Bill and Joyce Russell have completed an arduous and compelling task.

The couple produced a 40-minute video detailing the nearly 300-year history of Middle Octorara Presbyterian Church.

The church, located at 1199 Valley Road, Quarryville, isn't waiting until the last minute to plan an anniversary celebration. The house of worship formed a committee on May 14, 2024, and will commemorate its tricentennial in 2027 with the theme "Foundation for the Future Through a History of Faith."

The Russells' film is the first step. "What we tried to do with each era was to show world events that were happening at that particular time when these things were going on within the church," Bill said. "It certainly was very interesting in doing research." He and Joyce went through several boxes of photos, documents and newspaper clippings to start an enormous undertaking that took nine months to finish. "That's what took a lot of the time because we had to rely on the church to decide which photos to use, because there was an enormous amount of photos," said Bill.

Bill also took photographs of his own to add to the video. "I was out (at the church) a couple mornings, 5 o'clock before the sun came up, and I took some sunrise photos over the cemetery," he said. "Then we also went to the oldest stone in the cemetery, and we cleaned that off, rubbed flour on it to get the wording to come out, and then we photographed that. We were up on top of the newer cemetery and photographed that and got pictures of Rev. (William Glasgow) Cairnes' stone and Rev. (George H.) Shea's stone for the video production."

The concept was simple. "The whole goal was to reflect how the Lord had worked in the church here over all these years," Bill said. "At the old cemetery out here, it was fascinating to read some of the dates on that date back to Revolutionary War days. I found that was it was just a wonderful blessing to go through this Presbyterian history because we also are part of another Presbyterian Church in Quarryville, so the Presbyterian history is very important to us. It's fascinating to see how the early days of this country was formed."

Working off a script written by committee co-chair Barry Girvin, the Russells divided the video into three segments of the church's history - early days, glory days, and "The Church as a More Secular Society."

Middle Octorara was one of several Presbyterian churches founded on the Pennsylvania frontier in the 1700s and was constructed on property purchased from William Penn's grandsons, Girvin said.

Girvin added, "The glory days are the glory days because at that time the church was still a center of community. Everybody went to church. All the social activities were related to the church, and we had two outstanding ministers during that time, Rev. Cairnes and Rev. Shea, who were as about as different as day and night in terms of their personalities, the rather modest Rev. Cairnes, and the outgoing Rev. Shea."

Shea served as pastor at Middle Octorara for 50 years and oversaw a period of tremendous church growth, Girvin noted.

"Another thing that I was really impressed with going through the history is how this church reacted during the times of World War I and World War II," Bill said. "People would form committees in here and type letters up for the servicemen and send them off, which was very commendable."

Churches and other organizations wishing to view the video and hear a brief presentation by Girvin can call 717-471-8668 or email jbgseg60@comcast.net.

"I hope it will be a way of stimulating history for the churches, not just our church, but to realize that our church was one of the many Presbyterian churches on the frontier at the time," Girvin said.

Committee co-chair Debbie Hoover stated that the church has plans for a plethora of events in 2027. One activity will take place in 2026 to coincide with the celebration of the country's semiquincentennial: Middle Octorara will honor veterans on Sunday, May 24.

A cookbook, an oral history project, a cemetery refurbishment, a Colonial meal, and an update on the church women's history since 2002 are slated for the following year. The church will also discuss its history during each service in 2027.