TENNESSEE CONFERENCE REVIEW June 27, 2008

Stories in the June 27 edition of THE REVIEW
1. Vasna Sakarapanee Presented with Denman Clergy Award,

2. Dick Estes, Lay Winner, Denman Evangelism Award

3. The Harry Denman Evangelism Award, explanatory article

4. Bettye Lewis named Associate Director of Connectional Ministries
5. Photo of the Extended Cabinet of the Tennessee Conference 2008-2009
6. Bill Barnes Receives the J. Richard Allison Social Holiness Award
7. Highest Increase in Church’s Advance Giving participation.
8. Charlotte-Fagan United Methodist Shoots Hoops for Nothing But Nets, article by the Rev. Melisa Derseweh.
9. Fellowship and Cooperation Covenant Set Between Conferencia Anual Oriental and The Tennessee Annual Conference.
10. Three Siblings attend 2008 Annual Conference – from Different Churches.
11. Emily Booker elected as a director of the Women’s Division, General Board of Global Ministries.
12. Sherry Cothran Woolsey wins Georgia Harkness Scholarship.
13. Eight Persons Ordained & Twelve Commissioned at 2008 Annual Conference—see their photos.
14. John Carney delivers first Annual Conference Sermon by a Layspeaker.
15. Photo of Six Women Honored for a total of nearly Four centuries of service to the United Methodist Women

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Vasna Sakarapanee Presented with Denman Clergy Award
From material supplied by Linda H. Fields, a Volunteer with Golden Triangle Ministry

Rev. Vasna (Sandy) Sakarapanee was born into a strong Christian family in Thailand. She was active in church work from her childhood. In high school she was elected president of the Student Christian Movement of Thailand. She received a scholarship to McGilvary Bible College in Chingmai, but refused the award. “I escaped from God and His design when I went to study accounting at Bangkok University,” Sakarapanee says, “just to stay close to my boyfriend (now my husband of 39 years). After graduating from college we found jobs and married two years later.”

Vasna (Sandy) Sakarapanee addresses the 2008 Annual Conference. A Horace Wilkinson photo.

“One day in 1989, the Lord called me back to be his servant. I felt the need to go back to church,” notes Sandy Sakarapanee. For the next ten years she helped Laotians adjust to American life, find jobs, and learn about the Christian faith During this time, her engineer husband, who was Buddhist, accepted Jesus Christ as his personal Lord and Savior. She had prayed every day for 31 years for this.

In February 2004, Pastor Sandy began her Golden Triangle* ministry at Belmont United Methodist Church with five Laotians, two of whom were children. In the months that followed she became immersed in the lives of Burmese refugees who began pouring into the United States. These persons had fled for their lives into the jungles and refugee camps when their homes and villages were being burned by agents of the oppressive military regime. She has worked diligently to train church leaders to assist in children’s Sunday school classes and to serve as shepherds in each of the five apartment complexes in which they live. Triangle U.M.W. circle was organized last year and has grown from 13 to 43 this year. A Methodist Men’s group with 40 enrolled was organized recently. A youth group has just had its first meeting. All this led by Golden Triangle members.

Golden Triangle volunteer Linda Fields, who nominated Sandy Sakarapanee for the Denman award, says: “I have been active in the church both as a lay volunteer and as a professional, in this country and abroad, for many years. Never have I had the privilege of working with a more holistic ministry as that of the Golden Triangle Ministry of Belmont United Methodist Church and Pastor Sandy Sakarapanee. Belmont has long been a church in mission locally, nationally and globally, but this time mission has come to us through these persons of such strong faith who are beginning life anew in what for them is a strange land. May God bless them and us as we seek ways to be in ministry together.”

Editor’s note: Sandy is married to Nick Sakarapanee and the couple has three sons—Steve, Tony and Kenneth.

*The name for “The Golden Triangle” ministry was taken from a designation for a geographic area of Southeast Asia embracing Myanmar (Burma), Laos, Vietnam, and Thailand.


Dick Estes, Lay Winner, Denman Evangelism Award
From material supplied by the Rev. Dr. J. Perry Parker

Dick Estes, lay winner of the Denman Evangelism award, is a life long Methodist and has been a model member of Cook’s United Methodist Church since becoming a member in 1978. He grew up in Atlanta, and worked in the insurance business most of his adult life. His leadership and servanthood is evident both formally and informally.

Dick Estes responds to the winning of the Denman Award. A Horace Wilkinson photo.

He has arranged to be notified by utilities personnel of new residents moving into the neighborhoods surrounding Cook’s UMC. He then visits them with information about the church, inviting them to visit. As chairperson of the Evangelism Committee, Dick watches for new faces in the congregation each Sunday, and for visitors on the registration slips. On Sunday afternoons, he either calls, or arranges for another church member to pay a call on each visitor – with a gift of home baked cookies or a pie.

While Dick Estes is not the oldest member of the church, nor the longest standing member, he is the person to whom most of the members turn for advice concerning matters of the church. In all areas concerning the church he is a wise and thoughtful judge whose word has been found to be trustworthy.

Cook’s UMC pastor Dr. Craig Goff says of Dick Estes, “As the chair of the Evangelism committee Dick coordinates visits to first time visitors and often personally visits those who are first time guests of the church himself. He also arranges for material containing information about the congregation’s ministry and programs to be distributed in new housing developments in the area. He personally purchases advertising space at the local community baseball field and works with Welcome Wagon in sending new residents invitations to visit Cook’s for worship.”

“Dick develops disciples through personal interaction with people of all ages: co-teaching an adult Sunday School class; and through his example of serving. He is known as the ‘egg man’ for his dedication to cooking eggs and pitching in at United Methodist Men’s breakfasts. He is also known for distributing clothes and shoes to a nearby Men’s shelter, and often arrives to visit people in the hospital before the staff, and occasionally even before the ambulance!”

“Dick embodies the balance between acts of justice and acts of compassion, participating in corporate worship and a commitment to personal piety that represents the best of the United Methodist tradition.”


What is The Harry Denman Evangelism Award?

The award is named for the late Dr. Harry Denman, distinguished lay evangelist, whom Dr. Billy Graham called “my mentor in evangelism.” The awards are made possible by The Foundation for Evangelism, which was founded in 1949 by Dr. Denman, who felt it was the business of every Christian to be an evangelist. It is most fitting that annual conferences today honor persons who carry on the spirit of Harry Denman.

The Harry Denman Evangelism Awards honor a United Methodist lay and clergy person in each annual conference who has exhibited unusual and outstanding efforts in Christian evangelism by faithfully carrying out the mission of “making disciples of Jesus Christ.”


Bettye Lewis named Associate Director of Connectional Ministries

The Rev. Bettye Lewis

The Rev. Bettye Pearson Lewis has been appointed to the position of Associate Director of the Tennessee Conference Council on Connectional Ministries.

Rev. Lewis comes to this post after serving for eight years as the District Superintendent of the Pulaski District. She was the first African American woman to be appointed District Superintendent in the Tennessee Conference, and her office was located in Pulaski, the birthplace of the Klu Klux Klan.

