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‘You’re the answer to
my prayer!’
As Gant outlined
her proposal to galvanize the community into pre-emptive action,
tears stood in the mayor’s eyes.
“He got up from
his desk and gave me a big awesome hug,” Gant said.
“I told her she
was the answer to my prayer!” Revell
admitted.
Revell
is no stranger to prayer. Mayor of Dyersburg for 25 years and a
member of Dyersburg’s First United Methodist Church, he has been
reading the Scriptures and praying every morning of those 25 years
with anyone who happens to be in his office at 9:00 a.m.
“I thought
Esther’s idea of warning people about what would happen with their
bills and giving them tips to conserve energy was excellent,”
Revell said. “I was concerned about the
whole community. You want to reach out, be sensitive to the needs of
others. As it says in Matthew 25:40, ‘... as you did it to the least
of these my brethren, you have done it unto me.’ Esther came at just
the right time.”
Working
together, 24-member Ross UMC and the mayor spent a month bringing
everyone on board. Volunteers representing the 70-80 churches inside
the city limits and many community leaders met at the church,
filling the sanctuary twice a day, at noon and 6:00 p.m., every
Wednesday in October.
“We needed many
volunteers,” Revell explained.
“Dyersburg has 17,500 residents of whom about one-third are senior
citizens. We had many homes in five different sections of town to
cover.”
The
predominantly low income areas blanketed on foot by the volunteers
were Milltown, Future City, Bruce, Evansville, South Town and a
crossroads known as Poet’s Corner.
“It was good to
see pastors, the mayor, aldermen, church members and volunteers out
there,” Ms. Gant said. “It took us a couple of weeks to get to every
house. At one house my team visited, the man saw us going up and
down the street and sent someone to the door to say, ‘We don’t want
any of what you have.’ I yelled back, ‘It’s about your gas bill,’
and he said, ‘Let her in, let her in!’”
One elderly lady
living in a trailer broke Ms. Gant’s heart. “She has an adult
daughter with disabilities living with her. She told me that, if she
had to, she would give her whole paycheck not to be cold.”
Mike Morgan,
superintendent of Dyersburg’s Gas Department, said, “We went by the
homes of many elderly people and checked what the thermostat was set
on. They might have it at 80 or 90 degrees! We had to check on them
or their bills would have been outrageous.”
Information packets chock-full of useful tips
The information
packets handed out by the two-person teams were filled with
information and tips assembled by Morgan and by Penny Rice, who’s in
charge of Utility Department collections.
“I was asked to
come up with some tips to conserve gas,” Morgan said. “I have a
supplier who sells ‘stuff’ like that–an energy conservation wheel, a
small thermometer to hang on the wall that tells you when you need
to turn your heat down or up, and refrigerator magnets.”
He first ordered
1000 of each, then was forced to place
another order for a second 1000 when they ran out. Not only did the
teams go door to door handing out the packets, the information was
made available at City Hall where people pay their bills.
“And my guys
that light furnaces carried the packets and surveyed homes to see
what could be done to conserve heat,” he said.
The tips were
simple steps consumers could take to reduce their bill such as
closing draperies and blinds at night to keep in the sun’s warmth,
wearing sweaters at home while lowering the thermostat, cutting the
temperature on the hot water heater to 120 degrees, sealing leaks
around doors, windows and pipes, and refraining from heating unused
rooms.
Information was a blessing
Ross UMC member
Kenny Lyte said he and the mayor covered
Milltown. “Later, I ran into a lady at Wal-Mart. She recognized me
and said the stuff in the packet really helped her. She said she had
expected her bill to be out the roof, but it was just a little
higher than last year.
“Arming her with
that information was just a blessing in itself,” Mr.
Lyte said.
Morgan felt that
seeing the mayor and the volunteers going door to door opened a lot
of people’s eyes.
Community project a kind of evangelism
One volunteer,
Sylvester Simpson, lost count of the number of houses he visited.
Mr. Simpson became involved with the effort after attending some of
the October meetings at Ross UMC.
“And now he’s
going to be a new member by profession of faith here at Ross,” Ms.
Gant said, adding that there are many ways to do evangelism. “God
loves everybody,” she said. “It was good to see people come together
across all barriers.”
