The final day of the 2009 Ohio River Sternwheel Festival will begin with the traditional sunrise service from 8 to 9 a.m. Sunday at the Ohio River Levee.
This year's sunrise Service will be presented by Pastor Rob Clegg with the Celebration Center in Belpre.
Clegg is a Parkersburg native who graduated from Parkersburg High School in 1983. He felt a call to serve God for much of his early life and in 1988 began the process of becoming ordained through online classes and other programs.
Clegg has been ordained for 20 years. He was licensed through the Full Gospel Evangealistic Association and later through the International Pentecostal Holiness Church, of which the Celebration Center is a member.
Clegg said he began speaking at and later pastoring for a church in Cairo, W.Va., for 10 years. He came to Celebration Center in Belpre seven years ago.
"It's just a passion that's in me," Clegg said of his work. "I don't know how to explain it. I believe it's the call of God and I can't imagine doing anything else," he said.
The Celebration Center has been part of Belpre for over 30 years, Clegg said. It began as a small church and has grown over the years, helping to start other Celebration Center churches around the area. The church has a variety of programs and ministries and works closely with other area churches and denominations through the Belpre Area Ministries, he said.
"We felt that was a great place for us to pour our resources in to help the people in the community. Instead of doing our own little thing, we thought it was cool that all of these churches came together," he said.
Clegg said it has been years since he attended the Sternwheel Festival as a visitor and is looking forward to participating in the sunrise service.
"I'm very excited. I've never done that before and I'm looking forward to it. I didn't even realize until they called us that they even did that," he said.
Clegg said he plans to speak about Jesus as the image of God. He will be joined by two Celebration Center members, his son, Justin Clegg, and Gabbie Dye, one of the church's praise and worship leaders, to provide the musical component of the service.