She received her M. Div. degree from the Vanderbilt University School of Theology, pastored churches in Nashville and Lawrenceburg and worked as a chaplain at Meharry-Hubbard Hospital. Prior to becoming D.S. she served as Director of the Wesley Foundation at Austin-Peay State University.

As a pastor, Wesley Foundation Director, and D.S. she has been active on a number of conference committees. Besides serving on the Board of Directors of the Office of Pastoral Formation, she is active in the Black Methodists for Church Renewal, the Board of Ordained Ministry, the Task Force for the Poor and Marginalized, and the Board of Higher Education and Campus Ministry.

Lewis also brings to her new post a gift of music. She is an accomplished pianist, organist and vocalist. She has two grown daughters Tamara Elisabeth Lewis and Kristine Allison Lewis. One of the daughters has said of her mother: “My mother is the one who encouraged me to speak my first words and helped me take my first steps. She sang African American Spirituals to me in one breath and Handel’s Messiah to me in the next. She taught me how to read, answered my unfathomable first-grade question of why did Jesus need to pray is He was God, and explained the history of slavery and racism to me when they didn’t teach it adequately in school. She introduced me to the world.”

Loyd Mabry, Director of the Conference Council on Connectional Ministries, served with Bettye Lewis on the cabinet before assuming his CCOCM position. He says, “We welcome Bettye Lewis to the CCOCM staff as the Associate Director. Bettye brings a wealth of experience with her. Bettye’s appointments include small membership churches, ministry on staff of a local church, campus ministry, and Pulaski District Superintendent. One of Bettye’s passions is strengthening the local church, particularly the African-American church. During her appointment as DS of the Pulaski District, she worked to empower and challenge both clergy and laity. Her commitment to the local church, her experience, and her work ethic will help strengthen and expand ministry of the Tennessee Conference.”


Extended Cabinet of the Tennessee Conference 2008-2009

Front: Bishop Richard J. Wills, Jr.; left to right Loyd Mabry, Conference Council on Connectional Ministries; Susan Padgett, Office of Ministerial Concerns; John H. Collett, Jr., Nashville District Superintendent; Ronald Lowery, Cumberland District Superintendent; James Allen, Conference Treasurer; Jay Archer, Cookeville District Superintendent; James R. Beaty, Pulaski District Superintendent; Cathie Leimenstoll, Murfreesboro District Superintendent; John Casey, Clarksville District Superintendent; Willie Burchfield, Columbia District Superintendent, Lenoir Culbertson, Chairperson of the Board of Ordained Ministry; Vin Walkup, Nashville Area Foundation; Roger Hobson, Assistant to the Bishop. Missing when the picture was made: Tim Moss, Tennessee Conference Lay Leader. A Horace Wilkinson photo.


Bill Barnes Receives the J. Richard Allison Social Holiness Award
Written by Pat Smith with assistance from Rev. Paul Slentz and Mike Hodge

This award was established by the 2001 Session of the Tennessee Annual Conference to recognize persons whose lives and ministries are focused on ministries of love and justice. Each year one layperson and one clergy person is selected. Sadly, we had no layperson recommended this year. This award remembers the persons who have answered the call of Christ to feed the hungry, visit the imprisoned, clothe the naked, visit the sick and to bring about God’s kingdom here on earth. J. Richard Allison, for whom the award is named, was a pastor in the TN Conference, and a missionary, and a social activist in Nashville. Dick Allison was described by one of his peers as “a man of God with a mission of doing what he did best--building bridges between the needs of the community and the resources of the church.”

Bill, wife Brenda, and daughter Elizabeth Holden after presentation of the J. Richard Allison Social Holiness Award.

This year, we celebrate the choice of Rev. Bill Barnes as the clergy recipient of this award. The ministry of Bill Barnes has personified love and justice ministry from the 1960s to the present day. In fact, Bill has just recently written a book entitled To Love a City: A Congregation’s Long Love Affair with Nashville’s Inner City. The book describes Edgehill UMC, founded by Bill and 15 others in 1966. However, it most clearly describes Bill’s own years of love and justice work and his own “love affair” with God as seen in “the poor, the marginalized, widows and orphans, slaves, the hungry, the sick, children, strangers, aliens, the excluded” (To Love a City, p X).

Bill served as pastor at Edgehill UMC from 1966-1996—thirty years of service in cultivation of a church community that has linked spiritual growth and concrete ministries of love and justice. During these years, over 20 church members have gone forth into ordained ministry in addition to many lay people engaging in related ministries. In the midst of forming this unique congregation, Bill also provided leadership in the broader Civil Rights Movement and in minimizing the destructive impact to neighborhoods from the Urban Renewal programs of the 1960s. This included providing low-income housing in the Edgehill neighborhood that allowed a path to homeownership for the public housing residents.

Just as John Wesley advocated for prison reform, abolition of slavery, education of children and issues of poverty; Bill Barnes has spoken out on prison concerns, quality integrated education, racial reconciliation, affordable housing, poverty and hunger, and stood along side the marginalized in the decisions affecting them. Throughout the years, Bill has also been a strong advocate for world peace. He has been a key player in the birth of many ministries of love and justice. He has served on many boards of non-profit and government agencies, including Metro Social Services, Organization for Affordable Rental to name just two. Even in his retirement in 1996 he continues to be in active ministries that have filled his remarkable life. As Bill says: “I continue to love my city…I am renewed by the example of Jonah and Nineveh, and God’s insistence that Jonah be the wayward city’s reluctant instrument of Healing. I am held to the task by Jesus’ love of Jerusalem, his tears over its idolatries, and his hope for the fulfillment of its God given vocation of shalom. And I remember the Bible’s beginnings in a garden, but picturing the fulfillment of creation in a holy city.” (To Love a City, p 222)


Highest Increase in Church’s Advance Giving participation

Bishop Richard Wills receives a plaque from Board of Global Ministries staff person Rachael Barnett. The plaque honors the Tennessee Conference’s increased participation in Advance giving. A Horace Wilkinson photo.

The TN Annual Conference was honored for the highest increase in church participation in Advance giving in the southeast jurisdiction for 2007. The number of churches that gave to a project or missionary increased by 14 percent in this Conference last year. An award plaque for the increase in participation was presented to Bishop Richard Wills by Rachael E. Barnett, a mission specialist with the General Board of Global Ministries.

This year we celebrate 60 years of United Methodists giving through The Advance. In 1948, Methodists launched an initiative to advance God’s love visibly and concretely. Much of the world was still in the process of recovering from the devastation of World War II. People's lives and livelihoods had been devastated and their communities destroyed. There was a critical need for the church to step up and step out in faith. Those initial steps have turned into a journey of generosity and grace. This journey has allowed generations of United Methodists to give more than 1 billion dollars over the last six decades through The Advance.

When you give through The Advance, 100% of each gift goes to the ministry that you choose. There are very few organizations that can boast that 100 percent of each dollar received is sent to the designated project.

Charlotte-Fagan United Methodist Shoots Hoops for Nothing But Nets
By Melisa Derseweh*

“TWO HUNDRED,” we shouted in unison at the two hundredth basketball shot made. Youth and children had designated “shooting zones” using four basketballs, taking turns shooting, for fifteen minutes in a fundraiser for Nothing But Nets.

