MUNSTER | Since 1979, the Rev. Richard "Dick" Rogers has shepherded the congregation at Westminster Presbyterian Church as pastor and then co-pastor.

Over the years, Rogers also helped launch the Northwest Indiana Habitat for Humanity chapter and led several hundred adults and teenagers on bicycle trips from coast to coast.

Sunday, the 70-year-old will end one chapter in his life and give his last sermon at the church he helped grow in size and membership. However, Rogers' retirement won't be spent in a rocking chair.

Next month, he and his wife, Frieda, will move to Fort Worth, Texas, to be near family.

It's an adventure that Rogers said he's ready to begin, but Westminster Presbyterian Church will always be part of his heart and soul.

He said he's leaving the church in the capable hands of the Rev. Bruce Haapalainen, who became Westminster's co-pastor in 2003. Likening his role as pastor of a church to that of raising a child, Rogers said the goal is independence so that when it's time to walk away, it will thrive.

"The major measure of how successful you've been is how will the church function when you're gone," he said. "The best gift a long-term pastor can give is to create a healthy culture that continues."

During Rogers' tenure, the church building has more than tripled in size, and the membership has grown from 450 to more than 750.

"This church was really dumpy when I came here. It didn't have suitable room. The pastor had left. Some members had left," Rogers said. "The building looked like a tadpole with the sanctuary as the head and a narrow hall that ended in glass doors that led out to grass."

Westminster's single worship service was often interrupted by a door that banged as late-comers entered. The roof leaked.

But an addition in the early 1980s started a series of renovations - including a $2.2 million construction project in 1994 - that allowed the church to increase membership and sponsor more missions and programs.

Rogers has supported missions, cooking for the homeless and has built relationships.

The Open Road bike trips that Rogers started at Westminster lasted for 32 years, said Darlene Smith, the parish nurse at Westminster. The trips took adults and teenagers to both U.S. coasts, to Canada three times, to Mammoth Cave in Kentucky and the Black Hills.

"Dick mentored many youth on their way to adulthood," Smith said.

Rogers said he gave up the trips in 2003 when he couldn't recover from the previous day's bike ride. Still an avid biker, Rogers rides along the area's bike paths to Crown Point and Michigan City.

"Building for the future is Dick's motto," Smith said. "Mission, the calling of every church, is also one of Dick's passions."