TENNESSEE CONFERENCE REVIEW JULY 28, 2006
Tennessee Conference Review July 28, 2006
Memorable Look into Native American Life and Culture, August 19-20
Several of the Tennessee Annual Conferences most compelling workshop/gatherings have been designed by the Conference’s Native American Ministries committee. The workshops have urged participants to take a day or an entire week end to learn about, honor, and celebrate Native American traditions and culture. When registrants come together August 19th and 20th at Camp Lake Benson, Bon Aqua, Tennessee, they will be treated to a special blend of learning experiences and family fellowship opportunties that have become the hallmarks of the annual gatherings (there have been five of them).
Native Moccasins Rock will feature Ray Buckley, former director of Native Peoples Communications for United Methodist Communications. Buckley is now the Director of Connectional Ministries and Native Discipleship in the Alaskan Missionary Conference. A well-known author, story teller, teacher, and speaker, Ray will lead “A Time for Spirit” and will be featured in the storytelling symposium. Joining Buckley in the symposium will be another nationally known storyteller, Raggatha Rain Calentine, David Null, a master puppeteer from Georgia will contribute storytelling through puppets, and the Choctaw Players will be featured in a skit from the Choctaw culture.
New this year will be an intensive workshop exploring Native Culture and the arts. Mary T Newman will return to teach pottery, but you will be free to explore bead work with Nancy Farmer, making a basket with Ramsey King, or how to create beautiful Choctaw traditional clothing with Juanita Gardinski as your leader. Mary T comes from a Cherokee tradition while Nancy, Ramsey, and Juanita are all noted Choctaw artisans.
The basics of powwow drumming and native dances will be covered by Warriors Path as Emerson Begay, a traditional dancer, and Ben Sanchez, a hoop and grass dancer, share how important the drum is to Native culture. Both Emerson and Ben are Navajo.
Early efforts at healing will be dealt with as Darryl Patton, from Gadsden, Alabama, shares his knowledge of medical plants and herbs.
For budding chefs there will be workshop on the preparation (and eating) of Frybread. Frybread “make it & eat it” features the native culinary skills of Sally Wells, a Choctaw and president of the NAIA of Tennessee.
Several Instructors, led by Debbie Fitzhugh-Shuswap Salish, will teach and lead Native Games including the rousing drum game of Lahalle, throw the atalatl, Native stickball, and more.
One workshop is designed specifically for women. Woman’s Circle, lead by Raggatha Rain Calentine, provides a time for women to share, rest and heal. Ragghi is of Cherokee descent and works in Delaware with the Nanticoke Indians.
Saturday evening, August 19th, will be festival time—in the Native tradition. It would be extremely difficult to top the musical talent lined up for the evening. Returning from last year is Warrior’s Path with its combination of drum and dance. Ben Sanchez will be the featured grass dancer and Emerson Begay will perform again as part of the duo Ancient Wisdom (which also includes Dannie Bigay) and the audience can listen to his songs of beauty and harmony. Singer Jamie Russell may be playing stick ball during the Games Workshop but will be ready to sing by Saturday evening. Grady Shadowhawk Jones has played flute all over the southeast, even bringing his unique musical sound to Annual Conference and will gather new fans with his performance at Native Moccasins Rock. The Choctaw social dancers will also perform with an entirely different form of dancing than folks see at powwows--the dancers are led by a chanter.
Registration is a low $25.00 and there are a number of options for housing and meals .To obtain a registration form with various price and housing options contact Mary T Newman at 615-329-117 or mtnewman@tnumic.org. For ongoing updated information visit the website http://www.moccasinfootprints.org
Reflections on “Direct Billing”
by Mike Ripski
I admit it: I dread the annual Charge Conference. What I dread most is the approval of my salary. I am faced with an unsettling confession: My ministry is valued more than that of most of my colleagues, whose work is no less demanding and valuable to God than mine. How can a dollar value be assigned to pastoral leadership?
The truth is that we pastors cost a lot. With the price of health insurance rising, an ever-increasing percentage of a church’s budget is consumed by us pastors.
We United Methodists profess connectionalism until it comes to pastoral remuneration. Then we become congregational. The “Direct Billing” proposal will make us even more congregational. Each church or charge will be expected to cover the real costs of its pastor’s insurance and pension.
I have assumed that the reason the Conference has covered the cost of insurance and pension through apportionments has been a commitment to mission and outreach to communities where a witness to Christ is needed. We’ve valued the ministry of small-membership and/or financially-limited churches. The Equitable Salary supplement is another expression of our theological and missional commitment.
Thus, “Direct Billing” entails a shift in our Conference’s missional priorities. Previously our commitment has been to providing a witness in rural and urban communities where Methodist Christians were among the first churches. While other denominations have relocated, our churches have remained. Through the Equitable Salary, Insurance, and Pension apportionments pastoral leadership has been made available where it would not otherwise be afforded. “Direct Billing” will return money to larger and wealthier churches where missional priorities will be determined. Do we want our United Methodist witness to be located only where people are wealthy enough to be self-sufficient? How much do we value our connectionalism as a witness to the good news of Jesus Christ?
It is true: “Necessity is the mother of invention.” It is my prayer that our economical crisis will prompt us to theological and missional soul-searching.
Around the Common Table let us engage in a process of discerning where the Holy Spirit is leading us. Let us be open to holding one another accountable. Let us be open to visions and dreams and prophecies inspired by the Spirit. Some churches will need to grow in membership and giving. Some will need to merge and create cooperative parishes. Some may need to be served by lay pastors who will receive no remuneration. Some may need to see themselves more as Wesleyan “classes” served by “class leaders.” Some may need to die with the promise of resurrection.
But let our souls bear the burden of the implications of what we’re doing -- and our motivation. Paul pointed out that the body of Christ needs all its parts in order to be whole. It seems that in our present situation this includes those parts that are not as large or as wealthy as other parts.
Is the question, “Can we afford to keep them?” Or is it, “Can we afford not to keep them?” May our answer be theological as well as economical.
Bell Buckle United Methodist Church pastor receives award for leadership among men
Murfreesboro, TN – The Rev. Lawrence E. “Buddy” Royston, Jr., pastor of the Bell Buckle United Methodist Church of Bell Buckle, Tennessee, was presented the G. Ross Freeman Leadership Award for 2006 at the Tennessee Annual Conference here. Bishop Dick Wills presided over the session.
For twelve years Royston has merged an outstanding career in law enforcement with a growing passion for serving as a full time pastor. For eleven years he served the Bell Buckle congregation on a part time basis while becoming increasingly concerned about the spiritual welfare of those in jail.
Royston is among 33 pastors from the nine-state Southeastern Jurisdiction who have received the award in the last five years for inspiring ministries of men in evangelism, missions and spiritual growth. He is the third pastor to receive the award in the Tennessee Annual Conference.
United Methodist Men of Bell Buckle nominated Royston. A selection committee appointed by Ingram Howard, president of the Tennessee Conference men, made the final choice of the pastor to be honored from nominations submitted to them.
John Dowell of Tampa, Florida, President of the Southeastern Jurisdiction United Methodist Men, says that the purpose of the awards program is to identify clergy with the imagination and interest to create effective expressions of ministry for men. “We believe that the best way to strengthen local fellowships of men is to honor pastors who actively participate with the men of his/her church,” Dowell says.