Nothing But Nets is a campaign to eliminate deaths from malaria by providing protective mosquito netting to persons in Africa. Each net costs $10, including the cost of moving the net to where it is needed. Every thirty seconds someone a child dies in Africa from malaria. One of the nets will cover four person and last for several years with a treatment to kill mosquitoes, which reduces the risk of infection for persons outside the net as well.

Our group shot baskets for only fifteen minutes Wednesday evening, May 28, after a cookout together. In those minutes we raised almost three hundred dollars and raised awareness of a need in the world that we can address. Some people gave a flat dollar offering at the event; others pledged a certain amount per basket made.

Now, Charlotte-Fagan does have some really good basketball players obviously, but what about your church? Is there a game with a net that you can utilize for fun and fundraising as we work together to eliminate unnecessary illness and death for some more of God’s children?

Have fun with your own event, then forward proceeds to the Conference Treasurer marked for Nothing But Nets, an Advance Special of The United Methodist Church.

*The Rev. Melisa Derseweh is pastor of Charlotte-Fagan United Methodist Church, Clarksville District.


Fellowship and Cooperation Covenant Set Between Conferencia Anual Oriental and The Tennessee Annual Conference

Murfreesboro District Superintendent Cathie Leimenstoll explains the Fellowship and Cooperation Covenant being established for the Tennessee Annual Conference and an Annual Conference in Mexico. A Horace Wilkinson photo.

A Fellowship and Cooperation Covenant is being established between the Conferencia Anual Oriental of the Methodist Church of Mexico and the Tennessee Annual Conference, United Methodist Church, United States of America.

In 1998 the first team from the Murfreesboro District came to Rio Bravo to work with Pastor Efrain Escorza. In 2000, the first evangelism-construction teams from the Tennessee Conference began coming to Matamoros.

In 2004, a program called “Bless the Children” began in order to provide uniforms and school supplies for children in Matamoros. In 2006, the Conferencia Anual Oriental (of the Methodist Church of Mexico) sent the first Hispanic Missionary to the Tennessee Conference. We, the Tennessee Annual Conference, celebrate that, by the grace of God and the power of the Holy Spirit, we have been given the opportunity to grow in love and friendships as brothers and sisters in Christ.

The following goals have been set for the Cooperation Covenant between the Conferencia Anual Oriental, one of six Mexican Annual Conferences, and the Tennessee Annual Conference.

1. Collaboration on the support and development of Hispanic Ministries on both sides of the border.
2. Support for short-term missionaries in ministry that could include: pastoral exchanges, student exchange programs, exchange of potential missionaries for short and long-term mission.
3. The two conferences will work together to develop joint mission projects.
4. Where possible there will be a linking of mission teams from the sending conference with a partner team from the receiving conference.
5. The exchange of fraternal delegates from Conferencia Anual Oriental and the Tennessee Conference to their respective annual conferences.
6. Developing an understanding and sensitivity of the culture being visited and to do so in the context of Christian experience.

This Covenant was approved by the 2008 session of the Tennessee Annual Conference and will be in effect as soon as both conferences approve it. The duration of the covenant is not determined. However, the two Covenant Committees will review the Covenant document annually, and it will remain in effect as long as mutually agreed upon by the two Annual Conferences.

Three Siblings attend 2008 Annual Conference – from Different Churches

Three siblings attended the 2008 Annual Conference representing three different Conference Churches. From left to right: Barry Elliott, Standing Rock Circuit; Carolyn Elliott Gannaway, Southside Circuit; and Garry Elliott, McEwen First UMC

Emily Booker elected as a director of the Women’s Division, General Board of Global Ministries
By Yvette Moore

Emily Booker

Emily Booker, a member of Gordon Memorial United Methodist Church, is one of fifty United Methodist Women who will begin their four-year terms as directors of the Women’s Division of the United Methodist General Board of Global Ministries with an orientation and organizational meeting at Scarritt-Bennett Center in Nashville, Tenn., Sept. 4-7.

United Methodist Women members elected 45 of the new directors at meetings convened in the denomination’s five jurisdictional regions this spring. Five of those women also serve as United Methodist Women jurisdictional presidents. This includes Emily Booker who is jurisdiction president for the Southeastern Jurisdiction. Women’s Division officers and Committee on Nominations elected five women as well.

In May a special nominations committee comprised of six current Women’s Division directors, five newly elected directors and two Women’s Division staff resource persons without vote presented a slate for new corporate officers for the division and chairs for its committees on national and international ministries with women children and youth. The newly elected directors will vote on the slate during the September organizational meeting in Nashville.


Sherry Cothran Woolsey Awarded Georgia Harkness Scholarship

Sherry Cothran Woolsey was one of eleven women awarded a 2008-09 Georgia Harkness Scholarship by the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry. The seminary scholarships are awarded to women over 35 who are preparing for ordination as United Methodist elders as a second career.

Sherry Cothran Woolsey wins prestigious seminary scholarship.

Woolsey, whose scholarship will be used at the Vanderbilt Divinity School, is Director of Community Ministries, West Nashville United Methodist Church. She along with the ten other scholarship winners will visit Honduras in December as part of a continued program of global women’s leadership development begun in 2007. She was one of 23 persons approved by the 2008 Tennessee Annual Conference as a First Time Local Pastor. She is the wife of United Methodist pastor Patrick Woolsey.

The Georgia Harkness Scholarship program is named after the first woman theologian to teach in a Protestant seminary in the United States. Harkness dedicated her life to dismantling racial and sexual discrimination in The United Methodist Church and the World.


Eight Persons Ordained & Twelve Commissioned at 2008 Annual Conference

The eight persons ordained at the 2008 Annual Conference (left to right, first row) Lee Stevenson, Miriam Seyler, Laura Kirkpatrick (Deacon), Andrew Stowell; (second row, left to right) Stephen Handy, Donna Parramore, John Purdue, and Jacob Armstrong. A Horace Wilkinson photo.

Commissioned Ministers and Probationary Members for Service (left to right, first row) Randy Goodman, Libby Baxter, Vona Wilson, Gwen Brown-Felder, Rob Dunbar; (second row, left to right) Cynthia Talley, Marilyn Thornton, John Hester, De Hennessey, Holley Pots. Missing when the photo was made were John McFatridge Feldhacker and Erin Racine. A Horace Wilkinson photo.

John Carney delivers first Annual Conference Sermon by a Layspeaker

John I. Carney, a Certified Layspeaker, and a member of Shelbyville First United Methodist Church, preached the final sermon at the 2008 Tennessee Annual Conference. As he stood before the assembly he became the first Layspeaker to preach at Annual Conference, and was selected for the honor after a long process that had Layspeakers submit sermons in writing or on a DVD. Through this process four persons were selected as finalists and asked to preach their sermons before a Task Force under the direction of the Conference Lay Speaking Coordinator, Gloria Watts.

In his sermon, entitled Beyond the Walls, John Carney explored the meaning of Jesus’ command from Matthew 28: “Go, make disciples of all nations.”

John Carney preaches at the 2008 Annual Conference. A Horace Wilkinson photo.

