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Rankin Crafters began Jan. 28, 1986, when a group of women from Rankin Baptist Church in Greensboro gathered for the first time in the fellowship hall of the church.

They met with the initial interest of learning to quilt. While it took many years, each member ended up with a quilt made by the group as a whole.

Sometimes members would bring their own craft projects from home to work on while they visited with the others. Ideas and talents were shared as they worked with their hands, sharing from their hearts.

The group has worked on various service projects through the years. Some projects ended up being small favors for the church's senior ministry, Happy Hearts. Other projects included lap robes for nursing home residents, bibs for Gateway Education Center and collecting baby items for the Greensboro Pregnancy Care Center.

Over time, however, their acts of kindness were obscured as they became masters of their own kind of "sleight of hand" as they worked mysteriously on projects.

The first recipient of their pretense was Natalie Barber, the church secretary of 25 years. In 2001, as Barber was preparing to retire from her job, the Rankin Crafters went into action.

The group remembered how Barber was always unable to be a part of the Rankin Crafters because she worked full time at the church.

They decided that the Ten Friends Quilt would be a perfect memory wall hanging to honor her.

The nine front squares represented each member of the Rankin Crafters and a happy memory that each had about Barber. The 10th friend, added to the back of the quilt by the crafters, represented Barber herself, of course.

Through the whole process, Barber was unaware of what the group was up to, though she often passed through their work area on the way to the church kitchen. She was surprised when they presented her with the special quilt.

Their cover-ups took on a new level when the group crafted an idea to quilt a memory wall hanging for their pastor, the Rev. John Jarman. He had joked with them by asking how long someone had to come to the church before getting a quilt. This prompted them to brainstorm how to honor him, in secret, of course.

Jarman had been teaching a sermon series on Sunday nights on the Fruit of the Spirit from Galatians 5:22-23: "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control." This passage inspired the nine-square memory quilt for him.

Once again, they were faced with the hurdle of hiding their work if the pastor came through the fellowship hall. They kept some other project nearby to grab and place on top of what they were really working on.

The quilt not only summarized his sermon series, but became a memorial to how Jarman had put scripture into practice in his life.

Rita Campbell's gentleness square represented how gentle Jarman is with his beloved cats.

Clara Holt's kindness square showed quilted flowers and a water can representing his kindness as Jarman cares for God's Earth.

Aretta Farmer's joy quilt square demonstrated the joy God gives Jarman through gardening.

Dot Hoyle quilted her square to show a church, representing how Jarman desires to obey God's laws and his love of serving in his role as pastor.

Helen Graham's square showed popcorn, a food Jarman loves to eat, testing his self-control. Edith Slate's square showed a man fishing, which takes a great deal of patience.

Natalie Barber showed Jarman's dedication to rising early to spend time with God each day in prayer in her quilt square, and Marie Beck used a Bible to demonstrate Jarman's faithfulness in teaching God's word.

The center square showed a cross, completed by a combined effort made by all the ladies.

Once the quilt was completed, they lured him to a special luncheon they told him was for another member. Jarman was unaware the luncheon was really for him.

"Words cannot adequately describe the day they revealed their secret to me," Jarman said. "I was both overwhelmed and humbled. Their quilt is undoubtedly one of the nicest gifts I have ever received. I will treasure it as long as I live"

He praised their dedication. "To think that this group of ladies would spend the many, many hours it must have taken to complete their labor of love for me is just overwhelming. To hope that others might see Jesus living through me in the power of His Holy Spirit is extremely humbling. I can only praise God for His grace and thank Him for these wonderful ladies."

The Rankin Crafters spend their Tuesday mornings working on chrismons for the church's Christmas tree. Although their days of being sneaky seem to have faded for the time being, you never know when they might be inspired once more to act without anyone aware of what's really going on behind the scenes.

Linda Vestal is a wife, mother, daughter, sister and friend living in Gibsonville. Contact her with comments or story ideas at lindavestal@triad.rr.com.