When I was in Tennessee a few weeks ago, my dad gave me an old church pew that was removed from his church.  It was destined for the dump and would be there right now had he not rescued it.  This pew was installed in the church in 1964 when they built the new sanctuary.  I was 8 years old when it was built and listened to many sermons over the years sitting on these solid red oak pews.  It just didn’t seem right to let it go to the dump or be cut it up for firewood.

I decided to do the “green” thing, reclaim the wood, and turn it into lazy susans.  This involved cutting around the holes (where the book holders were screwed on) and all the staples that held on the upholstery.   I ended up with 5” wide strips that I ran through the planer to remove the old finish and dents.  I then glued the strips back up and cut the circles out on my bandsaw.  The whole time I was milling the wood, I was wondering if any of the chewing gum under the seat bottoms belong to me from the 60s.

The result was three 16” lazy susans and still enough wood for maybe a couple 12” ones.  I also couldn’t resist making up some bookmarks out of the oak.  Upon first glance, these are a little uninspiring, but the history and story behind them is what it’s all about.  I figured out the other day that excluding revivals, these lazy susans have bore witness to over 6600 Southern Baptist sermons and should be full of the Holy Spirit.