HIGHTSTOWN: Nontraditional pastor focuses on similarities

Turton: ‘We all read the same Bible’

By Sean Ruppert, Staff Writer
   Bob Turton is a man who sees what people have in common.
   The Rev. Turton, 71, is the interim pastor at the First Baptist Church of Hightstown. A borough resident and graduate of Hightstown High School, he has one striking difference from the rest of the congregation.
   He is not a Baptist.
   The Rev. Turton is an evangelical interdenominational minister, and over his long career of service he has been pastor to many different churches of different denominations in New Jersey and New York.
   ”In most churches, the similarities outweigh the differences,” he said. “There are differences in tradition, but God is bigger than all these things.”
   A soft-spoken man with a wave of white hair and a wry smile, the Rev. Turton can look back on more than 50 years of church work and quickly recall enough stories to fill several hours of conversation after being asked a single question.
   Born into an Episcopalian family, the Rev. Turton said he thinks he can trace the root of his decision to be interdenominational back to when he was only 4 years old. At the time his family lived next door to a Methodist minister.
   ”The minister’s mother-in-law asked if she could take me to Sunday school at the Methodist church,” he said.
   His dedication to the Christian faith would grow over the years, and shortly after graduating from Hightstown High School he set out for Philadelphia to attend seminary school. At the time he didn’t know if he would ever live in Hightstown again.
   He returned to New Jersey and earned his bachelor’s of theology degree from Alma White College in Zarephath in 1962.
   ”I was a young pastor then and I thought I had my act together,” he said. “As you get older you realize that only God really has his act together.”
   Married in 1969, he and wife, Sandra, would have four children and adopt a son, Billy, who is now deceased. Today the couple has six grandchildren and one great-grandson.
   The Rev. Turton taught for years at Zarephath Christian Academy, and served as pastor in Baptist, Methodist, Reformed and Pillar of Fire churches among others in towns like Roebling, Fords and South Brunswick, and as far away as Staten Island, N.Y.
   He and his family returned to Hightstown in 1972 to live in and run the Bethany Chapel and Missionary Home on Stockton Street. In 1986 they moved to the campus of Zarephath Christian Academy, where the Rev. Turton taught middle school. In 1998 they returned to Hightstown to a private residence.
   In November the Rev. Turton took over as interim pastor at First Baptist. He also leads some services at the Fresh Ponds Chapel in South Brunswick.
   Over the years he has noticed that there are differences among denominations, but he said he is able to bridge the gaps.
   ”We all read the same Bible,” he said.
   For his own part he said that while he believes the Bible to be true, he doesn’t think it should be interpreted literally. He gives the example of a passage in which Jesus describes himself as a door to salvation.
   ”That doesn’t mean he is swinging on hinges,” the Rev. Turton said.
   He said he will remain as interim pastor until the congregation finds a permanent replacement.
   ”As long as they need me,” he said.