Pillar & Ground
Pillar & Ground is a podcast for the Lookout Mountain Presbyterian Church family so that we may deepen in our knowledge of the ground on which we stand and also deepen in our connection with whom we stand together in community and mission.
Pillar & Ground
Stories: Ann & Pep Grimes
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Pillar & Ground returns for the fall with special guests Ann & Pep Grimes. Ann has been a member of LMPC since she was 5 years old and Pep began attending in 1981 when they were married. They share memories of life on the mountain, raising children at LMPC and now their shared work with Lookout Mountain Real Estate. You can find the Grimes every Sunday in the sanctuary on the 3rd row from the front.
Host: Brian Salter
Special Guests: Ann & Pep Grimes
Producer: Ben Wingard
Music arranged by David Henry and performed by David Henry and Hannah Lutz.
To contact Pillar & Ground or to submit a question that you would like to hear addressed on a future episode, please email podcast@lmpc.org.
Welcome to Pillar and Ground Podcast. I'm Brian Salter, lead pastor at Lookout Mountain Prestarian Church, and this episode is a stories episode where we are getting to know the stories of some folks that have been at LMPC for their whole lives and a long time. And we've been doing these. We started these last spring and we found they've been really welcomed. We're a large church now, and there are people amongst us that this is life. This is the place, this is home their whole lives. And they have great stories, and we want to tell them because if you stop telling stories, you lose them. And today we're joined by Pep and Ann Grimes. Welcome to Pillar and Graham. Thank you, Brian. Thank you. We're going to learn all about them. But you won't be surprised. I know I've asked this first question a lot of times, and we get these answers, you know, like a lot of the same answers. And you're probably going to hear one here from Ann. Ann, how long have you been at Lookout Mountain Pro Stream Church?
SPEAKER_00Well, I I will say it wasn't until I was five.
SPEAKER_03Okay.
SPEAKER_00So with the first five years, I was in Dalton. But um from age five on up to what I will not confess, yes, is um how long I've been here. It's the only place.
SPEAKER_04Pretty much your whole life.
SPEAKER_00Yes.
SPEAKER_01Uh Pep, how about you? Well, since Ann and I married 45 years ago.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Back in 81.
SPEAKER_04You grew up where Lagrange, George. Okay. And so Lagrange meets Lookout Mountain. How'd that how'd y'all meet? Yeah, when you'd ask that.
SPEAKER_00That's a story. Um, I was a widow and was living up here, actually, uh, in the church manse that had the first time Roger and Joy Guelick had been living in it, 108 Whiteside.
SPEAKER_03Okay.
SPEAKER_00And I moved back home with a two-year-old, and um the house became available because finally they were letting the pastors buy their own homes. And so the church manse was available, and so daddy bought it for me and Alan. Um, and I had him in daycare, and I met Wendy Williams.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_00And they also knew Pep.
SPEAKER_01Henry and I were friends from LaGrange. Oh.
SPEAKER_04I love it. See, I've I love it. I learned all kinds of stuff.
SPEAKER_01And I had been recently divorced in Dalton.
SPEAKER_04Okay.
SPEAKER_01And Henry and Wendy came down for to take me out to eat, and I was bemoaning the fact of having to date again and the problems there. And Wendy says, ah, I know someone you should meet. Yeah. But then we had a problem. I was very involved in a youth ministry that I did voluntarily back in Dalton. I worked with youth offenders, taking them backpacking up in the Appalachian Mountains and the Cahuta Mountains. I was doing it three weekends a month, and I did it for three years. Wow. I didn't have a lot of free time. Plus, I was going to school at night. But Wendy and Henry said, need to meet this lady on lookout. And they finally got us together October the 11th, 1980. Okay. And then we come to another story.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_01We met at their home one Saturday, and when we met, it was all five of us, Ann and Alan, and my two children, Katie and Bo. So we all met the same instant. And when the relationship we brought the kids into, they were there from the first meeting. Oh. Then it gets better.
SPEAKER_00We didn't have a date until our honeymoon.
SPEAKER_01By ourselves. We always had children.
SPEAKER_00We did everything. Wow. Everything with the children.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And also through the years when we would have um, when it would be our weekend to have Bo and Katie, we always did things with them. We didn't get a babysitter ever for them. We so we were very children oriented with that.