At times in history, Carney noted, “making disciples has meant trying to force people to dress like Westerners of sing a certain kind of music. At times, people acting in the name of Christianity have tried to force a discipleship of sorts on others—to ‘make disciples’ in the most literal, and least appropriate, sense of that term.”

Carney continued: “But today we’re often faced with just the opposite sense of the term—a situation where the ‘making’ part of ‘making disciples’ has been ignored, but so has the ‘discipleship.”

“We live in an age when people need to believe in something. The satirical Christian songwriter Terry Scott Taylor, who is part of a band called ‘The Swirling Eddies,’ once wrote a song called Outdoor Elvis, which cleverly combined elements of the Bigfoot legend with those rumors which used to crop up from time to time that Elives Presley was still alive. Outdoor Elvis, according to the song, lives in the woods. ‘You can pretty much tell that he’s lost weight by the depth of the footprints,’ says the song.

“For some people, the need to believe in something beyond reason—beyond our mundane existence—leads to Bigfoot, or aliens, or reincarnation, or some other phenomenon. But while people are hungry for meaning from the universe, many of them don’t want the universe to expect anything from them. If some aspect of religion gets in the way of possessions, or of popular culture, or of society’s changing mores and standards, it’s that religious belief which must be changed or discarded, rather than the other way around.”

“People are hungry to believe in something—but are they truly hungry to become disciples?,” Carney asked. “Discipleship—true discipleship—involves some loss of self, some inclination to focus on the will of Christ and subject our will to it. That’s not a popular concept in this age of individual, do-it-yourself religion.”

Speaking from his background as a newsman, Carney used the news business as an analogy for what the church could become.

“In the newspaper business, too many decisions come from the top down—from huge corporations that are as concerned with short-term profit as they are with the long-term mission of informing the public. In too many cases, newspapers have sacrificed their content and tried to appease the short-term concerns of stockholders by cutting staff, cutting costs, refusing to offend, in the belief that gimmicky new formats are the key to reaching out to a younger generation. That short-sighted approach may have hurt us in the newspaper business much more than we realized.”

“We, as United Methodists, cannot be drawn into that same false path. We cannot let our complacency blind us to the changes in our society. We have to go the extra mile and find creative ways to make ourselves accessible, and available, to people for whom religion is not a given, to people who may have serious misunderstandings about who we are and what we believe.”

“But we must make the right changes, for the right reasons,” Carney concluded. “We will not make disciples by changing the message of Christ. We will not make disciples by pretending to be contemporary. We will make disciples by recognizing that what we believe is eternal. We can express the Gospel in contemporary ways. But it is the content of our belief, not the form, which holds the key to making disciples in our society.”

Six Honored for a total of nearly Four centuries of service to the United Methodist Women

At a recent homecoming celebration at Cedar Grove United Methodist Church, Murfreesboro District, six women were recognized for their years of service to the United Methodist Women (UMW). From left at Dorothy Beasley, 62 years; Frances Beasley, 67 years; Jean Clay, 60 years; and Gladys Beasley, 60 years. Not present were Pauline Beasley, 69 years, and Bobbie Taylor, 60 years. UMW President Lila Beasley made the presentations. The accumulated total years of service for the six women is approaching four centuries.

TENNESSEE CONFERENCE REVIEW June 13, 2008

Articles in this edition of THE REVIEW
1. New Arrival: A Church is Born—Providence United Methodist Church
2. Nicole Witt and Billy Montana Headline Benefit Concert for Cuban Mission Team.
3. Former Pastor, Present Pastor, and Future Pastor Labor Together on Mission Team
4. Lewisburg First Methodist opens Care Kitchen
5. McKendree United Methodist Street Team prayer ministry
6. Second Harvest Mobile pantry comes to Lewisburg
7. An Adventure: Love in Action—Tennessean Adam Burgett is one of the persons completing two years service as a US-2
8. Part IV: A History of Beersheba Springs Hotel and Assembly 1833-2007
9. Licensing School Participants, Beersheba, May 18-24, 2008
10. April 27th Church Music Gala at The Schermerhorn—Brentwood UMC Choirs in concert

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New Arrival: A Church is Born
By Jacob Armstrong
Reprinted from the Cumberland District Review, April 18, 2008

Providence Church worship music team and altar from the April 20 service at Rutland Elementary School.

We arrived Easter morning, while it was still dark, to set up chairs in a city park pavilion in anticipation of what would be the first worship service for a new church. Questions clouded my mind as I heard the clink of metal chairs on concrete in those cold moments before sunrise. “Will the sound system work? Are the bulletins ready? Will anyone come?” I was reminded of the women who came to the tomb early on Easter morning, while it was still dark, with questions of doubt clouding their preparations. Easter, indeed, always begins in the dark.

Providence United Methodist Church’s first worship service was a great start to what we believe will be a strong ministry in the Mt. Juliet area. 149 people came at 7am that morning to huddle together and believe in a dream. It is a dream that began several years ago in the hearts of some Cumberland District pastors and lay members; a dream that has grown in my heart since I first heard of the population boom in the Providence area of Mt. Juliet where I was born and raised. It is a dream that has been strengthened while praying in pastors’ offices in Hermitage and Leeville. It is a dream that has been embraced by our neighbors at Lebanon, Gladeville, and Cook’s as we have worshiped together. It is a dream that has been cared for and encouraged and supported Sunday after Sunday at our mother church, Grace UMC.

So, I celebrate with the Cumberland District the birth of Providence United Methodist Church in Mt. Juliet! In an area that is experiencing some of the most rapid population growth of any area in Tennessee, Providence Church is committed to offering hope, healing, and wholeness in Jesus Christ. We are made restless by recent statistics that only 55% of people in Wilson County acknowledge any religious affiliation (to say nothing of the number who actually attend church). We are made uncomfortable by the growing number of people who move to new communities and do not seek a church home. We are saddened by the many people who are disillusioned with and even wounded by the church. There is much evidence of darkness, but we remember that Easter begins in the dark.

So, we are striving to be a Jesus-centered community that reaches those who have no church and feel disconnected from God. We are striving to be a people known for welcoming everyone. We are striving to be a church who is not bound by the walls of a building (we don’t have a building!), but instead sees its ministry in the marketplace. We do this in the hope of our God who has given us life through the resurrected One.

We have already begun to see God’s dream, that so many of you have dreamt, be realized in Mt. Juliet. We ask for your prayers, and offer you ours. May Jesus Christ get all the glory.

Providence Church Update by Pastor Jacob Armstrong
Providence Church has worshiped monthly since their Easter service and plans to launch weekly services in a local elementary school in August. Last month worship was held at the Providence Cinemas with 197 adults and children in attendance. Providence is committed to being a church that serves the community and is present in the places of need. In the month of May they participated in a local Habitat for Humanity build, offered a prayer wall at the Mt. Juliet Armed Forces celebration, served lunch to the teachers and staff of a local school, and participated in a prayer walk through the area neighborhoods.

(for more info see Providence’s website: http://www.provumc.net/)


Nicole Witt and Billy Montana Headline Benefit Concert for Cuban Mission Team

Nicole Witt

FRANKLIN---Curb Artist and hit songwriter Nicole Witt is headlining a benefit Concert for Cuba with critically acclaimed singer/songwriter Billy Montana on Saturday, June 28 at Bethlehem United Methodist Church beginning at 6 p.m. with a Silent Auction. The concert will assist a Bethlehem UMC Volunteers In Mission Team heading to Cuba in July.

