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[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

RVs provide temporary homes for displaced pastors

Oct. 25, 2005

NOTE: Photographs and a related story, UMNS #603, are available at
http://umns.umc.org.

By Woody Woodrick*

BILOXI, Miss. (UMNS) - Generally, they're called "recreational
vehicles," but among some United Methodist pastors on the Mississippi
Gulf Coast, they're called "home."

More than 20 pastors whose homes were damaged by Hurricane Katrina are
living in trailers usually used for weekend getaways and vacations.
These units could be pressed into service for six months to a year.
Those living in them, however, are glad to have somewhere to stay in
their communities.

"If I didn't have it, I wouldn't be able to live in the same town," said
the Rev. Bill Matthews, pastor of Cedar Lake United Methodist Church in
Biloxi. "There's just no place to go. Without those Fifth Wheels, we
would have to go to some place like Mobile (Ala.) to have a place to
rent. It would be difficult to be in the community. (Having the camper)
has made a big difference."

After the storm hit, United Methodist Mississippi Annual (regional)
Conference officials began looking for housing for pastors who had been
displaced.

Requests were sent out for campers, and about 25 campers were placed,
according to the Rev. Sheila Cumbest, director of ministerial services
and coordinator of the effort. Many of the trailers came from the North
Alabama Conference, along with three from North Carolina and several
from the Tupelo, Miss., area. The trailers were provided with the
understanding they would be needed for three to six months.

One of the Mississippi Conference's goals has been to keep pastors in
their communities whenever possible, Cumbest said. "The pastors want to
be with their congregations," she explained. "It takes a huge burden off
them."

Of course, everything wasn't perfect with the campers. The pastors and
their families were moving into a space about one-tenth the size of a
house. And even though the campers were in place quickly, water and
electricity weren't available as fast. Despite the inconveniences, the
pastors expressed gratitude.

"It was a great relief to have a place to go and sleep," said the Rev.
Victor Chatham, who serves Fayard Chapel United Methodist Church and
Gulfport Memorial Hospital. "It was an even greater relief getting
electricity to it. It was a great gift; what one calls grace."

Chatham and Matthews both said they believe it is important for them to
continue living in their communities.

"I have parishioners in the hospital and who need to be ministered to
for a variety of reasons," Matthews added. "They certainly don't need to
be making long-distance calls to get you."

Chatham is the only resident living on his street, a cul-de-sac tucked
off a street in north Gulfport. In mid-October, homes on the street
still had trees down, power lines were down, and some houses didn't
appear to have been entered since the Aug. 29 hurricane.

Though he's living alone, Chatham said neighbors do stop in. "People
come by and ask how things are going, talk about their losses," he said.
"It gives (neighbors a) lot of hope to see someone living there. I sit
there and talk about their losses. Mine are kind of obvious."

All the windows and doors on his house are gone.

One of the first pastors to get a trailer was the Rev. Jerry Beam, who
was appointed Seashore District superintendent in June. He lives in the
camper with his two sons, Bill and Bob.

Bill Beam, 20, said living in the camper is OK, except for one thing.
"We don't have cable," he said.

"It's not that bad at all," added Bob Beam, 22. "Living in our
neighborhood makes it a lot easier to deal with. You have some sense of
being in the neighborhood. You can talk to people and see how everyone
is faring."

"We didn't have power until a couple of weeks ago," Bill Beam said. "We
used a generator (to provide power to the camper). It had to be kept
filled with gas. We would turn it off at night."

Recently, the Rev. David Price was also assigned to the Seashore
District as co-superintendent. He, too, is living in a camper, on the
parking lot of Nugent United Methodist Church.

Other pastors have come up with unusual living arrangements. The Rev.
Bruce Taylor, pastor at Pascagoula First United Methodist Church, is
living with his wife in Mobile on the second floor of a home owned by
the Rev. Karen Koons, a member of the Mississippi Conference serving as
director of the Wesley Foundation at the University of South Alabama.

The Rev. Guss Shelly and his wife, Sarah, lived in an unused Sunday
school room at Gulfport First United Methodist Church from Aug. 30 to
Oct. 1.

Shelly said church members took care of their pastor. "People needed to
know the church was OK and we were OK," he said. "People who had lost as
much or more than we lost came by and shared water and food with us so
we would be well supplied, and then they went back to other parts of the
state."

On Oct. 1, Shelly's son and the son's father-in-law brought them a
camper, which is parked in their driveway.

Like his colleagues, Shelly said he believed he needed to remain in his
community. "I couldn't have stayed anywhere else and felt OK," he said.
"I needed to be where my people were and where they could find me. There
was so much debris piled up and it was so difficult getting around, I
stayed here, and as word began getting around we were here, people came
by."

The United Methodist Committee on Relief is providing two giving numbers
through the Advance for Christ and His Church for hurricane relief.
Checks should be made out to UMCOR and designated for "UMCOR Advance
#982523 Hurricane Katrina" or "UMCOR Advance #901323 Hurricane Rita."
Both numbers or one number and the word "both" can be given for general
assistance.

Tax-deductible checks may be placed in church offering plates or mailed
directly to UMCOR, P.O. Box 9068, New York, NY 10087. Credit-card gifts
can be made by calling (800) 554-8583 or going online to
www.methodistrelief.org.

*Woodrick is editor of the Mississippi Advocate, the newspaper of the
United Methodist Church's Mississippi Annual Conference.

News media contact: Linda Bloom, New York, (646) 369-3759 or
newsdesk@umcom.org.

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

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

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