SPEAKER_01So we're kind of glad when they went off to college and we were emptying up so badly.
SPEAKER_03Yay.
SPEAKER_04Well, now you gotta, you know, vocationally, you you you have people all the time. We were just talking about that. Tell us about the Lord's calling on your lives, what you do vocationally, and how you and you you don't have a lot of time alone still, I think is what I understand.
SPEAKER_00Well, I think um the real estate that we do, the work that we do, our goal is to serve the Lord by serving others. And we do it through the real estate, which we've done for 24 years. And we've So we've been 24-7 for uh 24 years, and people still recently somebody said, How do you do it?
SPEAKER_04I don't know, we just do it. Yeah, because you said it's not that hasn't felt like work.
SPEAKER_00No, it doesn't feel like work, and we thoroughly enjoy being with each other, so it's not hard to be 24-7.
SPEAKER_04And that's called uh Lookout Mountain Real Estate. And uh you uh oversee Highlands, Lookout Mountain.
SPEAKER_01I'm a broker in three states Tennessee, Georgia, and Alabama.
SPEAKER_04All right, and you you're very involved in the Highlands development back there and McLamore now.
SPEAKER_01We've been in Lookout Highlands since the beginning back in 1992.
SPEAKER_04Okay. And uh you get to spend a lot of time with people that are coming to the mountain and seeing things, and they get to meet veterans like you. Mountain veterans.
SPEAKER_00Well, it's interesting, yes. What we've learned uh being out there, as people say, out there. Um, it's wonderful to be. It's like living in a private park.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And then our office is a mile away.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_00So it's a pretty cushy thing.
SPEAKER_04Well, I love that uh it's a calling, and you you feel like God's called you to serve the Lord and serve others in this way, and you meet a lot of new people to the mountain, and and you point people uh to this place that's home for you, look out Mountain Presbyterian Church.
SPEAKER_00Well, and the Lord has brought us so many Christians as we work with people through the day. We we'll say things and they'll say things, and it's just it's just been amazing for 24 years how many.
SPEAKER_04That's great.
SPEAKER_00So that's a blessing.
SPEAKER_04Um, so you've been here uh for many years. You'll know uh if you want to find Peppin Ann, a sanctuary service at 11, come to row three on my right, your left coming into the pulpit. And uh I tell you, I it's one of the hard things about being here for 20 years is watching the seats vacate. I can tell you where certain people sat, and then you look and they're no longer there, they're with Jesus. Yeah, and I I love still being able to see Pep and Ann.
SPEAKER_01But you need to realize though, that third row had been occupied at one time by three generations. Anne's parents, us, and our children all on that same row. Wow.
SPEAKER_04And so party of two, third row, left side of the sanctuary. Feel free. We can we can sit six or seven to a row, but that that seat's taken. Uh um what are some of your earliest memories of this church, Ann?
SPEAKER_00Um, well, I've thought about that. The um the earliest, uh, the church got a new director of Christian education, Elizabeth McNeil. And Daddy was very whatever he was involved with, he was instrumental in. She was a widow, and she came with her mother and two daughters, and the youngest daughter was my age, and so we were best friends. And um, they lived in that 108 whiteside.
SPEAKER_03Okay.
SPEAKER_00So um, so I used to go over there a lot, and I probably didn't realize it at all, but I was getting such good influence by being in a home of the director of Christian Christian education.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00So that lasted um for a long time. And then, of course, I did um youth group, Sunday school youth group. Um we didn't have a real powerful youth group at that point. Um not anything like our son Alan had with Lintiak. Um, that just was phenomenal for him. And we personally I was sad that Bo and Katie were not here to be able to get that because they did not have that in Dalton.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, it's special. Who's the first pastor you remember?
SPEAKER_00George Long? Or who was before him?
SPEAKER_04Well, he was 64. He came in 64 spront. I've heard that name. I've heard I'm blanking myself. Uh I should know them all. I should know them. Wiley. Sam Wiley.
SPEAKER_00Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Pastor Wiley. Sam Wiley.
SPEAKER_04Sam Wiley.
SPEAKER_00Maybe that was it. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Okay. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And all the music directors I've known. Mama was in the choir.
unknownOkay.
