Rabun churc
Rabun worships on water
O
ne of Rabun County’s most cherished summer traditions is boat church on L ake Rabun. Since 197 2 , Clayton First United Methodist Church has held Sunday worship on the water at L ake Rabun, attracting weekend visitors, summer people and yearround residents. It begins at 9 a.m. Memorial Day through L abor Day weekends and ends 30 minutes later.
By MICHAEL LEONARD, The Clayton Tribune
My first service there was on a Sunday that was also July 4 th,” remembers current pastor, the Rev. Charlie Green. “We had 4 07 people there on the banks, under the pavilion and in boats. It’s an absolutely unique ministry. There’s no other thing exactly like it, that I know of.” L ongtime member C.A. Henson, an 89-year-old veteran of World War II, remembers the beginning. He was there.
“Hal Brady was the preacher then and he had the idea for this. Guy Hall had a boat house on the lake he let us use. Then there was Stewart Witham. He was a banker from Atlanta who owned Witham Point on L ake Rabun and had a lot of in uence with Georgia Power. He helped us with them.” L akemont contractor Cannon Ramey built a boat house for boat church with a covered pavilion ▶