Thanks to our contributors and regret that we must shut down the site.

Felix & Liz Bearden

Many of you remember, Dr. Fifield has touched our church as interim pastor. He has also touched this church with the service of Margaret Ann Fifield Duly. Margaret along with her brothers, Stephen McIntosh Fifield and Harry Amos Fifield, Jr., and First Presbyterian Church of Atlanta, are celebrating his 100th birthday this year. The church and the family are placing mementos in the archives room at First Church on Sunday, June 6th to be viewed from 9am to 1pm with services at 9:00 and 11:15. We are sending this to ask you to join us for this celebration. And we wanted you to know some of what he achieved answering his call from God.

Papa was born in Schenectady, NY June 22, 1910. His family moved to Florida when Granddaddy returned from WWI. Papa graduated from the University of Florida. He went on to Princeton Seminary were he graduated in 1936. His first church after ordination was in Steelton, PA. There he and Mama were married in 1937 and Steve was born in 1940. He spent a short time in his second church in Deland, FL before enlisting in the Navy during WWII. One of the pictures we have is of a memorial service on board his ship, the USS Cabot. It is on 11/26/44, the day after a Kamikaze pilot crashed into the ship. Papa is pictured next to the captain. The service is the burial at sea of the 62 men who were killed. Margaret Ann was born in 1945 while he was at sea. We have the letter he wrote her telling her about her mom, big brother, himself and God. This was in case he did not come home.

But come home he did. His first church after the war was in Lynchburg, VA. Harry Jr. was born there in 1952. Papa was called to First Church Atlanta in 1953 where God did His finest work with this man. When we moved to Atlanta the South, and for that matter the whole country, was in a deep struggle over Civil Rights. Our father initiated the coming together of seven other pastors to develop the Minister’s Manifesto which was eventually signed by 80 brave ministers and published in the Atlanta Journal November 3, 1957. It spoke of preserving freedom of speech, obeying the law, maintaining our public schools, rejecting hatred, fostering communication between the races and recognizing we cannot solve these problems alone. Only with God’s help can real solutions come.

In October of 58 the KKK bombed the Atlanta Jewish Temple. Papa and the Session of the Church immediately opened our doors for the Temple’s congregation to meet until the Temple could be repaired. The Sunday service of First Church was carried live over WSB Radio. Papa said from the pulpit, as angry as we have ever heard him, “Anyone who would carry a cross and destroy a House of God is a blasphemous hypocrite.” Our family was barraged with vulgar and frightening calls from members of the KKK. This went on, all hours of the day and night, for weeks until the FBI told us we had no choice but to get an unlisted number.

The 60s were also a time of struggle over the Vietnam War, drugs were a growing crisis and people were experimenting with “free love”. A “Hippie” culture grew up in an Atlanta neighborhood close to First Church. It was full of drug abuse, run away teens, Flower Children and the homeless. Papa started one of the first urban ministries in Atlanta. He used the talents of our young, youth minister, Alex Williams, and sent him into this ministry. Lives were saved from drugs, teens were reunited with families, and young people found something far greater than flowers to worship.

On Sunday June 3, 1962 a group of art enthusiasts boarded a plane at Orly Airport outside of Paris. They were bringing back art they had gone to Paris to purchase for the new High Museum, built next door to First Church. The plane crashed on takeoff and all but two stewardesses were killed. WSB called Papa early that morning to tell him. He rewrote his entire sermon. This sermon called upon memories of the loss of his 62 men in the Kamikaze attach years earlier. With an aching heart (we had lost 16 members of the church) he let his congregation know of the tragedy. In between services he had the awesome duty to tell two little boys that both their parents had died in the crash.

Papa’s preaching style can be summed up very easily by the phrase he used so often at the end of his sermons. When he retired from First Church, a silver cup was placed in the pulpit with this phrase on it. He would preach a powerful sermon, never wagging his finger at the congregation, never threatening them with hellfire, always inspiring them and then he would look out over his people and ask, “And how is it with you?”

He retired from First Church Atlanta in 1976. Papa had 17 interim pastorates after that. Papa died in June of 2002 just three months after Mama died. They had been married for 64 years. Both their lives have enriched us and so many others. If you find the time we would be honored to have you join us on June 6th at First Presbyterian Church. We ask for your prayers for this day of honoring our father.

Sincerely,

Steve, Margaret Ann and Harry

• Funeral Planning Form
• Funeral Guild Reference Document
  
• Funeral Guild Coordinator
• Funeral Guild Reception Coordinator
• Funeral Guild Checklist
• Funeral Guild Booklet

Now, after he is no longer among us, I found more about him.

Jim entered the world, son of Samuel Thomas Greene and Sylena Mazyck Green May 25, 1939 in Summerville, SC.

