Lefler’s Place has been known for their pit-cooked BBQ for more than a century. How did Leflers get to Mt Gilead? How did some of us end up in Oklahoma? I started looking for answers a few years ago and got a little depressed. Turns out we are outcasts. If Karen had known 52 years ago all I learned recently, we probably wouldn’t be standing here together now.
Mom was a Douglas, a family with an interesting legacy. Dad was on crutches, having barely survived a motorcycle accident, and she found her field of mission. A church lady told her he would never amount to anything as a cripple. Dad felt FBC of Grove, OK was not accessible to him – there was no effort to make it so – and so he left, cast out of that church.
In 2007 my 30-year career in manufacturing was terminated. Another outcast. Ron Loftis tried to rescue me. He put me to work and I was eventually a general appraiser. I saw a church’s sanctuary that at one time beautiful but was no longer accessible. It was in really bad condition.
The decision to take those buildings down is hard. Maybe there is a room, a pew, a window, or a building with your grandparents’ name on it, their legacy. Thank you for dealing with that before we came. But here we are with a really old boiler, windows that need maintenance, and opportunities to make this a more welcoming, more accessible property – even to outcasts like me. Thank you for inviting us to be part of this legacy. – Terry
When Terry and I moved to North Carolina in 1981, we were moving half the country away from our families in Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas and points further west. This was a bit unnerving. But when we arrived, we quickly began searching for a faith community
that we could make our own.
– A strong church family took us in, led by a group of very dear friends who remain our family of choice to this day.
– And even though we’ve only been here at First on Fifth for a little over a year, this same relationship is developing. I think about the loving notices that Pastor Emily sends out when one of our saints goes on to heaven. She often talks about their love
for this congregation, their activity within this congregation, and the impact they made that we enjoy for years to follow their physical presence here among us.
– This makes me consider those many generations who have gone before us and how important it was to them to create and sustain not only a building, but a family, that would be ready to accept new members like me. This makes it important to me to continue their legacy, to help sustain the fellowship of First on Fifth for those who will follow us in years to come. – Karen