Pulling my rank as a board member, I went to the traditional Wednesday night cookout during this week’s Mountain T.O.P. Adults In Ministry event at Beersheba Springs. (Actually, just a day or two after I had e-mailed Ed Simmons and invited myself, Ed sent out an e-mail inviting any board members who wanted to attend.)
The camp seems to be going very well, and there was praise for this summer’s AIM staff, headed by Gwynda Eversole. I was delighted to see Frances Dellinger, who is heading up the home-repair program this summer. Frances was an AIM staffer back when I first started attending in 1993, and I love her to death.
But I have to say that Frances’ reaction on seeing me was not nearly as strong — or as charming — as the reaction she had on seeing another of tonight’s visitors, Rick McNeely. Rick, a former member of Mountain T.O.P.’s full-time staff, now lives in Ohio; I’m not sure why he’s in Tennessee this week, but it was great to see him. Frances squealed at the sight of him. They hugged, then let go as she squealed again, then they hugged some more. It was priceless.
I’ve worked with Rick’s wife Helen Vickers in AIM’s Kaleidoscope program several times in the past, and she has an incredible dry sense of humor that never fails to crack me up.
“Big Don” Hill, who has recently handed Big Don’s Market in Beersheba Springs over to his son, gave a devotion prior to the cookout. Big Don, a long-time friend of the Mountain T.O.P. ministry, is about as country as they come, and he loves the Lord. He plays the guitar and the fiddle and speaks about his faith. I hope he comes back and does a devotion during the AIM week that I will be attending as a camper next month.
I saw all kinds of other folks, of course. Mountain T.O.P. board chair Rich Campbell and his wife Dottie are campers this week, as are board member Jan Schilling and her husband Rick. Former AIM staffer Sonja Goold was there, too. Bob Willems is working as the contractor for the AIM home repair program this summer; he was there with his wife Mary Margaret. Bill and Bobbie Joy, both former AIM staffers, are campers this week. Owen Warren, like me, is a board member who dropped by for the cookout. Robert Matthews, a reader of this blog, isn’t reading it this week because he’s in camp.
Of course, even though Mountain T.O.P. and LEAMIS are officially unrelated, the overlap between the two is striking. (LEAMIS co-founder Gail Drake used to be in charge of the AIM program for Mountain T.O.P., and for several years she divided her time between the ministries.) Of the people I mentioned in the previous paragraph, I’ve been on past LEAMIS trips with Jan, Sonja, Bill, Bob and Mary Margaret; Bob will be leading the trip back to Kenya this August, and Jan will be among my teammates.
Anyway, the cookout was a lot of fun, and Mountain T.O.P.’s facilities and food service manager, Ken Swift, always prepares these marinated mushrooms that are just to die for.
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