July 29 - Aug. 4, 2016
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United we stand After two small, racially divided congregations next door to each other become one, the intentional work of ‘marriage’ begins
thought about his church merging with its next-door-neighbor, Peace United Methodist Church.
by PATTI STOKES
Though Peace UMC was no more than one-fourth mile farther down Scalesville Road and both churches were under the umbrella of the United Methodist Church organization, they had very separate identities.
SUMMERFIELD – About a year after settling into his new role as pastor of Summerfield United Methodist Church, Rev. David Lee had a meeting with his church’s district superintendent, Nancy Rankin. Following their meeting, he walked her out to the parking lot – and that’s when she asked him a very thought-provoking question. Rankin wanted to know what Lee
After taking a moment to process the question, Lee said he remembered thinking, “That’s a great idea – but maybe for the next guy.”
“We liked each other and knew each other,” Lee said. But though they occasionally had functions together, for Sunday worship and much of the time in between,
the two churches “did their own thing” and functioned independently. With the exception of Lee, an AsianAmerican who was born in Seoul, South Korea, and moved to this country when he was 7, and one other person who is Asian, Summerfield UMC’s congregation of about 95 people was white; in contrast, Peace UMC’s congregation consisted of about 15 people, all African American. Last October Rankin informed Lee that
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Photo courtesy of Rev. David Lee
Rev. David Lee is facing the challenges as well as embracing the opportunities that come with a merger of Summerfield United Methodist and Peace United Methodist churches.
ABC store returns to the forefront The subject of an ABC store in Stokesdale has been tabled for over six years, but citizens recently asked council member Frank Bruno to research its feasibility by PATTI STOKES STOKESDALE – Sixty percent of Stokesdale citizens voted in Novem-
ber 2009 to allow both mixed drink sales and ABC stores in the town. Six months later, however, then Town Attorney Bill Trevorrow reported back to the town council that he had received rejections from representatives of both the Greensboro ABC Board and the Triad Municipal ABC Board for Stokesdale to join either of their boards. Gregory Bradsher, who served as administrator of the Triad Municipal ABC Board in early 2010, said at the time that his board voted not
to pursue a store in Stokesdale due to economic conditions as well as issues regarding possible changes to local ABC boards that were being discussed in the state legislature. That was over six years ago, and the issue of an ABC store in Stokesdale recently came back to the forefront after citizens were told last month the town council had decided after 23 years to no longer budget for a dedicated deputy. The reasons cited
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IN THIS ISSUE News in Brief ......................................... 2 Your Questions ..................................... 4 Stokesdale Town Council ................... 7 Serve Day ............................................11 Crime/Incident Report ...................... 14 Community Calendar ....................... 15 Grins & Gripes .................................... 17 Classifieds .......................................... 19 Index of Advertisers .......................... 23 NWO on the Go ................................. 24