A Wonderful Dinner

Ober Gatlinburg International Employees Soup Dinner


Smoky Mountain Resort Ministries and Gatlinburg First Baptist Church hosted 80 students from 7 countries on January 8 for a dinner. Soups and rice and beans made up the heart of the menu. Desserts came from our friends in Swainsboro, Georgia First Baptist Church who delivered and served them with the added sweetness of God’s love. The heart of the dinner, however, was in the fellowship created with the students and in the love of Jesus Christ that was shared with them.

These students have come to work at Ober Gatlinburg for the winter season. Their international employer, Wojtek, came from Atlanta to attend –and brought more students who are working in Cherokee, North Carolina. It was an honor to have them there. Wojtek spoke to all of us about the value of this experience. Bill also spoke about making our world better through life connections and gifted responsibility. We have hosted about 10 of these January dinners and all agree this was our best ever! The students loved it and participated through constant music --rising to sing for each other. The volunteers managed it professionally and had time to engage with the students. Our Ober Gatlinburg management friends who came recognized how strong it was. It was a God-blessed night.

Many of the students are active Christians. Many of the students, however, are not Christians. After the meal and program, we walked into the sanctuary and had a holy time of discussion about hearing God’s whisper of love and saying “yes” to that love with your life. We then talked about baptism and Church traditions. Many students sat and simply prayed. It was a lovely experience in a quiet and holy place and moment. We then gave them Bibles in Spanish and Portugese and Polish and English with guides as to how to read the Bible.

Pray with us as we continue in relationship and friendship with these students.

Gifts Given - Gifts Received

Eleven volunteers helped to hand out gift bags to the Ober-Gatlinburg employees working on Christmas Eve.  In return, the employees gave us a gift as they shared their appreciation...

She was so excited to return to work so that she could wear her new red scarf.  "It is beautiful and it was a great surprise to receive it while working!"


A supervisor looked at me with depth and sincerity when we handed him his gift.  He has worked at Ober-Gatlinburg for many years and has come to expect (...looking forward to...) our annual gift bag delivery.  He expressed how treasured these gifts are to him and his team -beyond what is actually within the bag- it is because we recognize and love them.


An international student sent an email later that evening saying "I've learned a lot about how to help people because of the many things you do for us... Thank you again for teaching that a church is not made by buildings, it is made of the people and how God uses them for blessing."

While delivering the gifts to the international students several of them asked where they could find a church for Christmas day.  Nine students joined us for worship at First Baptist Gatlinburg as we celebrated the Love which came into our world.  On such a blessed day, even the van ride home was a Holy moment as we had conversations about what it means to follow Christ and how to have a relationship with God.  The merriest of Christmases!

SMRM Family Photo

It is that time of year!   We are all sending and receiving greeting cards to friends and family.  From our family to yours, we say "GREETINGS FROM GATLINBURG!"  Cindy Black has done an excellent job again at orchestrating the Smoky Mountain Area Rescue Ministry (SMARM) Festival of Trees.  The city of Gatlinburg is always pleased to showcase the many beautifully (and creatively) decorated trees.  We are thankful for each of you and wish you were here to be in our photo.  Enjoy your Thanksgiving and have a wonderful Christmas!

Dollywood Chapel featured on local news channel

SMRM Family, A Quick Note

SMRM family people are always leading and caring and serving. Here are three contacts from today:
Captain Rebecca Guerich celebrates 17 years of being in the US military today.
Ryan Kirk (Lizzie's husband) is deployed for a year in Kuwait.
Lt. Travis Holloway continues flight training in the US Marines.
I am sure there are others. These three are to be in our prayers now!

The Race Is On!

At the annual Tennessee Baptist Convention, Bill Black of SMRM challenges Joe Ledford of Chilhowee Area Resort Ministries to a race. SMRM was faster than CHARM!

Kim Huff Margrave and Tracey Shepherd Gholson race Royal Ambassador cars in a SMRM alumni challenge race at the TN Baptist Convention. Kim won!

Above the frost line

When the scriptures say that Jesus rose early in the morning to meet with God, I have to wonder if it was ever below freezing outside. If so, Jesus might have uttered a brief prayer and quick song from deep within where it was still warm. This weekend brought a stunning snowfall and frost in the higher elevations. A magnificent display of God's creative work blanketed the mountains as the deep fall colors of the lower regions contrasted with the pristine white frost above.

Several guests from LeConte Lodge joined us in an extraordinary sunrise worship at Myrtle Point this past Sunday. We found encouragement in Psalm 30 as we read "... weeping may last through the night but joy comes in the morning." For many of us, we were hurting, we were tired, we were cold. But to be sitting on the mountain point, high above the world bustling below, we experienced the joy of Lord- giving us reason to sing in thanks for His never ending goodness in our lives.