50 YEARS OF BBQ: JUNE AND CHICKEN AND PORK... OH MY!!

June Porter
The Grandfather of our Men's BBQ!

What goes on behind the scenes of the Men's Barbecue STAYS behind the scenes of the Men's Barbecue!  At least that is what several of the men essentially told me.  Getting them to talk was like pulling teeth!!  I got the feeling that most of the "good" stories were not fit to print - at least in a church blog!!  Joe Palumbo summed it up:  "Its a great time for fellowship."  

Joe Palumbo sautes onions for the Men's BBQ

I can't quite back it up with facts, but I'm pretty sure that Advent has had a Men's Barbecue all 50 of its years!  There is a record of one in the first Annual Report and I couldn't document a lapse.  No one seemed to know when they began having two each year, but I know for certain that goes back 35 years or more.  Russ McKittrick recalls that in the late 80's they cooked about 50 pounds of Boston Butts in the Fall and 100 pounds of chicken in the Spring.  They are now approaching 300 pounds of pork and 200 pounds of chicken!

June "Counsels" Dave Park on Cooking Chicken @ 1982

Joe Palumbo remembers cooking the baked beans in the old church kitchen.  Only 2 small pans would fit in the apartment sized ovens at a time, so the 4 or 5 pans would have to be rotated every two hours, and it was impossible to get everything hot at the same time.  Russ recalls that Mabel Porter would only reveal one or two ingredients per year for her famous baked beans and then she wouldn't tell them how much of the ingredient to use. "I just put enough in so that it tastes right," she would say.  It took Joe Palumbo almost a decade to get the recipe "close" to Mabel's.

Keith Wassum Puts the Smoke in Smoked Pork

If June and Mabel Porter didn't give "birth" to the Advent Men's Barbecue, they were definitely the nurturers of it!  June would buy all of the ingredients for the barbecue and Russ remembers he had a special crooked stick he would use to retrieve them from his truck's bed.  Seeing him poke the stuff around and out of his truck would begin a carefully choreographed ritual.  He would begin by cooking breakfast for all of the men.  Several men would become the designated stirrers of the grits and barbecue sauce pots and they were given strict instructions to stir constantly. Woe be unto him who let either pot stick!!  June was also very particular about chopping the slaw.  It had to be done by hand with his doughnut shaped cutters.  He claimed that food processors "burned" the cabbage and it had to be fine enough so that it "wouldn't bother folks in the congregation with bad teeth."  Sometime during the process, Mabel would show up with peach cobbler for everyone.  The men would always look forward to her coming, and the cobbler rarely lasted more than 10 minutes!  While Mabel truly wanted to nurture the men while they cooked for the congregation, it was also well known that another motivation was to "check up" on June!

June and Mabel Porter Received an Award for their Efforts

June was a tinkerer and a builder and he and some of the men built cookers out of 250 gallon drums.  June then rigged some pulleys and chains and ropes from an A-framed swing set to open the lids to the drums.  It stayed out in the side of the parking lot until rust claimed it a few years ago.

Basting Chicken!

The free will offering for the Fall pork barbecue averages about $250 and is used to pay the State Charter, honorary lifetime achievement awards and subsidize tickets to the Annual Charlotte  Area Lutheran Men's Chicken and Corn Roast.  They also buy kitchen supplies and have a reserve fund.  Not bad for a small group of men!

At some point early on, an auction was added to the chicken barbecue  in the Spring.  Over the last five years over $17,000 has been given to hurricane relief, Via de Christo,the 500 Year Lutheran Celebration, Advent youth mission trips, the Wycliffe Bible Ministry, Juvenile Diabetes Association, supplies for Room at the Inn, Kairos Ministry, and our new electronic sign!  That is just in the last five years!  Imagine all that we have supported over 50 years!

