The Rev. Clay Smith was approved by the membership of Johnson Ferry Baptist Church on Sunday to become the new senior pastor.
Smith, who was called by the church’s search committee last month, preached at all five services on Sunday. His hiring was formalized at a conference following the services in a motion that “had the unanimous recommendation from the search team, personnel committee, elders, and Bryant and Anne Wright. The vote of Johnson Ferry Baptist members was unanimous!”
Currently the senior pastor at First Baptist Church in Matthews, N.C., Smith officially takes over on Sept. 8. Johnson Ferry is saying there will be some “overlap” until November or December as outgoing pastor Rev. Bryant Wright moves into a new position with his Wright From the Heart Ministries nearby.
According to a message on the Johnson Ferry Baptist website, the two pastors will be splitting up preaching responsibilities during the transition and that “plans are being formulated for how to honor Bryant and Anne for their incredible ministry at Johnson Ferry.”
Wright was the inaugural senior pastor at Johnson Ferry Baptist, which was established in 1981. It now has more than 7,000 members. Wright also is a former two-time president of the Southern Baptist Convention, the largest Protestant denomination in the United States.
Smith’s first Johnson Ferry sermon can be seen below:
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Rev. Clay Smith and his wife, Terrica, and their children, Madison, Molly and Miller.
On Sunday morning Johnson Ferry Baptist Church announced during its services that a call has been issued to Rev. Clay Smith to be its new senior pastor.
Smith is currently the senior pastor at First Baptist Church of Matthews, N.C. (a suburb of Charlotte) and most of his ministry has been spent in the Carolinas.
He’s a native of Greenville, S.C., and earned a master’s degree at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, where he is currently a Ph.D. student.
According to George Ethridge and John Farish, co-chairs of the Johnson Ferry senior pastor search committee, Smith will be preaching all five services on Aug. 4 as the church’s sole candidate to succeed the Rev. Bryant Wright, who announced in November he would be retiring.
Wright is the founding pastor at Johnson Ferry, which started in 1981, and later became a president of the Southern Baptist Convention.
In a video message also unveiled Sunday, Wright said that “there is no doubt in my mind that Clay Smith is the man that God has chosen for this role.”
Here’s more about Smith from a message Johnson Ferry is sharing with the community:
His central passion for ministry revolves around the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20). This includes a biblical concentration in three major areas: evangelism, relational discipleship and missions.
Clay has been the Senior Pastor of First Baptist, Matthews, NC since August of 2014. Prior to that he was Minister of Adults under Dick Lincoln at Shandon Baptist in Columbia, SC from 2008 to 2014, and Associate Pastor, Outreach & Education at Alice Drive Baptist in Sumter, SC from 2005-2008. While in seminary at Southwestern Baptist in Ft. Worth, TX, Clay served as an Intern to Senior Pastors Dr. Jack Graham & Dr. David McKinley at Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, TX from 2002-2005. In his free time he enjoys running, playing golf, reading (history) and looking for great greasy spoon restaurants. In addition, you will also find him pulling for his alma mater, the South Carolina Gamecocks.
Clay’s life verse is Galatians 2:20 (NASB). “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and delivered himself up for me.”
All congregants are invited to view the recap below from the Senior Pastor Search Committee to see how the Lord has been evident throughout the search process.
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One of the oldest continuing events in all of Cobb County begins anew Friday night on the Marietta Campgrounds on Roswell Road—it’s the 182nd Marietta Campmeeting, a religious revival that traces its roots to the earliest settlers of what’s now East Cobb.
Friday’s opening service begins at 7:30 p.m., but it’s preceded by a picnic from 6-7, and you’re invited to bring a dish to share.
During the service, special music will be performed by the Open Door Trio, a metro Atlanta gospel group. The opening sermon will be delivered by Rev. Ike Reighard, senior pastor at the Piedmont Church in East Cobb and president and CEO of MUST Ministries.
There are twice-daily services during the week, daily services on the weekend and a number of special events during Marietta Campmeeting, including a watermelon cutting after the Saturday evening service and an ice cream social on Tuesday.
The campmeeting began in 1837, five years after Cobb County was carved out of Cherokee County, on land east of Marietta on Roswell Road.
Visiting ministers came in the summers, before there were many organized churches, and many of the longtime campmeeting families lived in tents during the revival.
They include names familiar to East Cobbers today—Sewell, Garrison, Murdock, Lassiter, Allgood, Hamby and other families who farmed in the area.
Many of their descendants continue attending today, as the Marietta Campground is now part of East Cobb United Methodist Church across the street.
That’s where overflow parking is available for attendees. The main parking lot is between the Arbor and Roswell Road, at the Campground entrance at 2300 Roswell Road.
All events and services at the Marietta Campmeeting are free and open to the public.
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The Mount Vernon Chapter presented a Certificate of Commendation to Johnson Ferry Baptist Church in recognition of exemplary patriotism in the display of The Flag of the United States of America. The flags are raised and lowered each day by the security team since they are not lit during the night.
Secretary David Wellons was present and coordinated the ceremony. Other chapter members present were President Bill Floyd, past President Shep Hammack, David Wiley and Chuck Rann. The ceremony was held in the church lobby due to inclement weather.
Members of the church participating in the ceremony were Joe Shadden, JFBC Business Administrator, Amber Hudson, EKG Security Officer, Greg Hebert, JFBC Director of Facilities and Ricky Lewis, EKG Site Supervisor Security Officer. Not in the photo and also present for the ceremony were Mark Shelton, EKG Manager, and Fred Godbee, EKG Owner.
