Pine Grove United Methodist Church Pastor Tim Freeman was born and raised in Bennettsville. After high school, he went to work for a dialysis company. He worked his way up from patient care technician to inventory manager.
Freeman grew up in church with parents and grandparents who were faithful churchgoers. However, in his teens and 20s, he wasn’t living his life as God would want. He knew something was missing, and several of his friends were encouraging him to read the bible again. Taking their advice, Freeman began to study God’s word on his own, reaching that moment when God’s word became real to him.
When he was called into the ministry in 1990, Freeman accepted the call and began preaching full-time in 1995. He returned to the dialysis company in 1998 and earned a Bachelor of Science from Garner-Webb University in Boiling Springs, North Carolina, in 1999.
Freeman left the dialysis company in 2013 to become inventory manager for a hospital. However, he returned full time to the ministry in 2015 at Antioch United Methodist Church in Bennettsville.
This year is his third year at Pine Grove in Turbeville, and he also pastors at Shiloh United Methodist Church in Turbeville. He has completed his second year of his ministry course of study and expects to complete the course in 3-4 more years.
Pine Grove has a long history in the Turbeville community. The church began in 1851. Services were held outdoors until a log building was erected in 1854. A frame house of worship was built in the 1890s, but the building was destroyed by fire in 1923, and the present brick building was erected 1924.
Freeman’s wife Peggy is very involved in the church, whose members have accepted both of them with open arms. She is an occupational therapist who works as the rehab manager at a nursing home in Bennettsville.
“She loves the ministry as much as I do. They’ll let me stay as long as Peggy stays,” said Freeman. She has made strong connections, especially in the youth group. “We consider ourselves to be a ministering team, because we feel like the Lord put us together for this purpose.”
Pine Grove UMC hosted a back-to-school program and invited everyone in the community to come. The event had a dunking booth, outdoor games and a Christian magician. All children who attended received a backpack with notebooks, pencils, school supplies and a small Bible.
The adult Sunday school class contributes to the Walker Gamble Backpack Program. At-need children are given a backpack filled with non-perishable food items each Friday and return the backpacks each Monday. To augment this, in 2017, Freeman and his wife collected food from Pine Grove and Shiloh, including fresh produce from local gardens. The food was distributed to several families weekly.
Pine Grove participates in Kairos Prison Ministries. According to their web site, “The mission of Kairos Prison Ministry is to share the transforming love and forgiveness of Jesus Christ to impact the hearts and lives of incarcerated men, women and youth, as well as their families, to become loving and productive citizens of their communities.” One of the outreach programs is to bake cookies for the inmates. To date, members of both churches have baked and donated around 10,000 cookies.
The largest ministry participation is in Operation Christmas Child. Churches across the U.S. gather shoeboxes of items donated by church members. These items can be Bibles, clothing, shoes, games, books, toys, accessories, hygiene items or more. The shoeboxes go out to over 100 countries to children in need. This year, with 98 members, 40-50 of which are active attendees, Pine Grove has already gathered 100 completed shoeboxes in preparation for the November event.
Twice per year, Shiloh and Pine Grove combine to perform Easter and Christmas cantatas. This year, they are planning one for Independence Day.
Outside of church, Freeman and his wife enjoy going out to eat when they have time. “I’m pretty much just a home and family kind of guy. I like to play golf and fish. I don’t get to do a whole lot of that, but I like it,” said Freeman. However, his heart is always with his church.
“I enjoy preaching. I really do. I enjoy sharing the word,” said Freeman, who loves his congregation. “They’re a loving group. They have really bent over backward to make Peggy and I feel welcome, and they’ve made us feel like we’re a part of the family.”
