Towne View Then... Beth Trimble

I don’t move well. When I have to leave my home and start over somewhere new I do not see this event as an adventure, but as a leap into an abyss. I feel completely un-tethered and disoriented. I am unprepared to go to church, the grocery store, and the mall and see only a blur of strangers. When Mark, Adam, John and I moved to Georgia in 1990 it was no different.
To add insult to injury, I made a very significant error in my search for my new church home. We loved Crescent Hill Baptist Church in Louisville, KY. I mean I loved everything about this powerful church. I began to look for a Georgia version of Crescent Hill. Mark was working every weekend at Six Flags Over GA and placed his trust in me to search for a church home. I began this task with the overwhelming feelings of being bereft of friends, home and security.
Adam shared my trepidation in the quest. He had been given a photo album by his Sunday school friends as a going away present. He took it with him every Sunday morning and walked into every strange church with it held close to his chest like a shield. He told me, “I need to hold the faces of my friends close to my heart”, it broke my heart, because I knew exactly how he felt. We seemed to find one colorful adventure after another on our search.
One Sunday after visiting Johnson’s Ferry Baptist Church I got onto I 285 in my 65 Mustang with my boys in the back and started driving. Apparently I missed my exit and made a very large circle around Atlanta. My tired and hungry boys quietly asked, “Are we ever going to get home?” at one church Adam whispered nervously, “I think that guy is going to yell at us”, that guy was the pastor and Adam was right, he did yell at us. We didn’t go back. I began to feel like Goldilocks, this one was too big, that one was too hard, nothing was the right fit.
Eventually we joined North Side Drive Baptist church. It is a wonderful church and was my replacement church. It gave me time to heal and adjust to Atlanta, but in time I began to realize that God’s plan was not for me to replace Crescent Hill, but to be open to a new home and a new place for God to have me serve and grow. In the summer of 1992 I wanted to find a Vacation Bible School close to home for Adam and John to attend. A friend, Jeff Siebert, found “Big Star Baptist”, AKA Towne View and it was quickly obvious that this was our home.
When we became members of Towne View Jim and Priscilla Conrad were not yet at Towne View. My sons grew up here and were a part of the growth of the church. John and Lindy met and married here at Towne View. Although both the church and my family have been through times of celebration and times of grief throughout the years God has been faithful. I have had the privilege of witnessing God’s faithfulness. I have had the opportunity to minister to others and I have been minister to by my church family. God has blessed me here and that blessing is available to you too.