LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN, TN.  Drove up many long winding roads to reach the higher altitudes of Lookout Mountain.  Much cooler up there.  Seems there was a famous Civil War battle fought there.  How on earth did they get up there through the thicket of trees and steep rocky climbs?

We were to meet our friends, the Tolsons, at their church, the Lookout Mountain Presbyterian Church.  We arrived early at the magnificent sprawling edifice.  Any time that we have seen such a complex while traveling across the country, usually it is an old church gone liberal in the early 20th century.  This church, however, is a well-run and well-led congregation of mature solid Christians in the Biblical sense.  The sermon was very good, and the fellowship warm and cordial.  

View of the Main Sanctuary from the Street

There was one complication.  They conduct five services every week, one in the evening and four simultaneously at 11:00 am.  They have one in the huge sanctuary, one in the adjacent chapel, one in the fellowship hall, and one in another large room in the same complex. There is a preacher on staff to conduct each service, one of which is the Tolsons' son, a graduate of nearby Covenant College.  We attended the service in the main sanctuary, but our friends were in the habit of attending the one in the large fellowship hall.  Thus, we did not locate them until after the services were over.

View as We Entered the Main Sanctuary

The service we attended was somewhat nostalgic in that the architecture reminded me of the building of the church I attended as a child in the 1950s.  The beautiful organ and choral music, the formal worship, the beautiful surroundings were very similar.  What was dramatically different was the doctrine preached and taught.  My childhood church was liberal; this church is strictly orthodox.  There also are many beautiful stained glass windows.  No one here harbors any qualms about any possible violation of the second commandment.

Tolsons and Us in Courtyard of Giant Complex

We joined our friends for lunch at one of Covenant College students' favorite watering holes, Mr T's Pizza and Ice Cream.  John Tolson also joined us for the 6:00 pm special report in the fellowship hall.  The report was on proceedings of the recent General Assembly of the PCA.  It was a very sensitive analysis of troubling issues facing the denomination, but the general direction of things, and the very sizeable conservative block of representatives, bode well for the future of the PCA.  If there ever is any split in the denomination, it would seem likely to be one of the small liberal-leaning minority leaving rather than the other way around.

Lunch at Mr T's Pizza and Ice Cream

It was a very nice day, though quite rainy on and off.  We hope to work in some sight-seeing tomorrow.