History of Emmanuel Chapel

     Emmanuel Chapel was founded as a Non-Denominational Church in 1980 by Pastor Jonathan Laye and his wife Linda along with a small group of believers who desired to establish a Pentecostal based church in the Smithsburg, Maryland area.  The group met in rented facilities for nearly two years until land could be purchased and a church building erected to worship in.  The Lord’s blessings allowed the group of believers to move into their first phase of construction, a chapel, in March of 1982.  In 1985 they broke ground on their second phase of construction, an educational wing.  One year later they moved in with no debt for their entire structure.  Almost all of the construction was carried out by volunteers and very little was spent for labor.  Pastor Laye has served as the Senior Pastor since the church’s founding and continues to do so.  In 1992 Rev. Erik Peel became Senior Commander and founder of Royal Rangers for Emmanuel Chapel.  In 1998 Erik was installed as Associate Pastor. Commander Douglas Carbaugh has been installed as Senior Commander of Royal Rangers and continues to guide the teaching and direction of our boys and young men’s ministry.  Girls4Christ was established as an outreach and ministry for our young girls.  Teen ministry has always been a vital part of Emmanuel Chapel’s ministry and in 2001 Tom and Marsha Singer were installed as our youth ministers and they continue to serve in that capacity.  Through the years Missions has been a vital part of the church’s outreach to the world, supporting missionaries around the earth for the cause of Christ.  Al and Addie O’Connor have served the church as Directors of our World Missions ministry since 1997 and have guided our outreach to the Philippines, India, Haiti, Mexico, South America, Africa, and many ministries in the United States.  God has been good to Emmanuel Chapel and we count it a wonderful opportunity to be an instrument in His hand for the furtherance of His kingdom.

Missions Statement: Our Missions Statement has been adopted from Christ’s missions statement in Luke 4:18: The Spirit of the Lord has directed Emmanuel Chapel, and anointed us to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent us to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; and to proclaim the return of Christ to this earth.