Posted: Friday, August 15, 2008 2:17 pm

A motorcycle accident last week has left a local pastor in critical condition in a Memphis hospital. Tennessee Highway Patrolman Trooper Baron Cooper said the two-vehicle accident last Wednesday occurred just south of Dresden on Hwy. 22 when a truck driven by John Petty turned in front of a motorcycle driven by Roger McPeak. McPeak, a Dresden resident, had to be airlifted from the scene to The Med in Memphis. McPeak serves as the pastor for the newly opened Beulah Land Cowboy Church. “He is steadily doing much better. At first, the doctors gave him no chance to live,” Bro. Lewis Whiteman said in a phone interview on Wednesday. Whiteman is the pastor of the Cowboy Church’s sister church known as Cypress Creek Baptist Church in Martin. After a pelvic operation on Monday that was expected to take four to five hours, McPeak progressed through the surgery within one and a half hours, according to Whiteman. McPeak suffered two fractured vertebrae in his back, several broken ribs, a broken collarbone and a crushed pelvis. “The good news,” Whiteman said, “is there was no spinal or brain injuries.” McPeak was originally placed on a ventilator, but doctors planned to insert a trach tube on Wednesday. “He is going to make it. The biggest concern for Roger is that he doesn’t get pneumonia. The doctors anticipate a very long recovery time, so his wife Cindy, will be staying with him until he comes homes,” Whiteman added. The pastor said the family has a financial need to help pay bills while McPeak is in the hospital. McPeak also serves as a Rodeo chaplain and people from across the country have sent donations for the family. He said donation buckets have been placed at locations throughout the county that McPeak frequented before the accident. As a member of the Beulah Baptist Association, love offerings are being taken at sister churches within the association for the family. A fund has been set up at the Bank of Gleason in Roger and Cindy McPeak’s name for donations. Whiteman said plans are underway for an all-day singing benefit for the family. Donations are also being accepted at the Beulah Land Cowboy Church on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. Anyone with questions about donating to the family or updates on McPeak’s condition can call Whiteman at 588-6681. WCP 8.14.08