In addition to recognition by the conference, Royston will be invited to participate in a January 2007 Clergy Think-Tank with seven other pastors from conferences of the southeast.
Since Royston came to Bell Buckle in 1995 the membership of the church has increased tenfold. This multi-talented, multi-interested pastor found ways to reach out to the men of the community. One of the first things he did was to re-establish the United Methodist Men’s group.
Looking for ways to involve and excite them, he noticed that the annual crafts fair ground was close to the church. Royston asked the church trustees to volunteer the church’s parking lot for free parking for the handicapped and disabled.
He suggested that the men cook breakfast for people who walk past the church on the way to the fair grounds. It became a popular fund-raising activity. Proceeds from this project are used by the men to build handicap accessible ramps for those in need.
The men also lead a unique worship service on the lawn in front of the church on the weekend of the fair.
Royston headed a campaign for the church to buy a bus so that children of the community could be picked up for church activities. Response is so good that these children enable the church to have a year long Vacation Bible School.
After several mission trips to Mexico with the men, Royston began sponsoring a United Methodist Hispanic Pastor to start a church in Bedford County. The men sponsored fiestas in a local Mexican Restaurant in Shelbyville to recruit members for the new church.
Two people from the congregation are now students in seminary, and a high school senior will start to college next fall with a goal of becoming a pastor.
Royston has become a leader in the Emmaus movement, received the Harry Denman Award for the Foundation for Evangelism, and was chosen by the World Methodist Council for the Ministerial Exchange Program to serve in the Stamford-Rutland Circuit in Stamford Lincolnshire in England.
C. Don Ladd Retires as Conference Director of Lay Speaking Ministries
C. Don Ladd's term as Conference Director of Lay Speaking Ministries ended in June, 2006, and Ladd was surprised at the Laity Luncheon on Tuesday of Annual Conference with a time of remembering his special ministry. Conference Lay Leader Joe Williams (left) presented Ladd with a plaque acknowledging the gratitude of the Conference and the Board of Laity for Ladd’s vision of what Lay Speaking Ministries could become and for his dynamic leadership over the past eight years. Ladd will continue to serve the Conference as its Associate Lay Leader.
Two from Dickson First UMC win coveted TORCH AWARD for work in Scouting
The United Methodist Men, through its Youth Serving Agencies/Scouting Ministry program, recognized two outstanding servant leaders during the 2006 Tennessee Annual Conference. They were Mr. Benjamin Thomas Fuqua and Mr. Kenneth K. Mitchell. Both are preeminent leaders in their church, vocations and communities.
Ben Fuqua
Ben Fuqua has been a volunteer Boy Scout Leader for 59 years and has served the youth of our community in several adult leadership positions: Scoutmaster, District Chairman, The Middle Tennessee Councils Executive and Advisory Board to mention a few. He is the recipient of the District Award of Merit (The Long Rifle), and the Middle TN Councils highest adult recognition “The Silver Beaver.” In 1979, he was the Eagle Scout Awards class honoree. His church recognized his scouting service in 2003 by presenting Mr. Fuqua the Cross & Flame Award.
Mr. Fuqua was educated through the Dickson schools and Bowling Green Business University. He served in a medical detachment of the 91st Inf. Div. through combat in Italy during WWII. As an acting First Sgt. he earned the Bronze Star. He again served 11 months as a NCO of Professional Services at the Station Hospital during the Korean War.
His employment started with the Norfolk Western Railway as a Payroll Clerk in Pike County, KY. He then worked his way up through the First Federal Bank of Dickson, TN – was a member of the board 32 years and CEO 25 years. In serving his community he contributed major leadership in the United Way, Industrial Development Board, Chamber of Commerce, American Legion Veterans of Foreign Wars, the Kiwanis Club, the TN Savings & Loan League, and the Southern Conference of the U.S. League of Savings Institutions.
As a devoted member of Dickson Co. First UMC he has served as Treasurer for 35 of his 44 years. He has been the Chair of the Administrative Board and Finance Committee. The TN Conference, The Executive Committee of the UMM and First UMC of Dickson are pleased to recognize Benjamin Thomas Fuqua as a very deserving recipient of the coveted TORCH AWARD.
Kenneth K. Mitchell
Ken Mitchell has given more than 50 years in teaching and leadership through FFA and has literally had a tremendous impact on thousands of young people.
Mr. Mitchell is a native of Union County and graduated from Norris High School in Anderson Co. He received his masters plus in Agricultural Education and Supervision & Administration at UT Knoxville. At UT Nashville, TN State, Ohio State University, and The University of Maryland he studied Vocational Education. Mr. Mitchell retired from the TN Department of Education after 42 years as a teacher of Vocational Agriculture, State Supervisor of Agriculture Education, and as State Director of Secondary Programs in Vocational Education.
His many recognitions for exceptional service include: Progressive Farmer’s “Man of the Year ’91,” American Vocational Association as the Outstanding Agricultural Education Supervisor of ’90, Tenn. Vocational Agricultural Distinguished Service Award ’85. He was honored in 1994 at the FFA State Convention by the establishment of the Kenneth K. Mitchell Leadership Development Scholarship Fund of the Tenn. FFA Foundation Inc. Again in 2002, the State FFA Convention awarded him the “Lifetime Achievement Award” in appreciation after years of dedicated support and service.
Mr. Mitchell is a member of numerous professional organizations. He is past VP of the National Supervisors of Agricultural Education, and former chairman of the Tenn. Agricultural Education Joint Staff. He is a former member of the TN Ag. Hall of Fame Committee and board of directors of Vanderbilt’s Children’s Hospital. He was a member of Nashville Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors.
Mr. Mitchell served 37 months during WWII with the 787th MP Battalion & HQ Co. of the First Airborne Army returning home with the 84th Inf. Div. from Europe.
He is an active member of Dickson 1st UMC where he serves as teacher coordinator of the Pioneer Bible class and as counselor to the MYF.
Mr. Mitchell’s church reports him as having been a faithful, supportive member and a gifted leader and that at age 83 he continues to be involved in a meaningful way. The TN Conference, The UMM executive committee, and the First UMC of Dickson are pleased to recognize Kenneth K. Mitchell as a worthy recipient of the TORCH AWARD
United Methodist Assembly participates in community parade
The United Methodist Assembly got into the spirit of the 4th of July during the Beersheba Springs community annual July 4th parade. Staff decorated and entered the Assembly lawnmower, and golf cart.
Reflections from a Journal: UMVIM Team 2, Mazatenango, Guatemala
by Diane Luton Blum*
January 21, 2006 – February 4, 2006. Team 2 gathered from several churches in Middle Tennessee: 4 from Tullahoma First UMC, 4 from Madison Street UMC, Jeff and I (part of West End UMC), 3 from Dickson area, 1 from Tennessee Ridge, 2 from Nashville, 1 from Gallatin, 1 from Franklin First UMC. Upon arriving in Guatemala City, we were greeted by Team 1 at the gate, then by Adolfo—our guide and driver for the two weeks aboard the UMVIM bus. We traveled into the evening, 3-4 hours to reach our base location in Mazatenango, about an hour east of the Pacific Ocean, west/northwest of Guatemala City. The smoke and cinders of the routine burning of sugar cane greeted us with nightfall, we passed several cane distilleries along the highway. Volcanic mountains to our right, the fertile piedmont to our left, Adolfo treated us to the traffic passing thrills of the two lane highway crowded with trucks hauling sugar cane.
