Have you been there? I only discovered it several years ago, and it has been in existence since the early fifties. The park (at Lake Winfield Scott) has a large pavilion with a rock fireplace at one end and overlooks the lake. Several heavy wood picnic tables are under its roof. The roof has no ceiling, and is made out of heavy wooden beams, that are formed into crude trusses. The floor is poured concrete. It is the ideal pavilion that one would expect in a national park, and I am sure that it has hosted many family reunions and gatherings. This setting (on a mountain lake) rain or shine is surely one of God's better creations.

However, on Sunday mornings, in the summer; at 10;30 AM it goes through a transformation. The conversion is simple. The floor is swept, a two by four cross is hung above the mantel on the fireplace, two candles and a vase with flowers are placed on the mantel along with a small basket placed on a pillar for offerings. Several boxes of song books are brought each Sunday and some crude wood benches (that were made by some of the members) have to be slid into place. A small podium is set in place for our present Methodist pastor, Fred Whitley. The podium has to be placed carefully, for a family of swallows has been building their nest for several years directly above what would be the best place for the podium. This small effort changes a picnic pavilion into a Church each Sunday, that has been known for decades as “The Church Without Walls.”

Fred is the campus minister and religious professor for Young Harris College, and he has been giving weekly sermons here during the summer for 26 years. Although I am Baptist and was baptized at age 9, this picnic pavilion is my Church on Sundays and I feel closer to my maker than I ever have in my life. You ask why? Maybe part of it is the swallows or butterflies that fly in and out of the building as the services are being conducted. Possibly the view and peacefulness of the setting has a lot to do with it.

The people that come here on Sundays are best described as casual, for a lot of the transient campers come here along with cabin owners in the area. Some Young Harris students make the trek across the mountain, but mostly people are drawn here from everywhere. If I had to describe them with a single word it would be “Christians.” The services are, for sure, non-denominational; for every Sunday everyone stands and tells where they are from and what denomination they are. I have heard as high as eleven different religions on one Sunday. There is no bickering about which religion is best and I think that is one of its unique features. As Reverend Whitley emphasized (last Sunday, in his sermon) “We are all one body under God.”

The only donations that we are encouraged to contribute to is for, “Crop Walk,” (A world service organization that feeds hungry people). The offering basket is not passed around and stuck under your nose; you are just told that it is placed on the pillar for you to contribute, if you want. The church is sponsored by The United Methodist Church of Blairsville. The drive over, early in the morning, is most breath-taking and beautiful. The parking fee is waved during church hours. I challenge you to check it out, you might become an addict like my wife and I.