October 26, 2005

CityVoices readers,

If you don’t live (or study) in southern Indiana or Kentucky, you may not have thought about Louisville in terms of major urban centers. Think again.

Metro Louisville (the new urban municipality created with the 2003 merger of Louisville and surrounding Jefferson County) now takes its place among the nation’s 20 largest cities. It’s a sweeping, multicultural place home to both the traditional (Churchill Downs, Hillerich & Bradsby) and the modern (new urbanism of the Park Du Valle community). Louisville has retained its mid south heritage, while invigorating itself with a dose of northern energy. The first archdiocese west of the Appalachians, Louisville is still a strongly Catholic city with 163 local parishes. Baptists, Methodists and Presbyterians are not left out of the religious mix. Each denomination maintains a theological seminary and large numbers of churches in the metro area.

In the following articles, CityVoices profiles Louisville and its churches in a variety of ways:

-- Interview: Pastor John Moses of Eastern Star Baptist Church
-- Beginnings and challenges of the Metro Louisville movement
-- Poverty issues still facing Louisville
-- Interview: Angela Carpenter of Walnut Street Baptist Church
-- Fast Takes: Louisville’s churches at work
-- Plus: Must Read! and Noteworthy Events!

Enjoy your study of Louisville, its churches and metro scene. Compare and contrast it to your own city and ministry setting. Then feel free to contact us with any of your questions or comments.

Roger Johnson – CityVoices                                                                                                             (312) 726-12000, roger@cityvoices.com

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

Eastern Star Baptist Church: Offering Hope to Louisville’s West End

(As the streets filled on a recent Wednesday evening with those who put this neighborhood on edge, a hymn echoed from the church. … Louisville, like many other American cities, has seen a sharp rise in the number of homicides in the past two years; 70 were reported a year ago, a 30 percent increase over 2003, and 50 have been logged so far this year.” [New York Times, Sept. 27, 2005] Rev. Alex Moses has served for more than two decades at Louisville’s Eastern Star Baptist Church. Featured in a recent New York Times article about his community, Rev. Moses is realistic about the realities of crime in Louisville’s West End, yet optimistic about what God can do through the work of local churches like Eastern Star Baptist.)

Rev. Moses, give us some background on your church’s community.

Eastern Star Baptist Church is 95 years old. Our current location was purchased in 1959. It is centrally located in the western part of Louisville, Kentucky. It was previously predominately white. The majority of residents have a high school education, its equivalent or less. Only a small percentage of people have gone to college.

It’s a community that had a lot of drugs, crime, violence and abandoned houses several years ago. However, we’ve since worked with city officials and have seen several abandoned buildings demolished and new homes built. Our church has also bought and cleared several abandoned properties. Developers built new homes as well. Eastern Star Baptist Church has now purchased and cleaned up a five-acre parcel directly north of our parking lot with the help of the seller. We’ve renovated a home (considered to be a drug house) that was given to us and had it designated as Section 8 housing. We acquired railroad property and took up railroad tracks from 26th Street to 22nd Street, and now those areas have beautiful houses built on them. Nevertheless, we still have other areas to look at in relation to a better quality of living for our community.

How large a church is Eastern Star Baptist?

We have approximately two hundred in attendance on Sunday morning. But we are determined to do all that we can to make our church user-friendly and a safe haven for anyone who desires to attend. We just couldn’t go along with the idea of coming in, worshipping and then ignore the problems in our community. We’ve tried to make our presence known in the community. We’ve included the police in our Annual Vacation Bible School and Parade. We even had a judge come in and teach on accountability.

Pastor Moses, what do feel your church, or any other church in Louisville, can start doing to help reduce crime in Louisville?

We need to make people aware that these conditions do exist. Many of the people in our churches do not live in the communities where they worship. We’ve decided that we would take to the streets, involve the police and inform the people. We’ve conducted community forums and we’ve had representatives from our church at various training sessions. We’ve even hosted a rehab program here at our church, working with drug addiction and anger management. And we’ve even established a security team dealing with safety issues right here at our church.

