Henry Sharam, who grew up in and was sponsored by First Baptist, became the first person to be ordained in a service at the church. Rev. Malcolm Harlow was proving an excellent leader, and the membership number was now 598 and growing. With thoughts of the future in mind, the trustees took out an "option-to-purchase” on the now available apartment building next door. It was part of the original Turner
property, to the west, on Fitzroy Street. Brownie groups for young girls were waning across Canada, as more and
more schools and communities were organizing a wide variety of recreational activities for young people. The diversity of options in sports was attracting new interest from youngsters, and organized church groups were struggling to maintain attendance numbers. It would be the last year for the Brownie pack at First Baptist, and the final recorded event was a Christmas tea for mothers in 1966, where the young Brownies presented them with tree ornaments they had
made. The church had been incurring some
water invasion problems on the east side of the building. Engineers determined that removing four feet of clay from the side of the structure and paving the small driveway by the side door would alleviate the problem. The work was accomplished and control of run-off water appeared solved. The new church library officially opened, and a new inter-church agreement with Trinity United, St. Paul’s Anglican and Zion Presbyterian brought joint Sunday evening services throughout 1968, held once a month on an alternating basis.
The Prince Edward Island Baptist Association, or at least some of the Association churches, were taking a great interest in Camp Segunakadeck, and expressed a desire to be a part of it. The camp was now quite busy and self supporting, although it was felt that Charlottetown Baptist members were not making enough use of it. The Men's Association camp committee spent many hours continually improving thefacilities. The main building was partitioned, a well was dug and a septic tank system installed in 1969. Open camp dates were made available to other Baptist churches as well as the Protestant Family Services Bureau, on a rental basis. This gave young family members the opportunity to enjoy a camping experience with qualified leaders, in a God-directed atmosphere.
In April of 1969, Ralph Rupert resigned after 25 years as leader of the Sunday School. In appreciation for his service, he was named the church’s first Honorary Sunday School Superintendent. He was replaced in the responsible office by George Lewis, who began his term of service in September, when Sunday School returned to increased activity after the summer break.
For 134 years, the Charlottetown Baptist Church relied one hundred percent on its ministers and deacons to provide the spiritual leadership for the congregation. As membership grew, (and in 1970 the annual meeting reported close to 700 members) the pressure on the pastor to do his job well became a
122
Ralph Rupert