A former Olympic paddler leads waterfront worship companies in North Carolina
As a substitute of gown sneakers, there have been Chacos. As a substitute of organ music, the sound of dashing water. This June, for the primary time in a few years, I discovered myself at a Sunday morning church service. It appeared nothing like every congregation I’d seen, and that’s the level of Wayne Dickert’s River of Life congregation, a non-denominational fellowship constructed round a shared love of the river.
Held each Sunday from Memorial Day till September on the Nantahala Outside Heart within the mountains of western North Carolina, a River of Life service feels extra like a campfire circle than a shared worship. Attendees have been greeted by acoustic music within the picnic space beneath the NOC ropes course, mere toes away from the power’s eponymous river. Terry Cotton, the designated one-woman welcome get together, wrapped every of us in a spirited bear hug. When Pastor Wayne took the microphone, everybody took their seats and the service started.
Dickert is an elder statesman within the Blue Ridge river neighborhood. He has been linked to the NOC in various capacities for over 40 of the group’s 50 years. He has seen almost every thing the game of whitewater paddling has to supply as a trainer, ambassador, and competitor. He certified for and competed within the 1996 Olympic Video games, incomes a ninth place end on the Ocoee River course.
Dickert began River of Life in an effort to mix his passions for ministry and the water. He’s additionally the pastor at Bryson Metropolis United Methodist Church, so he departs River of Life each Sunday to return to his house meeting for his second sermon of the day. Each Sunday, that’s, aside from the ultimate of the month, on which the River of Life congregation shuttles as much as the Nantahala put-in and enjoys a visit down the river collectively.
Now in its sixteenth summer season, River of Life prides itself on being a sanctuary. It’s non-denominational, with a want for optimistic impression and water as the first unifiers.
“We’re water individuals,” Dickert defined to me after the service. “Most of us are right here due to the water. We’ve been drawn right here due to the river. Some are simply extra outdoorsy individuals who aren’t river individuals however simply love the setting. We might maintain River of Life in different settings, however I don’t suppose it will maintain the identical significance elsewhere. Being by the Nantahala River, being by a river, is necessary.”
Sporting sandals, sun shades, and a Pyranha Kayaks t-shirt studying Drop Waterfalls, Not Bombs, Dickert greeted the 16 in-person attendees and extra stay streamers along with his signature heat and gregariousness. He delivered an replace on ROL’s initiative to construct wells in Haiti, which now has a tally of 137.
Following his opening handle, Dickert opened the ground for attendees to share “God sightings,” moments of perceived grace or magnificence from the earlier week. A lady named Joan rose from her seat and made her approach to her automobile, returning a minute later lugging an orange Wave Sport Diesel 60 kayak, in addition to a twig skirt and paddle.
“Hey Daingr, come right here, I don’t know if I can match on this,” Dickert stated to a younger boy in attendance as he examined the boat.
After the boy, sporting denims and sneakers, climbed inside, Dickert instructed him to select up the paddle.
“You recognize what my God sighting is?” Dickert requested the boy. “That’s your boat and paddle and spray skirt!”
The circle burst into applause, the boy’s face unfolding into an enormous grin. Dickert then turned the microphone over to his summer season intern, Parker Hughes, to ship the day’s sermon. Hughes, a graduate pupil on the Duke College Divinity College, spoke of a latest paddle he loved with Dickert on Lake Fontana. He recounted the fantastic thing about the water and the accompanying unhappiness he felt in observing the quantity of trash littered on its banks.
“We’ve got a particular position that God has given us to handle creation,” Hughes instructed us. “We share in God’s glory, and one of many methods we share in His glory is by being good stewards of our land.”
Each service concludes with a second of solitude, when congregants disperse from the circle to discover a place alongside the river’s edge for quiet reflection. Separated by pulled-to-shore slalom gates, we stared into the rustling Nantahala. On the opposite facet of the river the street was starting to come back alive with site visitors. The solar was up, awake, however had but to soften away the recent morning chill. We returned to the circle to sing “Wonderful Grace,” then, after a number of remaining phrases from Dickert, the service ended.
“For Bryson Metropolis, the river is likely one of the issues that places this place on the map,” Hughes instructed me. “It’s each an financial hub and is admittedly tied to the non secular lifetime of the place too. It actually is part of the service. You possibly can hear it always. To simply have that move in it’s stunning.”
Hughes, a California native, doesn’t think about himself a paddler, however, as evinced in his sermon, has embraced the River of Life’s fluid philosophy.
“I believe it’s a very cool means of envisioning what church can appear like, what a neighborhood of religion can appear like, sort of centered round an outside exercise, across the river,” he stated. “Being out right here and attending to share everyone’s appreciation for the peace and quiet, and the neighborhood that had been constructed up round this place is fairly unbelievable.”
Dickert caught round after the dismissal to interrupt down the audio system and cargo them into his close by Subaru, on high of which was strapped a blue Pyranha kayak. Just a few automobiles over, Daingr’s dad and mom have been strapping his new boat to their automobile, which put a smile on Dickert’s face. He has watched each this congregation and the NOC develop up by means of the years, and whereas kayaks aren’t given away each week, every Sunday on the Nantahala seems like a present to him.
“It’s fairly cool that from fairly humble beginnings and simply having individuals come collectively and help one another, push one another, problem one another in supportive methods, what can come out of it,” he instructed me. “It’s outstanding.”
Cowl Picture: Congregants meet on the Nantahala Outside Heart within the mountains of Western North Carolina. Picture by Mike Dubose
