Rene Bass: A Reflection of Mountain T.O.P.

To reflect is to cast an image, ponder, or give to deep thought. My name is Lorena Bass, wife of the late George H. Bass, Founder of and Executive Director for the first 30 years of Mountain T.O.P. Ministries. I have loved ‘the mountain’ since I was 4 years old. That was 80 years ago when my father, Reverend O.B. Johnson, was one of five men who put money down to secure the property for the United Methodist Tennessee Conference which is known today as the Beersheba Springs United Methodist Assembly. In the beginning years of the Mountain T.O.P. journey, there was a very active youth group who wanted to make a difference in their state of Tennessee. With their youth leaders and youth director, the Blakemore youth met, discussed, asked questions, and decided to make a trip to Hinton Rural Life Center in North Carolina to be a part of a workweek and watch and listen and find out how that service program worked. The trip was made, ideas were formed, and Mountain T.O.P. was given life, just like spring gives us new life and hope of new beginnings. Blakemore church leaders and parents asked how they could fund this ministry, and their youth director, George Bass, said, “Trust me.” The planning was tedious. Where do we work? We need a base camp! George knew that Beersheba Springs Assembly was the perfect place to start the Mountain T.O.P. ministry because he knew of the housing needs of the people who lived in Grundy County, Tennessee. In 1975, the first week of Mountain T.O.P. was held at Beersheba Springs Assembly. After two summers at Beersheba, more youth and adults wanted to be a part of Mountain T.O.P. and George asked for guidance and prayed for a place the ministry could call their own. One day while driving around on the mountain, he felt he was directed to Cumberland Pines in a place called Cumberland Heights. In 1978 a partnership was formed to purchase the Cumberland Pines Center. Tom Hayes, John Lynn, Reese Smith, Bob Sullins, George Miller, and George Bass bought the property. I remember in the beginning years, the summers were hot. There was much to do from preparing the Cumberland Pines Camp to receive staff and volunteers, preparing the volunteers, training the staff, strengthening and developing relationships in the county, and raising money to support the ministry. Youth and adults came from all over the country to be part of the Mountain T.O.P. ministry. New ideas were formed; new plans were made to involve more people from the county and across the country. Could and should we expand into more counties than just Grundy? Seeing and believing in the growth, George, with the help of many others dedicated to the mission, established the first Board of Directors, and at that time, they officially established the 501c3 nonprofit status with the state of Tennessee. In 1977, Brown Bannister gave permission for the ministry to deem the Mountain T.O.P. song as its song. What a true God moment this was to our ministry. In 1993, the partnership that purchased the Cumberland Pines Center gave the property to the ministry. Then in the late 90s, the next major milestone of building Camp Baker Mountain began. Dr. Sam and Linda Young from McMinnville, helped find and secure the new camp property. Thanks to Reed and Deeda Bradford and hundreds of volunteers, Camp Baker Mountain was built. The Bradfords came from Florida and lived in a trailer on the property for two years while the camp was built. They have true servant hearts and have been a vital part of the Mountain T.O.P. Community.

During the fall and winters, God gives all of us a chance to slow down, reflect, and make changes. What a wonderful plan, to have spring, a time of renewal and summer, a time to work, play, and enjoy just being who we are. The colors of fall energize us to think of new ideas, new plans, and to begin the process of change. The quiet of winter gives us the time to begin putting the new plans into place. Mountain T.O.P. has gone through many seasons of change over the past 45 years. At different times throughout the life of the ministry, volunteers were housed in close to 10 different camps, serving families in 14 counties of the Cumberland Mountain region. It began with youth service projects at Beersheba in 1975 through 1977. Day Camp was added in 1983. The Adults in Ministry (A.I.M.) began in 1989, and the Spring Break Out (SBO) ministry for volunteer college groups began in 1997. As George served as the Executive Director for 30 years, it was my calling and important to me to support my husband and both of our daughters in their calling to serve God through Mountain T.O.P. Ministries. Our oldest daughter, Trish Bass Holliday, Founding partner of Holliday│Kenning Inc., served on year-round staff for 17 years as the Associate Executive Director. Our youngest daughter, Gail Bass Castle, Sole Proprietor of Castle Counseling Center, served on year-round staff for 15 years as the Director of A.I.M. Trish, among many other important program developments, built and developed from George’s original vision, the summer staff training program into a ‘state of the art’ leadership and management program for young adults serving as summer staff. Many staff alumni attribute their success in life and career to their summer staff training experience and summer staff job. Gail directed the A.I.M. program and in 1998, established the partnership with the USDA Rural Housing program. This partnership continues to allow the ministry to secure state government funds for housing needs and projects for Grundy County residents. In 2005, Ed Simmons became the 2nd Executive Director and courageously led the ministry for the next 15 years and into its 45th year of life. Now, at the leaving of Ed, Julie Willems Keel is the interim Executive Director. The Board of Directors is now searching for the next Executive Director. The ministry has not skipped a beat, even during the summer of 2020, when the ministry for the first time in 45 summers, could not receive volunteers into its camps due to the COVID 19 pandemic. Even so, the year-round and summer staff continued on with the ministry in partnership with the people of Cumberland Mountains, just on a much smaller scale. As we come into the 46th year, it is a new day, a new chapter in Mountain T.O.P.’s history. There is no doubt in my mind and heart the mission and vision, to serve in partnership with the people of the Cumberland Mountain region, will continue to strengthen and change lives, because this is God’s ministry. As you can glean from these reflections, Mountain T.O.P. depends on the year-round staff, the board of directors, the seasonal and summer staff, the summer, fall, and spring volunteers, the partnerships with individuals and families in the community, partnerships with faith-based and government agencies, and the multiple funding sources from individual donors, businesses, corporations, and foundations. Without any one of these entities, the ministry would not have thrived for 45 years. Please continue your involvement, in whatever way possible, so that what seemed to be a mission impossible in 1975, continues to be a mission thriving and growing into the next decade of service and partnership. The need to serve and partner is still great.

Written with Love, Rene Bass, Wife of George H. Bass, founder of Mountain T.O.P.