AUBURN – The Rev. Roger Cousineau plans to switch off his microphone, unplug the organ and turn off the computer that projects song lyrics and scriptures for attendees of East Auburn Baptist Church.

No electric guitars. No movie clips. No lights.

For one Sunday, sometime this bicentennial year, the minister plans to go rustic, recreating a service that might have been held in the early 19th century. He plans to use the text of an original sermon once preached here, at the first Baptist church in the city.

“I might just read it,” Cousineau said. “It might even be boring.”

But something of the original founders – “six guys and four women who had purpose” – might come along, too.

“It wasn’t always easy for them,” he said.

During the church’s first century, the congregation sometimes contracted to only a few people. One church building burned. There were days when the church was so poor, it rented out the parsonage for income.

“If they hadn’t done what they did, we wouldn’t be able to do what we’re doing,” Cousineau said. “We’re really being good stewards.”

Sixteen generations after the church began, the parish is undergoing its largest success. About 1,000 people attend church here each week, divided into five separate services

“We’re building this ministry with the future in mind,” the minister said. “Yet, we’re still moving by the same power they moved by.”

On Saturday and Sunday, services plan to commemorate the exact date of the bicentennial, Feb. 17, 1807. There will be letters from members of Congress, a city proclamation and the presentation of a flag.

It’s only a beginning, though.

Just as members of Cousineau’s own family celebrate each birthday for a week – “one day isn’t enough” – one weekend is not enough for the church.

“We are celebrating for one full year,” Cousineau said.

The two-century mark gives the church a sense of permanence it might have earned no other way, he said.

A nine-member 200th Anniversary Committee, led by Barry and Gayla Drake of Livermore, have been working for nearly a year on events for 2007. They include dress-up weekends for people to attend church in period clothes, to plays, potlucks and hymn sings.

And though many events are scheduled at the church, located near the corner of Route 4 and Turner Street in Auburn, some are planned for the 100-plus-acre church-owned parcel on Park Avenue.

Weather and builders at the site could get in the way, said Gayla Drake. After all, church leaders hope to cap the year with the opening of the new church in December.

The optimism aims to color the events throughout the year. For all the looking back, the ministry is watching the future even more closely, Cousineau said.

The December completion will mark the first phase of the Park Avenue project, eventually growing from 16,000 square feet to about 80,000, he said.

Plans call for greater use of media – soon capturing services as Web casts – and always finding new ways of reaching out to people and to God.

“I am thinking of the future with my grandson, Brandon, in mind,” Cousineau said. “I really am.”