THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 9, 1994 TAG: 9410060128
SECTION: HAMPTON ROADS WOMAN PAGE: 10 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DENISE WATSON, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 152 lines
THE MAMMOTH Christian Temple United Church of Christ that is the corner of 34th Street and Llwellyn in Norfolk hasn't changed that much over the years.
The roof has been repaired, some gutter work has been done, but the sand-colored brick and the bell tower that can be spotted a few blocks away is still there. The temple's blue-and-gold stained glass windows are as brilliant as they were when the church was built in 1922.
But the interior of the Christian Temple hasn't held up as well. The predominantly white congregation began to dwindle as blacks began to move into the surrounding Park Place neighborhood.
Hundreds of people filled its pews years ago, but now there's an integrated group of 30 or 40 faithfuls.
``In its heydey, from what I hear, it used to have about 1,000 people,'' said the Rev. Sharon Holley, who stepped into the pulpit early September to bring the church back to life.
``And it will be that way again soon.''
Holley admits she's breaking many traditions by handling this resurrection. She's African American and female. Her sermons are laced with the theologies of Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, the power of self-confidence as well as the teachings of Paul. Other churches talk of field trips, Holley is adding an employment office onto her church. When she dons her black pastoral robe on Sundays, she places a stole of Kente, an African-print, around her neck.
But as atypical as Holley might be, she might be just what the Christian Temple needs.
``Be ye renewed by the renewing of the mind. Paul says that,'' Holley added, recently, while dabbing at the perspiration on her brow.
``If you want to change, you must think a little differently. . . someone who abuses his first wife will abuse his second unless he changes. You see it in divorce all the time. Chances are, it won't be any better. You've only changed the name of the spouse you fight with. Because there's no change in your thought pattern.''
As with most of her declarations, someone punctuated it with a heartfelt ``Amen.' Members nod when she touches something in their hearts. When she says ``stand up and rejoice,'' they don't waste anytime.
As she builds their belief in Christ, she builds their belief in themselves and what the Christian Temple can be.
``God has told me to do this - that's empowerment. It's not easy being a black female minister, but when you will not accept anything less, you just rise above it, that's knowing who you are,'' Holley says, her voice edged with determination.
``What I'm doing is trying to love and trying to help. That's what the ministry is all about. This is what this church is going to be.''
The repair on the Temple's interior has indeed begun. A couple of weeks ago, four people joined. Last week, two. The sanctuary's even getting a new coat of paint.
It's easy to forget that this, technically, is her part-time job for the time being. Holley drives to Petersburg every day where she works as a graphic artist with a Fort Lee television program.
But even then, she uses those skills to help the church.
``I do all of the church programs, all of the artwork for a newsletter,'' Holley said as she picked up the latest edition.
``It's not my best work; it's a little crooked but I was in a rush.''
Holley is usually very reserved, except when she's standing in the pulpit or talking about her plans for the church. There are many. Holley likes to offer a tour of the building that still has a lot of empty rooms and chipping walls. The abandoned gymnasium on the bottom floor, which once hosted basketball and shuffle board games, will become an activities center for the children to hold programs and plays.
Their Open Door ministry already feeds 25 to 30 families a day, and Holley plans to expand it. The former fellowship halls will hold foster care and parenting classes. Also planned is an employment office, in which the church can work as a liaison between employers and job candidates, and people can learn interviewing techniques and how to fill out applications. Three of four rooms filled with bunk beds serve as dormitories for carpenters and missionaries who come in to help rebuild some of the homes in the Park Place area.
The most important part of the tour is the walk around the church and a study of the houses that surround it. Several of the houses are maintained well, but others are boarded up. Several are dilapidated, with broken toys and trash spilling from the yard into the street. The few people walking about look tired and worn, beaten by life. It's a neighborhood that's seen better days.
``Every church has a day-care center. I want to go beyond that, I want to go beyond the status quo,'' Holley said.
``I think that's why you need to have churches. . . I want to do this in this community. I hear so many people, council members, businesspeople, talk about this area but I never hear what the people want. There comes a time when people need to say, `This is what I need.' We need to go to them and ask.
``I am a rebel, perhaps always have been and always will be.''
Born in 1953, Holley grew up at the height of the civil rights movement and graduated from Norview High School when it was beginning to integrate. On her first day as a student at Norfolk State University that fall, she walked into a hallway filled with students sitting cross-legged on the floor - her first introduction to a sit-in. She began to follow activities of the Black Panthers and civil right's activist, Angela Davis.
``I've always felt I've been fighting discrimination all my life. My life is geared towards that,'' Holley said.
``But I didn't internalize it; I was able to turn it around and put it in the right perspective - that we're all just one.''
Holley graduated from NSU in 1974 with a degree in social work. She worked as a social worker until 1980 when she realized it wasn't something she wanted to spend her life doing.
She went back to school and received a master's degree in mass communication administration in 1982 and worked as a writer/producer/director for a local children's program and handled graphics for the newscast. In 1985, she was working on the evening program when Olympic-athlete-turned-inspirational speaker, Madeline Mims, began talking about her Christian experience.
Mims began to sing the hymn, ``Holy Spirit,'' and Holley was entranced.
``I closed my eyes and something came over me, a warm tingly feeling,'' Holley said. ``It was truly profound.''
Holley entered Virginia Union University's School of Theology in 1987 and graduated in 1990. Even though half the students were female, Holley realized not many people wanted them in the clergy.
``On one hand people are pushing you to go farther knowing that you might not get the chance to pastor, but I had developed this unquenchable desire to be the best minister I could be,'' Holley said. ``It's OK for a woman to hold Sunday school or be an assistant minister, that person has `arrived.' But pastoring? No. But I had to take the attitude, `I'm not going to be anyone's assistant.' That's it.''
Holley wasn't given a chance until the former pastor of the Christian Temple, the Rev. Donald Kirkbride, met Holley last year and saw her potential. He suggested she apply for his position.
``It was time for the Christian Temple to retire as the old church it had been and be something new, ministering more to the neighborhood that it's in,'' Kirkbride said.
``The area is difficult but there's a lot of opportunity. She has the gift that will put it all together. She is a gifted woman with a lot of good ideas. I think it's a great opportunity for the church and I think it's a great opportunity for Sharon.''
Holley agrees. She drives the hour and a half from Petersburg each day and heads straight for the church. There's so much to do. She gets home late and gets in about four or five hours of sleep before it begins again.
``When people come in, they see the beauty or potential beauty of the building. What they really need to see is what we're going to do at the church,'' Holley said.
``I'm taking a holistic approach to helping people. I've seen religion in so many cases enslave people when it should empower. . . We don't look at the church building anymore. At one time it was dying, but it's starting to get life again with its loving and caring folks. That's our testimony.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo
LAWRENCE JACKSON/Staff
As the Rev. Sharon Holley builds the belief in Christ in members at
the Christian Temple United Church of Christ in Norfolk, she builds
their belief in themselves.
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