(June 14, 2026) You will remember that about a year ago, we began clearing out a couple of storage sheds, and one of them contained more than 130 solid Black Walnut pew ends that were once in our sanctuary.
We sold about 110 of them, and we donated some to charitable causes, such as one group that makes wig stands for cancer patients in Tampa Bay. (BTW, the money is sitting in a church bank account along with the funds from other items we have sold.)
The man in these photos is Adam Powell, who lives in Riverview, Florida. He and his wife rescued boxes of books from our library that they intend to use for small group study in their home. Adam is also a woodworker, and the walnut pew ends called to him.
Adam envisioned a beautiful cross, and after hours of work in his home woodshop, he produced this glorious cross that he donated back to PCC to glorify God.
Notice how Adam included in his design the cross that was engraved into the pew end. Im essence, it is a cross within a cross. The beautiful pew end in the background is another that Adam refinished.
We are grateful to Adam for his gift, his skill, and his heart to find new glory in a dusty old piece of wood that was once part of our sanctuary.
We rescued the walnut pieces from the storage sheds just in time. This weekend, as we pulled the final two pew ends from the shed, we noticed live termites in the last remaining slab. If we had waited any longer to rescue these pieces, all would have been lost.
NOW, we have to think about where to put this beautiful piece that Adam gave us. Share your ideas with members of the LEC beautification committee. Or you can always drop a note to Lay Leader Al Tompkins, who will pass it along.
The Recovery and Reuse Committee voted to save 32 of the pew ends that were most recently used in the Sanctuary for possible future use. The ones we saved are in the most pristine condition. These are currently stored in the sanctuary.
The black walnut pew ends came from East Tennessee. Some PCC members purchased them more than 60 years ago and a team of church members and friends at the time built the pew ends along with many other pieces of wood trim, tables, and prayer railings. We believe that once we peek under some of the wood facade in the sanctuary, we will find even more of this walnut. As they say on TV, “stay tuned.”
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