Students Rebuild Texas Church

Two dozen Harvard students raised a church from its ashes over Easter weekend.

As part of the “Alternative Spring Break” program sponsored by the Philip Brooks House Association (PBHA), the students helped rebuild a church that had burned down in Dallas, Texas in 1995.

Timothy P. McCarthy, a government professor and resident tutor in Quincy House, led 23 undergraduates and one graduate student in the rebuilding efforts. He has led similar trips to rebuild churches for the past 10 years.

As a member of the National Coalition for Burned Churches, a group that gathers funds and organizes people to help rebuild southern black churches burned down during the mid-1990s, McCarthy introduced PBHA to the initiative. The national organization also provides leadership development and victim support for community members.

The Harvard students worked on the Greater Gospel Temple Church—a part of the African-American evangelical denomination Church of God and Christ—which arsonists destroyed in Nov. 1995. Though there was evidence of burglary, McCarthy said the case remains inconclusive.

For the past thirteen years, the church has been undergoing reconstruction efforts, of which Harvard’s spring break trip was the most recent. According to McCarthy, the amount of time that has been devoted to rebuilding this church is the longest he has seen.

Hampered by a lack of money and difficulties in attaining a permit, the church has made slow attempts at rebuilding, resulting in a “quasi-structure,” according to trip co-leader Jessica C. Frisina ’10.

Some members have continued to worship in the incomplete church, but most of the original congregation of 150 dispersed to find other churches, co-leader Julia K. Lindpaintner ’09 said.

The church’s membership has dwindled to seven members, mostly family and close friends of the pastor, Sister Shirley Davis.

Participant Sarah J. Godfrey ’10 described Davis—who assumed ministerial duties upon the death of her husband last year—as having “unending optimism” despite having faced so much hardship.

Frisina said students had to realize that the rebuilt church would not only be servicing its current seven-member community but would be aiming for a future growth.

“Because we were working to build a structure that fits 50 to 100 people, we were working towards the future of the community,” Frisina said.

According to McCarthy, the work was “pretty intense stuff” involving sheet rocking, installation of insulation, and restoration of floorings and sidings.
PBHA also organized an HIV/AIDS assistance trip to New York, restoration trips to Alabama and Mississippi, a health clinic trip to New Orleans, and a civil rights tour in Mississippi. The Harvard Hillel organized a similar service trip to Mexico.

McCarthy said he views the rebuilding of desecrated churches as part of a larger political project committed to civil justice issues, as black churches have been central to black communities.

“With the lack of political aware and media attention, people are not as invested in fixing this problem now as they were in the mid-90s,” McCarthy said.

McCarthy said he also valued the opportunity “to really interact with Harvard undergrads way outside the gates of Harvard Yard in a way that’s really meaningful, reflective, and inspiring.”

Lindpaintner said, “I almost at this point don’t think the typical spring break is as refreshing.”

—Staff Writer Esther I. Yi can be reached at estheryi@fas.harvard.edu.