By Daniel Hartill,Staff Writer

AUBURN – At a time in his life when many men are savoring their retirements with afternoon naps, the Rev. Ronald Murch still supplements his minister’s pay with a 40-hour day job.

He continues to spend hours preparing his sermons. And he still gives his phone number to parishioners, telling them to call any time, day or night.

“Most men my age are dead,” said Murch, 77, of Lisbon.

There’s too much to do, too many people to help and so much to share, he said.

He suggested that he might eventually slow down, shave off a few hours from his day job with an Internet company that investigates accounting fraud. But he won’t give up the ministry, currently at the Auburn Advent Christian Church.

After all, he’s been a minister for half a century.

It’s a job he wanted since he was a seventh-grader living in Bridgton.

“I heard the call when I was 14,” Murch said.

Yet, in some ways, he believes his call came even before birth.

His mother lost her first child. Worried that she may be unable to have more children, she prayed. A year later, Ronald was born.

“I was her answer,” he said. “I think the call came when I was still in the womb.”

Western Maine boyhood

He was born in Rockland. His family moved to South Paris when he was little and on to Bridgton a few years later.

He was ordained at 27, after earning degrees in voice and theology from Aurora College in Illinois. Within weeks, he had his first church, in New London, Conn.

He was a real minister. He was young and ambitious. He was a professional at a time when reverends were revered.

Murch, tall and broad-shouldered, wore a tie every day. Shop owners gave him special rates.

He tried visiting the home of every parishioner at least once a month. He spent hours crafting his sermons, trying to squeeze three central thoughts into a 20-minute message. And he began working as the chaplain at the local hospital, offering to pray at every bedside.

“Sometimes the people would see me coming and wave me away, which was all right,” he said. “I didn’t push.”

For some, he held their hands in the last moments. He made them feel better.

“It didn’t matter to me what denomination they were,” he said. They didn’t even have to be Christians. He prayed with Baptists, Catholics and Jews.

“All people need is a willingness to listen,” he said.

It was something he tried teaching the teens at his church, the Life and Advent Church. He’d take the teens to other churches and synagogues. They’d meet priests and rabbis.

It’s something he has done at every church. And there have been a lot of churches over the past 50 years. He preached all over Connecticut, in Massachusetts, Florida and finally in Maine.

He and his wife, Carol, came here in 1986. While preaching, he taught French at several Lewiston-Auburn schools. Most recently, he led the Second Advent Christian Church in Bridgton.

He came to Auburn in 2000.

Quite a party

Some things are different now. The monthly home visits are long gone, there was just too little time. And he learned to focus his sermons on a single thought.

“Now, I know people get my message,” he said.

Two Sundays ago, he spoke about divorce, calming people with a message that divorce can be reconciled with God’s teachings.

Last Sunday , there was no sermon, though.

Murch celebrated the 50th anniversary of his ordination. Members of his church surprised him with party, attended by family members from across the country and the Advent Church’s national leadership.

His wife, Carol, and his son, Bruce, were at his side.

He told everyone that he won’t stop preaching or praying.

“I always considered dealing with people my most important job,” he said. He loves it too much to stop. And he worries what might happen if he did.

“If you stop work, you curl up your toes and die,” Murch said.