Joining a church

We are about to join First Presbyterian Church of Lexington Kentucky.  It’s been a long time since we joined a church.  The second time we moved to Atlanta, in 1991, we knew where we belonged, Peachtree Presbyterian Church.

The first time in Atlanta however, things were not so obvious.  As newlyweds in 1984, we went to many of the Presbyterian churches out in the suburbs where we lived.  I was thinking that we should join the one closest to our apartment.

Sister Piel was singing with the church choir in Pensacola, FL and they were coming on tour to Atlanta.  One late spring Sunday, they were going to sing at Peachtree Presbyterian, so we decided we should visit.  We put on our Sunday bib and tucker and headed into town.  We knew where the church was - we’d been to the High Museum and seen the Presbyterian Church on Peachtree road.  We settled into the pew about 10:50 and were looking through the bulletin.  No trace of a visiting choir from Florida!  We went out to the payphone (1984 - no cell phones, no Google Maps) and called Muv and Pha.  Somehow, Pha was still home and told us we must have the wrong church.  Piel was singing at Peachtree Pres on Roswell Road.

We hurried up P’tree and took the left fork at Buckhead’s main intersection.  Into the church (parking was less of a problem in the mid 80’s than it became later) and settled in again.   Piel sang; we signed the friendship register, showing South Carolina as our church home.  That Wednesday night, senior Pastor W. Frank Harrington called the suburban apartment and Mary Anne talked to him.  They were both from God’s country.  Frank told us we needed to join his church.

Well, you didn’t say no to Frank, so we had our new church home.  We were in a Sunday School class for newlyweds, which included a rafting trip down the Chattahoochee.  We were there for 2 years, then to Gaithersburg, MD and then to Mt. Pleasant.  In 1991, we came back to PPC and made many lifelong friends in the Faithmates Sunday School class.  I was ordained as an elder at Peachtree.  We will always miss that church.

But now, we get to see what God has planned for us in Lexington.