Nigerian church puts Texans' love for their neighbours to the test

[T_i_B]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1657870,00.html

They say that God moves in mysterious ways, but perhaps never more so than when telling the leaders of Africa's largest evangelical church to build their North American headquarters in Floyd. Less than a generation ago this dusty railway stop on the prairie of north-east Texas was still a segregated community, the local philosophy summed up by a sign painted on a water tower in nearby Greenville that proudly proclaimed "Blackest Land, Whitest People".

The arrival of the Redeemed Christian Church of God - whose congregation is mostly black - has presented a challenge to the 100 or so inhabitants of Floyd, who are mostly white, that will ultimately reveal to both the locals and their new neighbours whether the community has been able to throw off the racist cloak of the past and embrace a multicultural future. The Nigerian church, founded in Lagos in 1952, paid about $1m (£580,000) for 198 hectares (490 acres) of pasture, on which it is planning to build cottages, a 10,000-seat amphitheatre, an artificial lake and possibly a modest waterpark, leading some to dub it a Christian Disneyland. At the moment the only structure is a large conference centre that last month hosted a meeting of more than 1,000 ministers and volunteers.

So far the arrival of the church in Floyd has not been greeted with much in the way of Christian spirit. "A generation ago it wouldn't have been allowed to happen," said Luanne Moody, who has lived in the same trailer for 27 years on Mockingbird Estates, a collection of broken down bungalows and mobile homes on a few acres of scrubby land a mile or so from the church camp.

"I heard talk - I don't agree with it mind - but I heard talk of people doing something stupid and taking the law into their hands," she added. "I was born and raised here and I lived her all my life. My daughter, my sister, my niece, they all live here and we just feel like we're being pushed out, and I know my neighbours feel the same."

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. Won't these new people need to buy things

like food, clothing, etc? Won't that help the local economy? If they have bought the land for their headquarters, they aren't interested in Mockingbird Estates, so I don't see that these folks are being "pushed out".

[Coyote_Bandit]

2. I have family in Northeast Texas

They drive about 50 miles one way to see a doctor or go to a hospital (literally they choose care in either Arkansas, Oklahoma or Texas) - and they drive about 35 miles one way to go to a grocery store or do other shopping. A cousin opened a small grocery/gas/convenience store and operated it for about two years before closing it down. Seems his neighbors largely preferred to drive the extra miles to shop at Wally World.

Based on what I know of Northeast Texas I would not assume that the local economy will be helped. There may or may not be shopping and other services available where these folks live.

[Goldensilence]

3. i wouldn't recommend it

but looks like they have done it anyway. Living in central texas like myself is one thing. But when you get around the fringes....that is another completely. Most people in these isolated communites are there for a reason as the world around them continues to change (without their permission) and they clamor to remain the same.

With the advent of the internet everything has changed forever. I still do not think we have fully understand how drastically it has changed everythingand will continue to change everything. The world is a lot smaller now and corners that weren't able to be reached culturally are able to be reached now(for the better or worse). I think for the better in this instance. The more we now communicate and interact with one another greater the understanding between us all grows.

A wave of change is going acorss the land ....while some hide in fear.... I got a surfboard and plan to ride its crest to a new brighter future for humanity.

Peace n Respect