(T-G Photo by Mary Reeves) [Order this photo]

On almost every Sunday of the year, the little church on Thompson's Creek stands empty -- but love resonates in the old clapboard building. Love of God, love of family, love of community, love of history. When the first German immigrants first gathered in the home of Martin Shofner to worship exactly 200 years ago, they laid the foundation of love that will be celebrated this weekend at Shofner's Lutheran Chapel.

"The descendants of Martin Shofner and the Rev. William Jenkins will host a three-day celebration in honor of this great milestone in our family history," said Chris Shofner, who has helped his sister Ann and many others in organizing the event.

Festivities honoring the church's bicentennial began earlier this month with a special service and dinner May 18. It continues Saturday and Sunday with several activities and guest speakers, including local attorney Allen Shoffner and members of the Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church. The Rev. A. Richard Smith, pastor emeritus of Trinity Lutheran Church in Tullahoma, may also attend, according to Ann.

(T-G Photo by Mary Reeves) [Click to enlarge] [Order this photo]

Registration begins at 10 a.m. Saturday at the chapel, located at the intersection of U.S. 41-A South and State Route 130 southeast of Shelbyville.

"At registration, you can get the bicentennial program event maps and other celebration items," said Ann. "At 10:30, we'll have the welcoming ceremonies and local historians will give presentations."

At 12:30 p.m. Friday, there will be a box lunch and afternoon activities at Fred Shofner's farm, including history and storytelling on the front porch. Guests can even beat the heat by floating on the Duck River that afternoon. There will be games and sports -- including kickball and horseshoes -- horse and wagon rides and fishing.

At 6 p.m, the action moves to Martin Shofner's Storybook Farm, where The Rock Creek Bluegrass Band will perform after a catered dinner. A marshmallow roast will close the evening.

On Sunday, there will be an early service at 8 a.m. on the site of the original church and cemetery, including grave decoration. At 9:30 a.m., you can trace your genealogy by looking at the church wall family tree. A time capsule will be "launched" at that time.

The main Sunday service will be 11 a.m. at the chapel, followed by the traditional dinner on the grounds and an association meeting.

Allen Shoffner will have a special treat for all those interested in Shofner's Chapel. He has just completed a manuscript on the history of the chapel, from those early days when the congregation met in homes to the present. Visitors can order the book, as well as purchase a recipe book from the Shofner family kitchens.

Or the Shoffner family kitchens ... or Schaffner, or Shaeffner ... one of the aspects of the history Allen touched on in a recent article for the Bedford County Historical Society is the disparity in the family name. His own mother was a Shofner -- one F -- and his father was a Shoffner -- two Fs.

"I guess that makes me a two-f Shoffner," he said. "They both came from 'Schaffner' and became Anglicized over the years."

On his office wall are two carvings of the Schaffner family crest, which can also be seen on the gravestones of Martin Shofner and his wife in front of the chapel.

Researching the history of the chapel has provided some new insights for Allen. He found legal documents and letters, some in the register of deed's archives, some from family members. What he didn't find, however, were some definite, hard facts.

A lot of historical documentation had been lost, said Allen, and some were questionable when it came to accuracy. But as far as he and other local historians can determine, 1808 is when Shofner's Lutheran Church was established. The pioneer congregations did not have an ordained minister until 1823, when the Rev. Jacob Scherer arrived, and 1824, when Jenkins answered the call.

The chapel building itself is younger, and not the first one.

"In the appendix, there is a copy of an old deed which is recorded in the register's office," said Allen. "It is dated Feb. 19, 1814."

That deed, for one acre, sold for "Two Dollars" was a conveyance of land for a "Publick" burial place for "all persons who die a natural death," and added two acres "for any christian person or people."

Another item he collected for the history was a letter from William Jenkins himself, given to him by the late John Shofner, Chris and Ann's father. At the time it was written, Jenkins was serving in Lovettsville, Va., a four-year stint between the years he served Bedford County.

"It tells about life in 1834, when he was considering a return to serve the churches here in Bedford County," said Allen. "It tells me he was a very religious person who served the churches probably at a very minimum compensation."

(T-G Photo by Mary Reeves) [Click to enlarge] [Order this photo]

Those early German pioneers had large families -- 10 to 15 children was not uncommon -- and Bedford County soon had more Lutheran congregations, Jenkins Chapel and New Hope (now known at Crowell's Chapel at Halls Mill) among them. Rev. Jenkins served as many as 10 congregations and is credited with organizing the First Lutheran Church in Nashville.

But the efforts of the pastor and his congregations were not restricted to Lutherans. They helped other churches get established in Bedford County, including Methodist, Episcopalian, Presbyterian, Baptist and Church of Christ.

Ironically, those good deeds have come home. As the families dwindled in size and the congregations grew smaller and smaller, both Jenkins and Shofner's Lutheran churches faced empty sanctuaries. They incorporated as not for profit religious organizations to preserve the buildings and grounds and were renamed "chapels," Jenkins in 1976 and Shofner's in 1990. Both have since been named to the national and state historical registers.

Their associations work to keep them maintained and managed -- and many of the members of those associations are Methodist, Episcopalian, Presbyterian, Baptist and Church of Christ.

The members, and others who care about the chapel, have been working almost full time in the last three months, getting the grounds ready for the bicentennial, painting inside and out, sandblasting and repainting the old iron fence and installing a sound system for a brand new organ recently donated.

"It's still used for weddings and services," said Allen Shoffner. "That was an important part of the reorganization. Pastor Smith himself said, 'the church did not die intestate,' meaning there was direction, there were people to perpetuate its purpose.

"I think that's important. Most benefactors are members of other churches, but they are still interested in carrying on the heritage and the history."