He graduated from Alston High School and Benedict College where he was a star football player.

He was drafted by the Los Angeles Rams of the National Football League in 1962.  He went toMontreal Alouettes of the Canadian League instead where he played until receiving a severe knee injury.

He was a teacher and coach for over 30 years in Summerville, SC, Bronx, NY, and Harlem, NYHe was co-founder and president of the Benedict College Booster Club.

He was inducted into the Summerville High Football Hall of Fame and Benedict College Athletic Hall of Fame where his #12 Jersey was retired October, 2009.

He enjoyed coordinating exercises for the Senior Ministry at New Life Presbyterian Church, coaching boys with the Youth Basketball of America in Georgia, golfing and fishing.

He was an active member of the Benedict College Alumni Association, the NAACP, the Omega Si Phi Fraternity, and Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church.

In spite of his illness, he looked forward to the Senior Shepherd lunches at Good Shepherd.

He is survived by his devoted wife of 26 years, Antoinette B. Greene; daughter, Keilya Greene of Virginia Beach, VA; step-son, Chris Young and his wife, Yvonne of Indianapolis, IN; 4 grandchildren, Duke Willington Grant, III, Beautiful Grant, Heavonlei and Trinity Joshua Young; a host of nieces and nephews, cousins, and friends.

The Service Celebrating the Life of Jim Greene will be held Thursday, December 31, 2009 at 1:00 P.M. at Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church with Pastor Joe Evans officiating. The family will receive friends on Wednesday from 1:00 P.M. to 6:00 P.M. at the Tom Wages Funeral Home on US Highway 78, Snellville. A reception will be held after the service on Thursday at the church. In lieu of flowers, the family has requested that donations be made to the Benedict College Booster Club, 1600 Harden Street, Columbia, SC 29204 in memory of James “Jim” Greene.

House at end of Larkview Drive close to cresting of Yellow River. Note Just the roof of the house in the center of the picture.

1. The flood has come and gone from Gwinnett!

2. FEMA has taken over 3600 applications for assistance!

3. Out of state groups are standing by to provide assistance!

4. Some Gwinnett residents need that assistance.

5. What we need is a way to connect 3 and 4.

We need a Gwinnett Long Term Disaster Assistance organization to provide that connection.  See the report PCUSA/PDA below for more information and references to associated organizations.

An organizational meeting will be held 10:00AM December 17,2009 at All Saints Lutheran Church, 722 Rockbridge Rd, Lilburn.

This organization will act in conjunction with FEMA, Volunteer Organizations Active in Disaster (www.GAVOAD.us)

Click here (http://d13009051.d158.dnnfx.com/Mission/tabid/53/Default.aspx) see the mission statement of an existing organization if you wish to get an idea of what the organization would be doing. Note that the Gwinnett organization would develop its own mission statement.

If you have any questions, please call Felix or Liz Bearden at 770-923-4824. Please mention “Gwinnett Long Term Assistance” to assure that you get through.

Please come!!!

And Please forward this message to any concerned Gwinnett County residents.

Felix and Liz Bearden

felix@fbai-usa.com
liz@gwinnetthomes.net

Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church Adult Choir

As a choir director and someone who has spent a lifetime (67 years) associated with choirs, a way to appreciate Emily’s service is to grade her on the necessary attributes of a Minister of Music.

• Interpretative Talent – A. The ability to take what is written on a score and understand either or both what the composer intended and how God wishes something to sound beyond the symbols on the page is necessary.  Many conductors are successful depending on a recording or listening to another conductors interpretation.  But a conductor that can and does go beyond that example has the necessary interpretative skills of a great conductor
• Communication talent – A.  Starting with the concept in the mind of the sound of music and communicating that to participants in an organization is rare.
• Pedantic Skills – A.  The ability to teach adults, youth, and children and make it enjoyable is a necessary but rare skill.
• People Skills – A. The ability to deal with natural conflicts of people in an organization.  Talented musicians tend to have egos that are sometimes easily bruised.  They are emotional and sensitive.  Since directors are very sensitive, and need to be, and emotional, and need to be, people skills necessary for the success of any organization, are particularly necessary for a successful minister of music.
• Applicability – A.  She always recognizes the proper place of music in worship,  that music is a part of the life of the church, not the center.
• Musicianship – A.  She always strives toward excellence in presenting herself and the organizations she leads.
• Music Literature knowledge – A. her knowledge of good music available for the church liturgy is superior.  Once a director becomes employed by a church, he or she is bombarded by publishers literature advertising their particular publications for music and must pick and choose from those publications.
• Spirituality – A.  A choir director, or leader of any organization, that pauses a meeting on hearing sirens, to pray for whomever is affected is rare and demonstrates a concern for ones fellow man that exceeds the norm.

