My apologies to Timoteo who alerted me to this in a sign in the window of the NAVO space a few days back and I didn’t have a chance to report. Rob reminded me by sending in a pic of the sign this morning.
As I understand it, this is next door to the proposed Dollar General space.
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That’s a shame.
Why is that?
Check out their Website:
http://newchurchoakhurst.org/
not…!
Ok, what am I missing? Why is this church any more or less objectionable than any other?
Yeah, I was just wondering that, too…
We seem to have a few self-appointed arbiters of how many churches per-capita are necessary. This politburo likely consists of some people who told everyone to suck it up when Dollar General was flirting with the place next door. Poor people = good, religious people = bad.
So much for celebrating diversity.
Hm… Self-appointed “deciders of what’s right for all of their neighbors” isn’t on the list. How do they rate?
How long will practice run, I don’t want to miss opening night.
The Resurrection just sounds cool!
“Practice Resurrection” would definitely be a cool name for a band…
Maybe I’ve just had too much experience with weird, cult-like “churches” but the “Practice Resurrection” slogan is not very comforting
Decatur is already overserved with churches. This is a big building/property that is no longer taxable. Plus most churches are unoccupied 95% of the time leaving a huge hole in the community. Plus this appears to be another independent, do it your own way congregation.
If there is anything worse than organized religion, it’s disorganized religion.
Wow! Intolerant much?
Who is intolerant? me or you?
Would you elaborate on what you mean by “This is a big building/property that is no longer taxable.”?
Are you saying that because a Church will be occupying this building that the property won’t have to pay taxes? Is that really how it works?
I’m guessing that the property is only tax exempt when the church actually owns it. It this case the church is only leasing the space and presumably the property owner would still be paying the property taxes. Also, I’m not much of a church person, but I don’t think a church could be any more of an “empty hole” in the community than an actually empty building. Anyone have an ETA on the DG? I’ve really gotten used to the idea and now I find myself impatient… 😛
Sorry, that should say “huge hole,” not “empty hole.” Improper use of quotation marks is a pet peeve of mine and then I go and do it myself!
Thanks for the reply about the tax exempt status. I knew that didn’t seem right.
And – I understand that the latest on DG is that they are no longer interested in that space (partly because the neighborhood is just not busy enough to drive the traffic they want).
…From a credible source who knows the property owner. (not me).
And the Lord did grin. And the people did feast upon the lambs and sloths, and carp and anchovies, and orangutans and breakfast cereals, and fruit-bats and …
*sigh* I miss the Pythons so…
Dollar General was never looking at the Navo space anyway. They were looking at the old Big H space next door, which, if you have ever been in there, would recognize is a wholly distince space.
If the church is renting the space, the property owner would still pay taxes.
What if you thought all churches were huge holes?
Decatur is already overserved with churches. This is a big building/property that is no longer taxable. Plus most churches are unoccupied 95% of the time leaving a huge hole in the community. Plus this appears to be another independent, do it your own way congregation.
If there is anything worse than organized religion, it’s disorganized religion.
um, wow.
So we’d rather have a trendy restaurant than a church? “Decatur — City of Homes, Schools and Great Tapas”.
It may be time to move on; looks like the bloom is off this rose.
I can’t stand tapas, but I’d much rather have a new restaurant than a new church in my community every time. Even if it is a tapas restaurant.
I would agree that Decatur, Atlanta and the entire state has more than enough churches to serve the needs of the religious.
This property is still taxable since the church does not own it but simply rents it from Vision Properties. Vision is the one who pays the property taxes, not the church, so Vision is not exempt simply by renting to the church.
I hear that they will only ask for each member to put $1 in the offering tray, in keepting with the spirit of their potential future neighbor (DG).
“baddaboom” needed here.
As a Chicagoan by birth, I have always complained that Southerners have no irony gene.
Yet, the Decatur wit on this site stacks favorably against NYC — without the heavy cynicism. Perhaps the Webmaster can repackage some of these one-liners as a revenue stream.
This is meant to be an irony-free comment.
oh good grief
oakhurst is probably the best church in the whole state
and i am an atheist
no i don;t go there
a lot of friends do though
they are NOT a southern baptist convention [ie republican] church
wle
Despite all the churches in Decatur, there are hundreds of people who have not yet made an informed decision to be or not to be Christians. New church starts are a lot more likely to provide an opportunity for people to decide for or against the gospel than established churches are. People 18-29 who have never attended a worship service or Bible study are more likely to try out a less formal venue.
And?
Just because a church is a new start doesn’t mean it’s less formal.