These folks would be sitting in our Sanctuary now!
Paul Eich standing - Eric Sandburg (with beard!) behind him

In the early days of the barbecue and before the gym was built, the barbecue and auction were held outside and as a result, folks would see us and come from the College Downs community.  I remember if there was the slightest lag in the start of the bidding on an item, June would bid $1.  The Lord only knows how many $1 dollar items he bought over the years.  Most of them were recycled back to the auction the next year!!  (And he probably bought them again!)

David Park Auctions Off Advent's Children...
Well, at least their labor!
The youth would often get involved by auctioning off
grass cutting, window washing and babysitting.

One infamous item that made the rounds for about five years was a flaming blue wig.  Bidding wars would result over this item, for the winner of the bid got to decide who would have to wear it to church the next day!  

Another famous bidding war occurred in the 80's when Eric Sandburg decided to auction off his beard.  Martha wanted him to keep it, and she outbid Anita White who wanted him to shave it.  Martha ended up paying about $25 (which is equivalent to $75 today! - I looked it up.) so that Eric did not have to shave!!  As I remember it, nearly the whole congregation was pooling their money to contribute to their view of whether Eric should shave or not shave!

Last year an item returned to the auction after almost 20 years.  When we downsized in 1999, we brought David's Granddaddy's scythe to the auction and Tom Miller bought it.  Last Spring he brought it back and Dave cued me to bid on it and buy it to display at our mountain house.  Keith Wassum had the same idea and he began bidding on it to give to Dave!  As a great charity auctioneer, Dave just let us bid each other up!  The scythe now has a revered place at Park's Peak.

Now the men have partnered with Adventure Preschool and the barbecue coordinates with the "Trick or Trunk" and Fall 
Festival.  It remains a big outreach to the community.

Jake Thrower Checks Out
 the Activities for the Fall Festival

Many other stories may remain in the secret lore of the men's fellowship, but through the barbecues, the men have bonded and become a group that nurtures each other and many activities in our church.  The barbecue truly nourishes our bodies and souls!!

Pastor Hess (far right) Enjoys BBQ with Parishioners 

FROM 3 TO 100 WALKERS WALKING TO END HUNGER!

Colette Hishon and Cheri Strickland with "Shoey"

When I first walked in the CROP walk in the late 80's the slogan was "We walk because they walk".  The idea was that in the 3rd world many folks had to walk over 10 miles to get water and food every day.  We would seek pledges for a 10 mile walk and collect money for both hunger in the 3rd world and hunger at home.  The walk really was 10 miles!   We started at Memorial Stadium near CPCC and walked uphill through the city (that's one reason its called "UPtown"!) to Johnson C. Smith.  This was considered the half way point.  Their band would play for us and there would be water and candy stations along with the most-needed port-a-johns!  Then the route would wind through "food-desert" neighborhoods back to Memorial Stadium.  For many of us it was the first time we had encountered neighborhoods in Charlotte where hunger is an issue.  Cheri Strickland vividly remembers the last year the walk was 10 miles was 1990, for she was very pregnant with Mary Faith.  She still made it all 10 miles!

Cheri also remembers the first year Advent participated (1987) we sent just three walkers - Marilyn Burns, Martha Sanburg and her!    Pastor Little got the congregation and especially the youth group behind their efforts and our participation began to grow.  A few years ago we had over 100 walkers! For many years Advent raised the most money in our category (based on the size of the church), and for several years we out-raised all churches  - even the BIG ones!  I think this was due to Cheri and Kirby Strickland's dedication and hard work as organizers.  Cheri soon joined the city-wide CROP Walk board and during her tenure, Charlotte became the largest CROP Walk in the country!  She appeared one year with other Advent members in a commercial (PSA) for the CROP Walk with Harvey Gantt.  

CROP walkers eat lunch before going to Memorial Stadium

While serving as a city-wide organizer, Cheri remembers one year when a hurricane blew through the city the Saturday night before.  The steering committee met early Sunday morning and considered postponing the event, but decided against it when someone pointed out that the hungry must walk and search for food no matter the weather.  About an hour before the walk was to start, the rain quit, a rainbow appeared and it felt as if the city had been "washed clean".  They knew they had made the right decision.