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The home is being built for the Arkoh family on Old Bankhead Highway, and the project is expected to be dedicated in mid-August.
Among the organizations taking part include Unity North Church, St. Catherine’s Episcopal Church, the East Cobb Islamic Center and Temple Kol Emeth.
The others are Bethany United Methodist Church, Covenant United Methodist Church, Log Cabin Community Church of Vinings, St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church, First Presbyterian Church of Marietta, Smyrna First United Methodist Church, McEachern United Methodist Church, and the Islamic Center of Marietta.
Also involved will be BB&T, Moore Colson and Pinkerton & Laws Construction of Atlanta. Here’s more from NW Metro Habitat about the family being helped with this new home:
The home is being built for future Habitat homeowner and recent widow, Belinda Enimil Arkoh. Belinda has been a United States resident since 2007, and proudly became a naturalized citizen in 2013. She lost her husband and father of her two children in 2018. Belinda is a single mother of two children: a 4-year-old boy and an 18-month-old girl. After living in a single bedroom apartment with her two children, she will become a homeowner. Belinda is professional seamstress and a devoted Christian who loves working in her community work and her church.
“It is remarkable to see how the Cobb County faith community comes together to make our county a better place for all our residents,” said Jessica Gill, CEO, N.W. Metro Atlanta Habitat for Humanity. “These organizations are changing the lives and future of the next generation of this well-deserving family.”
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Click the link on the church or synagogue name (listed in alphabetical order) for more information, such as Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday and Good Friday services, Seders, nursery availability, food, etc.
To report incorrect or updated information or to add a service or event you don’t see here e-mail: editor@eastcobbnews.com.
Passover Week
Passover is April 19-27; events at some synagogues take place before that. Click the synagogue links for full details of all activities.
Beautiful Savior Lutheran (2240 Shallowford Road). 8:15 a.m. and 11 Festival Worship; Easter brunch between services and an Easter egg hunt at 9:30 am.
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The senior pastor at Eastside Baptist Church is upset over what he calls “very capricious leadership” by the leader of the Southern Baptist Convention after learning that the East Cobb congregation has been put on a list for possible “defellowshipping” for a 2017 sex abuse case.
Rev. John Hull, Eastside Baptist Church senior pastor
Rev. John Hull told East Cobb News Friday afternoon that he is tentatively scheduled to talk via telephone on Monday with J.D. Greear, the president of the SBC, who identified Eastside as among the churches being examined for how it handled allegations of sexual abuse by workers and volunteers.
Hull also said SBC officials will be visiting the church on Lower Roswell Road on Tuesday, not to investigate, he said, but to give Eastside leaders a chance to “express concerns” about being on the list.
In 2017, Alexander Edwards, a former youth ministry volunteer at Eastside, was convicted of two counts of sexual battery involving an 11-year-old boy and was sentenced to three years in prison.
Edwards’ arrest in 2016 came just after Hull was hired to lead the East Cobb church, which he said acted quickly and publicly to improve security, strengthen background checks and assure its members that it was protecting young people from sexual abuse.
“There are people who think this is outrageous that we’re on the list,” Hull said. “We’re not looking for a fight, but our East Cobb church has taken a body blow. We’re hurting because this came from within the family.”
That’s a reference to Greear, who earlier week this publicly identified 10 churches, including Eastside, for scrutiny following news reports in Texas that have rocked the largest Protestant denomination in the United States, which has more than 15 million members and more than 47,000 affiliated churches.
While he admires Greear for trying to address allegations of sexual abuse, Hull said he acted unilaterally to compose the list and did not notify him before the names of the churches were revealed by the news media. Hull said he learned about the list late Monday night, shortly after he had gone to bed, when he got a text message from the Eastside social media manager, who had seen news reports from Texas.
UPDATED: The day after we spoke to Rev. Hull, the Southern Baptist Convention issued a response regarding the 10 churches on the list, and its executive committee bylaws working group concluded that no further investigation at Eastside is warranted:
“Based on the information provided by the president, we have no evidence that the church, as a body, violated any of the four provisions. We also note that, based on media reports and conversations with church leaders, it appears that after the events in question the church strengthened its existing policies to prevent abuse and properly respond to charges of abuse. We believe no further inquiry is warranted based on that information.”
Hull conducted an interview with the Houston Chronicle, which along with San Antonio Express-News published a series earlier this month called “Abuse of Faith,” which estimated that more than 700 people had been victimized.
Hull said Eastside also has the support of the Georgia Baptist Convention and the Noonday Baptist Association, a consortium of more than 100 churches in Cobb, Cherokee, Forsyth, Fulton, Gwinnett, Paulding and Polk counties.
The case of Edwards is among those contained in the newspapers’ database of more than 200 workers and volunteers at Southern Baptist churches who have been charged with sexual abuse or who have been convicted or pleaded guilty since 1998. He is a registered sex offender, according to the Georgia Department of Corrections.
Alexander Edwards (Photo: Georgia Department of Corrections)
Eastside Baptist, which opened in 1961, has more than 5,000 members. In the 1980s it started a Christian school that currently enrolls more than 400 students K-8 and built an activities center that includes fitness facilities and offers classes to the wider community.
After Edwards’ conviction and sentencing, Hull said, Eastside took immediate action to rectify the lapses that led to the abuse. The Texas newspapers reported that Edwards had been allowed to volunteer at Eastside despite a 2013 arrest for using the Internet to find a child for sex.
Not long after Edwards’ arrest in 2016, a former part-time Eastside janitor was charged with misdemeanor sexual battery involving a girl. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to a year in jail, most of that on probation.
Those security measures include stronger background checks of prospective employees and volunteers. In addition, all visitors to the church or school are are required to have their driver’s license scanned for a background check.
