Preface & Dedication
   
   In the sixty-six year history of The Royal Oak First Presbyterian Church, 1980 happens to be a year of coincidental 25th anniversaries.
   Nineteen Hundred fifty-five was the beginning of the Reverend Thomas W. Kirkman's ministry at Royal Oak.  It continues today, the longest in church annals.
   That same year the sanctuary was dedicated.  It is the keystone structure of the church's tastefully impressive building complex in residential Royal Oak.
   The October 1980 celebration of ministry and mission by The First Presbyterian congregation is occasion for a commemorative visual record of a vigorous Christian establishment.  The record utilizes the camera's sensitive, perceptive eye to personalize a few moments, events, ceremonies, activities and facilities in the working life of a church.  Also, it draws attention to a noble religious heritage as portrayed in the stained glass windows of The First Presbyterian Church's buildings.
   This reflective photographic report is dedicated to the Reverend Kirkman and to the sanctuary in which he so clearly and purposefully speaks the Gospel of Jesus Christ to his parishioners.