Cheri and Kirby received the Sam Ryburn Walker award, given annually to individuals who have shown extraordinary spirit and dedication to inspire others in the fight against hunger.  A few years later Keith and Diane Wassum also won the award.  Keith says the biggest honor of receiving the award was having Cheri and Kirby nominate them for it and be part of the presentation.

Keith and Diane remain Advent's top walkers and are already listed as one of the city's top walkers this year on the CROP website.  Keith remembers that Advent raised as high as $12,000 in years past and we've averaged around $10,000 the past five years.  The Wassums raised $4875 of that amount last year and have raised almost $64,000 since they began walking when Diane was pregnant with Allie!

From this year's CROP Charlotte website
as of October 5th...

Keith sent me this memory from one of his walks:
"One of my favorite remembrances was the year we were going to be out of town and couldn't walk in the Charlotte walk.  We made arrangements to walk in the CROP Hunger Walk in Lexington, NC a week or so earlier.  Dale (his nephew), Diane and I drove up and joined the walk.  We were welcomed like we were honored guests from Charlotte!  What a hoot!  The Lexington walk was smaller but they were just as passionate!  At the time they had painted pigs displayed throughout the town and it was fun to see many of them during the walk."

In the years David and I haven't walked, we have continued to participate by contributing to those who do walk.  For many years we would give Kate and Allie Wassum  a quart of quarters  (about $400) which we would accumulate from our spare change over the year just for the CROP Walk.  Their memories of counting and rolling the quarters are vivid if not exactly  cherished!  When Allie walked in a charity walk up in Boston two years ago, I sent her a pint of small change for "old times sake".  I think it cost me almost as much to send it as there was in it (it was not all quarters)!  

Advent continues to contribute leadership to the Charlotte CROP Walk as our own Jennie Henderson has joined the steering committee.  While helping other churches organize their walks, she also is Advent's point person for CROP Walk.  She remembers that Advent was invited a few years ago to help hold the banner that leads the walk through the city.  When asked for other memories, she laughed and said it has become a joke that the only time the walkers see Eddie Efird is at the beginning of the walk, for he takes off walking faster than everyone and almost always finishes first, at least among Advent's walkers!  I guess he has earned the nickname, "Fast Eddie"!

Last year's walkers

Competition with other charity walks, Panther games and maintaining enthusiasm over time has been hard on Charlotte's CROP Walk.  It is no longer 10 miles, but 4.1 miles and last year it was moved to the 2nd Saturday (vs. Sunday) in October which most believed contributed to a decline in the number of walkers city-wide.  Instead of Memorial Stadium, walkers now begin and end in Independence Park.  Jennie knows that involving the youth is the key to our (and the city's) success at raising money for world hunger and would like to see more youth involved. While the CROP walk might be smaller, the need to help the hungry has only grown.  Wouldn't it be great if Advent could once again top 100 walkers and raise more than the mega-churches?!  It's not too late to contribute to a walker.  Contact Jennie Henderson or the church office!!

READERS:  Someone pointed out that the "comment" section wasn't working.  I think I have that fixed.  Please leave comments and start a conversation about Advent's Jubilee year!  If you have stories to contribute email me or call me.  Deb at 704 335 0984 or debdavepark@gmail.com

CAMPING WITH ADVENT FRIENDS

Potluck at an Advent Camping trip in 1982
Sanburgs, David Park, in chairs
Elizabeth Sanburg and Clay Park at picnic table

Potluck is often associated with church suppers, but at Advent it has had a completely different definition!  In the  Eighties and early Nineties there was a robust camping group at Advent.  Sometimes as many as ten families would gather at a campground and enjoy a unique potluck.  To join this potluck, each family would contribute not just a covered dish but a jar of the designated pot-dish of the camp.  Often it was spaghetti sauce, but pots of chili, beef stew, and soup were also devoured.  Each family would add their “special recipe” to the pot and everyone’s seasonings would blend together to make the most unique and delicious sauces, soups and stews ever consumed around a campfire! 

