been done by volunteering members. With a bigger and busier church there was now more to do and it was felt to be time to employ a sexton (caretaker). In 1882, the Charlottetown Baptist Church hired its first part-time staff member other than the pastor. A member of the church, Brother John Burhoe, would become the first church sexton. His outlined responsibility was to, ”keep the house clean, keep the fires in good style and dust the pews”. For his efforts, compensation would be ”brooms and coal from Church supplies for personal use and consumption ”.

On April 1, 1882, the trustees received a long letter from Pastor D.G. McDonald which is summarized as follows:

...After months of anxious deliberation and ernest prayer for Divine guidance, lam compelled to believe that, under existing circumstances, it would be for the Glory of God that I shall henceforth labor in some other part of the Master’s vineyard. I pray that the Great Head of the Church may direct you in the choice of my successor.

He said he would be leaving either immediately, or at the latest, by July ist. At the conclusion of his letter he offered to give his house and land, valued at $2,000, to the church, to help pay the debt that his enthusiasm had encouraged. Pastor McDonald’s letter was read and accepted at the next church meeting, and they set his retirement date at July, or sooner if a replacement was found. The church respectfully declined the offer of their pastor’s home because they felt it would not be right to deprive him of his property. After discussion with Pastor McDonald, they did agree that they would use the house as a Baptist parsonage until such time as it was sold. All records of further dealings regarding Pastor D.G. McDonald’s house in Charlottetown were obviously lost in the fire of 1888.

It was the end of another interesting era in the life of the Charlottetown Baptist Church and evidence of their tremendous faith. They had put their trust in the hands of an enthusiastic man of God. In all probability, the new octagonal brick church would not have been built had it not been for Pastor McDonald's encouragement and his effort to personally raise a large portion of the funding. The beautiful new church was established and Rev. D.G. McDonald was leaving. It had been a great stopover.