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Church History
September 1996 - September 2001
This is
an addendum to the booklet covering the first forty years of our
church history.
No attempt is
made to include every event and accomplishment of our church but
hopefully covers the major ones, although any Christian endeavor of
our church is of interest and is significant to its ongoing spiritual
life.
Reverend Ed Pugh
continued as our pastor until June of 1999. When Brother Ed retired,
Reverend Bill Lovell became the pastor and served two years until his
retirement in June, 2001. Reverend Dave McIntyre was then appointed
and serves as our current pastor.
There have been
several staff changes during this time. Directors of Christian
Education have been: Sandy Rogers, Eileen Vaughan, Sheila Freemont and
Brenda Geise. Directors of Music have been John Warren, Les Beaver
and Kevin Poe. The Organist during this time was Rentz Barkley. Youth
Directors have been Jason Stewart, Matt Charlton, Cathy Sparks and
Chaeli Thomas. Kevin and Rentz concluded their service to our church
on August 19, 2001. Their positions are currently being filled on an
interim basis.
Projects that
the people of the church have been and continue to be involved in are:
Bethlehem
Center, Mountain T.O.P., Shopping Bag, St. Patrick’s (now Safe Haven),
Christmas Angels, Union Rescue Mission, Second Harvest Food Bank and
Habitat for Humanity.
New programs
include: “Caring Partners” - to help in visiting and nurturing
shut-ins and people with long-term illnesses, etc. The “Heart to
Heart” project was started in 1996. Families were asked to adopt
a child in our church and asked to pray for them, and send notes of
encouragement. A policy and operations manual was approved by the
Administrative Board, and the “Heart to Heart” project was expanded to
include families not geographically close to our church and to persons
with no grandchildren or who have grandchildren who live out of town.
A new program
“Together We Can” sponsored by the Conference was presented to the
Administrative Board. Money raised for this project would be used to
renovate Beersheba Springs, provide help with Wesley Foundations at TSU and MTSU, and to help with new church development. Crievewood’s
financial part in this project would be $113,345 over a three-year
period. Any action by the Board was to defer this discussion until
2002.
New Church
School classes were started in 2001 for college and career people and
for young married couples. In August of 2001, the 5th
an 6th
grade pupils
were combined into one class.
A Capital Fund
Campaign was started for repairs and to purchase new equipment.
Most of the money for this was raised through the sale of church bonds
which have now been paid off in full. The following repairs and
purchases are: a new heating and cooling unit, handicapped ramps and
railings installed, a new organ, and a new copier and computer for the
office. The usual maintenance jobs have kept the building in good
shape.
The United
Methodist Women, the Men’s Club, the Youth, and the Athletic Committee
continue to do much in mission work and in enriching our spiritual
life. Contributions to missions and budgetary allocation for
missions have greatly increased through these years. The church also
serves the community by providing a meeting place for the Boy Scouts
of America and Narcotics Anonymous.
In September of
1996, Mark Pafford, a former Director of Christian Education, was
confirmed for the Ministry and now pastors churches in our Conference.
In June, 2001, David Meeks was confirmed as a Minister and pastors
churches in the Tennessee Conference.
In May of 1996
the Bennett-Ethridge Pre-school Playground was dedicated. A
Scholarship Fund in honor of Dorothy Cortner Boone was started in
1999. Any Crievewood church family member may apply for help in
attending college or a trade school. Annually, a committee chooses the
ones who will receive this award. In August of 2001 an anonymous gift
of $10,000 was given - to be called the Randy and Susan Cortner
Scholarship Fund. The goal would be for this fund to become endowed
and provide an annual college scholarship to a worthy candidate who
has been involved at CUMC and its UMYF. This fund could also be made
available to subsidize needy individuals (from Crievewood or the
community), for Mountain T.O.P. or other youth ministries as a
“Scholarship Committee” sees fit.
Wednesday Night
Fellowship continues to meet weekly at our church with areas of
interest for children and adults. Other educational opportunities for
spiritual growth and development include Disciple I, II, III and IV,
Women’s Bible Study, and Companions in Christ - a 28 week small group
experience consisting of Bible study, prayer, reflection, meditation
and sharing.
A Missions
Statement for Crievewood was adopted by the Council on Ministries.
The mission of Crievewood United Methodist Church is to make disciples
for Christ. To insure the fulfillment of this mission, the goals of
our congregation are:
Teaching be
grounded in scripture
Education and
stewardship go hand in hand
Church
atmosphere be warm and friendly
Activities be
planned for inter-generational involvement
Unification of
thoughts and actions be purposeful
On September 2,
2001, a called Church Conference accepted the recommendation of the
Trustees and approved the purchase of a house adjoining our church
property. The offer was accepted and we now own this property.
On September 12,
2001, a service was held in our sanctuary to meditate on and pray for
the victims, their families and friends involved in the terrorist
attacks on the country. The following Sunday the worship service
focused on the tragic events of the past week and the congregation was
given the opportunity to contribute to disaster relief funds.
Current
membership of our church is 700.
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