SPEAKER_04There's a story there. Yeah. Tell us your mom and dad's name.
SPEAKER_00Albert.
SPEAKER_04Albert.
SPEAKER_00And Sadie.
SPEAKER_04And Sadie Hodge. There's a story there on the choir. Come on, tell it.
SPEAKER_01Anne's father was the judge on Lookout Mountain for 30 some odd years.
SPEAKER_04Okay.
SPEAKER_01And lived at the corner of Averill in East Brow. April is one way.
SPEAKER_00Down.
SPEAKER_01Down from the towers to East Brow. Sadie was running late to choir. And she went the wrong way up Avril, and the police stopped her and gave her a ticket. So she had to go before the judge, Judge Hodge. And she appeared before the judge, and the judge heard the story, and he hit the gavel guilty. And then he got up, walked around, and paid her fine for her.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_01That is a grace. Yes.
SPEAKER_04It's a good picture of the gospel.
SPEAKER_00It is. It's an easy understanding.
SPEAKER_04Judge Hodge. He didn't lie about the verdict, had to have justice.
SPEAKER_00That's right.
SPEAKER_04But then he paid the cost. Yes. That's good.
SPEAKER_00Yep. He was also, of course, an attorney in Chattanooga for over 50 years.
SPEAKER_04Okay.
SPEAKER_00He went to his office one Thursday morning. He went to the Mountain City Club for lunch with his friend every Thursday. He went to the hospital. And he was gone two weeks later. Our children had to go, our boys had to go and get his car out of the parking deck. And his things were right there in his office. So but was this.
SPEAKER_04What year? Because I he was I got here in 06 and he had not he was not here. In 97. Okay, 97. Okay. So um yeah, and we'll come back to I'm sure we'll come we'll come back to your father because he plays an important role in the life of this church.
SPEAKER_00I was very fortunate. Daddy was just a he was just a sweetheart. It doesn't mean that he didn't discipline.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00But he and Mother, I never saw them argue. Just it was a very fortunate upbringing.
SPEAKER_04I've never really seen a picture of your dad, but uh uh it strikes me as maybe he wore bow ties. No. No, okay. When I hear Southern judge and lawyer, I think bow ties, but no.
SPEAKER_00Oh, but his favorite, his very favorite is when he was worked out in the yard.
SPEAKER_03Okay.
SPEAKER_00And he had this winter coat, and we called it his piddlin coat. And he would put that thing on and go out and piddle. Yeah in the yard. He we had him, they had a magnolia tree, pick up the leaves.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Just he had in the summertime he had a transistor radio, and he kept bending over and doing stuff, and the radio would fall out of his pocket, and he finally had to pin it in to me because it was coming apart too many times. So just sweet.
SPEAKER_04Um Pep, what about you? Your earliest memories, you you come here in 1980 then.
SPEAKER_0181. 81. And that was right after we voted to go from PC USA to the PCA. Yeah. And that was to me, it was an impressive time. I came up in the Methodist Church, and this church was different. One of the first things that really impressed me was men in the church. It was the men in the church who were active and was taking a leadership role in the Methodist church at that time, and I guess now even, that's not necessarily the case.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. That's really good. That's that's really an interesting observation of one of the earliest things you noted. Yes. And that's true. God has provided faithful, wonderful leadership to this church through the years that I've known it and before that. So very thankful for that provision. Yes. Yes. So he's here when you get here. George Long's here. Roger's still here. No.
SPEAKER_00But we were after, we were after um the labor renewal.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, that's post-labor. Yeah, after that.
SPEAKER_00Jim Bachman married us. Oh, he did? Yeah, we were his first wedding. Okay.
SPEAKER_04Well, he did good work.
SPEAKER_00Yes, he did.
SPEAKER_04Yes, he did. What uh when you think about you your life here at LMPC, formative moments for you that you remember, that that shaped me, that changed me. That that was significant.
SPEAKER_00I was talking with our son Alan. I told him, I said, you know, I don't have I don't have any big things.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00I don't have any. Woo-ha. Um he said, Mom, it doesn't matter.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, that's faithfulness.