“You can’t get in without it,” said Hull, who added that the background scanning technology will become available soon for those using the Eastside activities center that’s open to the larger public.
That center, which also has employed a full-time security guard for the last two years, will soon be hiring another one. Hull said there are also are 50 security cameras on the sprawling Lower Roswell Road campus, which stretches to the boundary of Eastvalley Elementary School.
Hull said Eastside has spent more than $500,000 on security, technology, staff training and other measures to address sexual abuse concerns.
“We are prepared to be the model, we are prepared to be a resource [for any congregation in a similar position] and to add value around what we have learned.”
In his comments to the SBC executive committee this week, Greear said he’s not in favor of “disfellowshipping” any church at this point, but “these churches must be called upon to give assurance to the SBC that they have taken the necessary steps to correct their policies and procedures with regards to abuse and care for survivors.”
The Southern Baptist allegations come a few months after another round of revelations of priest abuse by several Roman Catholic archdioceses, including Atlanta.
Last November, Atlanta Archbishop Rev. Wilton Gregory released a list of priests, workers and volunteers accused or convicted of sex abuse going back to the creation of the archdiocese in the late 1950s.
Two of those individuals worked at the Catholic Church of St. Ann and Transfiguration Catholic Church in East Cobb, including the latter’s founding priest. Nearly 200 bishops and other church officials are in Rome this weekend at a special sex-abuse summit called by Pope Francis.
Hull said he’s still working through what his sermon message will be to his Eastside congregation Sunday morning, but he is certain that “we will defend the body of Christ on Lower Roswell Road.”
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On Christmas Eve a year ago, I stepped inside church doors for the first time in a very long while and found a seat in a pew.
This church was packed for a candlelight service that resonated with the faces, and the voices, of children. Many of them were invited to come to the front for a special word of scripture.
A young family sat beside me, including a baby held by her father the whole time. Occasionally, she cooed and smiled, as the song surrounding her, surrounding all of us, wafted through the sanctuary.
The music soared, and so did we.
“Peace be with you.” We grasped the hands of those around us and greeted one another with those words.
These are the usual practices and scenarios at church services every Sunday here in East Cobb, and elsewhere.
But as someone who drifted away from faith as a teenager, I felt immediately reconnected with a spirituality that has long eluded me.
Since Christmas Eve last year, I haven’t been back to church, either, mainly because I’m still not sure what I believe. All I know is that the peacefulness of being in that sanctuary on that evening hasn’t left me.
Neither has the sense that it’s moments like those that really reflect the meaning of the season.
The holidays have flown by, and as usual, I have found them overwhelming. The secular activities of shopping and gift-giving, Santa visits and tree lightings are fine and festive, as are office and school parties.
So is helping those less fortunate with the provision of food, clothing, home supplies and gifts for children as volunteers, and with charities.
Yet there’s something that I’ve found missing, something that I’ve only found in a sanctuary, or in connecting with the Christian traditions of the season. Perhaps it’s just another mid-life occasion in which I’m reflecting on the forces that shaped me.
Earlier this week, I heard Handel’s “Messiah,” the whole magisterial thing, performed by New York Philharmonic on a radio program. If that doesn’t uplift you, nothing will.
It made me think about how such music has started bringing back a little closer to God. So have some of the liturgies, many of the Psalms and an appreciation for the richness and variety of what’s available in this East Cobb community we call home.
Many of our local churches have opened their doors to the public for concerts, nativity scenes and other events this season. They’ll do the same on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.
If you’re like me and unsure about what you believe, or you’re if simply looking to find a sense of peace, consider taking a step inside.
And may peace be with all of you this holiday season!
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Johnson Ferry Baptist Church pastor Bryant Wright, the founding minister for the large East Cobb congregation and a former president of the Southern Baptist Convention, announced Sunday he intends to step away from the post he has held for 37 years.
He’s not calling it a retirement, because he would like to continue to be involved in the ministry in some other capacity.
But for the last year and a half, Wright said he has been thinking about when the time would come for him to step away from leading the church, which has more than 8,000 members.
Appearing in a church-produced video with his wife Anne that was released Sunday, Wright said that it was during this past spring that “God clarified that the timing had come.”
He did not announce a timetable for his departure but said he would stay until a successor is named. Wright said that in January, he will ask church elders to appoint a search committee to begin the hiring process.
In his sermon on Sunday, Wright said he spoke about Moses tapping Joshua to succeed him, recalling an Old Testament tale from the Book of Deuteronomy.
“Unlike Moses,” Wright said, “I have no idea who God is going to choose for this particular role.”
His wife Anne said at first, she wasn’t sure. “I guess I just didn’t want to hear it,” she said, thinking he needed a vacation, and that a sabbatical “was going to be the answer to everything.”
In August, Wright said he went to the church elders with his decision to step away and to begin the succession process.
They came to Johnson Ferry in 1981, when the church met in a doctor’s office and had 20 members. It’s grown to one of the biggest churches in metro Atlanta and has extended far beyond its sprawling grounds on Johnson Ferry Road.
On Sunday, he asked for prayers for the congregation and for “the right decision” to be made about who will lead Johnson Ferry in its future.
“Let’s make the most of the time that we have together,” he said.
“It’s tough to let go, but we’re going to have to let go . . .. Pray that God will lead us to the right man.”
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Roberts, pictured in the middle above, is the son of Jodi and Tim Roberts, Kol Emeth congregants. He is an 11th grader at The Weber School, a private Jewish school in Sandy Springs.
