An Excerpt from “Country Church and College Town”
Chapter 5, Page 150
Pastor to Fort Hill from 1975 -1979
“In 1975, Fort Hill called to its pastorate the Reverend Dr. Zebulon North Holler, who preferred to be called ‘Z.’ Holler, a tall, thin, and scholarly looking man, was born in Atlanta on 2 August 1928 and earned degrees from Davidson College and Union Seminary. He spent 1967 in Scotland, where he received his Ph.D. from the University of Aberdeen. His career had included working at Presbyterian College in Clinton, South Carolina, from 1960 to 1966, serving as pastor at Central Presbyterian Church in Atlanta from 1966 to 1968, and then going as campus minister to North Carolina State University between 1968 and 1972. From 1973 to 1975, he served as executive presbyter in the Orange Presbytery of North Carolina. At Fort Hill, Holler accepted a salary of $15,000, the manse as his domicile, and $3,000 for travel and utility expenses.
Upon arriving at Fort Hill, he analyzed the church and, together with the Session, suggested sweeping changes in many areas. In April 1977, the Long Range Planning Committee decided that a major expansion of the church was not feasible. Although the church neededmore space badly, it did not have the funds available for new buildings. As the only acceptable alternative, the committee urged that the church upgrade and modify its existing facilities and that it consider a building campaign ‘as soon as funding can be secured.’ Holler urged implemention of the ideas of the Session and suggested significant repairs for the present physical plant. The Session authorized an air conditioning system for the church, new paint for the interior and exterior of the buildings, new carpet for the sanctuary and offices, new pews, and landscaping around the church. Also at the back of the sanctuary, the Session ordered construction of a balcony that added thirty-five seats for worshipers. The organ, too, required repairs, but because the Session received an estimate for the organ, stating that sufficient overhauling would cost over $50,000, it elected to do only minor servicing of the instrument while saving for a new organ.
In 1976, the congregation numbered 446 persons, but the sanctuary, built in 1932, held no more than 305 safely. To ease crowding, the church offered a Sunday service at 8:45 A.M. in addition to the one at 11:00 P.M. Tried for five months, the new service recorded an attendance high of eighty-nine persons, a low of sixteen, and an average of forty. The low numbers failed to alleviate the crowding at the late service which, the Diaconate observed, ‘was usually at full capacity.’ The deacons, therefore, continued the early service, hoping that improved publicity would draw more people to it…”
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