Updated: 7/5/2009 7:30:32 PM
Sunday morning, two Anderson County churches remembered their pastor, and former UT football player, who died in a tragic accident this weekend.
A friend says Terry Moore died due to internal injuries suffered while cutting a tree on his property Saturday morning.
Some of the congregants who showed up at Freedom Fellowship in Clinton, the church Moore planted with his wife 4 years ago, hadn't even heard the news yet.
"To know Terry is to have a void now," said church member and friend Chad Witkowski.
"He was so real and so honest," Bob Hanson said.
Another church, First Baptist Andersonville, the church Moore pastored before starting Freedom Fellowship, also remembered him.
"He just has a zeal for life that's contagious," said Moore's best friend and First Baptist Andersonville Assistant Pastor Gene Wood. "You feel like you know him for a long time when you first meet him."
In the back of Freedom Fellowship's sanctuary, several children cried while others spoke of their memories of Terry.
"He loved our children. He would actually come and dance and sing with them," said friend and worship minister Adam Wilson.
"He was inspiring. He was supportive. He's not easily replaced," Witkowski said.
Members of both churches say news of Moore's death came as a shock to none more than his own family.
"[There is such] great sadness for his family right now, for his wife," said friend and First Baptist member Vonda Laxton.
"It's kind of like a dream. They want someone to pinch them and wake them up," Wood said.
No plans have been made yet for Moore's memorial service.
Moore was a Running Back for the University of Tennessee from 1972-1975.
He was 55 years old.
