Cover photo by Ben Hillyer
When Adam Gwin walks into his workshop in downtown Natchez each morning for work, he can trace his passion for furniture and construction all the way back to when he was 13.
His father mentioned wanting to build a sideboard for his lake house but didn’t have the proper tools. That evening, Gwin made a drawing detailing how he could build such a sideboard using stock lumber and a skill saw.
His mother was so impressed, she bought him a jigsaw for his next birthday. Gwin set up a workshop in the garage and has had one ever since. Cub scout carving projects gave way to resizing antique doors and repairing mantle pieces. He managed to find a couple of mentors who taught him even more, and his skill grew exponentially when he was still a young man.
It wasn’t until 2007, however, that that avocation became a vocation—he spent years in the business world before then. While undergoing a course of spiritual direction, Gwin realized he wasn’t using his gift to the fullest.
“I told a friend of mine who is a priest that I have a talent and he corrected me. He said, ‘you are gifted.’ He was right. We are all given gifts, and it saddens me how many people are limited in how they are able to use those gifts. I have been fortunate enough to have had people guide me in how to use those gifts to serve God’s people.”
In addition to his work on general antiques and house restorations, he’s had chances to contribute to worship spaces around the diocese. He provided furnishings for the new nave at Chapel of the Cross, Madison—including the altar, priest chairs, prayer desks, lectern, credence tables and five crosses for the rafters. After the destruction of another Chapel of the Cross in Rolling Fork, he was entrusted with restoration work there.
This work in liturgical spaces holds an extra special place for Gwin.
“I consider this to be a huge part of my spirituality because I honestly believe I am living into a call,” he says, “and am immensely grateful that I am able to go to work every day and do something that brings people joy.”
Following his work on the new nave in Madison (dubbed “The Chapel of the Resurrection”), Gwin was invited to the consecration of the building. The experience was a moving validation of his work.
“It was deeply emotional to know that the furniture I had built would be used by generations of Episcopalians to revere God,” he says. “I can’t help but think about through the years how many priests will celebrate at that altar and sit in those chairs, how many lay people will read scripture from that lectern and how many people’s lives will be transformed in that space. It is a deeply spiritual thing to think about how my creations will play a tiny part in that.”
Often called to people’s homes to assess family heirlooms, Gwin finds himself spending just as much time listening to their stories as he does evaluating their objects. He finds that the listening enriches his work.
Most recently, Gwin built a new bishop’s chair for St. Peter’s-by-the-Lake in Brandon. As with all of his projects, whether sacred or secular, he started out by paying a visit to the church to get a feel for the space and absorb the story. The result? A beautiful, distinctive gothic oak chair. But for Gwin, it’s more than just a piece of liturgical furniture. Sealed under its finish are the stories of a worshiping community’s past, with plenty of room for the stories of its future.