Local teen, Maggie McNulty, is chairing the concert as part of her Girl Scout “Gold Award” project and is also a member of the twelve-person mission team.

“We are so thrilled and honored that Nicole and Billy will be headlining our benefit Concert. They are both amazing artists and have had incredible hit songs recorded by George Strait, Garth Brooks, Diamond Rio, Sara Evans, Jodee Messina and more. It is going to be a wonderful night of entertainment and for a worthy cause,” McNulty said. “We are also having a medicine and medical supplies drive. We will be taking the greatly needed donations to Cuba with us in July to help a country with one of the highest doctor to patient ratios but without enough supplies to treat their people.”

McNulty, a singer/violinist, is also performing at the benefit concert with three recent graduates of Franklin High School, Carrie Walker, Josh Castle and Ben Heacock. The talented four performed at the school’s Baccalaureate event in May and will be reuniting for the benefit concert.

BUMC Pastor Phil Ross is heading up the Cuban Mission Team traveling to Havana, Cuba in July to help with the renovation of a seminary building. The team must raise $5,000 for construction expenses. The building will be used to train Methodist ministers and leaders serving the Cuban people.

The limited Silent Auction begins in the church lobby at 6 p.m. on Saturday, June 28. Christian artist Stephen Curtis Chapman has donated several books about his precious, adopted daughters as well as hit CDs. A beautiful stained glass piece by artist Brenda Ross is also part of the Silent Auction. Donations are welcome.

Tickets are $10.00 per person and available through a reservation, at the door event night or in the church lobby on Sundays.. Contact the Concert for Cuba reservation line at (615) 791-6456, ext. 2 or by email at maggie.mcnulty@gmail.com. The event begins at 6 p.m. at Bethlehem United Methodist Church located at 2419 Bethlehem Loop just off Hillsboro Road in the Grassland area of Franklin, Tennessee. Visit http://www.bethlehemumc.com/ for more info.


Former Pastor, Present Pastor, and Future Pastor Labor Together on Mission Team
On March 24, 2008, a Volunteers in Mission team headed for Matagalpa, Nicaragua. The team was made up of persons from Blakemore United Methodist Church (Nashville District) and Hendersonville First United Methodist Church (Cumberland District). Team members were excited, the automated airline check-in system was sometimes a mystery, the line through the security check-point seemed endless – so far this departure was much like that of hundreds of mission teams over the past few years.

The Blakemore/Hendersonville First United Methodist Church volunteer team heading for Matagalpa, Nicaragua.

What made this grouping unique was that among the team members were the present pastor of Blakemore UMC, Paul Gardner; the most recent Blakemore former minister, Michael Williams (now pastor of First UMC, Hendersonville); and Herbert L. Lester, Jr., presently Senior Pastor at Centenary United Methodist Church in the Memphis Annual Conference, and slated to be appointed to Blakemore UMC at the 2008 session of the Tennessee Annual Conference. Williams jokingly refers to himself as “Christmas Past.”

The three pastors would be working side by side in Los Canos, Nicaragua, on a Catholic church that has been expanded. They and the mission group were responsible for pouring a concrete floor and painting the clinic -- a clinic built by the government 15 years ago and never used because there were no doctors or nurses willing to go there. The sponsoring organization for the mission trip, El Ayadante, has worked with the government to secure a nurse and to open the clinic. In another community the Blakemore/Hendersonville First group is helping with building a cafeteria and kitchen for a school. It has been rewarding but difficult work.

Three pastors with a strong connection to Blakemore United Methodist Church depart for Nicaragua, left to right: Michael Williams, Herbert L. Lester, and Paul Gardner.

A national website helping ministers to transition from one church to another, The Right Start: Beginning Ministry in a New Setting, reports on research done among District Superintendents on “The Best Practices for Concluding Ministry in One Setting” and “The Best Practices for Beginning Ministry in a New Setting” (Research conducted by Saint Paul School of Theology and Wesley Theological Seminary). The TOP concern with the District Superintendents was “Maintain good successor relations” – and they suggest:

Prepare the way for the successor with the congregation
Prepare the way for the congregation with the successor
Spend quality time with your successor with an agreed upon agenda

The District Superintendants did not mention heading for an impoverished part of Central America on a mission trip as a means for a pastor to learn about his new congregation. Nor did they mention relating personally with not one but two predecessors over painting, concrete mixing, and other construction arts.

Though Dr. Herbert L. Lester’s introduction to his new congregation may be unusual, the Blakemore family is looking forward to his ministry just as it feels saddened by the loss of Paul Gardner. Lester served his former congregation for 18 years and has been involved in reaching out to the surrounding community in new and different ways. He has worked as a professional counselor and has served as an adjunct faculty member at Memphis Theological Seminary.


Lewisburg First Methodist opens Care Kitchen
by Karen Hall, Staff Writer
Reprinted from the Marshall County Tribune

Volunteers set to prepare a meal that is home-cooked and hot.

This past winter, Betsy Shelton was approached on the street in Lewisburg by a boy who said he hadn’t eaten for four days. She was a little frightened and hardly knew what to do, but the incident got her thinking.

Now she believes it was clearly God calling her to do something about the hungry people of Marshall County.

After Shelton told the other members of First United Methodist Church what had happened, they decided to follow the lead of their sister church in Columbia and start serving a free, hot meal once a week.

“We feel like it needs to be home-cooked and hot,” said Shelton.

They observed the meal in Columbia a couple of times and also got a copy of their People’s Table cookbook. Then, on a Thursday night in December, the Care Kitchen served their first meal to 10 people.

Columbia started small, too, about seven months ago. Now they are feeding more than 150 people twice a week, Tuesdays in the evening and Fridays at mid-day.

Thirteen other Columbia churches are helping prepare and serve meals in the church’s fellowship hall.

On the warm but stormy night of Thursday, Jan. 10, 32 people, mostly women and children, came to West Church Street for a meal. They were greeted by Phil Allen, Sam Shelton and Pastor Leland Carden and ushered in to the fellowship hall.

In keeping with the goal of “breaking the bread that Jesus has given us and sharing it with everyone in Marshall County,” no one was asked to sign in or explain why they were there.

Desserts are ready, and volunteers are ready to greet their guests.

Folding tables and chairs had been set up and places laid with paper place mats and packets of plastic cutlery. Allen led a brief devotional, because “we would love to feed their spirits as well.”

Gloria Bowen played the piano to accompany a hymn, and then it was time to eat.

Volunteers dished up the food and everyone enjoyed plenty of chicken casserole, sweet potatoes and white beans, plus good buttered cornbread and a choice of desserts and drinks.

Near the entrance was a table covered with baked goods donated by Kroger because they were out of date, and a box of oranges from Wal-Mart.

There were plastic bags available and people were encouraged to help themselves on the way out. The table was almost bare by the time the last person left. Most were promising to come back next week and tell their friends about it, too.

