Copyright © 2003 The Episcopal Diocese of East Tennessee

By Ryan Johnson, age 13

When I went to camp, I had a white T-shirt that said, “Ringgold Baseball.” By the end of camp that shirt wasn’t white anymore. It was brown from the mud that splattered me when it rained while we played Ultimate Frisbee to the pudding fight that started as a nice little game of Bingo.

The counselors said whoever won would be able to “pie” anyone they wanted. The first one to win was our new friend from Knoxville, Michael. He is funny, and I mean it. He and Dustin would always compete for the funniest guy at camp, from Dustin’s flips into muddy water to Michael’s jokes he just makes up off the top of his head.

All the counselors had picked up pies and started launching them at people. ... I jumped onto the picnic table, grabbed a pie and shoved it into the nearest face. I grabbed another and headed for Dustin. He picked one up and we dove at each other. I tell you the truth, it tasted kind of good.

Ultimate Frisbee ... You pass a Frisbee to your teammates and try to score a touchdown. The most brutal game ever! This was the best camp that I have ever been to and I want to go back. ... Thanks, Nativity, for all the memories.

The Rev. Betty Latham, who submitted Ryan’s story, explains that Nativity pays for all its children who express interest to attend Grace Point camp.

The Chattanooga Community Kitchen, one of our diocese’s first Jubilee Centers, has been awarded $10,000 from the United Thank Offering fund of Episcopal Church Women. It will go toward the purchase of a new recycling truck.

Three Jubilee Center applicants await final review in October by the Executive Council of the Episcopal Church: Hosanna Community in Chattanooga, the Appalachian Feeding Ministry of St. Thomas in Elizabethton and the toil’ De Art Gallery for children in Dayton. Official notifications should be made in late October. The Bradley Initiative Credit Union – a credit union especially for the poor, sponsored by St. Luke’s in Cleveland – is beginning the Jubilee Center application process.

If your parish is involved in community care, addressing the issues of poverty, homelessness and other issues of concern and is interested in becoming a Jubilee Center, please contact the diocesan Jubilee officer, the Rev. Wade Frye, at 865-691-5428 or jfrye3@att.net.

Designation links programs with nearly 800 other Jubilee Centers around the world and gives improved access to funding and networking resources.

The people of St. John the Baptist, Battle Creek, are deeply involved in the building of their new parish hall, doing much of the work and raising much of the money themselves.

The small parish has been home for 50 years to its rector, the Rev. Dr. Howard Rhys, who also celebrated his 60th year in ministry last year.

The congregation has issued an open invitation to those who would join them in dedicating the new facility in honor of Rhys on Saturday, Oct. 18, beginning at 11 a.m. CST, when Bishop Charles vonRosenberg will celebrate the Eucharist and bless the building. A time of fellowship accompanied by finger foods will follow. All are welcome.

In addition to his duties at St. John, Rhys long taught seminarians at the University of the South’s School of Theology in Sewanee, Tenn.

“Father Rhys has been instrumental in the formation of many seminarians as both a professor and as a mentor,” said Nina Pooley, seminarian at Sewanee. “He has described his 50 years at St. John’s as one of the great joys of his life.”

According to the Rev. Susanna Metz, associate rector at St. John, a “seminarian day” in late September was to make use of seminarians’ physical talents: They were to “rock” the outer walls of the new parish hall to match the church building.

Donations to the church building fund in honor of the longtime ministry of its rector will be gladly accepted. Please send checks made payable to the church along with a card to the Rev. Susanna Metz, 335 Tennessee Ave., Sewanee, Tenn., 37383. The cards will be gathered and presented to Rhys as a keepsake.

Episcopal School of Knoxville invites everyone to attend its Second Annual Appalachian Harvest Festival, scheduled for Tuesday, October 14th. The festival is a celebration of local artisans, historians and musicians.

The school also announces its Open House events, scheduled for October 22nd and November 9th.

Events to celebrate in the past year include the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools’ recommendation for accreditation. ESK received a K-12 Environmental Awareness Award from the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation for its incorporation of conservation awareness and stewardship into its curriculum. In addition, two ESK students of the French language finished in the top five in the state of Tennessee and in the top 25 in the country.

For more information about achievements and events, please call the school at 865-777-9032 or visit www.esknoxville.org.

A group of 10 Education for Ministry graduates and their co-mentors had their final retreat June 7 on the Anderson County farm of Jamey Kennedy.

The next day, Pentecost Sunday, The Rev. Dr. Craig Kallio, rector of St. Stephen, Oak Ridge, awarded their EFM diplomas.

He says this class was not a typical group: All 10 students who started the four-year program stayed together, and all 10 completed the rigorous course of theological study. Seven are communicants at St. Stephens. One is from St. Francis in Norris, one is from St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Oak Ridge and another is from Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Knoxville.

By Nellie McNeil
Upper East correspondent

The Tennessee Chapter of the American Institute of Architects has selected St. John’s Episcopal Church in downtown Johnson City as the winner of a prestigious Award of Merit. St. John’s was one of only eight recognized projects in the state and the only winning project in East Tennessee. Williamson Pounders Architects of Memphis received the award at the annual AIA convention in Nashville.