We checked into the Bambu, the motel that would be our home base for the two weeks. The noise of the cane trucks never far away, we took our meals together outdoors on a covered patio. Phil and Jean set to provisioning our team’s kitchen and fed us safely and well—preventing the illnesses that are so common among travelers here. The average cost of these meals: $1.16 per person per meal. Phil’s planning helped support our stewardship of team funds. On our first day, a Sunday, we traveled out to both projects: a former church building being converted for use as a clinic, and a school, to which we would provide additional classrooms. We visited the John Wesley School, completed in previous years (most of our team had served for this project) by TN UMVIM’s, walked to a nearby river where the bridge had been destroyed earlier this fall by Hurricane Stan, then arrived to worship with Pastor Manuel and the people of San Antonio Methodist Church.
Early Monday morning our work began on the clinic construction: removing part of the walls, completing block work to form new and smaller rooms, constructing a septic system, running conduit for electrical supply, cutting and building forms for ceiling/roof supports, tying steel for reinforced concrete. As the heat and humidity pushed around 90 degrees, several of us slowed down as our bodies adjusted from winter in Tennessee to the so-called cool season in Guatemala. Each day, we looked with relief at morning break and lunch time refreshments. Phil and Jean traveled out to serve us, along with the local church folks who were a critical part of the construction process. Concrete for block-laying and forms was mixed by hand on the ground, and on some of the days, we formed bucket brigades to get the wet cement across and up to our fellow workers. I confess that I was usually a part of the empty bucket line going back for refills! Our steel tying took place out front by the busy road, so we had children and local volunteers sharing the time and the tasks each day. Jim Heep of Franklin, was an invaluable translator, along with Jose, our official translator over the two weeks. Each of us began to pick up enough Spanish to greet our host community folks, trade names and get our respective tasks underway.
Each morning a member of the team offered a devotional for the day as we ate our breakfast. Each evening, the business of the day was concluded with a reflection on and prayer for the day behind us and the day ahead. This team laughed a lot and this was especially true for any who wandered into the “chicken foot” domino games. We are so grateful there were no accidents or serious illnesses to disrupt our routines.
On Thursday and Friday of the first week, two of us went with Jim and Dianne Thompson, ongoing UMVIM missioners from Asheville, NC, to the Boco Costa Medical Mission clinic they coordinate in the mountain community of Pakila. The clinic saw 62 patients on Thursday and 97 on Friday, offering basic primary care with a team of 5 staff and the Thompsons. This community, reached from Mazatenango by winding (often washed out) roads up the side of the volcanic mountain, is a native Mayan village. The women often only speak Quiche, the men and children beginning to attend school speak a bit of Spanish. My days there were a combination of hearing Quiche, Spanish and English in this very poor, very friendly community. Families are very large, many earn a livelihood by picking the coffee beans grown at this higher elevation. Dental and overall physical health are impacted by the limited resources, the great distance and cost of hospital care in Mazatenango. On Thursday, Dianne took me on a “house call” in the village to the home of a very large extended family where one of the young men had sustained an injury. Dianne also introduced me to the local Methodist pastor’s family and took me into the church where she and Jim experienced a clarification of their call to this shared life and work.
On Saturday, the midpoint of our project, with the clinic tasks completed and ready for Team 3 to continue, we were granted a day of sight seeing. Adolfo drove us into the mountains up to Lake Atitlan. We took an open boat across the lake and ate together in a lovely restaurant overlooking the water and the mountains. We met additional UMVIM missioners who are beginning a ministry called Solomon’s Porch. As we traveled back to Mazatenango we observed the end of the coffee harvest and the multitude of workers going home for the night, laden with huge bags of coffee beans.
On Sunday afternoon, we worshipped at the Methodist church of La Toma, with Pastor Felix and the congregation. The local school, to which we were adding much needed classroom space, is a short walk through the village. The road is surrounded by tall sugar cane and it becomes a narrow single lane when you turn down to the school. This church building, like that of San Antonio (in the same general area, several miles east of Mazatenango) has been constructed by Tennessee Conference UMVIM teams in the past decade (the lengthy civil war in this country ended in 1996). Both congregations filled their sanctuaries with enthusiastic worshippers and overflowed with children (and sometimes chickens and--Jeff’s favorite--a big tom turkey).
On our second Monday, supplies and tools had been moved to the LaToma school, but before we got down to work, we had been invited to the John Wesley School for a special program in our honor. The School, which several team members (my husband Jeff) had helped to construct in previous years, now celebrates an enrollment of 286 children in elementary grades. Each grade presented a dance, song or talent. The teachers and principal are dedicated and warm young adults. After the program we dashed to our worksite before the heat could slow us down.
The challenge of the La Toma School addition stemmed from the overflow of children in the community school. One whole class met outdoors all the time. We witnessed two soccer games going on the middle school yard at the same time, same space, same goals, one set of children smaller, one set larger! Of course this was also our staging area for mixing concrete and tying steel! So we were surrounded by children on school days for our work. Johnna, Jim and Jill were our special connection with the children, especially at recess and after school hours. The new classrooms had foundation and walls from Team 1, our tasks included forms and pouring concrete for the ceiling (which would be a temporary roof and eventually the floor for the second story of rooms) and the stairs. Jill and I were thrilled one day when Ken called on us to do some real carpentry with the forms—a step beyond tying steel, gophering, and bucket brigades.
On our last day, everyone pitched in for the mixing and pouring of about 45 loads from a small motorized cement mixer. Teachers, older students, local volunteers, UMVIMers passed buckets until Pastor Felix, the coordinator of this process, smoothed the last set of stairs. We were all covered in cement, very tired, but pleased and grateful our work was complete.
On Thursday morning the La Toma School teachers, students and principal honored us with a special program. A special thank you had been prepared from each class for a particular UMVIM team member and this sharing provided a moving farewell. That afternoon, we welcomed two advance members from Team 3 to The Bambu, and then we boarded the bus to depart Mazatenango. Adolfo drove us to the ancient city of Antigua for two nights of rest and a day of sightseeing. We checked into a modest hotel and marveled at this city, founded by the Spanish in the 1500’s, surrounded by volcanoes and filled with churches, convents and the ruins of ancient churches and convents. Jeff, a former Roman Catholic, led a large number of us on a walking tour of these magnificent tributes to Christian faith, and of course, led the group in a final night’s game of “chicken foot.”
On Saturday, Adolfo drove us to Guatemala City airport where we prepared for our final challenge: getting everyone through Miami airport and customs after a late flight from Guatemala and safely aboard our connecting flight to Nashville. Thanks to Jeff’s shepherding and warnings, no one was left behind in either Guatemala or Miami! Home at last to the loved ones and communities that sent us forth in God’s great love.
*At the 2006 Annual Conference Diane Luton Blum was appointed pastor of East End United Methodist Church, Nashville District.