The following attributes may not be required, but certainly make life more interesting  for groups preparing for worship.

• Sense of Humor – A.

And I don’t think anyone, except another conductor, can truly appreciate the presence of the ultimate support system, the spouse.  Even though we see Andy moving equipment, doing errands, and the like, we don’t see the support he provides when he and Emily are out of site.  The encouragement when she is down, the critique of her methods when he thinks she is wrong, and just being there when she needs it.  So, thanks for your contributions, seen and unseen.

By Liz and Felix Bearden

The scenes below show some of the effects of the flood of September 19 and 20, 2009. All of these scenes were within walking distance of Good Shepherd.

Bridge on Killian Hill

The picture of the bridge was taken on September 21, after the Yellow River crested.  Note that water marks showing the high point of the flood remain.

House at end of Larkview Drive close to cresting of Yellow River.

Note that you can see just the roof of the house at the end of Larkview.

The house on the left, end of Larkview

Note the watermark on the bricks on the house on the left.  Even though the water didn’t reach the main floor, the residents had to evacuate.

Following the flood  we were asked to attend an introductory meeting of the Presbyterian Disaster Assistance organization on October 28, 2009 at St. Andrews to help Good Shepherd determine whether we might form our own
church based group to respond to events such as our recent flood during which 4 routes to the church
were closed. We were briefed by Harvey Howell who heads the San Antonio Disaster Assistance team
originally formed as a response to Katrina.

The Meeting, October 28,2009
The meeting was pretty much an introduction to Disaster Assistance and the Presbyterian Church’s part in the process. People in attendance included our host, Dr. Dave Kivett, Rev. Nath Briley of the Atlanta Presbytery Disaster Preparedness Response Team; leader-lecturer, Harvey Howell, President of SAPDA, San Antonio; PCUSA/PDA team members; Dekalb County Police emergency response team
About Disasters
This topic pretty well covered the terminology of disasters, and gave some of the alphabet soup of agencies involved.

• FEMA – Federal Emergency Management Agency, http://www.fema.gov
• SBA – Small Business Administration, http://www.sba.gov
• GEMA – Georgia Emergency Management Agency, http://www.gema.state.ga.us
• NVOAD – National Voluntary Organizations Assistance in Disaster, http://www.nvoad.org
• GAVOID – Georgia Voluntary Organizations Assistance in Disaster, http://www.gavoid.us
• PCUSA/PDA – Presbyterian Church USA/Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, http://www.pcusa.org/pda

Points that was emphasized throughout the meeting:

• Disasters are always local.
• Disasters are always unique.
• Responses are alway local

We learned that many organizations are in place to help, particularly immediately after the event, but
since all events are local, and local response is often critical, localized response is important to the
community. And, although many actions have to be immediate, knowing the makeup and the roles of
the relief organizations, and how we can best work together, is necessary. PCUSA/PDA works in
conjunction with the organizations listed above. These organizations are coordinated by GAVOID

Phases of a Disaster

Disaster Cycle

We were surprised to find that we are actually between 5. Short-Term Recovery and 6. Long Term Recovery.
Emotional Measure

Emotional

The chart above is a measure of the emotional condition of the people affected by the event with the stages labeled. Another surprise to us is that the cycle usually represents a year or in some cases even more depending on the event and the affected people.

“Light Our Way”
NVOAD has prepared a booklet, “Light Our Way”, to assist all “who carry out one or more of the myriad essential functions in the relief and recovery stages of disaster response” setting standards for spiritual care of all who have been affected by a disaster.

Presbyterians and VOAD
National and local VOADs are responsible for coordinating the activities of the volunteer organization’s response to an event. For the recent floods, GAVOAD, http://www.gavoad.us, Bob Tribble is responsible the coordination. Individuals, organizations, churches and the like must determine what part they will play in the recovery and make GAVOAD aware of that service. Then GAVOAD calls on such organizations when such a need is identified.

Presbyterians might fit in best as case-management personnel, who act as councilors to victims of
disasters. Their roll is to listen to the victims (who need to relate their story) and assist them in
planning and applying for aid in the most advantageous way. Using a process that has already been
established will alleviate the frustration some of the frustration and confusion caused by red tape.
To Illustrate:
Applicants must apply for and have a rejection from the SMA (Small Business Administration) before
applying for certain types of FEMA aid.
A lady lost almost every thing in her home, including a refrigerator, where she was keeping her food.
She applied for aid, then a local church gave her a refrigerator. The official who was sent to inspect her
home for losses noticed the new refrigerator and deducted the value of it from her grant. The lesson is
that the church should have loaned her the refrigerator so that those resources could have been used
elsewhere.

Coming Events
We are in the transition phase to the long term recovery phase. For those who are interested in participating, training must come fast and activities must start as soon as possible.