I went to the website, there is nothing there. Looks like a blog site.
Maybe a monthish or so ago DM posted something about a local church asking about community needs and how they could better serve the community. People were not shy about chiming in, but I doubt they were all church members. And that’s fine because church’s are members of the community they are in.
Even in the smaller traditional churches I went to when I was little they took contributions for food banks, and helped the needy all year round.
I don’t know anything about this place, but perhaps it will be an asset in some way to the community. I’m all for bashing organized religion in general, but this will be a neighborhood place, and waiting to see what shakes out isn’t unreasonable. I’m personally holding out on judgement until I see their color scheme and learn their positions on silent birth.
At least wait until then. Great!
I was totally kidding. Of the 300 plus so comments on the diner, I would venture to guess over half of them have been on the decor
Understand!
Re: Rebeccab’s post …. That was Oakhurst Presbyterian’s forum, “Who Are We Now? Let’s Talk about Oakhurst.” Lots of great ideas came out of the event, and those us of who helped out on the committee are eager to work with Decatur neighbors to put some of those suggestions into action. If people want to learn more and get involved, they can write [email protected] or call 404-378-6284.
Thank God for churches!!!!!!!!
Based on the sign I am guessing this church knows the “resurrection” is slated for 2011. Guess I better start changing all my bad ways lest I end up in a lake of fire.
Ok, I am confused. Didn’t The Resurrection already happen? Like in 0 A.D.? (Or was it 0 B.C.?) These comments seem to be referring to the concept of the Second Coming or Armageddon. But the sign doesn’t say “Practice The Second Coming” or “Practice Armageddon”. It says “Practice Resurrection” which means practicing salvation and redemption, concepts that probably need some repeated training in us falllible humans before we get it right. There are so many variants on Christian theology that I get confused but this church doesn’t seem cultish just because it says “Practice Resurrection”. Just a bit corny, like the phrases “Practice Love” or “Make Peace”. Actually, NAVO sounded really cultish to me, or at least Hispanic, because of its name and location. Yo navo, tu navas, el/ella nava, nosotros navamos, ustedes navan, ellas/ellos navan. Que no? But then I heard it was a normal church. Churches in shopping centers are a novelty to me. Is it a Southern thing?
Whoops, I just thought about it and realized that The Resurrection must have occurred in ~33 B.C since I think Jesus died at age 33 or something similar. Nonetheless, it is a past event so “practicing it” indicates that one is trying to emulate the experience in some way. Classically The Resurrection symbolizes the concepts of salvation and redemption. Kind of like Thanksgiving, for all its historical inaccuracies and ethnocentrism, symbolizes thankfulness for survival after a period of hardship.
Make that 33 AD.
Hopefully one day something that makes sense moves into that space or Vision sells it to a developer that turns it into a property that brings value to the neighborhood.
Definition of makes sense = not a church or dollar general
??? The churches in Oakhurst aren’t valuable neighbors???
Maybe you don’t mean it this way, but it seems to me that you’re saying that value=cents, not sense. I’ve always envisioned Oakhurst as a place with a strong sense of community, in large part, due to the community outreach of the churches there. It’s very sad to think that the definition may be shifting.
Dear Friends,
The phrase “practice resurrection” comes from a poem by the organic farmer and poet Wendell Berry. Here is a link to the poem:
http://ag.arizona.edu/~steidl/Liberation.html
Oakhurst Church is a new United Methodist Church that will launch in 2011. Here is a link to the United Methodist Church:
http://www.umc.org/
The folks who will be leading this new congregation are either graduates or students of Emory University’s Candler School of Theology. Here is a link to CST:
http://www.candler.emory.edu/
I am fairly confident they are not a cult, but I suppose you never know… after all, who gets to define what a cult is anyway?
I love me some Wendell Berry, especially when he’s as worked up as he is in this “manifesto”. The essence of the poems seems to be this: “…every day do something that won’t compute.”
Read the full thing yourself and let me know if you agree but THAT my friends, in a lovely nutshell, is the vast difference between the happy-to-be-small organic farmer and the larger organic establishment that has swept the nation.
But back on point…As for the “practice resurrection” slogan and the reaction displayed here, it seems to have done an excellent job of retaining its message while simultaneously exposing many of our own biases. Well done. Well done.
Hello, Timothy (or should I call you “Apostle”? 😉 )– thanks for much for weighing in, but more than that, thanks for the link to that awesomely kick-ass poem. Holla, brother! Best of luck to your endeavor.
Thank you for this wonderful poem to mull!