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FEATURE FOR
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2002
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A Day of Transition |
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Members and guests of the Cumberland Presbyterian
Church in McKenzie, Tennessee meet in the old
sanctuary for the last time on Sunday, February 3,
2002. |
It was a time of joy. It was a time of sorrow. It was
moving day for the First Cumberland Presbyterian
congregation on Sunday and the last time the people of the
CP church would gather in the 110-year old sanctuary on
Stonewall Street. To memorialize the occasion and the
years of worship in the facility, the final day of worship
was held in two distinctive parts: the historical
presentation at the old 18,000 square foot church on
Stonewall followed by a look to the future from the new
21,000 square foot facility, located at 16835 Highland
Drive.
The day's service began with the traditional ringing of
the bell. Louise Ward, who joined the church in June 1928,
and Franklin (Brat) Howell, who joined in June 1929, had
the honor of conducting the final ringing.
This is a "once in a lifetime service," said Dr. Ed
Perkins, who served as one of three persons who presented
the history of the church to approximately 340 persons in
attendance. Terry Howell and Mrs. Demetra Perkins along
with Mr. Perkins shared highlights of the 130-year church
history.
Louise Ward, who joined the church in June 1928, and
Franklin (Brat) Howell, who joined in June 1929, had
the honor of conducting the final ringing of the
church bell. |
First organized in 1967, the church purchased real estate
to build in 1870 and constructed the first building in
1873. The land was purchased from the McKenzie family for
$400. In 1892, the present sanctuary was constructed at a
cost of $8,000. In May 2000, a groundbreaking ceremony was
held at the new Highland Avenue site. The weather was wet
and the ground was muddy, but the people's resolve was
unhampered as they convened in a tent for the ceremony.
While the building could not be relocated to the new site,
symbols of worship made the transition from the old to the
new. During a highly emotional ceremony, the baptismal
fount, offering plates, communion table, books, and pulpit
were relocated as Elder Glynda Corbin told of their
significance. The atmosphere reflected the sad part of
pulling up roots from a 130-year tradition to begin at a
new location. Members openly wept during this part of the
ceremony. After an automobile processional - complete with
a police escort - to the new church, the symbols of
worship were placed in their appropriate place as Ms.
Corbin again told of their significance. "My father
dreamed of a new church 30 years ago," said Ms. Corbin,
who is the daughter of the late Reverend H. Glenn Finley.
The baptismal fount, offering plates, communion
table, books, and pulpit were relocated as Elder
Glynda Corbin told of their significance. |
Music Director Bob Rutledge provided a vocal solo of "In
This Very Room" and the choir performed "As We Break This
Bread" prior to the communion service. Mrs. Zia McKennie
and Carla Flynn provided a musical interlude on the piano
at the new facility.
Reverend Larry Dailey and Reverend Don Caperton led the
congregation in the first communion service at the new
facility. Dailey was pastor when the church made the
decision to relocate and Caperton is serving as interim
minister. At the conclusion of the ceremony, Dailey, who
now resides in Missouri, said to the congregation, "I want
to look in your faces again." The gathering looked at
Dailey for a sustained period. "That will do me a long
time," said Dailey. "You are a family of faith with open
minds and loving hearts. God has been good to you. You
have come to the Jordan River. You have crossed that
river. Nehemiah would be proud of you," concluded Dailey.
"What a wonderful day of celebration," said Mrs. Marlene
Kreuter prior to inviting everyone to the add-a-dish meal
that followed the worship service. The luncheon was held
in the multi-purpose room, which serves as the dining
room, gymnasium, and temporarily as the sanctuary until
the new sanctuary is constructed at a later date.
A book of church history was offered to each family to
memorialize the occasion.
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The Rich Heritage of McKenzie's First Cumberland
Presbyterian Church |
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Winter was coming on in 1997 when the decision was made to
relocate the Cumberland Presbyterian Church from the
110-year-old building that had served worshippers since
1892. The elaborate, gothic architecture and stained glass
windows that awed passersby was only a portion of the
beauty that parishioners enjoyed, with the church's unique
architecture continuing in the sanctuary. There
generations of churchgoers internalized the ornate
structure of the beaded, dark-stained wooden ceiling,
which by a series of three-dimensional angles branching
from a central rosette forms a star of repeating crosses;
a constant reminder of Jesus' sacrifice for all sinners
who would believe. The building that in 1993 was placed on
the National Register of Historic Places had long before
been indelibly imprinted in the hearts of those who
worshipped there, for many embracing a continuum of
memories from earliest childhood until old age.