MTSU senior Amy Manor awarded scholarship from the Guy and Margaret Smith Scholarship Fund
Amy Manor, a senior majoring in early childhood education at Middle Tennessee State University, was awarded a scholarship from the Guy and Margaret Smith Scholarship Fund, a fund managed by the Nashville Area Foundation on behalf of Blakemore United Methodist Church. Manor, an active member of Blakemore United Methodist Church, works at the Blakemore Children’s Center. She was presented the scholarship by Diane Lee-Smith, daughter of Guy and Margaret Smith. Amy (center) is seen here with Diane Lee-Smith (left) and Blakemore UMC pastor Paul Gardner.
Bethlehem Centers seek to be 'beacons' in inner city
"Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good." 1 Corinthians 12:4-7 (RSV)
A UMNS Feature By Linda Green*
Bethlehem Centers across the United States are providing healing, hope and wholeness to people with many needs and few advantages.
The centers began in African-American neighborhoods in southern cities in the late 1800s, offering a variety of education, recreation and health care opportunities. As inner-city populations have changed or become multiethnic and diverse, the centers have adapted to meet new needs.
"Our mission is the same today as it was yesterday, when the first center began in Augusta, Ga.," said Jerald McKie, director of community and institutional ministries for the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries. "It is helping families meet their basic needs, creating opportunities for growth, healing, self-determination, empowerment and success."
Bethlehem Centers were started by women of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, as places within the church where African Americans could receive the same services that their white counterparts received at Wesley Centers and Wesley Houses. No longer segregated today, the centers are supported by the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries and its Women's Division.
The centers "serve as a beacon of light across this country for individuals who may not know about the United Methodist Church, (but) when they step into one of these places, they find out immediately what our church is all about," McKie said.
“They are still addressing issues of poverty, as well as challenges posed by development and encroachment by businesses and others moving into the community,” McKie said. She noted that as cities have grown, the Bethlehem Center sites - many of them dating back more than 100 years - "have become more the center of town than say, the outskirts of town."
While contending with such problems as drugs and alcohol, gangs and violence, the centers offer after-school child care, arts and crafts, training to develop young people's self-esteem, and other positive activities for youth and young people.
They still have an educational focus and work with a variety of ethnic and immigrant populations. They also perform needs assessments and strategic planning. Boards of directors are now incorporated, and centers hire their own executive directors as opposed to when the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries sent staff - often deaconesses - to lead them.
Of the 103 institutional ministries supported by the board and United Methodist Women - ministries such as community centers, schools and colleges, residential treatment centers, women's residences and the Red Bird Missionary Conference - eight are Bethlehem Centers.
Building futures
The Bethlehem Centers of Nashville is three facilities working as one. Along with a youth camp, the three sites work together to "promote self-reliance and positive life choices for children, teens, adults and families in Middle Tennessee by delivering and advocating quality programs and services," said Joyce Searcy, the executive director.
Founded in 1894, the centers were dedicated to young mothers and their children in Nashville.
During the past 112 years, Bethlehem Center, Wesley House and Centenary Center evolved into one multi-service agency, with a mission to reach all poverty-restricted infants and young children, teens, women and senior citizens in neighborhoods surrounding the centers. The agency also runs Camp Dogwood, which was started in the 1920s as the first location in Middle Tennessee where African-American youngsters could attend camp.
Working under the theme "Changing Lives, Building Futures," the centers serve people and families from three of the poorest areas of the city, with 97 percent of the clients living at 90 percent or below federal poverty guidelines, and attempts to make them self-reliant. "What we do is change lives and build futures for our families, children, youth and adults," Searcy said.
Kim Parks, 42, said the center's motto has been a testimony about her life. She was a client of the center for six months, and she is now a dental student at United Methodist-related Meharry Medical College. Recalling her "time in the wilderness," she said, the Bethlehem Center helped her remember that she is not alone and could rely on the "village."
"While going through the crossroads of my life, I am so grateful that Bethlehem Centers was my village." The center enabled her to create resumes for her job search, and the staff provided a listening ear. "Most importantly, everything was free," she said.
As a dental student, she has been existing on a "shoestring budget," she said. The center "lightened the load at times and became a guiding light."
According to an agency fact sheet, nearly 90 percent of the children and youth served are in single-parent households, and 100 percent of the elderly served receive various forms of public assistance.
Helping children
Searcy offered United Methodist News Service a glimpse into Nashville's centers. "We are serving children as young as 6 weeks old. It is very important that as brains are developing and bodies are developing, that moral values are developed in those children." She outlined the various programs that impact women, children, teens and adults, noting that the ministries provide empowerment, advocacy, substance abuse prevention, job training and hunger assistance.
When she arrived as executive director in 1987, she said she was most impressed with volunteer spirit and dedication of one of the daily workers. That volunteer inspired her.
"It was my vision to put programs in place here and have the agency do a better job of serving the community, and if it was going to serve the community, then the community would need to be more involved here," she said.
During her tenure, she has introduced and expanded programs and incorporated measurable goals. The center is ranked by the state as "Three Star," which is the highest rating a day care can receive in Tennessee. In addition, it is accredited by a national association for the education of young children. "It is like the national Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval to say you are the best of the best," she said.
Searcy wants the Bethlehem Centers to become a leader in the community. "I want the agency to continue to produce community leaders, children who are educated and people who are self-reliant, people determining their own destiny and giving back to the community."
Giving back is what Jessica Oldham, 25, is doing. A former recipient of the center's day care services, Oldham teaches day care students at the center today. The experience, love and attention she received at the center made her want to work with children as an adult.
"It is exciting. It is never a dull moment. Every day is different. The Bethlehem Center is a place to be loved. It is a loving place. Everyone loves everybody here."
The center embodies the Christian principle of serving "the least of these," and no one is turned away, Oldham said. "It is a place that believes in families, is Christian and believes in helping one another."
Support needed
To promote the center and its work, Searcy speaks to a lot of church groups, during worship services, and to United Methodist Women and youth groups.
"What I try to do is let United Methodists know that their foremothers founded (Bethlehem Centers), and it sinks or swims on their involvement." A large portion of their funding comes through the local, regional and general conferences of the United Methodist Church. The agencies also receive financial support through the donations of individuals, businesses and churches, both local and across the country.
The center recently revamped its logo to include the Star of Bethlehem and to express its ecumenism and interdenominational community outreach. "We don't care who you are, we want to bring the love of Christ to you," Searcy said.
For its work in promoting abstinence and the prevention of substance abuse, the Bethlehem Centers of Nashville is one of 13 agencies nationwide chosen by the federal government to use a program called "Too Smart To Start," to help 'tweens - kids who aren't small children but not quite teenagers - make decisions about their future and say no to sex, drugs and alcohol.
McKie said the eight centers share in common the challenges associated with racism and poverty. Impoverished people, even if they are trained and employed, have a hard time juggling the costs of health care, child care and homeownership - pressures that keep many people down.
If the Bethlehem Centers and other mission institutions could eradicate the issues stemming from poverty in their clients' lives, "then we would see women and children and their families being able to step beyond that issue and join the rest of us who have been blessed and have been able to maintain a semblance of a good caring environment for our families," she said.
More information on Bethlehem Centers is available at http://gbgm-umc.org/cim or by calling (212) 870-3843. Donations can be designated for Advance Special #982149 and mailed to 475 Riverside Dr. Room 1544, New York, N.Y. 10115. Money specifically for children's programs, can be designated for Advance Special #123456, which helps ministries with children at the United Methodist Church's National Mission Institutions.
