Local preacher spreads Gospel in garden, church
Green Thumbs
East Buffalo – Sundays and Wednesdays are not the only busy days of the week for Scott Roper, pastor of Lone Oak Baptist Church.
When he isn’t sowing seeds of faith, he can often be found sowing seeds in his garden.
Roper has been gardening since 1965. His earliest memories are throwing rocks out of the garden, and hand-planting corn and beans with his dad. He also has fond memories of his whole family picking, stringing and breaking beans together. This year, Roper’s garden has produced baby lima beans, black-eyed peas, potatoes, tomatoes, watermelons, squash, cucumbers, eggplant, ambrosia corn, onions, cabbage and candy corn. Everything in the garden has yielded a good crop, despite the wet and dry spells. He has enjoyed planting, weeding and harvesting the bounty.
Roper tries to include his grandchildren in the garden during planting season, especially when it is time to plant potatoes. They are also good helpers at shelling peas.
“I think it is very important they learn to work and get the satisfaction of eating what they grow,” Roper said. “You can plant it, water it and fertilize it, but only God can make it grow.”