wfn.org | United Methodist Daily News note 24

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"UNITED METHODIST DAILY NEWS 97" by SUSAN PEEK on April 15, 1997 at 14:24
Eastern, about DAILY NEWS RELEASES FROM UNITED METHODIST NEWS SERVICE (25
notes).

Note 24 by UMNS on April 17, 1997 at 15:56 Eastern (5124 characters).

 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 TITLE: Missouri Church Rebuilds
 Produced by United Methodist News Service, official news agency
of the United Methodist Church, with offices in Nashville, Tenn.,
New York, and Washington.

 CONTACT: Linda Bloom                           212(10-21-71B){24}
          New York (212) 870-3803                   April 17, 1997
 
 EDITORS NOTE: Photos are available.
 
 
Flood-plagued church moves
with others to new town
                              A UMNS feature
                              by Linda Bloom*
  
      PATTONSBURG, Mo. (UMNS) -- For 50 of her 60 years, Fran
Albert has lived across the street from the tidy brick United
Methodist Church she attends here.
      But soon her house will be moved, leaving yet another empty
foundation in town. Eventually, the church will be razed as the
trek to "new" Pattonsburg, three miles away, continues.
      The old Pattonsburg, population 502 with the "best
catfishing water in northwest Missouri," already is pockmarked
with vacant lots and boarded-up buildings.
      The reason for the move to higher ground is spelled out on a
small, dilapidated white house where red marks show how high
thewaters of the 1993 and 1995 floods rose. 
      It wasn't the first time the Grand River had overflowed its
banks. Albert was a child during the last big flood before thE
'90s deluge, in 1947. "I had a ball playing in the flood water,"
she recalled. "This time it wasn't so much fun."
      Like other residents who have accepted the government
buyout, Albert is moving her house close to Pattonsburg's new
business district. "It's been my home forever," she explained.
"That's why I'm taking it with me. There are too many memories in
it."
      She will have a new church to attend as well. The United
Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) has given the Pattonsburg
United Methodist congregation a grant of $90,000 -- $75,000 toward
rebuilding in the new town and $15,000 to move the parsonage --
from monies donated to the Bishops' Appeal for the Midwest Floods.
      The Rev. Max Marble, part of the Missouri Area's Office of
Creative Ministries, is helping arrange for volunteers to do the
actual construction of the church building. Pattonsburg also was
one of several volunteer-in-mission projects available to
participants in the April 10-13 Global Gathering III in nearby
Kansas City.
      J. Marc Foster -- a St. Paul seminary student who is pastor
at Pattonsburg as part of his three-point charge -- said his 68-
member congregation spent more than a year talking through
concerns and emotions surrounding the abandonment of the old
building and construction of a new one.
      Although the mostly elderly congregation is small, with an
average Sunday worship attendance of 12, "they believed, and they
still believe, they have a ministry to provide in this area," he
said.
      Construction has started on a wheat field donated by one of 
the church members. Located on a rise in the land, the church
will be visible from the interstate highway.
      On one unseasonably cold April day, seven volunteers
continued work on the foundation, despite being buffeted by sharp
winds.
      Jack Dockery of Hyde Park, N.Y., who would be leading a
volunteer work team to Haiti later in the month, was in the area
with his wife, Lucille, to attend the Global Gathering. "We just
came out a few days early to give them a hand," he said as he
poured cement.
      Also present were Norman Winkelman of Jamestown, N.D., who
has helped build churches there, in Texas and Indiana; the
Rev. Bob Morrison, dean of the Missouri East cabinet; Mike Button
of Woods Chapel United Methodist Church in Lee's Summit, Mo.; and 
three members of Missouri United Methodist Church in Columbia, Mo.
-- Warren Vandagriff, Paul Dittmer and Paul Rexroad, also a
district VIM coordinator.
      Heading the project is Jim Massey, a member of Aldersgate
United Methodist Church in Lee's Summit and an experienced
construction manager. He recently started his own company, Faith
Builders, in an effort to build churches with volunteers at a
much reduced cost.
     Massey acts as the licensed general contractor, paid by the
church. The annual conference is the sponsor and helps offset
costs. "Our goal is to build the building as cheaply as
possible," he explained.
     Pattonsburg is being constructed at $45 a square foot, "a
good $20 below market value," Massey said. In addition to
volunteer labor, the project benefits from donations or discounts
of materials. Stained glass, pews, trim doors and other items
salvaged from the old church also will cut costs and "tie in the
old with the new," he added.
      He has budgeted $100,000 to erect the 4,500-square-foot
building, put the roof on and finish the fellowship hall. Another
$100,000 will be needed to completely finish the interior.
      The congregation expects to use its old facility -- which
was too big to be moved -- until it can start having worship in
the new fellowship hall this fall, Foster said.
                                  #  #  #
 
     * Bloom is UMNS news director in New York. 

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