SPEAKER_00It just doesn't matter. So um just little things, well, actually big things through our marriage, hard times when we've seen the Lord provide. We've seen our church provide when we needed it. Um and I just it's been good to uh look now in a situation. Where is the Lord in this situation? What's going on? And try to focus that way instead of what am I doing or not doing? But what is he trying to show us? Is he opening a door? Is he closing a door?
SPEAKER_04Well, and what that is is a a consciousness of God, and that comes from faithfulness of worship. And it doesn't have to have huge memories. You know, I think about huge formative moments. I think about our children when we baptize them, our hope is that they'll never know a day they didn't know Jesus. And they may have a splash moment, but I pray for very ordinariness for my kids. Uh and so, yeah, it's just you have faithfully been fed and nourished and nurtured, and now you'll it's cultivated a God consciousness in you. And that's that's formative.
SPEAKER_01We're also very grateful just every week we hear the word. And it's just faithfully preached. And I'm sure a lot of people don't realize what a blessing that is.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. Yeah. It is a blessed commitment that God has given us.
SPEAKER_00So many times when we've visited other churches for one reason or another, they have a subject and a scripture verse to go with it. Right. That's backwards.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. That is backwards. Yeah. What do you want to talk about? Find something to back it up. Yeah, that's backwards. That's a good point. Pep, do you have formative moments that are blazoned in your mind?
SPEAKER_01Not so much uh what's happening here at the church. I grew up in the church, but then I was a prodigal. But then through problems in marriage and so forth, the Lord brought me back. And I was very fortunate in Dalton at the time to be involved with a ministry, it was a youth ministry, really, but very involved with Bible study and reading, and through some of the trials and problems at that time, it really gave me a need for spiritual growth. And it was nice that it carried through though when we came here and also staying in the word. Mm-hmm. Amen.
SPEAKER_00How many times have you read through the scripture, Pep?
SPEAKER_01I guess dozens, maybe so.
SPEAKER_00He has a plan, a three-year plan.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And he does it constant. Never fails.
SPEAKER_04Brown Bible, isn't it? You carry in. It's got a lot of markers and notes and things in it. He's got the Bible in one hand and on the other arm. Uh, but coming to that third row. I love it. Uh I I think what you just said is beautiful. That it's just long, steady faithfulness. I mean, God tells us faith is like farming, right? You just it's steadiness, it's plotting, it's trusting, depending on God. And uh that's formative. Who who are some of the people you mentioned the name, Elizabeth McNeil? One of the things I like about doing this is I hear names I've never heard. Like I've never heard that name.
SPEAKER_02That's a long time ago.
SPEAKER_04That's a long time ago, but that's a important part of history here. Uh what are who are some of the people that have most impacted you at LMPC as you've been here? Maybe you're thinking Sunday school teachers or volunteers or youth leaders or um elders, deacons. Well, who who? Ladies.
SPEAKER_00Well, yeah, I've just been fortunate through Bible studies uh friends. Uh a group of us just seemed to continue to be in Bible study. And we shared our children were the same age. And so just having those friends. Um and then one thing when uh Kathleen and Neil Nielsen were here, and of course Kathleen writes Bible studies, and I did several that she had written, but she also taught. And so there's something about having the author teach you. And it was those were very, very special Bible studies that really were good for me. I also did um, it's not necess it's not connected to this church, but I did 10 years of Bible study fellowship.
SPEAKER_04Okay, PSF, yeah.
SPEAKER_00And so they are 100 over percent scripture. You don't touch anything else. And so, but I went through the minor prophets twice.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Why am I doing this?
SPEAKER_04It's God's word. Yeah, it is. It's like you said, hearing from the author.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it is.
SPEAKER_04So yeah, those Bible studies with Kathleen were about they were happening when I first got here. Uh she was here and wasn't.
SPEAKER_00Oh, she's very gifted.
SPEAKER_04So very gifted. Um the uh turning points for the life of LMPC that you've observed. I know one turning point, if we want to talk about it now, is the role your dad played. And something we still benefit from as this church. You want to talk about that?
SPEAKER_00Well, Pep can probably explain it better than um forming the corporation. Yeah. I don't know.
SPEAKER_01Albert had the foresight to realize back in, I guess, the late 70s or very early 80s, the challenges that would be involved in leaving the PC USA and going to the PCA and the church facilities. And he had the wisdom to form the corporation who took ownership of the physical facilities of our church. So it wasn't part of the PCUSA.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_01So when we left, there were no issues with our facilities. And now we have our annual meeting every year.