*Green is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in Nashville, Tenn.
Memorable Look into Native American Life and Culture, August 19-20
Several of the Tennessee Annual Conferences most compelling workshop/gatherings have been designed by the Conference’s Native American Ministries committee. The workshops have urged participants to take a day or an entire week end to learn about, honor, and celebrate Native American traditions and culture. When registrants come together August 19th and 20th at Camp Lake Benson, Bon Aqua, Tennessee, they will be treated to a special blend of learning experiences and family fellowship opportunties that have become the hallmarks of the annual gatherings (there have been five of them).
Native Moccasins Rock will feature Ray Buckley, former director of Native Peoples Communications for United Methodist Communications. Buckley is now the Director of Connectional Ministries and Native Discipleship in the Alaskan Missionary Conference. A well-known author, story teller, teacher, and speaker, Ray will lead “A Time for Spirit” and will be featured in the storytelling symposium. Joining Buckley in the symposium will be another nationally known storyteller, Raggatha Rain Calentine, David Null, a master puppeteer from Georgia will contribute storytelling through puppets, and the Choctaw Players will be featured in a skit from the Choctaw culture.
New this year will be an intensive workshop exploring Native Culture and the arts. Mary T Newman will return to teach pottery, but you will be free to explore bead work with Nancy Farmer, making a basket with Ramsey King, or how to create beautiful Choctaw traditional clothing with Juanita Gardinski as your leader. Mary T comes from a Cherokee tradition while Nancy, Ramsey, and Juanita are all noted Choctaw artisans.
The basics of powwow drumming and native dances will be covered by Warriors Path as Emerson Begay, a traditional dancer, and Ben Sanchez, a hoop and grass dancer, share how important the drum is to Native culture. Both Emerson and Ben are Navajo.
Early efforts at healing will be dealt with as Darryl Patton, from Gadsden, Alabama, shares his knowledge of medical plants and herbs.
For budding chefs there will be workshop on the preparation (and eating) of Frybread. Frybread “make it & eat it” features the native culinary skills of Sally Wells, a Choctaw and president of the NAIA of Tennessee.
Several Instructors, led by Debbie Fitzhugh-Shuswap Salish, will teach and lead Native Games including the rousing drum game of Lahalle, throw the atalatl, Native stickball, and more.
One workshop is designed specifically for women. Woman’s Circle, lead by Raggatha Rain Calentine, provides a time for women to share, rest and heal. Ragghi is of Cherokee descent and works in Delaware with the Nanticoke Indians.
Saturday evening, August 19th, will be festival time—in the Native tradition. It would be extremely difficult to top the musical talent lined up for the evening. Returning from last year is Warrior’s Path with its combination of drum and dance. Ben Sanchez will be the featured grass dancer and Emerson Begay will perform again as part of the duo Ancient Wisdom (which also includes Dannie Bigay) and the audience can listen to his songs of beauty and harmony. Singer Jamie Russell may be playing stick ball during the Games Workshop but will be ready to sing by Saturday evening. Grady Shadowhawk Jones has played flute all over the southeast, even bringing his unique musical sound to Annual Conference and will gather new fans with his performance at Native Moccasins Rock. The Choctaw social dancers will also perform with an entirely different form of dancing than folks see at powwows--the dancers are led by a chanter.
Registration is a low $25.00 and there are a number of options for housing and meals .To obtain a registration form with various price and housing options contact Mary T Newman at 615-329-117 or mtnewman@tnumic.org. For ongoing updated information visit the website http://www.moccasinfootprints.org
Reflections on “Direct Billing”
by Mike Ripski
I admit it: I dread the annual Charge Conference. What I dread most is the approval of my salary. I am faced with an unsettling confession: My ministry is valued more than that of most of my colleagues, whose work is no less demanding and valuable to God than mine. How can a dollar value be assigned to pastoral leadership?
The truth is that we pastors cost a lot. With the price of health insurance rising, an ever-increasing percentage of a church’s budget is consumed by us pastors.
We United Methodists profess connectionalism until it comes to pastoral remuneration. Then we become congregational. The “Direct Billing” proposal will make us even more congregational. Each church or charge will be expected to cover the real costs of its pastor’s insurance and pension.
I have assumed that the reason the Conference has covered the cost of insurance and pension through apportionments has been a commitment to mission and outreach to communities where a witness to Christ is needed. We’ve valued the ministry of small-membership and/or financially-limited churches. The Equitable Salary supplement is another expression of our theological and missional commitment.
Thus, “Direct Billing” entails a shift in our Conference’s missional priorities. Previously our commitment has been to providing a witness in rural and urban communities where Methodist Christians were among the first churches. While other denominations have relocated, our churches have remained. Through the Equitable Salary, Insurance, and Pension apportionments pastoral leadership has been made available where it would not otherwise be afforded. “Direct Billing” will return money to larger and wealthier churches where missional priorities will be determined. Do we want our United Methodist witness to be located only where people are wealthy enough to be self-sufficient? How much do we value our connectionalism as a witness to the good news of Jesus Christ?
It is true: “Necessity is the mother of invention.” It is my prayer that our economical crisis will prompt us to theological and missional soul-searching.
Around the Common Table let us engage in a process of discerning where the Holy Spirit is leading us. Let us be open to holding one another accountable. Let us be open to visions and dreams and prophecies inspired by the Spirit. Some churches will need to grow in membership and giving. Some will need to merge and create cooperative parishes. Some may need to be served by lay pastors who will receive no remuneration. Some may need to see themselves more as Wesleyan “classes” served by “class leaders.” Some may need to die with the promise of resurrection.
But let our souls bear the burden of the implications of what we’re doing -- and our motivation. Paul pointed out that the body of Christ needs all its parts in order to be whole. It seems that in our present situation this includes those parts that are not as large or as wealthy as other parts.
Is the question, “Can we afford to keep them?” Or is it, “Can we afford not to keep them?” May our answer be theological as well as economical.
Bell Buckle United Methodist Church pastor receives award for leadership among men
Murfreesboro, TN – The Rev. Lawrence E. “Buddy” Royston, Jr., pastor of the Bell Buckle United Methodist Church of Bell Buckle, Tennessee, was presented the G. Ross Freeman Leadership Award for 2006 at the Tennessee Annual Conference here. Bishop Dick Wills presided over the session.
For twelve years Royston has merged an outstanding career in law enforcement with a growing passion for serving as a full time pastor. For eleven years he served the Bell Buckle congregation on a part time basis while becoming increasingly concerned about the spiritual welfare of those in jail.
Royston is among 33 pastors from the nine-state Southeastern Jurisdiction who have received the award in the last five years for inspiring ministries of men in evangelism, missions and spiritual growth. He is the third pastor to receive the award in the Tennessee Annual Conference.
United Methodist Men of Bell Buckle nominated Royston. A selection committee appointed by Ingram Howard, president of the Tennessee Conference men, made the final choice of the pastor to be honored from nominations submitted to them.
John Dowell of Tampa, Florida, President of the Southeastern Jurisdiction United Methodist Men, says that the purpose of the awards program is to identify clergy with the imagination and interest to create effective expressions of ministry for men. “We believe that the best way to strengthen local fellowships of men is to honor pastors who actively participate with the men of his/her church,” Dowell says.