Here’s more about what happened from the Center for Israel Education:
The weekend featured a mix of activities, discussions and educational games designed to expand students’ knowledge and understanding of Israel and Zionism and to help them plan learning programs back home.
Center for Israel Education Vice President Rich Walter introduces the teens to the card game Atzmaut, which teaches early Israeli history.
The 24 teens came from Georgia, Florida, North Carolina, New Jersey, New York, Michigan and California. Interactive sessions included having teens develop a program goal and craft a program outline.
For example, the students formed a human timeline representing Zionist and Israeli events from 1881 (the start of the First Aliyah) to 2007 (Hamas’ takeover of Gaza), picked out the eight prime ministers among 16 head shots, identified the Israeli locations of cat photos, and played a version of the Food Network show “Chopped” in which six teams made hummus that had to include such ingredients as wheat crackers, hot sauce and orange Gatorade.
“I have a lot of Jewish friends in NFTY. Every one of them supports Israel, but I don’t think a lot of them know about Israel too much,” Roberts said. “I feel like I’m going to be able to teach them and also talk to my friends in Israel.”
CIE and ISMI emphasize context and documentary evidence in the study of Israel’s issues and history but do not advocate specific views, allowing students to reach their own conclusions. To that end, CIE President Ken Stein led two sessions to help the teens own Israel’s story and confront the Israeli-Arab conflict, and the teens got to choose among two or more programs several times during the weekend.
The program included the Abrahamic Reunion, a team of Jewish, Muslim, Christian and Druze leaders, and explored different perspectives on Israel’s independence in 1948 and diverse elements in modern Israeli culture.
Although Israel was the focus of the weekend, it also addressed anti-Semitism, a topic that took on unexpected immediacy when the massacre occurred at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life*Or L’Simcha synagogue while the institute teens were worshiping and studying at Emory’s Marcus Hillel Center.
(Photos courtesy of the Center for Israel Education)
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It’s the week before Thanksgiving, and holiday-themed events are popping up on our East Cobb events calendar, including the Ecumenical Thanksgiving Celebration. on Thursday.
It’s the 14th annual service starting at at 7 p.m. at Temple Kol Emeth (1415 Old Canton Road), and this year’s theme is “Harmonizing the Voice of Humanity.” Representatives of Jewish, Christian, Muslim and other metro area faith communities will participate in readings, music and fellowship.
The public is invited to stay for dessert and is asked to bring canned food donations for Must Ministries and an offering for Give-a-Gobble. Overflow parking is at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 3155 Trickum Road.
The elections are over, but the League of Women Voters of Marietta-Cobb is delving into lingering political matters with a discussion Monday night about gerrymandering. It starts at 7 p.m. at WellStar East Cobb Health Park (3747 Roswell Road), and the guest speaker is Elizabeth McNamara, the former president of the League of Women Voters of the U.S.
Cobb Police are continuing their community outreach events with citizens on Tuesday. Cookies With a Cop goes from 6-8 p.m. at the Great American Cookies/Marble Slab Creamery in Providence Square Shopping Center (4101 Roswell Road). Bring your questions about crime and public safety for Precinct 4 community officers to answer in an informal setting.
Check our full calendar listings for more, including a number of public library book club and other events going on during this week, and beyond.
Did we miss anything? Do you have a calendar item you’d like to share with the community? Send it to us, and we’ll spread the word! E-mail: calendar@eastcobbnews.com, and you can include a photo or flyer if you like.
Whatever you’re doing this week, make it a great one! Enjoy!
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A Catholic Church of St. Ann priest has responded to his parish’s membership this week after the Archdiocese of Atlanta published a list priests, deacons, seminarians and other religious workers it says have been “credibly accused” of sexual abuse of minors over many decade.
Two of those named in the report were a pastoral aide who was convicted of molesting two boys while working at St. Ann in 1999-2000, and a priest at a Canton parish who may have been at the East Cobb church on occasion in the early 1990s.
Rev. Wilton Gregory, the Atlanta Archbishop, said he was publicly identifying those on the list “in a spirit of transparency and the hope of continued healing for the survivors of abuse.”
On Friday, the Rev. Raymond Cadran, the St. Ann pastor, sent a letter to members of the Roswell Road parish, expressing “my deepest sorrow and anger and hurt over the actions of any LaSalette or anyone associated with our name who has caused hurt and pain to any of God’s precious children, young people and their families.”
He said that “all credible claims were handled in an appropriate and timely manner.”
The names on the Atlanta list go back to the founding of the archdiocese in 1956 and were compiled from “the best information available to us at this time,” according to the Archdiocese.
Another name on the Archdiocese list is Father Raymond Horan, who was the founding pastor of Transfiguration Catholic Church in East Cobb. He was there from 1977-1981.
Kenneth Cassity was a pastoral aide who lived at the St. Ann rectory from Aug. 1999-July 2000. He had been considering becoming a priest with Missionaries of Our Lady of LaSalette (of which St. Ann is a part) but was dismissed in 2000. In 2002, Cadran wrote, a “credible accusation” was made against Cassity while he was working at a Catholic church in Florida.
In June 2003, he pleaded guilty to two counts of molestation stemming from the St. Ann charges. He was sentenced to three years in prison and seven more on probation.
In December 2003, the Atlanta archdiocese and the Missionaries of LaSalette settled a $10 million lawsuit filed by the parents of Cassity’s molestation victims at St. Ann.
Rev. Ray Cadran
In August, the Catholic Archdiocese of Arlington, Va., acknowledged that it was told of an allegation of abuse by a minor against Cassity when he was a youth pastor at a parish there in 1992, and that law enforcement was notified.
