The 430 members of the Fayette Presbyterian Church have a number of choices they can make if they wish to do more than just show up on Sunday morning.

Membership involves the responsibility of becoming involved, and this church offers 71 suggestions to that end, listed under such headings as Congregational Life, Nurture, Evangelism, Worship, Christian Education, Youth Ministry, Outreach, Grounds Keeping, Facilities and Contemporary Worship. Just pick one or more of the suggested things to do, and let them know.

Then there is also a number of various classes, Bible studies groups, choirs, handbell choirs, fellowships, Scout troops, Quilter's Guild and China Painting classes that might interest you. The church also offers space to AA and Al-Anon.

The congregation has been in existence since 1957, when Robert and Jo Price borrowed a trailer and parked it under a shade tree in their front yard on Redwine Road, just south (at that time) of the Fayetteville City limits. A choir for that first service was borrowed from the Fayetteville Methodist Church, and a preacher was borrowed from Columbia Seminary in Decatur.

As the congregation outgrew the mobile chapel, they moved to the high school music room, and then to the Masonic Hall. A gift from the Atlanta Presbytery helped them buy land at the corner of Ga. Highway 85 north and New Hope Road. This facility sufficed until several years ago, when a need for larger quarters became necessary. A furniture store bought them out, and they now have a new facility on Georgia Hwy. 92 north..

Its 21 acres has been divided up into 17 plots, with each one having a master plan for development. One of the plots is a Memorial Garden, which is almost completed, and another is a planned Butterfly Garden. If you and a group would like to tackle one of the plots but feel as though you do not have a green thumb, not to worry. There is a Master Book showing which trees, shrubs, etc. would be best there, the kinds to plant and how to care for them. All of this has been designed by a member of the church who is a Master Gardener. It is expected to take six years before all plots have been planted.

The Rev. David Black has served the congregation since 1976. He was born in Cairo, West Virginia and reared in six other Southern states. Both his father and grandfather had been Presbyterian ministers.

He played football in high school, as well as singing in the choir, playing a trombone and being the Drum Major. Halftime at the football games would find him getting out of his football uniform, putting on his Drum Major's uniform and then back into football gear again.

His further education was at Trinity University, San Antonio, Texas, Midwestern University, Wichita Falls, Texas, and the Austin (Texas) Presbyterian Theological Seminary. Rev. Black felt the need for special classes in pastoral counseling and received his education in this field at Columbia Seminary, Decatur, Georgia.

He met his wife, Lynn, when enrolled at Midwestern and they are the parents of two girls, Dawna, who is with CNN Headline News and has just married, and Susanna, who has been with the Colgate Company in Atlanta, and has just been promoted to a new position with them in New York City.

Worship services are Sunday mornings at 8:30 a.m. and 11 a.m., with Sunday School at 9:45 a.m.