In addition to recognition by the conference, Royston will be invited to participate in a January 2007 Clergy Think-Tank with seven other pastors from conferences of the southeast.
Since Royston came to Bell Buckle in 1995 the membership of the church has increased tenfold. This multi-talented, multi-interested pastor found ways to reach out to the men of the community. One of the first things he did was to re-establish the United Methodist Men’s group.
Looking for ways to involve and excite them, he noticed that the annual crafts fair ground was close to the church. Royston asked the church trustees to volunteer the church’s parking lot for free parking for the handicapped and disabled.
He suggested that the men cook breakfast for people who walk past the church on the way to the fair grounds. It became a popular fund-raising activity. Proceeds from this project are used by the men to build handicap accessible ramps for those in need.
The men also lead a unique worship service on the lawn in front of the church on the weekend of the fair.
Royston headed a campaign for the church to buy a bus so that children of the community could be picked up for church activities. Response is so good that these children enable the church to have a year long Vacation Bible School.
After several mission trips to Mexico with the men, Royston began sponsoring a United Methodist Hispanic Pastor to start a church in Bedford County. The men sponsored fiestas in a local Mexican Restaurant in Shelbyville to recruit members for the new church.
Two people from the congregation are now students in seminary, and a high school senior will start to college next fall with a goal of becoming a pastor.
Royston has become a leader in the Emmaus movement, received the Harry Denman Award for the Foundation for Evangelism, and was chosen by the World Methodist Council for the Ministerial Exchange Program to serve in the Stamford-Rutland Circuit in Stamford Lincolnshire in England.
C. Don Ladd Retires as Conference Director of Lay Speaking Ministries
C. Don Ladd's term as Conference Director of Lay Speaking Ministries ended in June, 2006, and Ladd was surprised at the Laity Luncheon on Tuesday of Annual Conference with a time of remembering his special ministry. Conference Lay Leader Joe Williams (left) presented Ladd with a plaque acknowledging the gratitude of the Conference and the Board of Laity for Ladd’s vision of what Lay Speaking Ministries could become and for his dynamic leadership over the past eight years. Ladd will continue to serve the Conference as its Associate Lay Leader.
Two from Dickson First UMC win coveted TORCH AWARD for work in Scouting
The United Methodist Men, through its Youth Serving Agencies/Scouting Ministry program, recognized two outstanding servant leaders during the 2006 Tennessee Annual Conference. They were Mr. Benjamin Thomas Fuqua and Mr. Kenneth K. Mitchell. Both are preeminent leaders in their church, vocations and communities.
Ben Fuqua
Ben Fuqua has been a volunteer Boy Scout Leader for 59 years and has served the youth of our community in several adult leadership positions: Scoutmaster, District Chairman, The Middle Tennessee Councils Executive and Advisory Board to mention a few. He is the recipient of the District Award of Merit (The Long Rifle), and the Middle TN Councils highest adult recognition “The Silver Beaver.” In 1979, he was the Eagle Scout Awards class honoree. His church recognized his scouting service in 2003 by presenting Mr. Fuqua the Cross & Flame Award.
Mr. Fuqua was educated through the Dickson schools and Bowling Green Business University. He served in a medical detachment of the 91st Inf. Div. through combat in Italy during WWII. As an acting First Sgt. he earned the Bronze Star. He again served 11 months as a NCO of Professional Services at the Station Hospital during the Korean War.
His employment started with the Norfolk Western Railway as a Payroll Clerk in Pike County, KY. He then worked his way up through the First Federal Bank of Dickson, TN – was a member of the board 32 years and CEO 25 years. In serving his community he contributed major leadership in the United Way, Industrial Development Board, Chamber of Commerce, American Legion Veterans of Foreign Wars, the Kiwanis Club, the TN Savings & Loan League, and the Southern Conference of the U.S. League of Savings Institutions.
As a devoted member of Dickson Co. First UMC he has served as Treasurer for 35 of his 44 years. He has been the Chair of the Administrative Board and Finance Committee. The TN Conference, The Executive Committee of the UMM and First UMC of Dickson are pleased to recognize Benjamin Thomas Fuqua as a very deserving recipient of the coveted TORCH AWARD.
Kenneth K. Mitchell
Ken Mitchell has given more than 50 years in teaching and leadership through FFA and has literally had a tremendous impact on thousands of young people.
Mr. Mitchell is a native of Union County and graduated from Norris High School in Anderson Co. He received his masters plus in Agricultural Education and Supervision & Administration at UT Knoxville. At UT Nashville, TN State, Ohio State University, and The University of Maryland he studied Vocational Education. Mr. Mitchell retired from the TN Department of Education after 42 years as a teacher of Vocational Agriculture, State Supervisor of Agriculture Education, and as State Director of Secondary Programs in Vocational Education.
His many recognitions for exceptional service include: Progressive Farmer’s “Man of the Year ’91,” American Vocational Association as the Outstanding Agricultural Education Supervisor of ’90, Tenn. Vocational Agricultural Distinguished Service Award ’85. He was honored in 1994 at the FFA State Convention by the establishment of the Kenneth K. Mitchell Leadership Development Scholarship Fund of the Tenn. FFA Foundation Inc. Again in 2002, the State FFA Convention awarded him the “Lifetime Achievement Award” in appreciation after years of dedicated support and service.
Mr. Mitchell is a member of numerous professional organizations. He is past VP of the National Supervisors of Agricultural Education, and former chairman of the Tenn. Agricultural Education Joint Staff. He is a former member of the TN Ag. Hall of Fame Committee and board of directors of Vanderbilt’s Children’s Hospital. He was a member of Nashville Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors.
Mr. Mitchell served 37 months during WWII with the 787th MP Battalion & HQ Co. of the First Airborne Army returning home with the 84th Inf. Div. from Europe.
He is an active member of Dickson 1st UMC where he serves as teacher coordinator of the Pioneer Bible class and as counselor to the MYF.
Mr. Mitchell’s church reports him as having been a faithful, supportive member and a gifted leader and that at age 83 he continues to be involved in a meaningful way. The TN Conference, The UMM executive committee, and the First UMC of Dickson are pleased to recognize Kenneth K. Mitchell as a worthy recipient of the TORCH AWARD
United Methodist Assembly participates in community parade
The United Methodist Assembly got into the spirit of the 4th of July during the Beersheba Springs community annual July 4th parade. Staff decorated and entered the Assembly lawnmower, and golf cart.
Reflections from a Journal: UMVIM Team 2, Mazatenango, Guatemala
by Diane Luton Blum*
January 21, 2006 – February 4, 2006. Team 2 gathered from several churches in Middle Tennessee: 4 from Tullahoma First UMC, 4 from Madison Street UMC, Jeff and I (part of West End UMC), 3 from Dickson area, 1 from Tennessee Ridge, 2 from Nashville, 1 from Gallatin, 1 from Franklin First UMC. Upon arriving in Guatemala City, we were greeted by Team 1 at the gate, then by Adolfo—our guide and driver for the two weeks aboard the UMVIM bus. We traveled into the evening, 3-4 hours to reach our base location in Mazatenango, about an hour east of the Pacific Ocean, west/northwest of Guatemala City. The smoke and cinders of the routine burning of sugar cane greeted us with nightfall, we passed several cane distilleries along the highway. Volcanic mountains to our right, the fertile piedmont to our left, Adolfo treated us to the traffic passing thrills of the two lane highway crowded with trucks hauling sugar cane.