We keep working closely with our local police. Oftentimes, I’ll ride with police officers on their beat just to keep abreast of what really goes on in our community. It’s very helpful. I serve on a Clergy Resource Team for the Louisville Metro Police Department. I am a guest lecturer at the Police Academy teaching a class on “Community Win”. This is done before new police officers hit the street. That connection has been a great asset to our community. Our members have attended the Citizens Police Academy to gain knowledge about crime and violence patterns in our community. If other churches would encourage their members to get involved in the above mentioned activities available to them, our problems could be curtailed. Above all, residents of the community should work with law enforcement in identifying known criminals or law breakers in the community. Then they can further inform the members of their congregation to take a more active part in the rearing of their children.

What keeps you and preserves you in your ministry at the church?

Ministry is not about me, it’s about what God wants to do through me. There have been times when I’ve thought I shouldn’t be here going through this – the “woe is me” syndrome. But I’ve come to realize that I’m here at Eastern Star Baptist Church because this is where God has planted me. I’m from the Housing Projects of Richmond, Virginia. I am familiar with community unrest. I do fear at times, but I’m doing what I have to do because I believe God will sustain me. Ultimately change will come to the community to the degree that God desires. I’m happy with what we’ve done here. We’ve bought up land, torn down abandoned houses and the neighborhood looks so much better. The people have a respect for this church and what has been done. Up to this point, serving this church and community has been my highest priority. I want to help this community and by doing so, please God.

Tell us about the people at Eastern Star Baptist Church.

The members share the same vision for the church God has given to me. They believe if change is going to come, it has to come through the church. I’m very, very proud of our people here at Eastern Star Baptist Church. We have been an example to the whole City of Louisville because we have stood up. We’re not the largest church, but do huge things for the Lord. We took an old warehouse and converted it into a multi-purpose facility that serves the whole community of Louisville. Southeast Christian Church was very benevolent in giving us $25,000 to help renovate the building. It’s now a beautiful facility. Once, we were faced with several dilapidated buildings which the Lord helped us purchase and tear down. Now, that the land has been cleared, we are looking forward to erecting a modern facility which will provide necessary space for us to do greater things in the community.

In your opinion, what are the one or two things that Louisville’s Metro Government really needs to focus on?

Metro Government should focus more on developing our children. We need to look at bringing our kids under subjection of parental guidance. Our schools need to be tightened up. Teachers need to have more support in their classrooms. Some research needs to be done from a futuristic standpoint, rather than waiting for something to happen. There needs to be more training made available to people from every church for dealing with the crime prevention issues of our communities. Also, I believe the school board ought to provide money for people to patrol our busses and bus stops. Finally, illegal guns and drugs should be removed from our homes and streets.

Contact: Rev. Alex Moses, Eastern Star Baptist Church, 2400 Howard Street, Louisville, KY 40211, (502) 774-4265, east2400@bellsouth.net

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

Metro Louisville: Big Beginnings, Much More Left to Do

At the beginning of January 2003, the City of Louisville and surrounding Jefferson County merged city and county governments to become the 16th largest city in America. As a result, a new community was literally created with many new configurations for political, educational, and taxing districts, among other structures. Instantly, Louisville grew from an old city of 61 square miles to the new Metro Louisville encompassing more than 385 square miles. The old city population of 256,000 (Census 2000) merged with the Jefferson county population to make for a current 700,000 residents (2004 estimate).

Metro Louisville’s largest employers now include: United Parcel Service (21,272 employees), Jefferson County Public Schools (12,465 employees), Ford Motor Company (10,300) and Norton Healthcare (6,495). Louisville remains home base for “signature” companies like Louisville Slugger Baseball Bat, Louisville Stoneware and YUM! Brands (parent to KFC and Taco Bell).

Louisville Metro is now larger than such cities as Baltimore, Boston, Washington, D.C., and Seattle. When Jefferson County voters determined that Louisville and Jefferson County would merge, one of the first duties was to determine where the boundaries of the new government’s districts would lie.

University of Louisville geography professor Bill Dakan, a longtime merger advocate and redistricting expert, was asked by the Kentucky General Assembly to tackle this unique civic task. Using 2000 Census data, Dakan carved the new metro council districts out of land that had been divided into sections governed by Louisville's city aldermen and Jefferson County's commissioners.