Therefore winter was a fitting time for the decision that
weighed heavy on the hearts of those who had taken up the
yoke of early Presbyterians whose vision had brought forth
the buying of land in 1870 for $400.00 upon which the
first church, a humble frame building, was completed
around 1873, six years after the church's original 19
members gathered was organized on July 17, 1867 with only
19 charter members to form the "Bethlehem Congregation of
the Cumberland Presbyterian Church at McKenzie,
Tennessee".
The strength of the church's vision was proven when plans
for a new building, begun with the appointment of a
building committee on February 5, 1877, were brought to
fruition 15 years later when the congregation moved into
the facility that, until February 3, 2002, served
worshippers who on in late 1889 had changed the name of
the church to McKenzie Cumberland Presbyterian Church.
The building, built over a five-year period for
approximately $8,000, featured "Gothic architecture with a
high-vaulted slate roof, tall steeple, and memorial
art-glass windows" and was said to be "one of the most
beautiful in this section of West Tennessee."
A seven-room brick manse was constructed beside the church
building in 1920, also at a cost of around $8,000. Over
the years the manse has served as the pastor's residence,
Sunday School classrooms, conference room, and as rental
property.
The growing congregation in 1952 added six Sunday School
rooms and a kitchen to the north of the sanctuary and west
of the fellowship hall the Sanctuary at a cost of
$40,000.00. The rooms were added to the north of the
sanctuary as well as to the west of the fellowship hall,
with folding doors separating the hall from the sanctuary.
Later, the north-end expansion became church offices.
Worship was enhanced by the church's organ which was
dedicated in 1953 while in 1957 the purchase of adjacent
property formerly owned by J. L. Baker provided parking
space and the lot upon which the educational building was
completed in 1961 "to the glory of God, in the love of
Jesus Christ our Savior, and by the grace of the Holy
Spirit" as those who had broken the ground to begin the
project had commended, among them
Pastor H. Glenn Finley; H. K. Smith, contractor; Edgar
Hickman, chairman of the building committee; Mrs. John
Gardner, children's director; Franklin Howell, church
school superintendent; and James Hudson, clerk of the
session.
The L-shaped structure furnished a new fellowship hall,
kitchen, storage room, furnace room, rest rooms, parlor,
as well as nursery, kindergarten, primary, and junior
Sunday-school departments.
1967 marked the church's centennial celebration. In
addition to the 19 original memories, the celebration
recognized other early names in the church such as Mebane,
Moore, Holt, Cooper, and Everett. Thirty-two ministers had
served the church in its first one hundred years.
Twenty-four members were honored as having been members
for fifty years or more, including Mrs. Grace Beasley,
Miss Nona Braly, Miss Sue Braly, Mrs. Herbert Brasfield,
Mrs. Lillian Carroll, Mr. Gwin Crawford, Mrs. Willie Mae
Coates, Mr. L. C. Dinwiddie, Miss Clara Dishman, Mrs. B.
C. Gallimore, Mrs. Mary Lou Granade, Mr. H. V. Granade,
Mrs. Nelle Hudson, Mrs. Gladys Kelley, Mrs. Aileen Kirk,
Mr. A. W. Owens, Mrs. C. L. Rogers, Mrs. Ruth Sexton, Mrs.
Mary Snead, Mrs. Mary Stewart, Mrs. R. E. Thomas, Mrs.
Finzie Thompson, and Mrs. Weldon Thompson.
Additional parking was provided with the purchase of the
Clara Dishman Property in 1978 with the Clara Dishman
Scholarship Fund established the same year.
July 1979 brought cause for celebration as a note-burning
ceremony was held signifying the end to indebtedness on
the church property.
Under the direction of the Rev. Bob Prosser with Mrs. Mary
R. Bouldin as the chairperson, a sanctuary committee was
established in November 1979 which directed the remodeling
of the sanctuary in 1980.
The restoration included the removal of the sliding doors
that had earlier separated the fellowship hall from the
sanctuary, revealing a broader view of the extraordinary
ceiling. Space was provided for choirs on either side of a
larger chancel area while new carpet was installed, old
pews were refurbished with new pews purchased for the
choir areas, the sanctuary received a fresh coat of paint
and a sound system was installed.
In 1990 and '91, the "Memorial Walkway" was constructed
between the educational building and the entrance to the
sanctuary, adding beauty to the rear entrance of the
church building while offering protection from the
weather. Donated by Curtis and Wanda Summers in memory of
Wanda's parents, Mr. and Mrs. W. A. Johnson, the gift was
continued with Dave Peters providing wiring for the lights
and Mark and Jimmy Stambaugh donating labor for the roof.
