On behalf of The Village Chapel board of trustees, Toby Wells, chairman, has announced that former senior minister Dr. Glenn Miller will return as interim minister beginning on July 3.

Miller was associate minister of the chapel from 1997 to 2001 and senior minister from 2001 to 2008.

At the same time, Wells announced that Dr. Ashley N. Smith has accepted the newly created position of pastor for families and youth activities. Smith recently joined the chapel as director of youth ministries and children's ministries.

The trustees will ask the chapel membership to approve both nominations at a vote scheduled for June 12.

Miller has agreed to serve for a period up to one year while the pastoral search committee seeks a candidate to fill the senior minister position. Miller and his wife, Betty, are well-known to the chapel membership and key lay leaders say they are very enthusiastic about the appointment.

Miller is a graduate of Columbia Theological Seminary and served from 1977 to 1997 as a U.S. Navy chaplain. He is serving as the national chaplain and a member of national board of Military Officers Association of America through 2014. The Millers have three children and five grandchildren.

Smith, his wife, Vicki, and their four children have already become active in the church life and in the local community. Smith received his Doctor of Ministry from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. He comes to The Village Chapel from Culbreth Memorial PHC, where he served as senior pastor.

The Village Chapel is an independent, interdenominational church, governed by an elected board of trustees that is responsible for its day-to-day operations. The Village Chapel is an outgrowth of the "Pinehurst Religious Association," which dates back to the very beginnings of Pinehurst. The first interdenominational church service was held in 1898. Dr. Edward Everett Hale, author of "Man Without A Country," and good friend of Pinehurst founder James Walker Tufts, was invited to be the chapel's first minister. Dr. Hale and Mr. Tufts envisioned a community where people of various backgrounds could live and worship in Christian love and humanity. Since its founding there have been eight ministers serving the chapel, representing five denominations.

The cornerstone for the chapel was placed on April 13, 1924, and the first worship service was held on March 1, 1925. Hobart Upjohn, the architect, won a Diploma of Merit at an international exhibition in Turin, Italy, for the chapel's graceful Ccolonial design.