wfn.org | Maryland church hoping for help with huge debt

[NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG]

April 10, 2001 News media contact: Thomas S.
McAnally*(615)742-5470*Nashville, Tenn.     10-71B{171}

By Dean Snyder*

BRANDYWINE, Md. (UMNS) -- Mary Louise Tolson's tombstone is engraved with
the words, "Forever in our hearts." Milton Booby's tombstone says, "Love
Never Ends." 

The members of Gibbons-Resurrection United Methodist Church, in Brandywine,
Md., are worried whether loved ones buried in the church's cemetery will be
forgotten. No one, including the church's lawyer, is sure what will happen
to the cemetery should the congregation lose its property. 

What has become clear to the people of Gibbons-Resurrection Church is that,
without the help of other United Methodists, their days on the site where
they have worshipped, served their community and buried their ancestors for
the past 117 years may be numbered. 
On April 1, the congregation began a 24-hour-a-day weeklong prayer vigil and
issued an open letter entitled "An Appeal to the Connection and the People
Called United Methodists."  

Signed by the church's lay leaders, as well as chairpersons of the trustee
board, finance committee and administrative council, the letter asks for the
denomination's help "as we face life and death issues regarding our church."

"Through a series of unfortunate circumstances, we face the untimely demise
of our historical and vibrant church," the letter says. The appeal explains
that the congregation owes $4.8 million to bondholders for an unfinished
building that will cost an additional $300,000 to complete. 

The causes of the church's predicament are hard to unravel. According to Tom
Starnes, the congregation's lawyer, the church's financial records were
wiped from its computers when the former pastor, the Rev. C. Anthony Muse,
resigned from the United Methodist Church in November 1999. The current
trustees are suing their former pastor to obtain the missing financial
records which they hope will clarify how the debt became so massive and
whether funds had been properly allocated.

Under Muse's charismatic leadership the congregation grew from 120 members,
when he became its pastor in 1984, to a membership of almost 4,000. Current
church leaders argue, however, that these numbers are highly inflated.

In 1993, the church broke ground for an ill-fated building project. The
first building was demolished because it failed to meet local building
codes. A construction manager "mismanaged $450,000 of our money," Muse said
in a letter he distributed to conference clergy when he withdrew from the
denomination. 

By the time Muse chose to resign and leave the denomination in 1999, taking
with him most of the new members he had attracted, the church's debts had
grown to $6 million. The building's replacement value is estimated to be
less than half that amount. Its resale value is even lower, according to the
congregation's financial advisors. 

The Baltimore-Washington Conference has supported the congregation by asking
its churches to voluntarily contribute an additional 10 percent over and
above their usual annual apportionment payments for conference and
denominational ministries during 2001. By March, conference churches had
given $150,000. William Hunt, chair of the Gibbons-Resurrection trustees,
finds this response encouraging.

"We are thankful to God for allowing us to hold on as we have," Hunt said.
"We are thankful for the support of people throughout the conference and the
denomination to help us make it through the storm."

Still, it is clear that even with this help the congregation of about 300
members will not be able to keep up with a debt service on the remaining
$4.8 million it owes.

Bondholders did not receive a payment due them in February. In March the
church trustees received a notice of default. If the congregation fails to
maintain an adequate schedule of payments, bondholders could choose to begin
foreclosure proceedings.  Church leaders hope the bondholders, who have been
collecting interest as high as 11 percent on their investment, will
negotiate a settlement to reduce the outstanding debt to a level low enough
to allow the church to survive and rebuild. 

Bishop Felton Edwin May has announced the June appointment of a new pastor
from Atlanta, the Rev. Rodney Smothers, who has a reputation throughout the
denomination as a church builder. The congregation is also hoping for help
from the denomination to refinance their debt. 

Current church leaders, mostly long-term members of the congregation, were
not in positions of power during Muse's pastorate.  Those who made the
decisions that put the congregation into such massive debt left with Muse
and have started a new nondenominational church elsewhere. Yet, the current
leaders accept responsibility for their situation.

"We confess that we should have been more vigilant and pro-active in the
protection of the assets of our heritage, but we have remained loyal and
faithful to our Lord," church leaders state in their letter. "As we work
with the Baltimore-Washington Annual Conference toward the possible
restructuring and decrease of this humongous debt, we know that we cannot
accomplish our goals alone."

Gibbons-Resurrection members still believe their church can be saved. Hunt
describes the congregation as "prayerful and hopeful and confident."

"We're very confident that the Lord is going to work things out," he said.
"We're just holding on."

Retired bishop Forrest C. Stith has been serving as interim pastor of the
congregation.  During Sunday morning worship on April 1 he reminded the
members of the weeklong prayer vigil to save their church and told them to
trust in the power of prayer. "God is going to bless us," he said. Then he
paused and said: "No, that's not true - God is already blessing us."  

The congregation responded by singing a spiritual: "Stand by me, Lord, while
I run this race 'cause I don't want to run this race in vain."  

#  #  #
*Snyder is director of communications for the Baltimore-Washington
Conference of the United Methodist Church. 

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