Norbo launched City Bible Church, opposed gay marriage
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Rev. Sam Norbo was a long-time pastor at City Bible Church and critic of same-sex marriage.
He died Sept. 29. Norbo was 82.
Norbo was born in Idaho and educated at Prairie Bible College in Three Hills, Alta. He started his ministry in Leeburn, 50 kilometres east of Sault Ste. Marie. Norbo served at Leeburn Bible Fellowship Church and Batchawana Community Bible Church.
In 1973, Norbo became founding pastor of the interdenominational City Bible Church, the former Coulson Avenue Baptist Church.
“There is a growing demand for interdenominational churches,” Norbo told The Sault Star in 1979. “More and more people would rather have the spirituality part of Christianity emphasized rather than a certain denomination.”
City Bible Church hosted missionaries including former area residents Margaret Paterson and Louise Cameron who were part of Africa Evangelical Friendship and Africa Inland Mission.
Norbo spoke out against pornography, homosexuality and same-sex marriage.
“Ministers should speak on the topic of homosexuality because the Bible has so much to say about it,” he said in March 1979.
Norbo wrote to Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau after the federal government decriminalized homosexual acts in 1969.
“Contrary to what some people believe, medical people say that homosexuals are not born with homosexual tendencies, they develop them through some form of outside influence,” he said.
Norbo encouraged his parishioners to read American evangelical minister Tim LaHaye’s The Unhappy Gays: What Everyone Should Know About Homosexuality.
“He believed very strongly in the Bible,” said Gene Monin, who was an associate pastor at City Bible Church with Norbo for 18 years. “He teached only from the Bible. He believed the Bible was correct for him.”
In September 2003, Norbo was one of several Sault Ste. Marie clergy who prayed with more than 100 others outside MP Carmen Provenzno’s office in support of the traditional definition of marriage. Provenano voted in favour of marriage being between a man and woman.
“We are here because we believe there is something better for Canada than what the government is proposing. Something better,” said Norbo. “And we want the better. We want the best.”
When the U.S. Supreme Court backed same-sex benefits in 2013, Norbo still stood against two men or two women marrying.
“The Bible teaches there’s something better than that lifestyle,” he said.
In 1975, Norbo praised Sault Ste. Marie Police Service for taking pornographic magazines off store shelves.
“What we read and see, our mind thinks about,” he said during a sermon at City Bible Church. “Let us declare war on smut.”
Norbo also presided over some unusual weddings.
Bob Bird and Judy Parest were married at Reggie’s Tavern in October 2009. Motorcycle enthusiasts Daisy Shepherd and Mike Beach were on their bikes, along with many of their guests, when they tied the knot in July 2008. John Amato and Rean Freund were married by Norbo at the top of Searchmont Resort.
Gene Monin worked with Norbo as an associate pastor at City Bible Church for 18 years.
“I think his gift was people,” said The Sault Star columnist. “He always made a point of greeting (new people at the church) and making them feel at home and welcoming them, maybe even taking them for a coffee or a meal. He was very strong on that personal touch.”
City Bible Church supported Norbo’s brother-in-law, Marshall Lawrence, a bible translator in New Guinea, for 30 years. Norbo welcomed missionary groups passing through the city to his church.
“Sam was a missionary supporter through and through,” said Monin.
Norbo was the longest serving volunteer at Sault Area Hospital. He helped for more than than 58 years
“Sam dedicated his life to shepherding people and stayed focused on it,” said Phillip and Alice Bruce in an online post.
“I was privileged to listen to him preach often and was always impressed with his thorough preparation and straight forward and logical systematic presentation,” said Murray Hill.
A funeral service was held last Thursday at Bethel Bible Chapel.
On Twitter: @Saultreporter
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