Peter and Ernie Eich, Bryan and Kevin Strong ready to gather firewood!

Of course large boiling pots require copious amounts of firewood to keep them going and to provide the spark for many a toasted marshmallow!  At most campsites, the rangers would allow you to pick up branches and wood that had fallen on the ground.  As soon as our tents were set up, the guys would lead a scavenger party of kids out into the woods to retrieve wood for the fire.  I can still see David Park, William Fox and Lewis Barber coming out of the woods with their rag-tag-pied-piper group of children, hatchets in hand, carrying branches (some with green leaves still attached!) just as the ranger was making his rounds to collect fees.  Luckily he just smiled and chose to “look the other way.”  After that we had a no green leaves rule!

Bob Strong, Martha Sanburg and Anita White by the campfire

One of our favorite places to camp was Black Mountain Campground near Mt. Mitchel and Burnsville, NC.  With campsites surrounding a grassy meadow, it was easy to keep the kids entertained and corralled. The South Toe River provided both a swimming hole and a waterfall.  We almost always hiked to the bottom of a great double waterfall, but on one memorable camping trip David Park and Kuniko Barber set out with a half dozen children up the mountain to the top of the falls.  More than twenty-five years later, Dave can still recall the chills and awe he felt when after urging the children onward and upward several times, they broke out of the woods and into a clearing with a magnificent view of Mt. Mitchell and Kuniko burst out in her amazing soprano voice “The hills are alive, with the Sound of Music…”  That night at the potluck, our prayers included praise for God’s beauty and Kuniko’s beautiful voice!

David Park holding Clay with Emily in 1981

On another trip, Joyce Fox and I were thankful for the “Sounds of Silence.”  This trip was marked by a Saturday marred by rain.  Our children were still small enough to need afternoon naps, and Joyce and I pulled “nap duty” while the guys went into town for more beer to accompany the potluck!  The children had finally settled down on their sleeping bags and I ventured over to Joyce’s tent to check on her.  She greeted me at the door of her tent with large eyes and the universal “shush” sign on her lips.  Then she pointed to the skunk, ignoring the rain and meandering around their campsite.  We both froze and watched as the mamma skunk’s babies joined her and pranced between our tents.  I guess skunk babies do not need afternoon naps! That night Joyce and I had earned an extra beer around the potluck as we gave thanks for the end of the rain and for skunks who chose to honor us with their presence, and not their “presents”!

Joyce Fox, Frank Burns and William Fox

Emily and Clay Park on a playground near King's Mountain
Clay sprained his ankle coming down the fireman's pole and
I spent the afternoon with him in the ER

During those years, our church was dominated by families with young children and Lewis Barber remembers that it seemed that at some camps over half of the congregation participated.  On one memorable trip to Kings Mountain, Lewis and his son Bryant set out on a hike.  Several hours later, they realized they were lost.  Spotting an abandoned fire tower, they climbed it and saw a road that would lead them back to “civilization.”  They flagged a car down and got a ride back to camp, over 12 miles away.  They were greeted by relieved Advent campers and rangers who had organized a search party for them!  That night around the campfire, we were thankful for Lewis and Bryant and their resourcefulness, and for the others that cared for them.

William Fox in green, Martha, Ashley Barber and Eric Sanburg

While families with young children comprised most of this group, older members often joined us.  Martha Sanburg remembers a hike with Noel and Pete Petrea.  Their then two year old son William (now among Charlotte's firefighters!) got tired quickly and Pete put him up on his shoulders.  When they came down the mountain William was asleep with his head on top of Pete's.  Often Ethel and Alma Yount would also accompany us. They had both an in-home child care center and were dedicated to the church nursery.  The children loved them! They often watched the young children while the grown ups enjoyed a game of volley ball or badminton.

