containing “the only known extant wooden truss roof of the type patented by Ithiel Town in 1820,” who was an American architect and civil engineer.
The truss system was installed in 1832 when the church was rebuilt after the fire.
The trusses, which are visible in the church’s attic, span 60 feet and are constructed out of solid wood, Lafferty said.
“It has been said that the trusses were so large and heavy that the city held a prayer vigil the day they were pushed into place,” he said. “I believe it’s symbolic that just as those trusses have been holding the roof up, they have also played a role in holding the church together over 200 years.”
Presbyterian beliefs are grounded in the historic Protestant Reformation Church tradition, recognizing the authority of the Bible and the Word of God. The congregation is mission-driven and rooted in the words of the Nicene and Apostles’ Creeds, which recognize one God and Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
“Presbyterianism is built on our belief that God is sovereign and the God of all things,” Garrett said. “And our tradition focuses on the Word, recognizing the Bible as the ultimate guide for Christian faith and practice.”
Celebrating 225 years
The anniversary celebrations commemorating both the faith and the faithful are already underway, with the Rise Against Hunger event serving as the unofficial kickoff.
“We’ll be conducting historical tours of the church, both for our congregation and the public,” Highsmith said. “And we’re considering creating a church oral history featuring some of our oldest members.”
Other plans call for special concerts and sermons. A choir member is composing a piece of music that will debut this fall.
Near the official 225th anniversary date in September, the church will host a special family day for its members to celebrate as a congregation.
In addition to the church’s 15-year journey to provide one million meals to people in need, the church also serves its local community by contributing time and resources to numerous organizations, including Fayetteville Urban Ministry, Better Health, The Care Clinic and its own initiative, the Stephen Ministry, which serves individuals in crisis.
“There are not many churches in the country that can say we’ve been invested for over two centuries in the community where we began,” Garrett said. “And I think maintaining these connections is part of the secret to our future and continued relevance.”
Read CityView Magazine’s “The Faith Issue” April 2025 e-edition here.
Editor’s note: Based on information from the NC Department of Natural & Cultural Resources’ website that will be corrected, a previous version of this article incorrectly stated that First Presbyterian Church is the oldest organized Presbyterian church in Cumberland County. Old Bluff Church in Wade is the oldest Presbyterian church in the county. CityView apologizes for this error.