August 23 Event

To Involve Many

Local Churches

ByBILL JONES

Staff Writer

Some 50 people representing about 20 Greene County churches gathered at Hardins Chapel United Methodist Church on Tuesday evening to begin planning for a community-wide barbecue to raise funds for rebuilding Baileyton United Methodist Church.

The 102-year-old church building burned to the ground last November.

Near the close of the 7 p.m. meeting, those in attendance agreed to work toward holding what is being called the "Baileyton Benefit Barbecue" on Saturday, Aug. 23, in the cafeteria and on the grounds of Baileyton Elementary School.

Dan Duggar, a retired educator and Hardins Chapel UMC member who presided during the meeting, asked those who attended the meeting to return to their individual churches and discuss with fellow church members what price should be charged for tickets to the planned barbecue.

Duggar asked the group to be ready to make a decision about ticket prices at the next meeting at 7 p.m. Tuesday, June 10, at Sulphur Springs United Methodist Church.

In response to a question from the audience, Duggar said that five years ago when a similar barbecue was held to help rebuild the fire-destroyed Sulphur Springs United Methodist Church, ticket prices had been $6 in advance and $7 at the door.

But last year, when another barbecue was held to raise funds to complete a building for the Northern Greene County Churches United in Love Ministry food bank, ticket prices were $7 in advance and $8 at the door.

Duggar said during the Tuesday night meeting that if a ticket price decision is made on June 10, it will allow time to have tickets printed for distribution beginning on June 24.

That, he said, would give church members eight weeks before the scheduled Aug. 23 barbecue in which to sell tickets.

"The key will be selling tickets before the barbecue," Duggar told the audience.

Sulphur Springs Recalled

During the meeting, audience members were shown an audio-visual presentation about how a very successful barbecue was conducted five years ago to help rebuild the Sulphur Springs United Methodist Church on Sulphur Springs Loop after it was destroyed by fire.

Duggar asked Helen Shipley, a Sulphur Springs UMC member who was in the audience, to tell the audience how much money that barbecue had raised.

Shipley said, "$54,000 plus."

In addition to the barbecue, Duggar said, the day-long Sulphur Springs barbecue at Baileyton Elementary School included a benefit auction and entertainment.

Duggar told the audience on Tuesday night that he thinks a barbecue and associated fundraising events to benefit the Baileyton UMC can be equally as successful.

But Duggar said that he and the late David Johnson, who had been the key planner of the Sulphur Springs barbecue five years ago, had had no idea the barbecue could raise that much money before the barbecue took place.

Duggar noted that he recently had found notes made by Johnson, whom he described as a meticulous recorder-keeper, that indicated Johnson had calculated, before the event, that the Sulphur Springs barbecue might raise about $22,000.

He and Johnson had been stunned to see how much more money was actually raised, Duggar said.

Fortunately, Duggar said, he has all the notes and records that Johnson kept concerning how the successful Sulphur Springs barbecue was planned and executed.

He pointed out that the records show that 190 volunteers worked on the day of the Sulphur Springs barbecue, doing everything from parking cars, to dishing up barbecue at inside and outside service lines and a drive-through meal pick-up point.

Duggar also recalled how organizers settled on attempting to sell about 5,000 tickets for the Sulphur Springs barbecue five years ago.

He noted that Pastor Eddie Malone had first raised the 5,000-ticket idea during a planning session by asking "doesn't the Bible speak about feeding 5,000?"

Duggar noted selling more than 4,000 tickets didn't prove to be as monumental a task as first thought.

"If you can get 400 people to sell 10 tickets each, that's 4,000 tickets," Duggar noted.

Baileyton UMC Trustee Speaks

Also during the meeting, Larry Shaver, a trustee of Baileyton UMC, told the audience that his congregation is forging ahead with plans to rebuild their church "even if we have to go into debt."

Shaver said the Baileyton UMC congregation is working with Greeneville architect Dave Wright to finalize plans for a new church building that will feature a sanctuary similar to that of the building that burned.

In addition, he said, the new church building is to have more classrooms than the previous church. Also, he said, the new building is to incorporate a large fellowship hall with a ceiling tall enough to allow basketball to be played.

Shaver stressed that while the new fellowship hall isn't expected to be large enough to house a full basketball court, it will be large enough to accommodate a variety of youth activities.

He noted that the church recently had acquired an additional 1.6 acres adjacent to the site of the burned church. The additional property, Shaver said, will allow for construction of a larger church building with additional parking.

Once architect Wright completes plans for the new structure, Shaver said, the plans must be approved by officials of the United Methodist Church before the congregation can proceed with construction.

After the meeting, Shaver said he hopes ground can be broken before July 1.