Ashley Barber, Elizabeth Sanburg, Matthew Burns and Matthew Fox 
are entertained at a picnic table @1982

Great memories and faith development came from those camping trips.  As we honored and appreciated God’s nature around the campfire, we forged friendships and relationships that supported us through the stress of parenting young children, and building careers.  On Sunday morning we would have a short Bible study and then sing hymns and parts of the liturgy a capella around one last campfire.  Often by the time it was over, the witness of our “joyful noise” would have other campers in the campground joining us and singing God’s praises!

IN THE BEGINNING...

Rev. Henry McKay in 1968

Pastor McKay at his son's wedding a few years ago

In the beginning was the Word.  And in 1968, the Word was delivered by Henry McKay.  He was a lone Lutheran pastor in College Downs who soon found other Lutherans and convinced them and a few Baptists, Methodists, Catholics, and Presbyterians to join him in creating a Lutheran church in the university area. 



Henry knocked on 596 doors that year, and made 2273 calls and follow up calls!  When I visited Pastor McKay a few days ago, he told me he learned to do "cold calls" in Luther League during a work or mission camp one summer.  This experience served him well when establishing Advent.

Brochure that Pastor McKay handed out in the neighborhood

Soon Henry had four groups meeting in homes for Bible Study and fellowship.  To get them all together he arranged for a joint dinner at Back Creek Presbyterian.  In April of that year they held a Sunrise Service on land purchased through the Board of Missions on Mallard Creek Church Rd.  Sixty souls sang the Easter Alleluias at the empty lot accompanied by Kelly Bowman's trombone!  Two weeks later they were able to meet in our first "permanent" space at the Wilmith Hospital.  The next time you drive by the park-and-ride lot for the Blue line near Panera's, think of Advent.  The old Wilmith Women's Alcoholic Detention Home was located there.  The church rented it from UNCC for $50 per month.  

A year and a half later, an article in the Charlotte Observer described Henry as looking "like a young Abraham Lincoln" and having 95 members worshiping and serving the university area.  Not wanting to be "building bound", outreach and service in the community was emphasized from the first.  The women of the congregation, led by Judy McKay began tutoring at Derita and Newell Elementary schools before the church officially organized and soon had over 40 tutors  volunteering in the schools. Henry became the "minister on campus" to the students at UNCC.  Advent's first VBS was held at Killians Trailer Park.

Since many of his new flock did not have a Lutheran background, Henry told me that he decided to emphasize Sunday School over worship.  During Sunday School he taught the adults the meaning of the Lutheran Liturgy, church history, and theology.  

Many stories of meeting in Wilmith during the first two years included the trials of fixing up the building that had been abandoned for several years.  Willie Gillon said, "You practically had to wear a hard hat to worship, because the plaster ceiling would perpetually be falling down!"  Tom Miller recalled working on the plumbing up under the building one day when some UNCC students came by.  There was a rumor the building was haunted, and Tom only fueled the rumor by banging on the pipes and inadvertently scaring off the students.  Noel Petrea remembers using the padded cells in the basement to set up a haunted house at Halloween.  She also says that members were encouraged to use the bathroom before coming to church in the winter, because you never knew when the pipes would be frozen!

But all of the hard work bound the congregation together and gave them the feeling that God's work was truly being done here.  Henry recalls after a day spent on scaffolds painting and repairing the building he asked the group how they felt about worshiping in such a building.  He says he'll never forget one of the responses:  "I think if Christ were here, He would say that this is the most beautiful church he had ever seen. He didn't intend for us to be one-day-a-week Christians, but to meet human needs all week long.  This kind of building more or less demands we use it to meet all kinds of human needs." Ann Gillon recalls those days as being "life changing".  A former Baptist, she said that meeting Henry and working together to build a new congregation out of nothing, enriched her faith beyond measure.  Henry never called it a church, but tagged it a Development Center.  He also offered marriage and family counseling.

"Old" members meet at Panera's to reminiscence about Advent's early days
Tom Miller, Kathy Miller, Willie Gillon, Ann Gillon, Leo Peeler, Deb Park, David Park 

I asked Henry how the congregation came to be named Advent. He confirmed a tale I had heard, but contributed to "lore".  He said he favored a name with college in the mix to align the congregation with College Downs and UNCC.  But folks didn't like that.  Then he pointed out that if Advent was used, it would come first in the phone book. Everyone agreed, and Advent it was!! 

