wfn.org | [UMNS-ALL-NEWS] UMNS# 518-'We have to rebuild Gulfside,

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

'We have to rebuild Gulfside,' United Methodists say

Sep. 19, 2005

NOTE: Photographs, audio and related coverage are available at
http://umns.umc.org.

By Ciona Rouse*

WAVELAND, Miss. (UMNS) - Marian Martin searched through the remains of
her home on the Gulfside United Methodist Assembly grounds and found her
china set in the rubble.

"The dishes didn't break, but the building did," Martin told Mississippi
Bishop Hope Morgan Ward, as they looked at the bricks and debris that
have replaced Martin's home.

The United Methodist Church's historic Gulfside Assembly retreat center
was washed away when Hurricane Katrina made landfall on the Gulf Coast
Aug. 29. Martin, director of the assembly, was forced to evacuate. Upon
returning, she found a nearly empty plot of land.

Her possessions were scattered around town by the hurricane. Every
building at the assembly was gone; even the new lodging and meeting
facility named after Bishop Alfred Norris was destroyed. Ward had
dedicated Norris Hall just two weeks before the catastrophic storm.

Martin reflected on the destruction as she met with Ward, the Rev. Randy
Day, top executive of the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries,
and the Rev. Larry Hollon, top executive of United Methodist
Communications, Sept. 10. Day and Hollon were visiting church-related
sites in Louisiana and Mississippi affected by the storm.

While the cottages that made up Gulfside's Ernest T. Dixon Leisure
Village for Older Adults no longer exist, the sign was unharmed.

"I can't believe Katrina cleaned the sign. It was a little dirty
before," said Edward Moultrie who helped build the sign in the early
1990s.

Moultrie, retired employee of the United Methodist Board of Global
Ministries, and his wife, Paula Milo-Moultrie, had moved to Waveland in
the summer. Their home was damaged but not destroyed. Both mourned the
loss of Gulfside, where they frequently visited and lived for a summer.

Milo-Moultrie said she hoped the denomination will raise enough money to
rebuild Gulfside Assembly. It is needed for families in the future, she
said.

"We're going to rebuild. We have to rebuild Gulfside for the next
generation," she said.

Her father used to visit the assembly grounds as a child and would
always share memories of his time there. When Milo-Moultrie made it to
Gulfside as a young adult, she "fell in love with it immediately." She
particularly enjoyed watching the sunset over the ocean from the
grounds.

"Everything looks so different now," she said.

Moultrie walked through the wooded area behind the assembly grounds and
found furniture from Norris Hall that had been picked up and moved by
Katrina. Otherwise, few items were found.

Bishop Robert E. Jones founded Gulfside in 1923 as a residential school
for African-American boys living in rural areas of the country. The
center became a popular vacation and meeting spot during racial
segregation in the South. When the United Methodist Church integrated in
the late 1960s, the retreat center declined in usage but still hosted
meetings and conferences.

Ward led the group visiting the grounds in a verse of, "Balm in Gilead"
and said a prayer for restoration before leaving to visit other churches
in the area damaged by the storm. The group then saw Valena C. Jones
Memorial United Methodist Church in nearby Bay St. Louis, which received
water damage and downed trees. A team from a Presbyterian congregation
in Celebration, Fla., was helping the church clean up the community.

Another Bay St. Louis church, Main Street United Methodist Church, also
had water damage and had lost its steeple. The Rev. Rick Brooks, pastor,
said he cancelled church for the first time Sept. 4, the Sunday after
Katrina hit.

Mollie M. Stewart, president of the Gulfside Board of Trustees, said in
a news release that the board would meet in October. Once an assessment
is made, she said, she will be able to determine the next step for the
assembly grounds.

Under Martin's leadership, Gulfside Assembly was experiencing growth and
rebuilding. Now, the concept of rebuilding has taken on a new meaning.

Martin recalled a crocheted copy of the Lord's Prayer that was framed in
the lobby of the assembly's dining room. Searching for the prayer after
the storm, she could not remove enough rubble to find it.

"We've lost stuff that cannot be replaced," Martin said. "It's just in
our memories."

Donations to support the United Methodist response to Hurricane Katrina
can be made online at www.methodistrelief.org and by phone at (800)
554-8583. Checks can be written to UMCOR, designated for "Hurricanes
2005 Global," Advance No. 982523, and left in church offering plates or
mailed directly to UMCOR, P.O. Box 9068, New York, NY 10087-9068.

Gulfside receives funding in part through the denomination's Advance for
Christ and His Church. Donations can be designated for "Gulfside
Assembly Program," Advance Special No. 761337-2, or "Gulfside Assembly
Capital Fund," Advance Special No. 760235-1, and sent to the UMCOR
address.

*Rouse is a freelance writer in Nashville, Tenn.

News media contact: Tim Tanton, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5470 or
newsdesk@umcom.org.

********************

United Methodist News Service
Photos and stories also available at:
http://umns.umc.org

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