The Organ
In 1989, Frank & Dolly DeHaan, former members of Spencerville Church, made a generous donation for the purchase of a fine pipe organ. In time, several families in the congregation joined together to finance the antiphonal organ, and the congregation agreed to sponsor a number of acoustical improvements to the sanctuary. In December of 1988, the M. P. Moller Company of Hagerstown, Maryland, the world’s largest builder of pipe organs at the time, was chosen to build the instrument. Installation took place during the spring and summer of 1991.
The Spencerville Church organ is a Moller Opus 11806. It has 78 ranks, 4600 pipes, and 4 keyboards. Its manual compass is 61 notes, the pedal compass is 32 notes. It has a solid-state capture system with eight memories. The slider chests are electric. It is ranked as one of the finest organs in the Washington D.C. Metropolitan area!
Stained Glass
Chancel Window
The theme for this window (left), familiar to every Seventh-day Adventist, is found in Revelation 14:6-12. Three angels carry messages that must be delivered to the world. The first angel (center) carries a book containing the everlasting gospel and proclaims an imminent judgment and makes a call to worship God as Creator. The second angel (top) calls men and women out of apostasy, and the third (bottom) points people to the commandments of God while warning against seeking righteousness through mere human effort. Together, the Cross and the Ten Commandments, show that acceptable faith and obedience must spring from loving acceptance of Jesus’ mission at Calvary.
Rear Nave Window
In this window (right) are symbols of the Trinity with the hand of God the Father reaching down from heaven. Christ is identified with His cross, while the Holy Spirit, symbolized by a dove, descends to the faithful in swirling fire.
The lines surrounding the central image symbolize rays of light radiating from the Godhead— light which no human can approach other than through the merits of Jesus.
The Stained Glass Designer and His Technique
Designer of the windows was Roy Callagan, who also created several windows in the National Cathedral in Washington. Using a technique begun in France just prior to World War II, he cut brilliantly colored glass to the desired size. Edges of some pieces were chipped in the shape of seashells, leaving the curved facets to divide light into various colors, as well as to focus the light in brilliant concentrations. Herein is source of the name given this jewel-like effect—”faceted glass.”
After the glass is arranged in a sandtable to the pattern desired, a matrix of epoxy is poured to form the pieces into a structural unit of great strength. It is the thickness of the glass, from one to two inches, that assures the radiance and purity of color which is the outstanding characteristic of this artistic medium.