Kenny
Lyte agreed. “It’s a great thing to be
able to serve the community. The project probably made our
congregation look to what we could do for others instead of what we
can do for ourselves.”
‘We didn’t want to cut people off’
Revell
was pleased that the city was also able to provide information on
what to do if you couldn’t pay your utility bill. Two options were
offered: a monthly deferment payment plan for up to six months, and
an extension plan, good for up to six weeks.
“We were
determined to work with people who ran into trouble and couldn’t
pay,” Revell said. “We didn’t want to
cut people off if we could keep from it.”
Phone numbers of
agencies that could offer monetary aid such as the Union Mission,
the Salvation Army, the Northwest Development District and the
Matthew 25:40 group were included as
well.
Habla
Espanol?
Nancy Hardin, a
United Methodist who works with Hispanic families in the community,
translated all the materials into Spanish and took them with her on
visits.
“I added some
things about electricity that they wouldn’t know,” Ms. Hardin said.
“Most of them are from Mexico and come from places without stoves
and furnaces. They don’t know about wrapping pipes and outside
faucets.”
Ms. Hardin
demonstrated how to use the energy-saving tools and tips provided by
Mike Morgan. She was also present to translate for the gas and
electric technicians who came to service the homes.
“Everyone in
Dyersburg, the police, the hospital and the courts, treat the
Hispanics with patience and graciousness,” Ms. Hardin said.
In addition to
the house by house coverage, Mike Morgan and Mayor
Revell were on TV and radio several
times talking about conservation and warning of the high costs
coming.
Was all the effort worth while?
“This program
helped the entire community,” Mayor Revell
said unequivocally.
“We saw each
other as one,” added Sylvester Simpson.
And Dorothy
Reed, 84, who lives within “hollering distance” of Ross UMC,
believes the tips in her packet reduced her utility bill one month
from $405.09 to a little over $200.
“But I won’t be
asking for financial assistance,” she said firmly. “I still work.
The lady I work for is 93 years old and I’ve been working there for
67 years. Other people need the money worse than I do.”
The high energy bills of this winter may still
prove to be a hardship for some in Dyersburg, Tenn., but it won’t be
because no one cares. •
Prayer Alive: a new ministry of
the two Memphis districts
Dr.
Maxie Dunnam
will speak on the Foundations of Prayer at the first gathering of
Prayer Alive, a new ministry of the Asbury and
McKendree Districts.
The March 19,
2:00-4:30 p.m., meeting of pastors and Prayer Advocates will take
place at Colonial Park United Methodist Church, 5330 Park Avenue.
The purpose of
Prayer Alive is to provide a time and place for 200-plus Prayer
Advocates to intentionally pray for local and global needs.
Prayer Alive will also provide ways to enlarge the prayer
ministry of the local church through training, education and
experience.
According to Dr.
Dorothea Dudley, Director of Prayer Alive, the program will
provide relationships for prayer support among churches and a
website for sharing ideas about prayer ministries and for praying
for special needs of the local church as indicated by the pastor and
Prayer Advocates.
“We will provide
retreats and workshops for local churches as well,” said the Rev.
Dudley.
Every church in
the two districts is asked to provide two Prayer Advocates who will
be the liaisons between Prayer Alive and the church. Prayer
Advocates should be persons of prayer who are interested in growing
the prayer ministry of their church, able to work well with the
pastor and laity, eager to communicate with their church the
importance of prayer, and committed to attending quarterly
Prayer-Alive gatherings.
The March 19
gathering offers four workshops:
1.
Intercessory Prayer: Rev. Sharon Lewis-Karamoko,
McKendree District Superintendent
2. Praying
Our Everyday Lives: Dr. Cindy Schwartz, Living Waters Prayer
House Dir.
3. Praying
for Your Pastor: Dr. Dorothea Dudley, Director, Prayer-Alive
and Sherryl Moore, Holy Community
UMC
4. Setting
Up Prayer Ministries in Your
Local Church:
Rev. John Holt, Asbury District Superintendent
Prayer-Alive
Ministries will offer a presentation for prayer ministry within the
districts and your church. Everyone is invited. Prayer Advocates and
pastors will be given first opportunity to choose workshops.•
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February
17, 2006
