GOVERNMENT/POLITICS A4 | OUR COLUMNISTS A6-7 | YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD SCHOOLS A9 | HEALTH & LIFESTYLES SECTION B | BUSINESS SECTION C
A great community newspaper.
bearden
VOL. 5, NO. 35
AUGUST 29, 2011
INSIDE www.ShopperNewsNow.com
|
www.facebook.com/ShopperNewsNow
|
twitter.com/shoppernewsnow
Churches challenged Declining revenue forces review, innovation
Mighty (Mad) Scientist Bearden senior gains lab experience through UT medical research study See page A-9
By Sandra Clark Recently, The Tennessean profiled Nashville area churches that have closed or modified their outreach since the onset of the economic downturn in 2008. We tasked Shopper reporters to talk with church leaders to discover the impact of the economy on their congregations. While each Shopper-News paper has interviews from its community, readers can find all
interviews on our website at www.ShopperNewsNow. com/. What did we learn? Smaller churches are hurting worse than larger ones, which seem better able to absorb flat or declining revenue. Some churches are growing, such as Concord United Methodist which just hosted a three-day celebration of its new contemporary worship center. Others have been challenged to become “better stewards” of the Lord’s money. According to the Tennessean, most of the state’s residents belong to congre-
gations with fewer than 100 people, and many of those actually number fewer than 50. A 2010 survey on church giving showed small churches endured a heavy 40 percent drop in donations during the economic crisis. With far less money for building maintenance and fewer people volunteering, more congregations are considering closing down. An example is Nashville’s LaVergne Presbyterian Church. With a congregation of seven, it will no longer collect canned goods for the food pantry or recite the Apostles’ Creed. It
voted to disband after 124 years of service. Knoxville native the Rev. Dale Peterson writes in his book, “Leave a Well in the Valley,” of a similar situation. The congregation of the oldest Baptist church in Michigan dwindled to fewer than 200 members and risked what Peterson called “death by default.” Instead, it voted to merge with another congregation, giving away approximately $11 million in assets and ending its historic mission. The Tennessean story concludes: “Four Methodist congregations in Tennessee
Gary Schmieder, church administrator at Central Baptist Bearden
Dennis Davidson, senior pas- George Clark, senior pastor at tor at First Baptist Church of West Towne Christian Church Bluegrass
breviated service, members built frames for three church buildings. The frames will be delivered to Haiti in packing crates, and the finished buildings will serve as community centers during the week. “While budgets are tight, I think people enjoy being able to show the love of God to others,” Clark says. Central Baptist Bearden has been able to weather
the economic storm better than some congregations because of the wisdom of its leadership, says church administrator Gary Schmieder. They saw the recession coming and made sure the church had cash reserves. The task was made easier because the 3,000-member congregation has no debt and was without a senior pastor for most of last year.
have closed this year, and 16 Tennessee Baptist Convention churches closed last year. All were small with well under 100 members. It has been extremely hard for church leaders to close down their congregations. … Not only is it hard for church leaders and attendees, but also for the communities that these church closings are occurring in. Many compare their church closings to the death of a friend. Many have hopes that the tenacious and steadfast faith of church members won’t be forgotten.”
West Knoxville churches: doing more with less By Wendy Smith
Grand openings A look back at Vols’ season openers See Marvin’s story on page A-7
FEATURED COLUMNIST BETTY BEAN
Godspeed, Superman Betty Bean says goodbye to longtime friend James Anderson See page A-4
ONLINE
DO YOU
LIKE? TELL US! The Shopper-News is now on Facebook! Check us out for updates, photos and more! www.facebook.com/ ShopperNewsNow
10512 Lexington Dr., Ste. 500 37932 (865) 218-WEST (9378) news@ShopperNewsNow.com ads@ShopperNewsNow.com EDITOR Larry Van Guilder lvgknox@mindspring.com ADVERTISING SALES Darlene Hacker hackerd@ShopperNewsNow.com Debbie Moss mossd@ShopperNewsNow.com Shopper-News is a member of KNS Media Group, published weekly at 10512 Lexington Drive, Suite 500, Knoxville, TN, and distributed to 24,267 homes in Bearden.