We checked into the Bambu, the motel that would be our home base for the two weeks. The noise of the cane trucks never far away, we took our meals together outdoors on a covered patio. Phil and Jean set to provisioning our team’s kitchen and fed us safely and well—preventing the illnesses that are so common among travelers here. The average cost of these meals: $1.16 per person per meal. Phil’s planning helped support our stewardship of team funds. On our first day, a Sunday, we traveled out to both projects: a former church building being converted for use as a clinic, and a school, to which we would provide additional classrooms. We visited the John Wesley School, completed in previous years (most of our team had served for this project) by TN UMVIM’s, walked to a nearby river where the bridge had been destroyed earlier this fall by Hurricane Stan, then arrived to worship with Pastor Manuel and the people of San Antonio Methodist Church.
Early Monday morning our work began on the clinic construction: removing part of the walls, completing block work to form new and smaller rooms, constructing a septic system, running conduit for electrical supply, cutting and building forms for ceiling/roof supports, tying steel for reinforced concrete. As the heat and humidity pushed around 90 degrees, several of us slowed down as our bodies adjusted from winter in Tennessee to the so-called cool season in Guatemala. Each day, we looked with relief at morning break and lunch time refreshments. Phil and Jean traveled out to serve us, along with the local church folks who were a critical part of the construction process. Concrete for block-laying and forms was mixed by hand on the ground, and on some of the days, we formed bucket brigades to get the wet cement across and up to our fellow workers. I confess that I was usually a part of the empty bucket line going back for refills! Our steel tying took place out front by the busy road, so we had children and local volunteers sharing the time and the tasks each day. Jim Heep of Franklin, was an invaluable translator, along with Jose, our official translator over the two weeks. Each of us began to pick up enough Spanish to greet our host community folks, trade names and get our respective tasks underway.
Each morning a member of the team offered a devotional for the day as we ate our breakfast. Each evening, the business of the day was concluded with a reflection on and prayer for the day behind us and the day ahead. This team laughed a lot and this was especially true for any who wandered into the “chicken foot” domino games. We are so grateful there were no accidents or serious illnesses to disrupt our routines.
On Thursday and Friday of the first week, two of us went with Jim and Dianne Thompson, ongoing UMVIM missioners from Asheville, NC, to the Boco Costa Medical Mission clinic they coordinate in the mountain community of Pakila. The clinic saw 62 patients on Thursday and 97 on Friday, offering basic primary care with a team of 5 staff and the Thompsons. This community, reached from Mazatenango by winding (often washed out) roads up the side of the volcanic mountain, is a native Mayan village. The women often only speak Quiche, the men and children beginning to attend school speak a bit of Spanish. My days there were a combination of hearing Quiche, Spanish and English in this very poor, very friendly community. Families are very large, many earn a livelihood by picking the coffee beans grown at this higher elevation. Dental and overall physical health are impacted by the limited resources, the great distance and cost of hospital care in Mazatenango. On Thursday, Dianne took me on a “house call” in the village to the home of a very large extended family where one of the young men had sustained an injury. Dianne also introduced me to the local Methodist pastor’s family and took me into the church where she and Jim experienced a clarification of their call to this shared life and work.
On Saturday, the midpoint of our project, with the clinic tasks completed and ready for Team 3 to continue, we were granted a day of sight seeing. Adolfo drove us into the mountains up to Lake Atitlan. We took an open boat across the lake and ate together in a lovely restaurant overlooking the water and the mountains. We met additional UMVIM missioners who are beginning a ministry called Solomon’s Porch. As we traveled back to Mazatenango we observed the end of the coffee harvest and the multitude of workers going home for the night, laden with huge bags of coffee beans.
On Sunday afternoon, we worshipped at the Methodist church of La Toma, with Pastor Felix and the congregation. The local school, to which we were adding much needed classroom space, is a short walk through the village. The road is surrounded by tall sugar cane and it becomes a narrow single lane when you turn down to the school. This church building, like that of San Antonio (in the same general area, several miles east of Mazatenango) has been constructed by Tennessee Conference UMVIM teams in the past decade (the lengthy civil war in this country ended in 1996). Both congregations filled their sanctuaries with enthusiastic worshippers and overflowed with children (and sometimes chickens and--Jeff’s favorite--a big tom turkey).
On our second Monday, supplies and tools had been moved to the LaToma school, but before we got down to work, we had been invited to the John Wesley School for a special program in our honor. The School, which several team members (my husband Jeff) had helped to construct in previous years, now celebrates an enrollment of 286 children in elementary grades. Each grade presented a dance, song or talent. The teachers and principal are dedicated and warm young adults. After the program we dashed to our worksite before the heat could slow us down.
The challenge of the La Toma School addition stemmed from the overflow of children in the community school. One whole class met outdoors all the time. We witnessed two soccer games going on the middle school yard at the same time, same space, same goals, one set of children smaller, one set larger! Of course this was also our staging area for mixing concrete and tying steel! So we were surrounded by children on school days for our work. Johnna, Jim and Jill were our special connection with the children, especially at recess and after school hours. The new classrooms had foundation and walls from Team 1, our tasks included forms and pouring concrete for the ceiling (which would be a temporary roof and eventually the floor for the second story of rooms) and the stairs. Jill and I were thrilled one day when Ken called on us to do some real carpentry with the forms—a step beyond tying steel, gophering, and bucket brigades.
On our last day, everyone pitched in for the mixing and pouring of about 45 loads from a small motorized cement mixer. Teachers, older students, local volunteers, UMVIMers passed buckets until Pastor Felix, the coordinator of this process, smoothed the last set of stairs. We were all covered in cement, very tired, but pleased and grateful our work was complete.
On Thursday morning the La Toma School teachers, students and principal honored us with a special program. A special thank you had been prepared from each class for a particular UMVIM team member and this sharing provided a moving farewell. That afternoon, we welcomed two advance members from Team 3 to The Bambu, and then we boarded the bus to depart Mazatenango. Adolfo drove us to the ancient city of Antigua for two nights of rest and a day of sightseeing. We checked into a modest hotel and marveled at this city, founded by the Spanish in the 1500’s, surrounded by volcanoes and filled with churches, convents and the ruins of ancient churches and convents. Jeff, a former Roman Catholic, led a large number of us on a walking tour of these magnificent tributes to Christian faith, and of course, led the group in a final night’s game of “chicken foot.”
On Saturday, Adolfo drove us to Guatemala City airport where we prepared for our final challenge: getting everyone through Miami airport and customs after a late flight from Guatemala and safely aboard our connecting flight to Nashville. Thanks to Jeff’s shepherding and warnings, no one was left behind in either Guatemala or Miami! Home at last to the loved ones and communities that sent us forth in God’s great love.
*At the 2006 Annual Conference Diane Luton Blum was appointed pastor of East End United Methodist Church, Nashville District.
MTSU senior Amy Manor awarded scholarship from the Guy and Margaret Smith Scholarship Fund
Amy Manor, a senior majoring in early childhood education at Middle Tennessee State University, was awarded a scholarship from the Guy and Margaret Smith Scholarship Fund, a fund managed by the Nashville Area Foundation on behalf of Blakemore United Methodist Church. Manor, an active member of Blakemore United Methodist Church, works at the Blakemore Children’s Center. She was presented the scholarship by Diane Lee-Smith, daughter of Guy and Margaret Smith. Amy (center) is seen here with Diane Lee-Smith (left) and Blakemore UMC pastor Paul Gardner.