That was the same year Richard Boucher, a priest at Our Lady of La Salette Church in Canton and who visited St. Ann on occasion, was accused of abusing a minor.
According to Cadran, Boucher “was immediately removed from all priestly and pastoral ministry by the La Salette Missionaries, as is still the case to this day. He may have had reason to be on our campus occasionally while he was in Canton for events such as a penance service.”
Cadran, who has been at St. Ann since 1996 and was at the Canton parish before that, also urged church members to contact the Atlanta archdiocese hotline 1-888-437-0764 with about a credible allegation of sexual abuse against a minor by a priest or religious worker.
“With you, I pray that the bishops gathered may find the strength and wisdom to create the way forward with their decisions and truly take the bold action necessary to heal the Church,” Cadran wrote in his letter.
UPDATED, SUNDAY, 1:15 P.M. Earlier today Father Fernando Molina-Restrepo, the pastor at Transfiguration, also posted a letter to his congregation regarding Horan, who later served at other churches in metro Atlanta and Georgia.
According to the Atlanta Archdiocese, Horan was removed from the ministry in 1992. He died last year at the age of 74.
“It’s obviously painful to see this news and recognize that enough evidence had been shown” for Horan’s removal, Molina-Restrepo wrote:
“Important now is that we, as a parish family, continue to pray for all victims of child sexual abuse. The Archdiocese of Atlanta is seeking to be transparent and giving assistance to anyone who may have been harmed. The Archdiocese of Atlanta, as the Archbishop has said numerous times, is always ready to assist victims with professional help and with whatever is needed for their healing.
“Here at Transfiguration, please know that we, as your parish clergy, are always willing to find a time to sit down and visit with any of you who may be struggling with this information or need advice, counsel or referral.”
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After spending this week absorbing the tragedy of the Tree of Life massacre in Pittsburgh, East Cobb synagogues will be taking part in a new national effort to promote unity and awareness during Saturday services.
It’s part of an effort called “Show Up for Shabbat,” which is being promoted by the American Jewish Committee.
Congregation Etz Chaim (1190 Indian Hills Parkway) is taking part, and here’s how the synagogue is describing the effort to its members:
Rabbi Daniel Dorsch, Congregation Etz Chaim
“It calls for all Jews, our allies, elected officials, civic and religious leaders of all faiths to come together and stand as one united community. Let us all stand in solidarity with those we mourn in light of this horrific attack on the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh.
“We urge you to stand in solidarity in this national initiative. We will #ShowUpForShabbat. We will not be afraid. We will not allow hatred and bigotry to destroy our faith. We stand together. We mourn together. Let us be a light unto the nations.”
Etz Chaim Rabbi Daniel Dorsch told a local business group Thursday that non-Jews are also invited to the service, which takes place from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
“This has been a very challenging week,” he said at a breakfast of the East Cobb Area Council of the Cobb Chamber of Commerce. He said the objective is to show solidarity, and “not to tolerate hatred and bigotry in our community.”
Etz Chaim is the Hebrew translation of “Tree of Life.” After the shootings, which killed 11 people, members of nearby Catholic Church of St. Ann created a memorial at Etz Chaim for the victims, arranging 11 chairs outside the synagogue in a circle. Each chair seat had a card with the victim’s name and a rose.
Earlier this week, Temple Kol Emeth held a solidarity service (East Cobb Newscoverage here) that included members of other faith communities in the area.
On Saturday, the Chabad of Cobb synagogue on Lower Roswell Road also is taking part in Show Up for Shabbat. According to a Rabbi Ehpraim Silverman, a special service will follow at 11:30 a.m., marking the end of Shiva, a period of remembrance for those who were murdered.
In a social media posting, Silverman said Cobb County officials, including those from law enforcement, will be discussing security matters.
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Pittsburgh native Brian Pearle (left) greeted by well-wishers at a special solidarity service Tuesday at Temple Kol Emeth. (East Cobb News photos by Wendy Parker)
As he and his daughter lit a candle at an East Cobb synagogue service on Tuesday, Brian Pearle choked up talking about his hometown.
He grew up in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh where 11 members of a synagogue were murdered Saturday in the worst mass killing in American Jewish history.
Pearle also knew several of the victims who were attending a bris at the Tree of Life synagogue when they were shot to death. The alleged gunman was taken into custody after a standoff, and after authorities said he posted anti-Semitic messages online.
Reciting the names of other places of mass shootings—Sandy Hook, Charleston and Parkland—Pearle admitted it was unfathomable that the place he called home for much of his life will be included on that list.
“It just hasn’t sunk in yet,” Pearle said at a special solidarity service at Temple Kol Emeth. “It torments me that the place I’ve called home could forever be remembered as one of those places. That just hurts me deeply in my soul.”
“You can’t really describe the feeling,” he said after the service, with many participants approaching him and his daughter Rachel, who had her bat mitzvah at Kol Emeth, with shows of support.
He said Squirrel Hill, with stately homes and many schools and places of worship, felt like the safest place in the world.
Two of the victims he knew well, brothers Cecil and David Rosenthal, who were fondly remembered in Pittsburgh and beyond. Earlier on Tuesday, they were laid to rest in the first of the funerals for the shooting victims.
“Everything you’ve read about them, that’s exactly who they were,” Pearle said, fighting back some emotion. “It could not be more accurate. They were great guys, would give you the shirt off their back.”
Pearle was among those speaking during a “call to action” segment of the service, which was quickly organized by Kol Emeth leaders on Sunday.
Other attendees urged the crowd to vote, contact their elected officials and treat one another with generosity, love and kindness and emphasize those qualities with their children.
