Paris pastor leads his people to a higher plane–on foot_82503

Posted: 8/22/03

Paris pastor leads his
people to a higher plane–on foot

By George Henson

Staff Writer

PARIS–While many lessons are learned in life's valleys, there also is something to be said for the mountaintops, Pastor Randall Perry believes.

For that reason, the pastor of First Baptist Church in Paris recently returned from his 14th trek along the Appalachian Trail. Each time, he has taken a group of church members along for an experience they will not soon forget.

The first time Perry took to the trail, he was a novice himself. His son wanted to attend a Boy Scout hike on the trail, but it fell during the week of the church choir tour.

“I told him if he went on the choir tour, I would take him on a hike when he got back. We did that, and while we were hiking started talking about how great it would be for other fathers and sons to do it,” Perry recalled.

That first trip was fathers and sons, but the hike quickly developed into a churchwide excursion. Since that time, Perry has served three churches, and all have embraced the possibility of hearing a new word from God on the ridge of a mountain.

As a matter of fact, one of the members of the search team that brought Perry to Texas from Florida heard of the ministry there and provided funds for the church to buy and supply camping equipment to each year's hikers. The church provides camp stoves, tents and water filters. Hikers provide their own food, hiking shoes, packs and sleeping bags.

The cost of the trip varies primarily according to whether the portion of the trail hiked is far enough away to require an airplane flight. If it is close enough to travel in vans, the hike may cost as little as $150.

The bigger investment may be in preparation. You don't just wake up one day and decide you want to hike a portion of the Appalachian Trail, Perry said.

He encourages church members to train at the football stadium in the months leading up to the hike by walking up and down the bleachers.

“There's just really no terrain around here to prepare you for a mountain hike,” he said. “I can explain all I want to in the weeks in preparation, but you don't have the words to tell them how hard it's going to be and what's going to be expected of them. It's not going to be a walk in the park.”

Perry also prepares for the hike by writing morning devotionals for each day of the journey.

Now, the pastor has made the trek often enough that he knows how to tailor each day's Bible meditation to what the hikers may be feeling. On day two, he counseled hikers not to think about the difficulties of the hike, but to see it as a blessed new experience. Day five majored on perseverance and day six, the final day, on victory at completing the 57-mile hike.

This year's hike was by far the most grueling of any he had undertaken, Perry said. The segment traversing the White Mountain Range as it snaked through New Hampshire was “more of a rock climb than a hike,” he said.

Each day the troop arose at daylight, shortly after 5 a.m., stowed their gear, and ate breakfast, which for most was uncooked oatmeal. The last thing before striking out was a time for Perry and his son to help anyone who needed it with foot care. “We've learned some tricks over the years on how to deal with blisters and things so that you can keep going,” Perry explained.

Linda Winfrey and Anita McDonald struggle up a steep, rocky incline along the trail in New Hampshire. The experience stretched participants both physically and spiritually.

The group of 16 hit the trail but soon spread out as hikers progressed at different speeds. The group stopped at shelters 9 to 10 miles apart. Some days, the hike was 10 to 12 hours long, with lunch usually only being a power bar, peanut butter and crackers or cheese and crackers.

The days ended at a campsite with a meal of perhaps ramen noodles and a devotional by one of the hikers around the campfire.

“I know they have a sense of accomplishment, because it is such a physical challenge, and they saw evidence of God's provision for us all along the trail,” the pastor said.

This year's hike was especially treacherous. The trail passes seven waterfalls, which while beautiful also were dangerous. The youngest member of the group, a 9-year-old from Perry's previous church in Florida, slipped in the stream at the bottom of one of the falls.

“He stepped out into the stream, and his feet were swept out from under him. The stream caught him and was about to carry him over a 100-foot waterfall, but Ken Bedford, one of our church members who was farther downstream, grabbed him by the strap of his pack.

“I wasn't there, but when I got to camp that night and heard that, chills went all through my body,” Perry said.

Perry thanks God that in the 14 years he has been leading groups there have been no broken bones or major injuries. That gratitude was especially felt this year.

“God miraculously saved many of us at one time or another during this year's hike,” he said. “I think we may have seen God work more on this trip because we needed him more.”

Despite the physical challenges, the hike also pays dividends, Perry said.

“When you're hiking on the trail, there is a lot of time for introspection,” he explained. After a day or two on the trail, whatever worries he left behind in Paris are forgotten, and it becomes a time of conversation with God, he added.

It also doesn't take long to call on God when the going gets tough.

“Many of the ones who go testify to the fact that when they spend all they can afford to spend, they depend on the Lord to help them make that next step,” Perry said.

That was true for Cindy Jolley, who has made the trip for the last four years with her family. “I realized the need for Christ in all my life, and the times I haven't leaned on him when I should,” she said.

On some portions of the trail she recited 1 Corinthians 4:13–“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me”–with almost every step.

Perry said that isn't unusual.

“Every hiker gets to a point where it becomes more than they can do,” he said.

The hike also reminds Christians of the majesty of God, Perry declared.

“You can't help but be very nostalgic when you get up there. To see God's beauty in creation, it does cause you to reflect on God's power to create something of such beauty and yet take time to love you.”