SPEAKER_03Yep.
SPEAKER_04And it it's a pretty good deal, too, he wrote up.
SPEAKER_01A dollar a year?
SPEAKER_04A dollar a year. Yeah. So pretty good deal. Yeah. But the wisdom in that, I mean, part of the angst of leaving the denomination was many churches did lose their buildings. Uh, many most of the pastors actually lost all their retirement uh and the departure from the denomination. And um, but to be able to preserve this space, I mean, this building and this plot is special. Um people that have been baptized here have gotten married here, um, like you. And um and and there's just a lot of specialness to the place. And so for Albert Hodge to have that that foresight, have that wisdom, and have the desire, the courage and and will to do something with it. It's one thing to have the wisdom, it's another thing to act on it. We still benefit from that. Uh, and the corporation uh allows us to not have the church own the property. So it's a wonderful thing. So um tell me about your mom.
SPEAKER_00So she's in the choir, and and yeah, those were um, you know, it used to be there was only one service, 11 o'clock, and the choir sat up in the choir loft the whole time. And um, so daddy was I have two sisters, I'm the youngest. So the three of us were um always with daddy, and mama was in the choir. So, but mama, she served uh she and I both served on the communion committee for years, setting up communion and taking it down. Of course, once I moved south, I couldn't do that as much. But but she and I uh Dottie Payton, I mean, yeah, Dot uh Brownie. Brownie Payton. Okay. You know the tablecloth that we use for communion to this day? I was there when that was first given to Brownie. Or in memory of her.
SPEAKER_04Okay.
SPEAKER_00So it always kind of when I see it on communion Sundays, think of her. Yeah, think of all of that. So, and then um mama and her friend, whose name I have tried all morning to remember, uh, they used to fold bulletins on Friday mornings.
SPEAKER_04Okay.
SPEAKER_00And eat Werther's original candies. Candies. It was a big deal. The two of them folded.
SPEAKER_04Couple of bulletins kind of sticky.
SPEAKER_00Maybe. Maybe. I went a couple of times and helped them.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. But she just was a quiet where they made the wafers.
SPEAKER_00Oh, mama made communion bread.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Mama and her neighbor, and they rolled it out on the kitchen counter with a weighted rolling pen and then cut it into the this is back when the wafers were tiny, tiny thin. And so she did that for years and years and years.
SPEAKER_04I tell you, if you've ever been to a church that uses that styrofoam fake bread, uh, you love you appreciate that homemade bread. Still to this day, you know, Dottie Payden made it for years. And uh, that's a labor of love. It's a sacred thing to prepare communion and the cups. And uh, and if anybody's listening and interested, that's a great way to serve here. There's volunteer needs for people. Now we have four services, four tables to set. We need people, so it's a it's a great way to serve and contemplate Christ while you serve. And I do want to point out something that Ann said. You did rightly hear her. We used to have one service, 11 a.m. And there are a lot of people still here that can remember that. And I want to note that because it we've changed a lot, we've grown a lot. There's four services, two locations. I think it's just helpful to remember people remember a much smaller, more intimate church where you knew everybody, and there can be some grief with that growth when you don't know everybody anymore, and it's big.
SPEAKER_00And well, one thing I did uh what four or five years ago now, when the Bible study I'd been involved with sort of fell apart different going different ways, and I came to the church for the young people's Wednesday morning Bible study, and I met a ton of young moms. Um, it was a hard thing to do, but I did it, and I I love it because now I see them. Yeah, and I think, well, I know who that is.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00I think I because the directory is wonderful, but if you can't put the name with it, you can't scroll through the whole directory.
SPEAKER_04Well, and that's another good point, Ann, because in a church our size, if you don't take the initiative, it's easy to just feel lost or like you don't know anybody. And so sometimes that's hard. It's hard to take the initiative, but once you do, you get connected to the people that have come that haven't been here their whole lives, they're new, and you got a lot to offer.
SPEAKER_00Well, also, we did it for Sunday school too now for three or four years. We've uh we deliberately went to a Sunday school class with younger people, pregnant moms.