The highways, alleyways and neighborhoods of the city and county were more than lines viewed on laptops or maps. “I don't think there's a street in the city of Louisville I haven't been down physically—most of them walking,” Dakan explained. The same goes for much of Jefferson County.

He followed several sets of criteria including balancing populations, making sure each district had a precinct and protecting the interests of minorities – even if it meant overriding traditional neighborhood boundaries. Dakan also employed a balance of major political parties, keeping neighborhoods and communities together as much as possible and making the districts as compact as possible.

In a study by Bruce Katz, Director of The Center on Urban and Metropolitan Policy at The Brookings Institution (http://www.greaterlouisvilleproject.org/index.htm), a number of significant issues (and opportunities) now facing Metro Louisville were highlighted. Katz points out that Metro Louisville now ranks 55th among the nation’s largest 100 cities in percentage of people who hold at least a bachelors degree. (Only 24.8 percent have degrees.) This is significant in that educational attainment always has a strong correlation with individual and household income.

The Brookings Report maintains that for Louisville to build into a truly world class regional city, it needs to: a) fix the basics, b) build on assets, c) create quality neighborhoods, d) invest in working families and e) influence metro growth. Katz goes on to recommend the State of Kentucky should invest in education; workers and skills attainment that will help Louisville produce a more competitive future. This means setting a goal for higher education and aligning policies to achieve that goal. It also means reforming a state workforce system that would tie employers and growth sectors to community colleges. Other recommendations include reforming policies and programs to encourage land reclamation and reinvestment in the city’s older communities. The state should invest in working families and help facilitate quality, balanced metropolitan growth patterns.

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

Poverty Still a Big Issue in Louisville

(Excerpted from “Study Points out Louisville's Pockets of Substantial Poverty,” by Chris Poynter, Louisville Courier-Journal, October 12, 2005)

Thousands of Louisville's poor are living in 11 urban neighborhoods -- one of the highest concentrations of poverty in the United States, according to a study being released today. The pockets of poverty lead to high crime, poor schools, depressed housing prices and few jobs, according to the report by the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank.

Twenty-two percent of Louisville's poor, more than 34,000 people, live in high-poverty neighborhoods such as Russell and California in western Louisville and Hazelwood in the South End. That ranks Louisville 14th among 50 U.S. cities for the percentage of poor living in areas where the poverty rate is at least 40 percent.

The numbers are much starker for Louisville's African Americans -- 40 percent of the city's poor black families live in high-poverty neighborhoods. "This problem exists in almost every major American city," said Alan Berube, co-author of the Brookings Institution study "Alleviating Concentrated Urban Poverty: Katrina's Lessons Beyond New Orleans."

Metro Councilman David Tandy, who represents several neighborhoods with high poverty rates, said the city has worked to decentralize poverty, but must do more. “Local government already is helping to reduce the concentration of poverty,” he said, citing the Park DuValle and Clarksdale reconstruction projects. “We need mixed-income housing across the community to encourage businesses to reinvest in neighborhoods, bringing jobs and new housing.”

Berube and Bruce Katz, director of the Brookings Metropolitan Policy program, said such impoverished neighborhoods do not appear by accident. They emerge for several reasons: The federal government concentrated poor people by building public housing only in inner-city neighborhoods. Federal, state and local tax money and policies "favor high-income suburban development over investment in urban neighborhoods." Growth in the suburbs between 1970 and 2000 sapped people from the central city. "As people went, so did jobs," the report states.

Metro Mayor Jerry Abramson said Louisville is working to spread out poverty, in part by demolishing public-housing complexes and building mixed-income neighborhoods. The Park DuValle project has been considered a national model – and Abramson predicts the same for the former Clarksdale public housing site east of downtown.

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

Angela Carpenter: Meeting Human Needs at Walnut Street Baptist Church

(Angela Carpenter is director of Christian Social Ministries at Louisville’s historic Walnut Street Baptist Church. Her work includes both direct intervention and prevention programs. With degrees in both Religious Studies and Theology [Christian Social Ethics emphasis], Angela has served the people of the Old Louisville community since 2002.)

Angela, how do you describe Walnut Street Baptist Church, at this point in its history?

