Singing Pastor’s Praises on Church’s Anniversary : Religion: The county’s largest black congregation lauds the Rev. James D. Carrington, a founder of 3,500-member Friendship Baptist.

Friendship Baptist Church didn’t become the largest black church in Orange County--with about 3,500 members--by feeding its parishioners a diet of somber sermons and half-hearted hymns.

Celebrating the church’s 31st anniversary Sunday, a special afternoon service got underway with a brief invocation, followed by a thunderous rattling of drums.

Row after row of school-age choir members then chugged their way from the back of the church to the stage at the front, rocking back and forth with every step.

With all 60 or so choir members finally in place, they lifted their heads toward the broad beams supporting the ceiling and belted out a gospel refrain: “From the top of my head, to the soles of my feet, I belong to God.”

For the next two hours, the music hardly stopped, as 500 members paid tribute to the Rev. James D. Carrington, the 61-year-old pastor who helped found the church in 1964 by holding services in parishioners’ homes.

“It was slow growth in the early years, and it was frustrating,” said Carrington in an interview before Sunday’s service. But these days, he added, the Easter service draws so many people that those who can’t fit into the sanctuary watch the proceedings on a big-screen television in the nearby meeting hall.

Eva Peek, 70, has been a member of the church from the very beginning. Wearing a tan suit with a black hat for Sunday’s event, she sat on a red chair under a shade tree and recounted how she and 12 other black women living in Fullerton laid the groundwork for Friendship Baptist Church.

“Some of us were from Georgia and some of us were from Texas,” she said. “We could have gone to any church we wanted to, but we felt here was a need to have a black church. We worshiped the same God as white people, but we wanted a church where we could go and sing our gospel.”

The group of women started holding weekly meetings, and soon brought aboard Carrington, who was finishing his studies at Reed College of Religion in Los Angeles.

Shortly thereafter, the church was chartered with 22 members, and began having services in a rented two-story home. A few years later, the burgeoning congregation leased space in a Fullerton building that had previously been used as a dog kennel.

“We had to have it fumigated and deodorized,” Carrington said. “We found some old wooden pews, fixed it up, and it came out pretty good.”

*

In 1987, the church moved to its present location on Bastanchury Road. Set on 10 acres of grass and fields, the brick-walled structure now holds up to 1,200 people for the 8 and 11:30 a.m. Sunday services each week.

“Our church is open to everybody,” said Carrington, who added that a few white members have joined in recent years. But even though times have changed since the church was founded, he said the need for a black church remains. “It’s a cultural thing, style of worship,” he said.

Many members make weekly treks from San Bernardino or Los Angeles to attend Friendship Baptist services, and they come from a wide range of backgrounds.

“I started 20 years ago when I was a student at Cal State Fullerton,” said James Shelby, 40, now an insurance claims supervisor who lives in Placentia. “We have professors here, vice presidents of accounting firms, as well as bus drivers.”

Half an hour into the afternoon service, the congregation paused to honor Carrington. A white carpet was unrolled along the center aisle, and a boy and girl sprinkled flower petals along the path.

As Carrington entered the church, members clapped softly. He and his wife, Doris, walked up the aisle, past Eva Peek in her usual front-row seat, and sat down on a pew between twin bouquets of flowers. This one Sunday of the year, the service was not his to deliver.

“We thank the Lord for sending him to us and keeping him strong,” said William Starks, a member of the congregation who served as master of ceremonies. “Thirty-one years is a long time, a lot of keeping on.”