West Knoxville churches are feeling the economic squeeze, but Dennis Davidson, pastor of First Baptist Church of Bluegrass, sees two sides to the situation. While members have lost jobs and the church has struggled to pay bills, the congregation has stepped up and helped sacrificially, he says. “This gives us a chance to be faithful.” First Baptist has between 100 and 125 active members. Deciding which ministries to keep has been challenging, and the church has had to turn away some who have sought help. Nowadays, Davidson finds himself ministering with words rather that providing material assistance. It’s frustrating, he says. The church is putting more emphasis on service
evangelism and less on hosting big events. Members have had to get creative, he says, which has resulted in projects like the youth group’s recent trip to deliver cookies to hospital intensive care units. “We may not be vibrant, but we’re still viable.” West Towne Christian Church, which has about 400 members, has been tightening its belt since 2008, says Senior Pastor George Clark. He hasn’t had a pay raise in three years, but he’s not discouraged. “I’m not necessarily optimistic about the economy, but I’m optimistic that God will be there for us, no matter what the economy does.” That optimism was reflected in West Towne’s “Church Build Worship” on Aug. 21. After an ab-
Carter proposal: What might have been By Larry Van Guilder The Devon Group’s announcement that it was withdrawing its proposal to build a new elementary school in Carter shook Knox County
Analysis Mayor Tim Burchett’s office and left most observers scratching their heads. Now a review of the scores awarded to the project finalists by the county’s evaluation committee reveals how close the competition was and how the rankings of one evaluator changed the outcome for the runner-up, Partners Development, and may have sealed the fate of the project. The six-member evaluation committee was chaired by Mitch Steenrod, a senior executive with Pilot Travel Centers. Developer Buzz Goss, Mathew Myers from county purchasing, Doug Dillingham with the school
system, local executive Kevin Wilson and UT architecture professor Tricia Stuth rounded out the committee. The finalists were the Devon Group, Hewlett Spencer LLC, Municipal Capital Markets Inc. and Partners Development. The proposals were rated in five categories: cost, adherence to program standards, time to complete, innovation and “identification and complete understanding” of any proposed financing arrangement. Cost, which considered the long-term operating costs of the facility in addition to the contract amount, was worth 35 points. Program standards was assigned 30 points and time to complete 15. Innovation and understanding proposed financing were worth 10 points each. Thus a perfect score was 100, and a proposal could receive a maximum score of 600 when the individual evaluations were totaled.
Hewlett Spencer and Municipal Capital Markets finished with scores of 541.63 and 539. 2 respectively. Both lagged the leaders by a fair margin. The Devon Group edged Partners Development 558.22 to 552.5. In order, these were the individual scores for the Devon Group and Partners Development: ■ Goss – 98, 97 ■ Dillingham – 96.8, 97.5 ■ Steenrod – 94, 97 ■ Stuth – 94, 78 ■ Wilson – 93.12, 96 ■ Myers – 82.3, 87 A glance at the list reveals that Myers was not as impressed with the proposals as his fellow committee members. His rankings for all the finalists ranged from 82.3 to 87.1. But Stuth’s score of 78 for Partners Development leaps off the page. Statistically, it’s an “outlier,” although not a “significant” outlier.
SALES S ALES • SERVICE SERVICE • MAINTENANCE MAINTENANCE HAMMER
WASH ME! Family Fami Fa mily mi lyy B Bus Business u in us ines esss Se es Serv Serving r in rv ng Yo Y You u ffo for or Ov Over ver 1 15 5 Ye Years ear as 5715 5715 Old Old d Tazewell T ll Pike Pik Pi k • 687-2520 687 252 5 0
Cantrell’s Cares Financing available through TVA Energy Right program* *Restrictions May Apply
The economy has affected the church’s income but hasn’t diminished its ministry, says Schmieder. “The church has been able to do more because the community is hurting more.” Central Baptist has a “Between Jobs” ministry to help those who are actively seeking employment. For more information: 5673423.
WINDOW WASHING
Licensed •Insured • Guaranteed
584 5 84 8 4 -1840 hammerwindowwashing.com
The Shopper-News asked purchasing director Hugh Holt if he considered dropping Stuth’s score from the ranking because it differed so markedly from the others. “We looked at that,” Holt said. “We’re numbers people.” In the end, he said, “everybody on the committee” felt Stuth had performed conscientiously, that her ranking was not “arbitrary or capricious.” A closer look at the evaluation shows most of the difference in Stuth’s scores for Devon and Partners derives from two areas, cost and innovation. Innovation encompasses nearly any aspect of the design that could reduce costs, increase efficiency or “greatly enhance the educational experience.” Stuth awarded the Devon Group 32 points for cost and 8 for innovation. Partners Development earned 27 points for cost and none for innovation, a 13-point swing that
clinched the top ranking for Devon. Although Partners’ proposed cost was roughly $1 million below the $13.8 million price tag negotiated with Devon, Devon’s proposal included innovations in energy efficiency. Municipal Capital Markets also rated a zero in innovation on Stuth’s scorecard. It was a judgment call to retain Stuth’s ratings. While her integrity and good faith efforts are not in question, the unintended consequence of retaining the outlier ranking may be to quash the effort to build rather than renovate in Carter. The school board reluctantly came to the table the first time. The second time around may prove a harder sell for the mayor. The Shopper-News attempted to contact Stuth about her rankings. She did not respond to our questions.
WATCH W A BATTERY COUPON
5 Foster' s
$
Includes battery & installation
Watch & Jewelry Repair
Fine Jewelry
7023 Kingston Pike In the West Hills Center
584-3966 Expires 9/30/11 Must present coupon www.fostersjewelry.com