Rebecca Tullman, the synagogue’s religious school director, said it was particularly tough to address the shootings during Sunday services with youth.
“It’s really hard to explain to kids why some people hate you, because of your religion,” she said.
Tullman, Kol Emeth president Rachel Barich and Rabbi Steven Lebow offered prayers for peace and special messages. The audience recited the Mourner’s Kaddish and sang, including “If I Had a Hammer” and “Oseh Shalom.”
“There has always been anti-Semitism and there always will be,” said Lebow, but recent political discourse and rhetoric “has done little” to tone down those sentiments.
The Pittsburgh shootings took place at the end of a week that included the arrest of a man for allegedly mailing pipe bombs to members of Congress and former presidents Clinton and Obama and the shooting deaths of two black customers at a Kentucky supermarket in what’s also being investigated as a hate crime.
“When will this madness end?” asked Lebow.
He urged Cobb schools, local churches and politicians to do more to practice and preach tolerance, not just for Jews, but for others from racial and other minority groups, as well as immigrants.
Barich said she was heartened by a co-worker asking her how she was doing when she arrived at her job on Monday.
“I didn’t expect to be approached as if I needed support,” Barich said. “That was very much appreciated.”
Barich said the support from around East Cobb, especially other faith communities, at Tuesday’s service also was uplifting.
“This is the beginning of healing.”
Pearle agreed, calling this “a good beginning. “This was therapeutic, this was cathartic.”
He was last in Pittsburgh last month, as his son is considering attending college there.
“The next time I go home, I’ll probably be a wreck,” Pearle said.
On Nov. 15, Kol Emeth will hold its annual Thanksgiving Ecumenical Service. This year’s theme, “Harmonizing the Voices of Humanity,” is “still very appropriate,” Barich said.
“We’re moving forward,” she said. “That’s what we Jews do.”
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Today’s the first day of fall, and it’s starting to feel a little bit like it. Many East Cobb organizations have already begun autumn- and holiday-themed events, and they’re continuing this weekend.
The Good Mews Holiday Decor Market gets under way Friday and continues every weekend through early December, returning to the Sandy Plains Exchange Shopping Center (1860 Sandy Plains Road, Suite 202). They’re open this Friday and the last Friday of the sale, on Dec. 7, from 12-5; otherwise the hours are Saturdays 10-5 and Sundays 12-5. The kitties like the one above who are the beneficiaries of the sale won’t be onsite, but you can get an early start on gently used goods for holiday shopping. Good Mews also is accepting your donations starting Friday and through Nov. 25;
Church fall festivals are starting to gear up too, and coming up is the Eastminster Presbyterian Church Fall Festival from 12-8 Friday and from 10-4 Saturday at the church (3125 Sewell Mill Road). Games, crafts, kids activities and BBQ are on tap, and the proceeds benefit several local charities, including MUST Ministries;
If you want to get out and stretch your legs while soaking up the beautiful weather and tap into the holidays, Halloween Hikes at the Chattahoochee Nature Center (9135 Willeo Road, Roswell) is an ideal event for the whole family. They’re guided half-mile walks along lighted trails and with crafts and other Halloween decorations. The times Friday and Saturday are from 7-9:45 p.m., and the cost is $12 a person;
The high school football season is drawing to a close, with several East Cobb teams still vying for playoff position. Friday’s games kick off at 7:30 p.m, and they include Cass at Kell, Woodstock at Lassiter, Sequoyah at Sprayberry, Roswell at Walton, Campbell at Wheeler and Pope at Cambridge.
By the way, that Walton-Roswell game is going to be shown live from Raider Valley on Georgia Public Television, as the No. 2 Raiders look to stay unbeaten on the season and in region play.
If high school band music is your thing, you’ve got all day Saturday to take in the 35th Southern Invitational Music Festival, which goes from 10-10 at Sprayberry High School (2525 Sandy Plains Road). Admission is $10 for adults; $5 for students with an ID and free for kids 6 and under.
Did we miss anything? Do you have a calendar item you’d like to share with the community? Send it to us, and we’ll spread the word! E-mail: calendar@eastcobbnews.com, and you can include a photo or flyer if you like.
Whatever you’re doing this weekend, make it a great one! Enjoy!
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Jewish food and culture, music and vendors’ goods were on display Sunday at Noshfest 2018 at Temple Kol Emeth.
One of the highlights of the first day is the Bagelicious bagel-eating contest, and it was a record-setting seven whole plain bagels in five minutes, for a $500 cash prize.
The bluesy sounds of the Alex Guthrie Band wafted through the Kol Emeth grounds, along with the aromas of kosher and Jewish delicacies.
Patrons purchased food tickets and brought canned goods to benefit MUST Ministries.
Noshfest continues on Monday from 11-4 at Temple Kol Emeth (1415 Old Canton Road). Admission is free and parking is available across the street at Eastminster Presbyterian Church.
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It wouldn’t be Noshfest without “Hava Nagila.” The Jewish food and culture festival returns at Temple Kol Emeth Sunday and Monday. (East Cobb News file photos)
Just a few days remain until two signature East Cobb Labor Day weekend events make their festive returns.
Here’s the latest info we have on the Noshfest, which takes place from 11-5 Sunday and 11-4 Monday at at Temple Kol Emeth (1415 Old Canton Road):
Admission is free, but each attendee is asked to bring two canned food items to be donated to MUST Ministries.
Once inside, you’ll purchase food and drink tickets as you please, and either with cash or by credit card. Craft items for sale can be bought with cash, credit card or debit card, depending on vendor availabilty.
