Roots in Alpharetta

The call went out. I noticed it twice in the course of the week. First it was in our church bulletin. A few days later I discovered this article in the Neighbor Newspaper. North Fulton Community Charities is in a bind. Cash flow is a little tight in the summer months, which makes providing services a little tough. On top of that, the food pantry continues to have high demand.

This is the greatest paradox of living in the affluent suburbs of Atlanta. Actually it is a double paradox. The fact that there is such demand for assistance may surprise some. Sure, we’re in a prolonged recession. Yet many of our neighbors are not as well off as you might think. Talk to enough volunteers at NFCC and you’ll hear stories of folks in luxury cars asking for help at the food pantry. It’s a paradox. It happens every day. Even in Alpharetta. Even in Johns Creek.

The second paradox is that charities like NFCC struggle financially. It makes me a bit embarrassed quite honestly. We drive nice cars, live in fancy neighborhoods, dine in expensive restaurants but don’t make even small contributions to local charities in need.

I gave a little something after reading this article. It isn’t much at all. I suppose indirectly I’ve helped through my church. Our congregation, like many others in north Fulton, supports NFCC in a lot of ways. But I couldn’t in good conscience write this article without doing something. We’re blessed to live in this area. Please do your part to support local charities in need.

North Point Community Church is building bridges. Sure, a lot of churches build bridges, figuratively and metaphorically speaking. Many a sermon has been written about how churches should build bridges. North Point is doing that I suppose, but they are also building a literal bridge. A really, really big bridge. A five million dollar bridge. Tidy sum, Mr. Bigglesworth.

Andy Stanley’s church has a little traffic problem. If you’ve ever traveled along North Point Parkway on Sunday morning you’ll know what I mean. They have two four lane roads leading from North Point into their massive parking lots. But even with that, when you have thousands of parishioners coming and going, it gets to be too much. So according to a letter from Stanley on the church website, they have spent nine years studying ways to address the traffic. As I see it, the biggest problem they face is one of geography. Their property backs up to Big Creek. In all of Alpharetta there are only a handful of places to cross Big Creek. There’s about to be another one.

So the plan is to build a three lane bridge connecting one of their parking lots to another. The second parking lot is in a business park just off Old Milton Parkway. The bridge will cross Big Creek, the Big Creek Greenway and a thousand feet of flood plain.

I really don’t know what to think of this. The church my wife and I attend is in the midst of a capital campaign. There was some push back when they started due to worries about the economy. But we’re not trying to raise nearly this much money. We also have a comparatively boring goal of reducing debt. No bridges for us, well just the figurative ones for now.

There also the sticker shock aspect of this. Five million dollars is huge. What could that do in this community? To put it in perspective… North Fulton Community Charities has a yearly operating budget of $4 million. I’m sure they could do amazing things with a $5 Million capital campaign.

On the flip side, North Point’s mission is “to be a church unchurched people love to attend.” They feel that the unchurched are not likely to attend if they can’t make it into the parking lot. There’s probably a lot of truth to that.

At the end of the day, Alpharetta’s largest megachurch is having problems scaling. This bridge is certainly a solution. I trust that they have prayerfully considered this decision so I’m not going to pass judgment. I’ll leave that to my readers. Is this a boondoggle or worthy effort to get non-believers into pews?

Every Friday, Roots in Alpharetta features an article on food and dining in a series I like to call Foodie Friday.

I haven’t written about barbecue yet, but I’m always on the prowl for it. One little known secret to finding good Q is to look for the church BBQ fundraiser. You’re not gonna find this at the mega churches in the burbs so be ready to head into the country a bit. Typically it is a yearly thing where some good old boys in the congregation stay up all night smoking some swine. The next day they sell plates or sandwiches with homemade sides to locals in the community. The quality of the Q may be hit or miss, but you might find a hidden gem. Worst case, you helped to support a small country church.

I haven’t seen a lot of this around our parts, with the exception of this little church. I’ve driven by Shiloh United Methodist Church when they were having their yearly BBQ lunch but never stopped. Shame on me. The other day I caught wind that they were planning the event for this Saturday. Here’s the details:

What: 31st Annual Shiloh UMC BBQ

Where: 4946 Shiloh Rd, Cumming, GA 30040

When: Saturday May 1, 11:00am until 4:00pm

Yesterday I exchanged a few e-mails with the pastor of the church, Alisha Burch. This is an older church with a rich history in south Forsyth. Their BBQ event has been going on for a long time, 31 years as far as they can remember. I was disappointed to learn that the BBQ is catered this year. In the past it was cooked by members of the congregation, but this time the meat will come from Smokejack. However, Pastor Burch assures me that they make their own sauce… with added “deliciousness” as she says. That’s good enough for me!

If you know of other country churches planning BBQ events, by all means leave me a comment!

About a month ago I wrote about south Forsyth’s NIMBY mosque on Tidwell Road. Looks like Alpharetta is in the news for the same reason; except in this case, an existing mosque wants to expand. I am hesitant to write about this a second time, since this debate can get heated, but here goes.

The Islamic Center of North Fulton operates a small mosque on two lane Rucker Road. They want to expand the facility to 15,000 square feet. Here is an article about it. Local residents are opposed to it for pretty much the same reason some in Forsyth were opposed to the Tidwell Road location. Traffic.

If you have any doubt that bigotry plays a part in this, then read the comments from the link above. Or check out this debate thread from the same Appen Newspaper website. Again, I hesitate to post this for fear that I bring legitimacy to the nonsense these guys are pushing.

Look folks, people in the Islamic faith worship differently than Christians or Jews. They go in for prayer and they leave. It is more of a slow trickle of people going in and out, not the mad rush you might see going into a Sunday morning service at a Christian church. If you’re gonna have a religious group in your backyard, I’d say a mosque should be your first choice!

Also, there are already two fairly big churches on Rucker Road right now. St. Thomas Aquinas boasts a membership of 3,200 families! Restoration Church of God is also nearby.

I’m embarrassed to see some in my community react this way to people of a different faith. Let’s get these zoning requests approved and move on.

It’s the traffic we’re concerned about. Yeah, that’s the ticket. Oh, and the parking. Lots of people parking. It isn’t that it is a mosque, or that they are Scientologists. We would have the same concern about it being a church. *wink wink*

What am I talking about? Forsyth County is in the news again over a proposed mosque to be built on Tidwell Road in the extreme southern part of the county. This time the sewer hookup is in question. The locals don’t want the mosque there because of “traffic”. Uh huh, riiight. Not that Forsyth doesn’t already have a bunch of large churches on rural roads. Not that there isn’t a VERY large mega church on Old Alpharetta Road (very much a traffic-clogged two lane road). Not that there isn’t a freaking WALMART on a two lane road in Forsyth. Two lane roads haven’t kept Forsyth County from approving anything… well except a mosque.

“Traffic” is a very thinly veiled excuse for intolerance. Oh, you say it isn’t intolerance? Then show me an example where folks are signing petitions to deny zoning for a Christian church. Show me the newspaper articles about it. When did hundreds come to zoning meetings to speak out against a new church on the grounds of parking? I’ve lived here a while and I don’t remember such a thing.

Forsyth isn’t alone in this. Sandy Springs is still fighting the Scientologists and their plans for a facility in the city. The matter is going to court. That wasn’t before 700 people showed up at a city council meeting opposed to it. We can’t have that cult in our charming new little town, now can we?

Look folks, having a mosque in your neighborhood is fine. There is one near Roswell. Are you afraid they’re gonna start planting IED’s on Old Milton Parkway or something? Give me a break. I welcome more diversity in the Alpharetta faith community. You should too.