• Case Worker Training (2 day course) Cobb County, call 678-533-1443 for details.
• Case Worker Training (2 day course) November 11 & 12, 8AM at FEMA and GEMA office at 4360 NE Express Way, call 678-533-1443 to register.
• Recovery Tools and Training November 13, 8:30-4:40 at the FEMA and GEMA field office at 4360
  NE Expressway, Register at www.cwserp.org or call Debbra Coleman at 571-449-1606 for assistance.
• Gwinnett Planning session, December 7, 10:00 AM at All Saints Lutheran Church,  722 NW Rockbridge RD. Call Susan Zuber, FEMA 571-439-1355 for more information.

Contacts

• Bob Tribble, President of GA VOAD, 404-313-7878
• Sandra Price, Response Team, sandralprice@comcast.net 601-955-8275
• Rick Turner, Response Team, datwet3@yahoo.com 864-346-0707
• Harvey Howell President of San Antonio VOAD harveyhowell@earthlink.net 210-863-1015
• Milton Fulton, Response Team, mmfulton@bellsouth.net, 904-616-6348
• Susan Zuber, FEMA, 571-439-1355

Conclusions
The meeting was very useful to us for better understanding the full implications of a disaster and appreciating what Presbyterians are doing toward assisting others, as well as ourselves. This is a brief summary of what we heard and does not even represent the tip of the iceberg with respect to the information available on the internet.

What can GSPC do?
This presents an opportunity for us to become more involved in the community. We believe it is an opportunity that requires more “hands on” work meaning our members will be communicating with those affected more deeply by the disaster with material as well as spiritual aid. The plan we submitted earlier, the prayer requests cards, can be modified to ask if the recipient has received aid from agencies and needed our help through NVOAD or elsewhere to facilitate that aid.
One need, in which the Methodists and Lutherans are playing a major role, is to recruit and train “case workers” who assist victims that need assistance helping them through the necessary steps to make sure they get it. Note in the coming events above the scheduled training sessions for the case workers.

Aside from the ascetic value of the property, the existing church building would sit in the center of the property and, by removing some trees, be more visible when approaching the church from the south east, what are other uses that can be made of the property?

• Parking
• Recreation, ball field
• Community Garden (suggested by Ron Moore)
• Guest House
• Classrooms
• Giliad House
• Church Bus Storage

Please add comments and Ideas.

The property was forclosed and is now owned by Fannie Mae. The last sale was for $328,000 six years ago.  Fannie Mae has accepted our offer of $152,000 pending congregation approval.

The property is currently considered “Under Contract” to GSPC contingent on “Due Diligence” and approval of the Greater Atlanta Presbytery.  According to the Reallist Tax Record, the property is 3.5 acres.  Closing is scheduled on or before April 3, 2009.

Two appraisals are currently being prepared (part of due diligence).  Financing options are being researched.

As shown here, the property extends along the full length of the South-East property line of GSPC.  Ignore the address posted at the top of the view.  The address is actually 1436 Killian Hill Road.

Overhead (Note overlayed property line)

The primary value of the property to GSPC is the property.  The opportunity to add the 3.5 acres at the price offered regardless of the house on the property places the church in the centre of the combined lots and opens possibilities of expansions in a number of ways.  However, the property does come with a house and must be considered with the purchase regardless of the final use of the property.

The original house was built in 1929.  It has apparently been updated a number of times.

The main characteristics:

• 4 bedroom, 2 bath
• Family Room
• Game Room (built in garage)
• Dining Room
• Kitchen
• Large Utility Room
• Pool Shower Area
• External Work Shop
• Large Storage Area next to Game Room
• Swimming Pool (pump and filter appear to be intact — needs a lot of work)
• Air conditioned, Gas Heat
• Hardy Plank Siding
• Security System
• Lawn Watering System
• Manufactured Fire Place

Things that need to be done:

• Home Inspection with all utilities on.
• Termite Inspection.
• AC Servicing.  If operational with Home Inspection, this may not be necessary.
• Replacement of linoleum in kitchen.
• Repair of Floor in Master Bedroom.
• Repair holes in the walls.  Only patching required.  Replacement full sections of wall-board probably not required.

The “Birds’ Eye” view shows a view of the house.  Following that picture are a number of pictures of the inside and exterior of the house.

Birds' Eye View

Outside Views

Playhouse at midpoint of property

Swimming Pool Area

Family Room

Dining Room

Kitchen

Master Bedroom (Note Buckled Flooring)

Electrical Box (example of repairs needed)

Time: 9:00 am – Noon

Location: Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church Parking Lot

Bring some gardening tools to help clean up the area.

RSVP Mark Beeney, Dave Lux, Cory Duncan (email addresses not published to reduce spam. Telephone Numbers are in the church directory)