The Highlights: Entertainment from the blues-and-folk Alex Guthrie Band (he’s a local musician and recording artist) returns to the Noshfest stage at 3 p.m. Sunday. Before that, starting at noon, is a cooking demonstration from Chef Wilson Gourley of the famed General Muir deli in Dectatur, and the festival’s 3rd annual bagel-eating contest (sponsored by Bagelicious in East Cobb) is at 2 p.m.
The winning contestant will win a cash prize of $500 for eating the most bagels in five-minutes.
On Monday, live music will abound, including the Dixie Saints, who will perform Dixieland and klezmer specialties at 2 p.m.
Temple tours of the synagogue will take place Sunday at 1, 2:30 and 4 and on Monday at 12, 1:30 and 3.
Admission is also free on Monday to the Holy Smoke Festival, held from 10-3 at the ball fields and south parking lot at Johnson Ferry Baptist Church (955 Johnson Ferry Road).
Food tickets for the Williamson BBQ-catered meals are $6.50 (and if they run out, other food vendors will be on hand), and the events include live music, Christian illusionist Shane Wilbanks (above), kids’s inflatables, a silent auction and a classic car show.
The Highlights: Local musician Jay Memory will perform in the Big Tent between 11-2 (that’s where and for how long the food will be served). Wilbanks’ shows are at 11:15, 12:45 and 1:45.
At 12:15, the Fort Benning Silver Wings aerial show takes place.
At 2, the silent auction closes, with the grand prize winner announced, as well as the car show awards.
Holy Smoke proceeds will benefit the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, East Cobb chapter.
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Atlanta attorney Dale Schwartz, a key figure in Leo Frank’s posthumous pardon in 1986, holds up a photo of the 1915 lynching near what is now Frey’s Gin Road. (East Cobb News photos and video by Wendy Parker)
The Leo Frank memorial that stood near the site of the infamous lynching in Marietta 103 years ago this month has been relocated and on Thursday morning was rededicated.
Across the street from that venue on Roswell Road, representatives of the Cobb and metro Atlanta Jewish community and others gathered to honor the memory of Frank, regarded as the only Jewish lynching victim in American history.
Squeezed between the new Northwest Corridor Express Lanes on Interstate 75 and a taco eatery, the marker is located in a “parklet” created by the Georgia Department of Transportation.
The small slice of greenspace, with soft soil underneath reflecting its very recent planting, also has become the new focal point for continuing efforts to fully and formally clear Frank of the murder of 13-year-old Mary Phagan, a girl from Marietta, in 1913.
“Leo Frank is innocent,” said Rabbi Steven Lebow of Temple Kol Emeth in East Cobb, a leader in pushing for a full exoneration of Frank.
“Your presence here today is one more step toward full exoneration.”
The dignitaries included Marietta City Council member Joseph Goldstein and State Sen. Kay Kirkpatrick of East Cobb, as well as representatives of the Georgia Historical Society, the Cobb SCLC and various Jewish organizations.
Frank was a supervisor at the National Pencil Company in downtown Atlanta in 1913 when Phagan, a worker there, was found murdered in a basement. Frank was put on trial, convicted and sentenced to death and later imprisoned in Milledgeville.
When his sentence was commuted to life, a mob from Marietta traveled to the jail. The mob, which allegedly included prominent local citizens, law enforcement and elected officials, kidnapped Frank. They brought him back to Marietta and on Aug. 17, 1915, hanged him from an oak tree near what is now Frey’s Gin Road.
The trial and lynching earned national headlines, inflaming anti-Semitic tensions in America and helping revive the Ku Klux Klan, but also giving birth to the Anti-Defamation League.
In more recent years, the Frank case has inspired several films and books as Jewish leaders worked for a pardon. That effort was sparked by a 1982 admission by Alonzo Mann, a pencil factory worker, that Frank was wrongly convicted.
After a silence of nearly 70 years, Mann said he saw Jim Conley, a factory custodian, carrying Mary Phagan’s body the day she died. Mann also said was told by Conley he would be killed if he told anyone about what he saw.
At Frank’s trial, Conley was the main witness for the prosecution against Frank. The state of Georgia granted Frank a pardon in 1986, but only on the grounds that he did not receive a fair trial.
“We’re still trying to get a new trial that would, in effect, exonerate him,” said Dale Schwartz, an Atlanta attorney who also has led the charge for a pardon.
The Leo Frank saga was national front-page news for more than two years, from his trial and imprisonment to his lynching.
He retold the story of the pardon effort in detail, as well as his own Jewish family being attacked by the Klan for hiring black workers at a clothing store in Winder during the Jim Crow era.
The Leo Frank memorial was originally dedicated in 2008 by the Georgia Historical Society, the Jewish American Society for Historic Preservation and Temple Kol Emeth.
It had to be moved four years ago to make way for an entrance ramp to the Express Lanes, which are scheduled to open by the end of the summer. The marker was kept in storage during that time by Georgia DOT.
Jerry Klinger, founder and president of the Jewish American Society, said the new site is the perfect venue for what he said is “an important story.”
Rabbi Steven Lebow of East Cobb’s Temple Kol Emeth.
“We have an opportunity to transform the meaning of this location beyond Leo Frank,” he said.
Klinger noted nearly a century’s worth of anti-lynching legislation that has never been passed, as well as a bipartisan bill recently introduced in the U.S. Senate.
He said his organization will soon locate a black granite anti-lynching marker on the site, also in honor of Frank, and has placed a floral arrangement near Phagan’s gravesite at the Marietta City Cemetery.
“We chose to remember the first victim but also chose to remember all the victims in the United States who have suffered the horrors of lynching,” Klinger said.