Bethlehem Centers seek to be 'beacons' in inner city
"Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good." 1 Corinthians 12:4-7 (RSV)
A UMNS Feature By Linda Green*
Bethlehem Centers across the United States are providing healing, hope and wholeness to people with many needs and few advantages.
The centers began in African-American neighborhoods in southern cities in the late 1800s, offering a variety of education, recreation and health care opportunities. As inner-city populations have changed or become multiethnic and diverse, the centers have adapted to meet new needs.
"Our mission is the same today as it was yesterday, when the first center began in Augusta, Ga.," said Jerald McKie, director of community and institutional ministries for the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries. "It is helping families meet their basic needs, creating opportunities for growth, healing, self-determination, empowerment and success."
Bethlehem Centers were started by women of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, as places within the church where African Americans could receive the same services that their white counterparts received at Wesley Centers and Wesley Houses. No longer segregated today, the centers are supported by the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries and its Women's Division.
The centers "serve as a beacon of light across this country for individuals who may not know about the United Methodist Church, (but) when they step into one of these places, they find out immediately what our church is all about," McKie said.
“They are still addressing issues of poverty, as well as challenges posed by development and encroachment by businesses and others moving into the community,” McKie said. She noted that as cities have grown, the Bethlehem Center sites - many of them dating back more than 100 years - "have become more the center of town than say, the outskirts of town."
While contending with such problems as drugs and alcohol, gangs and violence, the centers offer after-school child care, arts and crafts, training to develop young people's self-esteem, and other positive activities for youth and young people.
They still have an educational focus and work with a variety of ethnic and immigrant populations. They also perform needs assessments and strategic planning. Boards of directors are now incorporated, and centers hire their own executive directors as opposed to when the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries sent staff - often deaconesses - to lead them.
Of the 103 institutional ministries supported by the board and United Methodist Women - ministries such as community centers, schools and colleges, residential treatment centers, women's residences and the Red Bird Missionary Conference - eight are Bethlehem Centers.
Building futures
The Bethlehem Centers of Nashville is three facilities working as one. Along with a youth camp, the three sites work together to "promote self-reliance and positive life choices for children, teens, adults and families in Middle Tennessee by delivering and advocating quality programs and services," said Joyce Searcy, the executive director.
Founded in 1894, the centers were dedicated to young mothers and their children in Nashville.
During the past 112 years, Bethlehem Center, Wesley House and Centenary Center evolved into one multi-service agency, with a mission to reach all poverty-restricted infants and young children, teens, women and senior citizens in neighborhoods surrounding the centers. The agency also runs Camp Dogwood, which was started in the 1920s as the first location in Middle Tennessee where African-American youngsters could attend camp.
Working under the theme "Changing Lives, Building Futures," the centers serve people and families from three of the poorest areas of the city, with 97 percent of the clients living at 90 percent or below federal poverty guidelines, and attempts to make them self-reliant. "What we do is change lives and build futures for our families, children, youth and adults," Searcy said.
Kim Parks, 42, said the center's motto has been a testimony about her life. She was a client of the center for six months, and she is now a dental student at United Methodist-related Meharry Medical College. Recalling her "time in the wilderness," she said, the Bethlehem Center helped her remember that she is not alone and could rely on the "village."
"While going through the crossroads of my life, I am so grateful that Bethlehem Centers was my village." The center enabled her to create resumes for her job search, and the staff provided a listening ear. "Most importantly, everything was free," she said.
As a dental student, she has been existing on a "shoestring budget," she said. The center "lightened the load at times and became a guiding light."
According to an agency fact sheet, nearly 90 percent of the children and youth served are in single-parent households, and 100 percent of the elderly served receive various forms of public assistance.
Helping children
Searcy offered United Methodist News Service a glimpse into Nashville's centers. "We are serving children as young as 6 weeks old. It is very important that as brains are developing and bodies are developing, that moral values are developed in those children." She outlined the various programs that impact women, children, teens and adults, noting that the ministries provide empowerment, advocacy, substance abuse prevention, job training and hunger assistance.
When she arrived as executive director in 1987, she said she was most impressed with volunteer spirit and dedication of one of the daily workers. That volunteer inspired her.
"It was my vision to put programs in place here and have the agency do a better job of serving the community, and if it was going to serve the community, then the community would need to be more involved here," she said.
During her tenure, she has introduced and expanded programs and incorporated measurable goals. The center is ranked by the state as "Three Star," which is the highest rating a day care can receive in Tennessee. In addition, it is accredited by a national association for the education of young children. "It is like the national Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval to say you are the best of the best," she said.
Searcy wants the Bethlehem Centers to become a leader in the community. "I want the agency to continue to produce community leaders, children who are educated and people who are self-reliant, people determining their own destiny and giving back to the community."
Giving back is what Jessica Oldham, 25, is doing. A former recipient of the center's day care services, Oldham teaches day care students at the center today. The experience, love and attention she received at the center made her want to work with children as an adult.
"It is exciting. It is never a dull moment. Every day is different. The Bethlehem Center is a place to be loved. It is a loving place. Everyone loves everybody here."
The center embodies the Christian principle of serving "the least of these," and no one is turned away, Oldham said. "It is a place that believes in families, is Christian and believes in helping one another."
Support needed
To promote the center and its work, Searcy speaks to a lot of church groups, during worship services, and to United Methodist Women and youth groups.
"What I try to do is let United Methodists know that their foremothers founded (Bethlehem Centers), and it sinks or swims on their involvement." A large portion of their funding comes through the local, regional and general conferences of the United Methodist Church. The agencies also receive financial support through the donations of individuals, businesses and churches, both local and across the country.
The center recently revamped its logo to include the Star of Bethlehem and to express its ecumenism and interdenominational community outreach. "We don't care who you are, we want to bring the love of Christ to you," Searcy said.
For its work in promoting abstinence and the prevention of substance abuse, the Bethlehem Centers of Nashville is one of 13 agencies nationwide chosen by the federal government to use a program called "Too Smart To Start," to help 'tweens - kids who aren't small children but not quite teenagers - make decisions about their future and say no to sex, drugs and alcohol.
McKie said the eight centers share in common the challenges associated with racism and poverty. Impoverished people, even if they are trained and employed, have a hard time juggling the costs of health care, child care and homeownership - pressures that keep many people down.
If the Bethlehem Centers and other mission institutions could eradicate the issues stemming from poverty in their clients' lives, "then we would see women and children and their families being able to step beyond that issue and join the rest of us who have been blessed and have been able to maintain a semblance of a good caring environment for our families," she said.
More information on Bethlehem Centers is available at http://gbgm-umc.org/cim or by calling (212) 870-3843. Donations can be designated for Advance Special #982149 and mailed to 475 Riverside Dr. Room 1544, New York, N.Y. 10115. Money specifically for children's programs, can be designated for Advance Special #123456, which helps ministries with children at the United Methodist Church's National Mission Institutions.
*Green is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in Nashville, Tenn.
posted by TN Conference UMC @ 6:46 AM
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