Another memorial commenced in 1993 when the Bob Rutledge
Family and C. H. Summers initiated a landscaping project
in memory of Lois Rutledge and Wanda Summers. The beauty
of the shrubs planted alongside the educational building
prompted an "Adopt A Shrub" program, which 1995 provided
shrubbery around the entire church facility and manse with
a beautiful garden in the area between the walkway and the
entrance to the church offices.
Additional parking property purchased in 1997 was the
final enhancement to the historic property, with winter
bringing the pronouncement of the pending relocation of
church facilities.
In a parallel with the rebuilding of the Wall of
Jerusalem, the "Nehemiah Stewardship Campaign" began
February 1998 leading to the purchase of the property for
the new church site in April 1998 and the appointment of
the "Nehemiah Building Commission" the same month. The Old
Testament story of Nehemiah leading his people to rebuild
the wall gave rise to the project's theme, "Let Us Arise
and Build".
Two years later on a rainy April 2, members gathered at
the new site on Highland Drive for a worship service to
celebrate the breaking of ground for a new church
building. Accompanied by a steady downpour of rain,
members lifted their voices in songs of praise and
thanksgiving for the new direction for church's new
direction.
Symbolizing the richness of their past and the hope for
the future, children used small plastic shovels while
adults bore traditional tools in breaking ground during
the ceremony. Bob Rutledge, dressed as Nehemiah, led the
children in their part of the groundbreaking exercise.
By no means an end to the vision of the church's
forefathers, the ground breaking and subsequent building
if the new church building was a continuation of the
vision begun by church leaders in 1867.
The new facility will provide for new and larger programs
of outreach and greater opportunities for ministry while
drawing on the church's rewarding heritage in the
retention of key elements of worship from the historic
church as well as antique furnishings and the beloved
memorial stained-glass windows which will lend the light
of the past with that of the present and hope for the
future.
That the final service in the old facility took place on
February 3, 2002 is entirely fitting, as winter makes way
toward spring and breaking hearts at leaving the place
where many have spent a lifetime gives way to the joy of
the beautiful new facility and a vision that gains
freshness in the wonderful possibilities of tomorrow.
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SPECIAL MEMBERS OF FIRST CUMBERLAND PRESBYTERIAN
CHURCH - McKENZIE, TN |
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CHARTER MEMBERS |
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50 YEARS OR MORE |
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MEMBERS FOR 25-50 YEARS |
Sidney A. Mebane
Tennessee V. Mebane
Martha A. Moore
Eliza J. Moore
Robert D. Gwin
James R. Carter
Mrs. A. J. Carter
Elliott F. Miller
Pamlee Cooper
J. E. Crabtree
Mrs. E. D. Miller
Mrs. Mang J. Kyle
Mrs. Mang A. Griffin
J. G. Holt
Mrs. S. A. Holt
Thomas Osborn
Sister Osborn
Elbert G. Everett
M. S. Everett |
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Regel Baker
Edwin Basford
Barry Brasfield
Willard Brush
Elizabeth Burroughs
Ruth Cooper
Faye Headden
Norvel J. Headden
Dorothy Howell
Franklin Howell
Charles Hudson
James Hudson
Bill Kirk
John D. Marshall
Ruth Morris
Rebecca Pate
Ben T. Surber
Robert D. Thedford
Mary E. Waddle
Louise Ward
Mary G. Ward |
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Cindy Arnold
Diane Bladecki
Gary Blount
Doris Blount
Betty Burton
Gordon Coleman
Glynda Corbin
Terry Cravens
Nellie Dailey
Clennon Dailey
Millie Finley
Jean Garrett
Judy Ginter
Jack Hall
Judy Hall
Joe Hearn
Linda Hearn
Ron Hinton
Julia Hinton
Lucille Holt
Terry Howell
Wanda Hudson
Tommy Hudson
Ronnie Hudson
Charles Kemp
Linda Kemp
Jan Kirk
Clay Kirk
Craig Kirk
Marlene Kreuter
David Lankford
Lynda Lankford
J. T. Lindsey
Robye Lindsey
Paul Long
Susie Long
Zia McKennie
Sandra McMahen
John Motheral
Byron Pate
Sandra Pate
Demetra Perkins
Toni Prosser
Peggy Richardson
Larry Ridley
Pat Ridley
Linda Smith
C. H. Summers
Lenore Surber
Tommy Surber
David Thompson
J. C. True
Lil True
Virginia Walker
Joe Walker
Donna Ward
Danny Yates
Amy Van Buren
Woodrow Young
Blondell Young |
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Phone (731) 352-3323 or Fax (731)
352-3322
washburn@mckenziebanner.com
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