“I am proud of everybody who worked on it, proud that the design was such architecture that joined and was compatible with the old church but did not copy it,” said Dr. Ben Hall, chairman of the building committee.

A jury of architects from New York City and Yale University selected the winners from 99 entries designed by Tennessee architects.

St. John’s has long been a Johnson City landmark. Its Gothic revival style and use of Nolichucky River rock masonry make it distinctive. “The same river rock quarried from the same location and that was hauled by open wagon and mule 100 years ago has been used,” Hall said.

The new addition – a nave and sacristy, office and classroom space – is clad in red cedar shakes and river rock and features steep roofs and broad eaves. A ramp leads to a new entry porch, the renovated narthex and the new nave.

The nave features laminated wood arches supported on stone piers, red oak ceilings and stained concrete flooring. Acoustical wall panels are custom-stenciled with Christian crosses developed by the architects and artist Martha Cooper. Natural lighting is supplemented by pendant lights designed by the architects.

According to architect James F. Williamson, “Our design goal was the creation of a single, lofty room of noble proportions that would evoke a sense of mystery, facilitate the liturgy and foster the creation of community. We were equally concerned with respecting the delightfully quirky character of the existing church.”

Williamson, AIA, principal-in-charge, was assisted by Mark Freeman Associates, Inc., Hal Spoden, P.E. and MECA Engineering – all of Kingsport – and by Thorburn Associates of Castro Valley, California. The General Contractor was Powell Building Group.

St. Thomas, Knoxville, is having a Fall Festival 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Oct. 25. Events include games for children, a dunking booth, a “moonwalk” and visits by the Knoxville Police Dept., Knoxville Fire Dept., Knoxville Zoo and Ijams Nature Center.

Bring an appetite for barbecue sandwiches, meatball subs and goodies from a bake sale. Crafts will be sold, and the third-world marketer 10,000 Villages will display its articles.

For more information, call St. Thomas, 865-688-2741, or send an e-mail to Maxine Nichol at mnichol7@yahoo.com.

St. Thomas also reports that 28 parishioners enjoyed an overnight stay at Shaker Village in Pleasant Hill, Ky., this summer. Visitors learned about the Shaker way of life through talks and music, and they took a boat ride on the Kentucky River.

Parishioner Pat Ezzell’s first book, “TVA Photography: Thirty Years of Life in the Tennessee Valley,” was expected to be out Oct. 1 from University Press of Mississippi.

By Emily McDonald
South East correspondent

An old-fashioned “Dinner on the Grounds” kicked off the 75th anniversary celebration for the Church of the Good Shepherd, Lookout Mountain.

Approximately 325 children, young people and adults attended the event on July 27 at the church. The church supplied fried chicken, and parishioners brought covered dishes.

Eddie Gwaltney; the Rev. Perry Scruggs, assistant at Good Shepherd; and Scruggs’ sister and brother-in-law, Ellen and Mike Sheppard of Florida, performed music at the event. Other musical activities included a sing-along with children of Vacation Bible School songs and another one for older adults that featured songs from the 1920s.

“We had a wonderful historical display of the church that was put together by Van and Caroline Cavett, who are in the process of publishing a book of the history of Good Shepherd,” said Shelley Armstrong, volunteer and special events coordinator at the church.

“The youth sold special commemorative T-shirts for the 75th anniversary,” she said, “the proceeds of which will go toward their pilgrimage next summer.”

Among activities offered for young people were an Astro jump in the shape of a train (the church is situated on land where train tracks were once located), races and crafts. Board games from the ’20s encouraged all generations to play.

Anniversary events will be held monthly or more frequently, and the number 75 will be associated with some of them. For example, as part of the fall stewardship campaign, 75 people will spend 75 minutes writing five letters to fellow parishioners. A list of 75 ways to become involved at Good Shepherd has been prepared, and parishioners are asked to sign cards pledging to attend church 75 percent of the time.

The anniversary celebration will conclude May 2 with a homecoming where members who have taken Holy Orders will be invited to speak.

The Church of the Good Shepherd originated in a special building committee established by St. Paul, Chatta-nooga. On June 17, 1928, the committee signed a contract with builder D.F. Brandon to erect a church building on two Lookout Mountain lots. The work began the next day and was completed in 40 days. An opening service held on the 41st day, Sunday, July 29, included vespers and a sermon by the Rev. Oliver Hart, rector of St. Paul’s.

Seventy-five years later to the day, the bells of Good Shepherd tolled 75 times to mark that special occasion.

• The Rev. Dan Matthews accepted a call to be rector of St. Luke, Atlanta. His last Sunday at St. Paul, Kingsport, was Sept. 14.
• The Rev. Dr. Stephen Eichler, former rector of St. Alban, Hixson, is now a certified clinical hypnotherapist and pastoral care specialist practicing at Memorial Hospital in Chattanooga. He and his spouse, Dee, who is a psychotherapist and is licensed in clinical social work, also do relationship counseling with couples. They will lead a retreat/workshop for couples Feb. 6-8 at St. Mary’s Retreat Center in Sewanee. Check www.stmarysretreat.org/ for more.