We’re a church in transition. We have made a conscience decision to stay in our community, but a large percentage of our members are older and commute in for worship. We’re working at reaching out to young people and people who live in our neighborhood. Walnut Street is a regional church, probably because the Sunday morning service is televised live. Yet we always have visitors coming in from our neighborhood.

Do you focus on serving people within your church, or outside the congregation?

Social Ministries serves people outside the congregation who live in our immediate neighborhood. The Clothing Closet is open to anyone, citywide. But our food pantry, financial assistance and other kinds of ministries focus on the immediate community. Walnut Street Baptist is located in the Old Louisville community and the local food bank has asked us to cover the area north to Broadway, south to the U. of Louisville, east to I-65, and west to Ninth Street. This area has several high-rise, low-income buildings. We have old Victorian houses, some of which have been renovated or turned into condos, others are apartments which remain in disrepair. It’s an interesting mix.

How do the community’s people look upon Walnut Street Baptist Church?

People don’t avoid us. On Sunday mornings, I regularly see neighbors visiting us: faces of people I recognize from my work, but whom I may not know really well. For one reason of another, we haven’t yet been able to make large numbers of community people feel comfortable worshipping here regularly on Sunday Morning. But that’s part of our transition. We do see large numbers of children and youth from the immediate neighborhood in our Wednesday night programs. The community also sees us as a good resource.

What is Walnut Street Baptist able to do about poverty and related issues in Louisville?

By no stretch of the imagination can we meet all the needs of our community. We simply don’t have the resources. We do try to meet emergency needs, and we do try to put people in touch with other resources. We also want to start looking at preventive measures. We have established an after-school tutoring program in which we’ve hired quality tutors to work with middle-school students, keeping a one-to-one student / tutor ratio. Each student works with their tutor for two hours per week, while also meeting in small groups to work on life skills issues like violence and drug abuse.

Recently, the Louisville’s Infant Resource Project (IRP) has come our way and established a relationship with us. They saw a need to connect the ministry with a downtown church, and IRP is now a part of our social ministry. The Infant Resource Project provides basic needs to low-income parents who are about to have a child, or already have a child under the age of three. They provide diapers, clothing, infant formula and other needs. This is a citywide outreach program, rather than just for the Old Louisville area.

Have you found Metro Louisville (and its various governmental agencies) helpful in directing you to human services offices that can be effective?

Given the complexity of both governmental and non-governmental agencies, Louisville does a pretty good job. It’s still bound to be difficult and frustrating for our clients. Louisville’s transition to metro government has been fine, but it’s still cumbersome with all the agencies out there. When it comes to the organization of “community ministries,” Louisville is a little bit unique. The city is essentially divided up into regions for which community ministries are responsible. (Help Ministries, Highlands Community Ministries, Shively Area Ministries, etc.) Community ministries derive their support from grants or churches in their area, and they’re helpful in meeting the needs of many individuals. I do a lot of referrals to our community ministries, as well as to governmental agencies.

What are the unmet problems that you’d like to see addressed in the Walnut Street community and the larger City of Louisville?

Here at Walnut Street, we’re interested in getting started with Christian community development. I’d like to see us move in those directions rather than just meeting emergency needs. We’re asking, “What kinds of things can we do to really improve the economic conditions in the area?” and “How can we prevent problems before they occur?” Citywide, it seems like we’ve had a lot of programs for lifting women and single mothers out of poverty. But I really feel like a lot of the men have been left behind, in terms of job training and placement. Only a block from our church a grocery store that has gone out of business and the building sits empty. Nearly a dozen men are always standing on this corner, and life seems to be passing them by. There’s not a whole lot of hope for them. Hardly anything is currently being done in terms of job training and job creation for these men.

What about future outreach goals at Walnut Street Baptist Church?

Part of our vision for the future will involve greater connection between our social ministries and our activities ministries. The Activities Building has functioned as a community center where kids can go to get off the street and play ball. But we want to develop a lot more structured, targeted programs for kids using the facilities after school. Our missions pastor wants to move from “saving kids from something,” to “saving kids to something.” We want to introduce kids to the gospel (shaping them in the spiritual sense), and also develop programs that will provide hope and direction for their lives.

