Gulfside trees transformed into Lord's table

The Rev. Lloyd Calcote saws through a tree on the grounds of Hurricane Katrina-ravaged Gulfside Assembly, a United Methodist conference center in Waveland, Miss. The downed trees have been fashioned into a communion table and other worship aids for the 2008 General Conference. A UMNS photo by Scott Bell.

A UMNS Report

By Woody Woodrick*

Juanita Franklin remembers the sound of chapel chimes carried on ocean breezes echoing among the tall trees at Gulfside Assembly in Waveland, Miss.

It's a special memory of a special place, and she'll likely never hear it again. Gulfside, a historic United Methodist conference center whose entrance was across the street from the Gulf of Mexico, was literally wiped off the map in 2005 by Hurricane Katrina.

However, something of the spirit that moved through those trees will be kept alive when the 2008 General Conference, the denomination's top lawmaking body that meets every four years, convenes April 23 in Fort Worth, Texas. The meeting's communion table, altar rail, baptismal font, lectern and a table have been crafted from trees salvaged from the 64-acre Gulfside property, which served as a retreat center and meeting place for African Americans before the civil rights movement of the 1960s.

"I thought it was the most marvelous thing I had heard when I heard it from (Bishop Hope Morgan Ward)," said Franklin, 75, who lives in Foxboro. "Having been there during the time of the tall and beautiful trees, it's sort of like having a great-grandchild. Having all the old memories of days when the chapel was there, and when you got up in the morning they played the chimes and it reverberated through the trees, it's a marvelous thought."

'A natural thing'
Clay Smith, executive director of the Hinton Rural Life Center in Hayesville, N.C., led a group of craftsmen who built the furniture.

Clay Smith stands at the lectern that he helped to craft. A UMNS photo courtesyof Clay Smith.

The idea developed at a meeting of the Commission on the General Conference, which plans the denominational meeting. Mollie Stewart, coordinator of local church ministries for Hinton, serves on the commission.

When a logo was selected, a treetop was incorporated. Marcia McFee, one of the worship leaders for the General Conference, brought up the idea of remembering Katrina. Stewart, who chairs the Gulfside board of directors, then suggested using the trees from Katrina-ravaged Gulfside.
"Someone said it would be wonderful if we knew someone to make a table," Stewart said. "I said I knew a woodworker. Clay said he was more than delighted."

Smith called the woodworking assignment "a natural thing to be doing."

"I had been to Gulfside on numerous occasions. I appreciated the long history Gulfside had and its ministry with African-American Methodists through the generations and the new things they were beginning to do. It all came to a stop because of Katrina."

For decades, especially during the civil rights era, Gulfside served as a beacon for African Americans. It often was the only place in the Deep South where groups of African Americans could gather for conferences and retreats or even just to spend the night. When Katrina roared into Waveland on Aug. 29, 2005, all of that history was lost, including a brand new building open for just a few weeks.

Tree-borne tribute
One of the first challenges for the General Conference project was transporting the wood from southern Mississippi to North Carolina.

Smith went to Gulfside in October and selected a big red cedar and three red oak trees that were still alive. The Rev. Jerry Mitchell, who serves on the boards of directors of Hinton and Gulfside, contacted retired pastor the Rev. Lloyd Calcote of Summit about cutting the trees into boards. Calcote owns a portable saw mill and agreed to help.

The logs were cut into boards in October, and Smith hauled them in a rented truck to a small lumber company that agreed to dry the boards in its kiln. The actual furniture-building began in January.

"John Freeman, who used to teach at Candler School of Theology, was interested in working on it. John and I worked out a design for the furniture," Smith said. "We also had some help from some people from a local church in Hayesville. We've had about six people altogether working on it, including four current or former United Methodist pastors.

"We've been meeting one or two days per week building these pieces. The baptismal font will incorporate a bowl made by a local potter. We showed him the size we needed, and he turned the bowl for us."

The tabletop, 6 feet in diameter, is made of cedar, and part of the tree's trunk serves as the base. The other items are made of red oak.

"It's been challenging," Smith said. "Cedar is easy to work with. It's easy to shape, but also easy to scratch and mar. As long as you protect it, it's OK. The red oak, when dried in the kiln, kind of crinkled up like a potato chip. We spent a great deal of time getting the pieces flat and square."

The pieces will have a natural look. Based on discussions with McFee, the woodworkers allowed the shape of the boards to dictate the shape of the pieces. "We tried to let the wood speak to us in getting some sense of what the pieces ought to look like," Smith said. "It's been very satisfying to have a hand in helping prepare for worship at General Conference."

A Gulfside presence
All of those involved in the project believe the furniture will draw attention to Gulfside, its history and rebirth.

Plans for rebuilding Gulfside are advancing, according to Stewart. Architects and contractors have been chosen for a new ministry center and housing, and the city of Waveland has given preliminary approval to the plans. After General Conference, the furniture is to be returned to Mississippi.

"When folks are sitting at General Conference, Gulfside will be present and the Mississippi Conference will be present," Stewart said. "People will be seeing that the materials are from the Gulf Coast. The remains of Katrina can be pieces of hope. The trees may not be living, but they will be there and serving generations to come."

Smith agrees. "It brings some recognition to a ministry and center that really for the most part has not been on anybody's radar screen," he said. "People in South Mississippi are aware of it, but United Methodists across the country have never heard of Gulfside.

"Gulfside has this wonderful past, a sometimes very painful past. I've had some African-American friends, clergy and lay people tell me that when they were young, the only place to go for conferences or training was Gulfside."

Franklin said she hopes some of that history is shared at the conference. "I hope they don't just have it sitting there and don't make them know it comes from something near and dear to the hearts of many people," she said.

*Woodrick is editor of the Mississippi Advocate, the newspaper of the United Methodist Church's Mississippi Annual Conference.