Carden says that they hope to begin participating in Second Harvest Food Bank’s Mobile Pantry program in February or March. Second Harvest sends a full tractor-trailer load of food and household items to a church or other non-profit organization that provides the volunteers to unload it and help people gather a free supply of what they need. The first load is free; the subsequent ones cost $150 each.

This is obviously an excellent program, even a life-saver for those who need it. But it does not help people who lack the utensils or knowledge to turn raw ingredients into a meal. This is where the Care Kitchen is such a big help, giving people a chance to eat something that is not junk food or fast food, did not come in a package or have to be prepared in a microwave.

First United Methodist Church is fortunate to have a commercial-style kitchen adjoining its fellowship hall, so that the volunteers have a well-equipped place to spend the afternoon preparing their menu.

“We’re after fellowship and letting people know we care,” Shelton said as volunteers cleaned up after the meal, and it looks as if they are succeeding.

Members of First Baptist Church have promised to help serve on Jan. 24. The members at First Methodist are hoping other churches will join in as they have in Columbia.

Volunteers and donations are always welcome. Just call (931) 359-3919 or (931) 270-0963

McKendree United Methodist Street Team prayer ministry

Street Team Update – McKendree United Methodist Church Reprinted from The McKendree Vine, newsletter of McKendree United Methodist Church, May 15, 2008.
Editor’s Note: In the Street Team ministry, members of McKendree go door to door in a fast changing and growing area of Nashville. At each home they ask if there are any prayer needs and then offer to pray with the resident/s. Here, Jordan Callaway shares information about some response to the Street Team ministry.

By Jordan Callaway*

I hope these scenarios encourage you as much as they did us.

We met Jayvion, who was about 11-12 yrs. Old, and we asked him if he or his family had any prayer requests. He told us that his brother died last week. His brother’s name was Tony and he was 25. Apparently he was shot. We laid our hands on him and prayed for him and his family. When we were done praying, we gave him a Thirst flyer and told him to call the number if he ever wanted to come to church. As we were leaving his doorstep he called out, “I’m going to call this number!”

As we were knocking on a door some children were playing catch in the street. One of the kids saw us and yelled out, “Hey Jordan.” We all waved and said, “Hi.” I was confused as to how he knew my name. I asked him and he told me, “I remembered you from when you were here last time.” The thing was that we had not been there since March 18th so it had been almost two months since we had handed him a flyer on the playground. His name was Jawan and he and his cousin David said that they would like to come to church sometime.

The morning after street teams there was a message on the church answering machine that said, “There were 3 gentlemen that came to my door last night and asked if they could pray with me. I turned them away because I was ashamed and embarrassed. But now I am feeling bad that I turned them away because I do have a prayer request, it’s for a friend of mine; he needs your prayers. It really meant a lot that they came to my house and wanted to pray for me. I am so glad they are doing this ministry.”

There were several others that we prayed for a ministered to. We give God all the glory. A lot of intentional prayer went into this excursion. Many people in the church body were praying and have prayed for God to go before us and with us. We were able to see some of the fruit of those prayers. We did our part by being willing to share His love with others, and God did His part by softening hearts!

Keep praying church family! God is doing mighty things in this city!
*Jordan Callaway is McKendree UMC’s Administrator, Director of New Wine Ministries


Second Harvest Mobile pantry comes to Lewisburg
By Karen Hall
Staff Writer
From the Marshall County Tribune, Friday, March 28, 2008

While it may not be on a par with the fishes and loaves, a miracle of sorts took place in Lewisburg this week.

In December the members of First United Methodist Church launched “Care Kitchen,” serving a free hot meal every Thursday night to anyone who cares to show up. At that time, Pastor Leland Carden and his volunteers announced that their next move would be to bring the Second Harvest Mobile Pantry program to Marshall County.

Tuesday, the mobile pantry made its first visit to Lewisburg. Nearly three dozen volunteers braved chilly March winds to meet the Second Harvest truck at the church’s parking lot at 9:15 a.m. and unload 9,000 pounds of food.

People needing free food were lined up around the block by the time the tables were arranged and “shopping” started. They were still going strong two hours later, through the line had shortened somewhat.

Word has been spread through the Human Services Department, the Lewisburg Housing Authority and local churches. Gayle Cook, area manager with Human Services and a member of First United Methodist Church, helped to get everything organized.

“We got it started and at this point we’re planning on doing it monthly ,” Cook says.

Second Harvest sends the first truck for free; the next one will cost $ 150, but Cook says, “I have faith it (the money) won’t be a problem.”

Anyone wishing to make a donation, may call the First United Methodist Church office at 359-3919.

“There’s a lot of people that have to make choices how they spend their money ,” she explains.

“Food, medicine, rent, utilities – there’s a lot of tough choices having to be made today.”

As one of the volunteers is leaving she calls to Cook, “You’re a miracle worker!” Cook replies, “No, Second Harvest is. It’s just a joy to be able to do it.”

Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee opened its doors in 1978. Its purpose is to provide a central distribution center for companies, groups and individuals who wish to help provide food for Middle Tennessee’s hungry.

Modeled after the first food bank established in Phoenix in the mid 1970s, Second Harvest is designed to collect food that would otherwise be wasted, inspect and sort this food, and distribute it to soup kitchens, pantries and shelters serving the hungry. During the first year, this process resulted in a total distribution of 160,000 pounds of food to 75 member agencies.

Today, Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee is one of the largest and most comprehensive of more than 200 food banks and food distribution centers nationwide. During the 2006-’07 fiscal year, Second Harvest distributed more than 37.4 million pounds of food to hungry men, women, and children.

Note from Pastor Leland Carden: Donations have been received from several sources to provide 12 months of Second Harvest Mobile Food Pantry. A donation for seven of these months came from a woman who had been helped by our Benevolent Ministries at the Mary Farley Care Center. This woman had inherited some money and wanted to give back to help others.


An Adventure: Love in Action
By Mary Beth Coudal

Left to right, back row: Harris Tay, Adam Burgett, Margaret Bagwell. Front row: Christina Wichert, Emily Pennington. Image by Mary Beth Coudal, GBGM Administration.

Last week, five US-2s completed their two years of service and gathered in New York to share insights and plan. US-2s are missionaries in their 20s and 30s who work in hope-filled places -- in this case, United Methodist-related mission centers.

"I graduated college not really knowing where I was headed next," Christina Wichert said. "I knew I wanted an adventure -- a way to get to know a different corner of the world, to meet people who could teach me something new about the world and myself, to grow as a leader and a Christian and make a meaningful difference somewhere. The US-2 program provided all these opportunities and more."

Ms. Wichert from Fairgrove, Michigan, worked with kids at Wesley-Rankin Center in Dallas, Texas. The children who gave her the most trouble turned out to be the ones she remembers most fondly.

In the fall, she will return to the Wesley Rankin Center as an AmeriCorp volunteer through Project Transformation, a United Methodist-related young adult program. Ms. Wichert will continue her work as a case manager with kids at Wesley Rankin.

For the summer, Ms. Wichert will stay in New York to teach young adults about contemporary issues at the Church Center for the United Nations.

Like Ms. Wichert, Emily Pennington worked with children as a US-2. She was the intern for spiritual life activities at the Cunningham Children's Home in Urbana, Illinois.