SPEAKER_04You know, Sojourners. Yes.
SPEAKER_00They made at 11.
SPEAKER_04Well, they don't they don't mean at 11, sorry, 10 a.m. That's common. Uh yeah, sorry, we're going back to that. But yeah, I've noticed that y'all y'all joined that class. Yes.
SPEAKER_00Well, and Jameson, who leads our sojourners right now, he and my son, our son Alan, working scouts together.
SPEAKER_03Okay.
SPEAKER_00And I didn't realize. I mean, he he spoke to us and said, Are you Alan's mom and dad? I mean, I would have never realized. I wouldn't have put it together necessarily.
SPEAKER_04Those intentional choices you have to make in a large church. And it can be easy to sometimes say, I wish we had what we used to have, and it's smaller, you know everybody, and you realize we don't. God's growing us. Growth is a good thing, and you take steps like you've taken. So that's really good.
SPEAKER_01Well, you think about some of the old things back. I was chairman of the finance committee for a number of years.
SPEAKER_04Okay.
SPEAKER_01And the church finances were run by Doc Cochran. And the church was run by Doc Cochran. I've heard. And that's back before we had computers. And we've changed a lot since then.
SPEAKER_00Yes.
SPEAKER_04Pen to paper, pencil to paper.
SPEAKER_00She was a wonderful, wonderful lady.
SPEAKER_04And I've heard Dot stories of, you know, you don't have a receipt. You were, that was your money you just spent.
SPEAKER_00Or if you put the wrong receipt in the offering plate. Uh-oh.
SPEAKER_04So uh Dot Cochran, another person that is on the list of names you hear as stories are told. Uh other things that you remember that people wouldn't know, like any other things about the church you think it's changed so much. We used to have this, we used to have that. Anything?
SPEAKER_00Well, we had, as Pep was saying, back when he did the budget. What was the budget, Pep? It was so much.
SPEAKER_01Unfortunately, I was the chairman of the finance committee when we broke a million-dollar budget. That was major. Yeah. Were you the chair of the last capital campaign in 92? It might have been. I was chairman of the finance committee for number even when I was not active on the Diaconet.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_01For a number of years, I still had that responsibility. And that's when we did the 50-50 also.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's right. Uh and that made it hard. Yeah. So it wasn't easy to be a finance chair and have that guideline, having to be adhere when you had these physical needs and these commitments.
SPEAKER_01No, we no, half for our church and half emissions.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, yeah. Um well the church has changed a lot layout-wise, the rooms and two capital campaigns that redesigned it. And uh you've seen you've seen different sorts of types of this church, haven't you?
SPEAKER_00Well, I said to Pep this morning that, you know, it's nice to now we could just pull up to the church office. And with my physical issues, I can get in.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Much easier. And so we've talked about wanting to go spend some time in the church library again because we've kind of missed that. But it's complicated getting in there physically, everything. And so um, we used to check out a book every week or so. I mean, we were constantly, and that was such a wonderful resource.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_00We read all sorts of things.
SPEAKER_04The library's great, and the redesign of it has been See, we haven't seen that.
SPEAKER_00You I but we've enjoyed the podcast with Jennifer. She's the two of you are fun to listen to.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, I I like interviewing her. She she points us in a lot of good directions to read. And yeah, I do those podcasts because I'll I'll just like the corporation. Do they know the library? Do you know what a resource we have? And since the renovation, the layout of it is wonderful. Comfortable chairs to sit in, and uh they've changed the whole orientation of it. Things are outward-facing so you can see the books as you walk in. Um, Jennifer West is responsible for doing that. It's been great. Um, and in case you don't know, as you're listening for another library plug, there's an app you can get to see what is in the library and if it's available. And um, so a little plug for the library. Thank you for that.
SPEAKER_00Well, and also I was um in my Bible study journey, uh, I was in Bible study with Jennifer and with her mom, Nell.
SPEAKER_03Okay, yeah.
SPEAKER_00And so those were special years to get to know both of them. And um they're just Nell is a real special friend. Yes, encourage her.
SPEAKER_04What are other stories? Any other stories you think? And I wanted to tell that story when we got on here. I don't have a question that would prompt it, but any other lookout mountain procedure and church folklore?
