Godspeed - 09/26/10

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PARTNERS FOR SACRED PLACES.  In this program we explore the restoration and maintaining of religious buildings with Dr. Thomas Frank, author and professor at Wake Forest University School of Divinity, where he teaches courses in leadership and administration and religion and the arts, as well as United Methodist studies. Professor Frank received his B.A. from Harvard University, his M.Div. from Candler School of Theology at Emory University, and a Ph.D. in American religious history from Emory University.

Frank’s research on the place of congregations and religious institutions in the settlement and landscape of America led him to pursue a Master of Heritage Preservation degree at Georgia State University, which he completed in 2006.  Among many consulting roles, he is chair of the board of directors of Partners for Sacred Places, the only national, non-sectarian, nonprofit organization dedicated to the sound stewardship and active community use of America's older and historic sacred places.

During this hour, topics include: the landscape of America’s houses of worship and how they tell the story of community and immigration; the abandonment of rural houses of worship in America, due to economic and cultural changes; the sacredness of space; Frank’s moving description of his favorite childhood church and its impact on him; Partners for Sacred Places, founded in 1989; a few of the organization’s success stories, including Calvary Episcopal Church in Tarboro, NC, Quinn Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Chicago, Druid Hills Presbyterian Church in Atlanta; the question, if we continue to tear down these houses that are witnesses to the American spiritual journey, what are we replacing them with?