The Activities Building (complete with basketball and handball courts, skating rink and bowling alleys) also hosts “Fit for Me,” a six-week fitness program for middle school girls conducted by a partnership between Women for Women, the University of Louisville, and Bellarmine University. Our facility lends itself well to many such community partnerships.

Contact: Angela Carpenter, Director of Christian Social Ministry, Walnut Street Baptist Church, 1143 South Third Street, Louisville, KY 40203, (502) 589- 5290, acarpenter@walnutstreet.org

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

Fast Takes: Louisville’s Churches at Work

Last summer, Jay’s Cafeteria, a popular Westside Louisville restaurant, had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and was in danger of going out of business. Two area churches, Parkland Church of God and Mount Hermon Baptist Church saw an opportunity to serve their community and help re-start a business. Together, they bought Jay’s Cafeteria and now plan to operate the eatery as a for-profit business under their collaborative effort, Five Thousand Fed Ministries. Profits from the newly-established Jay’s Cafeteria will go towards funding community outreach programs such as low-income housing, continuing education assistance, rehabilitation and job creation. Wendell Stevens, the restaurant’s new manager, says “Jay's represents a tradition in Southern dining in Louisville. Its clientele has always been the most culturally diverse of any restaurant in this area. The change of ownership ... and the revitalization of Jay's is the beginning of an exciting new chapter.”

Portland Area Ministries is a covenant of community churches, organizations and agencies, bound together by shared Christian values, committed to serving the Portland Community of Louisville. Members include: Baptist Tabernacle, Portland Avenue Church, Portland Ave. Church of Christ, Portland Ave. Baptist Church, Portland Methodist Center, and Portland Family Resource Center. PAM provides assistance with basic needs such as food, clothing, school supplies, and school uniforms. The agency helps Portland area residents with information about affordable housing and medical concerns, counseling for individuals and families, and spiritual guidance. Contact: Portland Area Ministries, Jean Branum (Executive Director), 3200 Portland Avenue, Louisville, KY 40203, (502) 774-4125

More than 8,000 people worship each weekend at St. Stephen Baptist Church’s three locations: two in Louisville and one in nearby Clarksville, Indiana. Dr. Kevin W. Cosby has ministered at this African American megachurch since 1979. In 1989, St. Stephen’ built the first Family Life Center in an African American church in Kentucky. The facility was expanded in 2001 and now houses a daycare center, cafe, arcade, gym, dance studio, fitness center and classroom space. St. Stephen’s has scores of community outreach projects, including the St. Stephen Economic Development Corporation which builds and sells homes. Contact: St. Stephen Baptist Church, Dr. Kevin Cosby, 1008 S. 15th St Louisville KY 40210-1321, (502) 583-6798.

UrbanSpirit is a different kind of church. Instead of collecting members, they focus on teaching ministries, lending their voices to Louisville’s poor and helping bring about change. People at UrbanSpirit believe that poverty is an impediment to the common good and inconsistent with the faith tradition. Led by Pastor Deborah Conrad, UrbanSpirit moved into the former Grace Lutheran Church in Louisville’s Portland community back in 2001. Since then, they’ve worshipped on Friday evenings, made plans for a coffeehouse and for housing for low-income families. UrbanSpirit’s core values include imagination, hospitality and promise. Contact: UrbanSpirit, Pastor Deb Conrad, P.O. Box 11434, Louisville, Kentucky 40251, ravdeb@urbanspirit.org

Bardstown Road Presbyterian Church is located in the heart of Louisville’s Highlands neighborhood. A multi-generational church of about 180 members, Bardstown Rd. Presbyterian likes to consider itself a mission church, with a strong calling to share Christ’s love in its community. The church building hosts offices for both Bellewood Children's Home and THRIVE – a support and mentoring program for homeless and disabled young adults. Several 12-step programs also meet regularly at the church. The church is an active member of Highlands Community Ministries which focuses on meeting the needs of neighborhood families. Contact Pastor Evelyn Macway, Bardstown Road Presbyterian Church, 1722 Bardstown Road, Louisville, Kentucky, 40205, (502) 451-8305, info@brpres.org

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

Must Read!