SPEAKER_00I don't know. I just think again that um with where we live, and we have a couple of options of other churches, we could do Rock Creek. Um but it's just the pull.
SPEAKER_01In the 90s, we had two homes on Eight Park Lane, which is a block from here. Yeah. And then we had built our lake home. But we made the commitment every Sunday to drive from the lake home back into LMPC to worship. Yeah. So and we've been doing that for 30 years, yeah, faithfully.
SPEAKER_00Try to.
SPEAKER_04Love that. Love that. What is your prayerful hope for the future of LMBC?
SPEAKER_00To continue to have young people. Young people. Just that's that's what's gonna keep the church going. And they're beautifully committed. They're I see that in the Bible studies when I was doing that, that they are they're active. They want to be there. They're not just going and listening, they're talking, they're responding, they're doing homework. Um and that's just a real joy to see. And that's what'll keep the church alive. Also the pastors. Goodness, we um are fortunate beyond words with all of you pastors are just excellent. And so yeah, again, you see it uh when you visit another church for a reason.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00It just really dawns on you the um difference. And and of course, we enjoy the sanctuary and the formal part more of that. But I just hope they keep I know there'll be a new person coming on, but that's he will not be a pastor.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, this executive director that we're gonna hire, but um we will we will get back to six pastors eventually. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So I agree. Like the the team piece of the pastoral approach is just a gift. It it's uncommon. And um very grateful for the different voices that bring us the word of God. I know Pep, he knows where we've not only that we've preached, but where we've preached. He keeps track of all of it.
SPEAKER_00We'll be um we'll be visiting, we have a time of sharing and prayer.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00The two of us together. And um we'll be talking before we pray. And he'll say, Oh, I need to go mark down. Which one? I forgot. So he gets up and goes and does that.
SPEAKER_01And that is one of the important things that we've been very blessed. Prayer together as a couple. For over thirty years, we've been committed to try to pray together daily just to get the day started.
SPEAKER_00It's a time when you will ask forgiveness of the Lord, of your spouse, that you'll bring up things that you might not in just everyday conversation. Oh, I better not say that. But you know you have have something that needs to be addressed with one or the other or both. And I think we've as one will pray about it, the other will also, and it prompts us to that's good. It keeps keeps peace in the household.
SPEAKER_04Amen. What's your hope, Pep, your prayerful hope for the future?
SPEAKER_01Again, continuing to preach the word. Amen. But as Ann said, the life of the churches and the children and the youth. As we leave each Sunday, we go through the parking lot and see the number of children out in the playground and the parents. Yeah. Man, that's the life of the blood of the church.
SPEAKER_04Isn't that fun to drive by after the 11 o'clock service? They they're out there just playing and still meeting about 12 30. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Uh, you know, I I've said this before somewhere, uh, maybe on podcasts. I know I'd do it in trainings, but the uniqueness of our church is that our number of baptisms per year is usually close, if not equal, to the number of deaths. Uh it's usually in the 20s. That's unique. That's a place that says we are welcoming people into the covenant community and we are ushering people into the presence of God. That diversity of age and stage is a gift that some churches, lodgers don't have. They have all older members or they have all younger members. What a gift we have in in that. So we pray that it keeps going.
SPEAKER_00Well, along those lines, several funerals that we had, they seem to be sort of right in a row, and they were streamed. And of course, the Lintiague s stands out. My sister, one of my sisters in Birmingham has watched that twice. Um but how that ministers well it ministered to me and it's it's a funeral. And it's I mean, it's sad that we don't have Lynn with us. But it was a positive encouragement at the same time. And so we don't just stand there and say, well, he did this, this, and this, and goodbye. You know, it's a it's a call to worship the Lord and a call to know him better. And so um I say at my funeral, don't don't talk about me, talk about Jesus and bring people to Jesus.
SPEAKER_04So that's well, we sure do hope it's a good while before that. So but uh Peppin Ann, thank y'all. Thank you for your faithfulness, your constancy in this place as uh givers and receivers. Uh it's important. And um we're we pray the same things. God keep us on your word, keep the growth of the next generation. Those are two good things to pray. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you all for joining us on Pillar and Ground, and do ask you to subscribe or hit the like button. That way you'll get a notification of a new episode coming out, and we will be back next time.
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