The Southeast regional office of the Anti-Defamation League in Atlanta also planted a crepe myrtle tree and invited guests to shovel dirt around it to honor the dead.
Shelley Rose, the ADL deputy regional director, said Georgia is only one of five states that does not have a hate-crimes law, and said it’s important to press for such legislation here.
Rabbi Daniel Dorsch of Congregation Etz Chaim in East Cobb offered a benediction he dubbed “A Really Horrible Thing,” based on what a supermarket clerk told him in reference to the Frank case, not long after he moved to the community two years ago.
The rededication, Dorsch said, can help “to inspire us to go out and create a world where there will be no more horrible things.”
The new Leo Frank memorial site is located between Huarache Veloz Mexican Taqueria, 1157 Roswell Road, and Interstate 75.
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The 37th Apple Annie Arts & Craft Show takes place Friday from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. and on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Catholic Church of St. Ann (4905 Roswell Road), and on Thursday, we swung by the volunteer and VIP event to get a glimpse of what’s on store for the weekend.
It’s part of a big holiday weekend of events in East Cobb. See our earlier post here, as well as our full Holiday Guide for more.
More than 120 artisanal artists and craftsmakers are selling their wares at Apple Annie—some, but not all of it—with a Christmas theme. This is one of the bigger juried arts and crafts shows in the area, and vendors are lined up not only in the fellowship area but downstairs and in classroom and meeting room space.
In addition to the arts and crafts sales, a bake sale will be available and the Apple Annie Cafe will serve soups, sandwiches and beverages, with the proceeds going to the St. Ann’s preschool.
There also will be continuous raffle prizes every 15 minutes from show artisans and there will be a separate raffle for a handmade 98″ x 98″ quilt.
Admission is $3 (no strollers), and proceeds go to church parish and local charities. Free parking is in the church lot, with overflow space and shuttle service available at the Episcopal Church of St. Peter and St. Paul (1795 Johnson Ferry Road).
To see more East Cobb holiday events, please consult our Holiday Guide. Send your holiday news (including photos) to: editor@eastcobbnews.com.
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An interfaith choir from the participating faith communities performed “Amani,” “America the Beautiful,” “I Will Sing Hallelujah” and “Take Down These Walls.” (East Cobb News photos and slideshow by Wendy Parker
A special focus on young people in need and those who serve them was part of the 13th annual Ecumenical Thanksgiving Service Thursday at Temple Kol Emeth, with the theme “Dare to Be.”
That formed the basis of reflections from adults and teens representing several faith communities in and near East Cobb, as well as efforts to help Cobb youths.
With Thanksgiving a week away, a packed audience at the East Cobb Reform synagogue heard about the work of the Center for Children and Young Adults, a Marietta non-profit that provides more than a roof for homeless teens. It provides education and a sense of family for the youngsters, several of whom also performed musically at the service.
Angela Thornton of the CCYA.
Angela Thornton, the CCYA’s advancement officer, spoke about the success stories of several young people her agency has taken in, including a current student at Reinhardt College.
“Our youth dare to do every single day,” she said. “It’s not just a shelter. We’re a home.”
November is Homeless Youth Awareness month, and Thornton said nearly 40 percent of all homeless people in the United States are teens and young adults.
Proceeds from the offering at Thursday’s service are going to purchase Thanksgiving food for the CCYA, as well as to the Give-A-Gobble community food support program, a longtime beneficiary of Kol Emeth’s Women of Reform Judaism organization.
Gathering music performed by the drum circle of the Emerson Unitarian Universalist Congregation and Unity North Atlanta.The Muslim call to prayer by Hassan Faye of the Roswell Community Masjid.
In another symbol of interfaith generosity, Fred Macey, a member of the Emerson Unitarian Universalist Congregation on Canton Road, presented a tapestry of Mecca he acquired on a trip to Saudi Arabia in 1975 to the Roswell Community Masjid.
Fred Macey bequeathed a tapestry of a Muslim worship in Mecca he purchased more than 40 years ago to the Roswell Community Masjid.
Macey, who also sang in the choir, explained his gesture in the service program:
“May mutual respect between worshippers flourish for generations to come, as people of all faiths grow together and work, worship, pray, share music and food—and especially listen to one another in the coming years. May we always find joy and peace in the recognition that you and I are one.”
Kol Emeth Rabbi Steven Lebow, who started the service in the aftermath of post-Sept. 11 sentiments in Amrerica, asked attendees to think about “what they saw” while taking part in a celebration of many faiths.
While some may have seen others as different when they arrived, he said, “after the 90 minutes, you came to the realization that this is what America looks like!”
He got a standing ovation, and the choir sang “Take Down These Walls” before the attendees gathered in the synagogue’s social room for “noshing” and continued fellowship.
Rabbi Steven Lebow of Temple Kol Emeth, who started the Ecumenical Thanksgiving Service in 2005.
The faith communities taking part include: Ahmadiyya Muslim Community; The Art of Living Foundation; Baha’i Faith Center for Learning; East Cobb Islamic Center; East Cobb United Methodist Church; Emerson Unitarian Universalist Congregation; Faith Alliance of Metro Atlanta; Holy Trinity Lutheran Church; Interfaith Community Initiatives; Islamic Center of Marietta (Al-Hedaya); Temple Kol Emeth; Masjid Al-Muminum; Pilgrimage United Church of Christ; Roswell Community Masjid; Sikh Educational Welfare Association; Gurudwara Sahib; St. Catherine’s Episcopal Church; The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints; Transfiguration Catholic Church; Unity North Atlanta Church.
More photos from the 13th Ecumenical Thanksgiving Service:
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