"I feel very blessed to have had the opportunity to serve as a US-2," Ms. Pennington said. "Building a community with other like-minded young people and sharing God's love with the children of my placement site have been great sources of joy in my life." One way Ms. Pennington provided spiritual support was by teaching children how to resolve conflicts peaceably.

Ms. Pennington, whose hometown is Omaha, Nebraska, will attend Creighton University, also in Omaha, to work towards her master's degree in occupational therapy.

Originally from Temple Hills, Maryland, Harris Tay coordinated youth activities at Wesley Community Center, Inc., in Dayton, Ohio. He emphasized the importance of being a steady presence in a child's life. Two years, Mr. Tay reported, is a good length of time to be consistent and make a positive difference in a young person's life.

"Helping others should be an encounter of the selfless sharing of strengths and services," Harris Tay said. "Engaging social justice in any other way perpetuates cultural dominance and hurts the ones we are claiming to serve."

This fall, Mr. Tay will attend Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, to pursue his master of divinity, for which he received the Woodruff Fellowship, a full scholarship.

While Mr. Tay, Ms. Pennington, and Ms. Wichert worked with children and teens, Margaret Bagwell worked with an older crowd. She assisted volunteers, many of whom were retirees, at the UMCOR-Sager Brown in Baldwin, Louisiana. Projects included improving nonprofits' buildings in and around UMCOR-Sager Brown. One such beautifying project Ms. Bagwell oversaw was planting a garden at a domestic-abuse center.

"After two years in ministry, I've found that I perceive Jesus differently," said Ms. Bagwell. "Jesus' words speak to me louder and louder as a call to initiate change -- to respond to injustice in all its forms. I still believe Jesus is love, but not love as an emotion, love as an action." With the help of a Rotary Scholarship, Ms. Bagwell will pursue her master's degree in anthropology at Bristol University in Bristol, United Kingdom. She is originally from Warner Robins, Georgia.

"In my placement site I learned that though acts of charity are very necessary and good things, acts of justice truly make things better for those suffering from all forms of injustice," Adam Burgett said. "The church's task is to call on the world to repent for these injustices and make things better for all people." As a US-2, Mr. Burgett advocated for social and economic justice at the state capitol. He worked with the Crossroads Urban Center in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Mr. Burgett, from Goodlettsville, Tennessee, will pursue his master of divinity degree at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. He received the Cal Turner, Jr., Fellowship, a full-tuition scholarship.

This 2006-2008 class of US-2s joins the more than 1,300 US-2s who have completed their service since the program's inception in 1951. Many US-2s are still committed to The United Methodist Church and continue to lead and serve as leaders in church and society.

More about the US-2 program can be found at new.gbgm-umc.org/about/us/mp/missionaries/youngadults/us2/ .

The Wesley-Rankin Center, the Cunningham Children's Home, the Wesley Community Center, UMCOR-Sager Brown, and the Crossroads Urban Center are among the 103 United Methodist National Mission Institutions in the United States. Information about these mission sites can be found at new.gbgm-umc.org/work/communities/nmi/ .

Interviews with these US-2s and others are or will be available at new.gbgm-umc.org/work/missionaries/podcasts/ .


Part IV
A History of Beersheba Springs Hotel and Assembly 1833-2007
By Ann Troutt

In 1999 the Tennessee Annual Conference approved the Together We Can Campaign to benefit the Assembly at Beersheba as well as other conference institutions. United Methodists from throughout the conference made pledges and, as payments designated for Beersheba came in, renovation and construction began to take place. Those involved tried to retain the historic integrity of the old buildings and they attempted to blend the architecture of the new buildings with the old.

The first structure was a bathhouse built in 2002. Located in the open space of the quadrangle between Marvell and Brick Row, it was a welcome addition and a much needed facility. Next a large maintenance building was erected. Late in 2002 Turner Family Lodge was completed. It consisted of two sections, each containing a lobby with a fireplace, a kitchen and 12 bedrooms with baths. Heated and air-conditioned, it provided the first modern year-round accommodations at the Assembly.

In 2003 sewer service was extended from Altamont to Beersheba Springs allowing connections to be made to new structures at the Assembly as well as to older buildings with their outmoded septic tanks. During 2003 the one-story East Side building was replaced with a larger two-story building that was heated and air-conditioned. It contained two meeting rooms and 22 bedrooms with baths.

Restoration of Upper Neal was completed in 2004 and the building was renamed Marcella V. Smith Row. It consisted of eight bedrooms with baths, heat and ceiling fans. The rooms were cooled by natural mountain air flowing through front and back screen doors, as in the past. First floor sleeping quarters in the Hotel were renovated in 2004. Two suites and four bedrooms in the Bishops’ Wing were provided with heat, air conditioning and modern baths. Ella Eaton Gill Dormitory was also constructed in 2004. The building contained bunk beds and a large bath in each end and it had a large meeting room and kitchen in the center. It provided accommodations for 32 persons and was heated and cooled.

By the end of 2004 there was a dilemma: with the increased sleeping capacity provided by the new buildings there was no longer a meeting place large enough for an entire group registered at the facility. United Methodists and other friends of the Assembly came through with the funds to erect a large enclosed structure and in 2006 the Samuel Boyd Smith Multipurpose Building was dedicated. Located in the center of the grounds on the site of the old pavilion, the temperature-controlled building could serve as a meeting hall, as a large classroom, or as a gym with half-court basketball.

Many people have used their skills and resources to make Beersheba Springs Assembly what it is today. Several building names honor the dedication and generosity of individuals and families who have held a special appreciation for Beersheba. Marvell was named for Marvin and Dell Cook during the very earliest years of the Assembly. Marvin (W.M.) Cook was a minister of the Tennessee Conference who spent many hours repairing and building at the Assembly. The stone fireplace in the hotel lobby and the stone inlay with scripture on the observatory were his handiwork. Turner Family Lodge honored the family of Cal Turner, a member of Brentwood United Methodist Church in Nashville and an avid supporter of a number of United Methodist institutions. Marcella V. Smith Row honored a member of Forest Hills United Methodist Church in Nashville. Marcella Smith came to Beersheba year after year for events such as Family Fellowship and each time she stayed in the row of log rooms that, after her death, were named for her. The construction of Ella Eaton Gill Dormitory utilized funds from the sale of property on Black Mountain near Crossville. In 1934 Ella Eaton Gill had donated the mountain acreage to Cumberland Mountain School, an institution of the Tennessee Conference of the Methodist Church. After the school closed, the Tennessee Conference continued to follow her wishes to allow the property to serve as a wildlife preserve and a site for nature appreciation. It was sold in 2001 to the Tennessee Parks and Greenways Foundation to become part of the Cumberland Trail State Park. In 2006 the Multipurpose Building was named for the late Samuel Boyd Smith, a member of Belmont United Methodist Church who devoted many hours to making plans for Beersheba and other outdoor ministries during the years he served on the Tennessee Conference Camping Committee.