“Urban Ministry in a New Millennium,” by David Claerbaut, Authentic Media / World Vision Resources, 2005. (Available at Amazon.com -- $14.99, or less)

Yes, this book has been around before, but it’s better than ever. Dr. David Claerbaut’s original title, “Urban Ministry,” offered by Zondervan in 1983, was one of the first good city mission books following a long, dry “suburban captivity” for practical ministry. With this updated edition, Claerbaut retains much in the way of original urban ministry scholarship that he and the late Dr. Bill Leslie (pastor, Chicago’s LaSalle Street Church) hammered out in the 1970s. But he brings his work up-to-speed with a 21st century focus on topics such as global cities, institutionalized poverty and new directions for urban ministry.

Though an inter-disciplinary writer, Dr. Claerbaut makes no attempt to hide his original calling as a sociologist – and that’s one of the book’s most refreshing points. Details, people groups, and urban trends are all meticulously traced out. The author’s fast-paced style lends interest, authenticity and a scientific type of accuracy to his work. You’ll enjoy this book on many levels!

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

Noteworthy Events!

Connecting with God in the City: It’s a Local Call – November 10-13, 2005

This national event, sponsored by the United Methodist Church, will be held in Minneapolis, November 10-13, 2005. Pastors, lay leaders and burned-out leaders are all invited. God can be accessed anywhere, from the local public library to the local restaurant, and God’s presence is evident in churches across the globe. Come to Minneapolis and experience three key themes to assist you and your church in making that local call to God: Leadership Development, Urban Theology and Urban Evangelism. As a lay member or pastor, you will bring back practical ideas from interactive training sessions. United Methodist leaders, like Donna Brazile, Adam Hamilton, Zan Holmes, Bill Easum, John Perkins, Bishop Violet Fisher, Caleb Roasado and Janet Wolf will be keynote presenters and breakout leaders. For on-line registration, go to http://www.connectingwithgod.org/, or call (651) 246-3919.

CCDA Convention: Indianapolis – November 16-20, 2005

Indianapolis is host city to the Christian Community Development Association’s 17th Annual Conference: “Taking It Back -- Radical Redemption of Our Communities.” Join more than 1,000 Christian Community Developers in this annual grass-roots event featuring plenary speakers: Jim Wallis, Mary Nelson, Richard Townsell, Ray Bakke, Juan Hernandez, Carl Ellis and Sharon Underwood. For more information and online registration, go to http://www.ccda.org/, or call (773) 762-0994.

Congress on Urban Ministry: Chicago – March 21-24, 2006

It’s another in SCUPE’s biennial Congresses on Urban Ministry. This edition’s theme: “The Beloved Community Breaking Through in the City.” Come to Chicago and join hundreds of other urban ministers and students of urban ministry in lively workshops and helpful networking opportunities. Plenary speakers include: Gary Gunderson, Yvonne Delk, Jim Wallis, Sen. Barack Obama (invited) Bishop Philip R. Cousin, and Fred Smith. For more information and online registration, go to http://www.scupe.com/Programs/Congress/cngrs_homepage.htm

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

Thanks for Reading CityVoices!

One more update on new books in the areas of both theology and African-American studies that CityVoices now offers:

“Essentials of Christian Theology,” by William Placher, John Knox Press, CityVoices price: $25 “Westminster Dictionary of Theological Terms,” by Donald McKim, John Knox Press, CV price: $20 “How to Think Theologically,” by Howard Stone and James Duke, Fortress, CV price: $12          “Survival and Liberation,” by Carol Watkins Ali, Chalice Press, CV price: $15                                   “Our Home is Over Jordan: A Black Pastoral Theology,” by Homer Ashby, Jr., CV price: $17            “The Politics of Accommodation and Resistance in the Black Church,” by Rupe Simms

* To purchase these and other city church resources (http://cityvoices.gospelcom.net/pages/cvshop.html), contact CityVoices at (312) 726-1200 or roger@cityvoices.com. VISA and Master Card accepted.

We look forward to hearing from you and meeting any of your urban ministry needs,                           Roger Johnson – CityVoices / SCUPE (Chicago)                                                                               (312) 726-1200, roger@cityvoices.com, www.cityvoices.com