At some point during those first few years, Henry developed a pulpit exchange with Mayfield Memorial Missionary Baptist Church, an African American congregation on Sugar Creek Rd.  When Henry began preaching, he got a few "Amens" and his preaching became more fervent.  Soon he heard "Tell it like it is, brother!" and he became even more animated.  When asked why he didn't preach like that at Advent, he replied,"You never listen that intently and shout Amen!"  Judy remembers the pastor at Mayfield asking her to play the organ quietly and build to a crescendo under and over his prayers.  She was never sure exactly how to accompany a spoken prayer!  Twenty years later, I remember Rev. Dick Little reviving the pulpit exchange with Mayfield on Fifth Sundays for several years.  We also teased him about becoming more animated with the feedback and "Amens" in the congregation!

The Rev. Kyuzo Miyaishi
Frankie-San

Another story Henry told me was about Frankie-San.  He was a Japanese exchange student at the Lutheran Seminary in Columbia.  He found his calling working in the prison in Columbia.  Once the prisoners rioted, and the staff was scared to confront them, but Frankie walked into the battling prison yard alone and calmed the prisoners down.  Advent held a dinner for Frankie-San and donated to his ministry.  Once several prisoners escaped and were caught near Charlotte.  When folks entered the church at Wilmith the next day, they noticed that the church had been broken into, the kitchen used, and it looked as if folks had slept there.  Henry called Frankie-San and asked if he knew anything about it.  Frankie said, "Well, I always told the guys if they were near Charlotte to look up Pastor McKay at Advent!"

Judy related a scary story of going from Ruth Blackwelder's house on Mallard Creek Church Road to Wilmith one day.  Back then it was the "country" and a man got into her car at a stop sign and immediately showed her a switch blade.  She reached over reflexively to shut it and cut her finger.  She decided her best defense was to talk to him and get him to talk.  She told him her husband was "just over there" working on the church and that he was a pastor.  She said, "you seem troubled, would you like to go talk with him?  He talks to troubled folks all the time."  While he didn't take her up on it, her being a pastor's wife seemed to make a difference to him, and he got out of the car and walked away.  She slowly drove away and then went over to the church where Henry was up on a scaffold painting.  Then the gravity of the experience hit her and she told him to "Come down, come down now!"  And then she shakily related what had happened to those around her.

Tracy Barns in "Old Lumpy" 1961
His balloon looks like it needs 
some safety features!

Several folks mentioned stories of Tracy Barnes, the balloon man who subleased a few rooms in Wilmith.  They remember him sewing balloons on site and launching a tethered balloon at one or more  church

Receiving a medal in 1985

dinners and giving folks rides.  Mr. Barnes is now the founder of Blimp Works in Statesville.  I called and talked to him and he remembers assembling balloons there and developing the "Barnes Firefly" there, a design for a balloon which won many awards for its safety design.  He did not patent it but left the designs as open source so that all balloonists could benefit from them.  For this he was presented the First Wirth Medal by the Queen of England for contributing to the safety of ballooning.

I know I am leaving out many "first stories" and I invite you to add your own in the comments section below, or call and relate them to me for future blogs (704 three three five 0984). You can subscribe to this blog by entering your email in the upper right of the blog page. I hope to write one per month during our Jubilee Year.

I think Advent's first years can best be summed up in the closing paragraph of the First Annual Report to the Synod.  In it Pastor McKay wrote:  "As we move out into this new decade (the 70's), let us not look at our limitations; let us look at our potential.  Let us not look for excuses, let us look for even better ways to meet our challenges - in our neighborhood groups, in our classes, in our worship, in all that we do.  Let us not look for strength to meet our challenges; let us pray for challenges to make us reach even greater capacities of service and love."  What a wonderful benediction!  One that would serve us well today!

Judy and Henry McKay at their home in Asheville, August, 2018