Dedicated assembly managers have supervised operation and maintenance and, often with the assistance of a spouse, have offered warm hospitality to guests since 1942. Managers and the years they served were: A. J. Davis, 1942-1948; Dennis Brown, 1949-1966; John N. Balch, 1967; James A. Jacobs, 1968-1970; Elwood Denson, 1971-1973; Herman Buchanan, 1974-1977; I. B. Pennington, 1978-1981; Robert Cate, 1982; Don Clemmons, 1983; Gerald Reid, 1984-1991; William (Bill) Woehler, 1991-1999; Larry Kalas, 1999-2001; Irmie Blanton, 2002-2005; Phillip Geissal, 2005-2006; Richard V. (Dickie) Hinton, 2007.

With the increased interest in camping in the 1970s, the Tennessee Conference created a full-time position of Coordinator of Camping, later termed Director of Camping. Carl Elkins served in this office from 1976 until 1984 dealing with many aspects of program and property at Beersheba and other conference camps. Succeeding directors of camping continued to supervise facilities and many dealt with program. Those directors and the years they served were: James F. Swiney, Jr., 1984-1987; James G. Hughes, Jr., 1987-1995; Terry Carty, 1995-1997; L. C. Troutt, 1998-2001; Beth Morris, 2002-2007.

Facilities and program continue to be a blend of the old and new at Beersheba. The charm of yesteryear is still available in certain rooms that have not yet been modernized. Worship services are still held in the Chapel and at Vesper Point; they are also held in the new Smith Multipurpose Building and in the meeting rooms of other new buildings. Morning watch is still held on the observatory overlooking the valley; it is also held on the deck of Turner Family Lodge overlooking the wooded area. Classes are still held in the lobby of the hotel with participants sitting in rocking chairs by the fireplace; classes are also held in the new meeting rooms and Smith Multipurpose Building with presenters using the latest visual aids and sound systems. Parents still chat on the porches of the quadrangle while their children play in the open area; they also leave their infants and toddlers in the attractive nursery provided in a room of Brick Row. In the quad youngsters still enjoy tetherball, volleyball, badminton and playground equipment; they also delight in slip-and-slide mats on the grass. Young people still walk to Lovers’ Leap; they also travel to nearby rivers for whitewater rafting. They still hike to Stone Door to enjoy the view from the cliff; they also engage in supervised rappelling and rock climbing on the cliff. They still swing to music in the evening; folk dancing to recorded music in the pavilion has been replaced with swaying to live band performances in Smith Multipurpose Building. Oldsters still congregate on the front porch of the hotel to quietly reminisce; only the occasional ringing of a cell phone interrupts the tranquility. Campers still dress casually for campfires; they wear casual clothes for other activities as well. Meals are still announced by the ringing of the dinner bell; food is now selected from a serving line. Rocking chairs still beckon from the weathered porches; they summon from the new breezeways and decks as well.

In reserving the facilities at the Assembly staff has given priority to groups within the Methodist Church, renamed the United Methodist Church in 1968. Others have been welcome to use the facilities, however, for overnight events or for day activities alone. Through the years Methodists and non-Methodists have scheduled day activities that included luncheons, dinners, parties, receptions, weddings, memorial services, reunions, meetings, festivals, photography and nature classes.

Cooperation with the community of Beersheba Springs has been important. In 1968 the Assembly began hosting the Arts and Crafts Festival, a fund-raiser for various community projects. Held in late August, it has continued to be an annual event. In 1980 residents and friends of Beersheba Springs were successful in an effort to place the hotel complex and other buildings in the community on the National Register of Historic Places. Since 2003 a Christmas party for children in the community has been held each year at the Assembly. Staff members participate in July 4th celebrations and parades. The observatory serves as an overlook for residents of the area and for those traveling through who pause to view the beauty of the valley. The stone inset reminds all to lift up their eyes unto the hills.

Beersheba Springs Assembly has served as a place of inspiration, study and fellowship for generations of people seeking respite and spiritual direction for their lives. Samuel Boyd Smith was once asked, “What is Beersheba?” He replied, “Why, Beersheba is the crown jewel of Tennessee!” Many agree that it continues to be just that.

Licensing School Participants, Beersheba, May 18-24, 2008

Front Row: Lanita Pride, Dean, Ann Hatcher, Mike Guertin, Brett Gibbons, Danny Coffelt, Rick Dixon, Jimmy Hendricks; 2nd Row: Cathy Cowan, Drew Shelley, Barry Phelps, Gloria Schott, Elizabeth Williams, Don Logan, Tommy Flood, Stacy Cowan; Back Row: Ernie Garner, Bryan Wilson, William Rogan, Eddie Vance, Charles Williams, Dean; Kimi Brown, Wynn Batson, Michele Morton, Judy Stevenson, Jeff Sellers, Ronnie Melton. Photo by Ryan Bennett, Dean

April 27th Church Music Gala at The Schermerhorn

Guest artist Wintley Phipps

On April 27th the Brentwood United Methodist Church Chancel Choir with guest artist Wintley Phipps appeared in concert at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center. The performance was accompanied by “The Orchestra at Brentwood,” a group comprised of members of the Nashville Symphony Orchestra as well as free-lance players and session players. The Choir and orchestra were conducted by David Keith, Director of Music, Worship and the Arts at Brentwood United Methodist Church. Dr. Keith assumed this position in August, 2006. Prior to coming to Brentwood he was chair of the department of conducting and ensemble activities at Southwestern Seminary. The Chancel Choir has 130+ members, and there are 60 in the Treble Chorus (ages 4th grade through 9th grade) which is directed by James Wells, Director of Music for Youth and Children at Brentwood UMC.

The great hymns of the church never sounded better as they did at the acoustically incredible Schermerhorn Center. Among pieces performed by the choir were “Love Divine, All Loves, Excelling,” “Praise to the Lord the Almighty,” “To God Be the Glory,” “How Firm a Foundation,” “Rejoice the Lord is King.”

A section of the large Brentwood United Methodist Chancel Choir prepares for performance at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center

Guest artist Wintley Augustus Phipps was born in Trinidad, West Indies, and raised in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. He is a world-renowned vocal artist, pastor, motivational speaker, and education activist. He is the founder, president and chief executive officer of the U.S. Dream Academy, Inc. The Dream Academy is a non-profit organization that features a customized on line curriculum to increase reading, math, English comprehension and proficiency; an enhanced capacity to navigate the Internet; and weekly one-to-one mentoring that focuses on values enrichment and character building for children of prisoners and those falling behind in school.

He has performed on the Oprah Winfrey Show, The Billy Graham Crusades, Saturday Night Live, and numerous television shows and telethons. He has sung before four U.S. Presidents, performed at the Vatican, and was nominated for Grammy Awards in 1988 and 1989. His recording of hymns is the ONLY recording ever endorsed by Bill Graham.

The Treble Chorus under the direction of James Wells

Rounding out the musical feast were a performance of Symphony No. 3 in C-minor by Camille Saint-Saens featuring organist Gregg Bunn; and an orchestral performance of Symphony No. 5 in D-Major, op. 107 “Reformation” by Felix Mendelssohn.

Near the beginning of the program Wintley Phipps and an appreciative audience applauded the presence of Dr. Howard Olds who is retiring as Senior Pastor of Brentwood UMC at Annual Conference 2008.