The Right Seat On The Bus
Photo courtesy of Stinson Allstates.
How do adversaries change “seats on the bus” to become enthusiastic partners in the great work of building Beloved Community?
As pastor at Mayfield Memorial Missionary Baptist Church*, I was inspired by the powerful concept of Good to Great author Jim Collins that cultivating great leadership is akin to getting the right people into the right seat on the bus. An actual bus trip turned out to be crucial in our church’s quest to create affordable housing on our church property.
Mayfield nurtures relationships in the Hidden Valley community, the church’s home for the past forty-five years, although home to fewer of our members in more recent years. Yet the annual Hidden Valley Parade and Festival still musters from our parking lot, the Hidden Valley Community Development Corporation (CDC) meets in our building, and I serve on the Hidden Valley CDC’s board of directors. Mayfield endeavors to be a good neighbor to the over 15,000 residents of this vibrant, historic and -- over the past twenty years -- disinvested community.
Yet when the church chose to use its land to build affordable, mixed-income housing through a new Mayfield CDC, none of our community commitment seemed to matter. Some residents and homeowners vocalized intense concern that our initiative to build mixed-income housing would invite criminal elements and overcrowding into the community. Malicious rumors and misleading emails defamed our efforts and intentions. Some residents were clearly very afraid. Poised to receive final rezoning approval and tax credit financing, we faced the same Not-In-My-Back-Yard responses as in so many other neighborhoods seeking to build affordable housing.
We had been chastened by City Council in our initial rezoning hearing to go back to the community and continue talking with them. How could we build confidence among our wary neighbors that our aim and expected outcome were only to add value?
I recalled a suggestion from one of our Mayfield CDC board members that a field trip was in order! I called another Mayfield CDC board member who owned a charter bus company, requesting that he donate a bus and a driver, which thankfully we were granted. We sent a mass email through the Hidden Valley Homeowners’ Association list-serve, inviting the residents to board a luxury coach for a tour of three properties built by our non-profit developer, the Housing Partnership*.
On a sunny Monday morning in April, Hidden Valley residents, Mayfield church members, and board members of Mayfield’s CDC slowly boarded the luxury coach. Some of our neighbors boarded with curt salutations. Snarky comments and snide sotto voce insinuations about our church and our plans punctuated the initial moments of the ride. Tension clouded the trip from the church parking lot to our first stop.
As we pulled up to the first property, the clouds began to burn off and the sunlight of change peeked through. Audible gasps of admiration and sighs of surprise filled the air as we exited the bus, entering the grounds of the Housing Partnership’s oldest development. Everyone noted the excellence, the cleanliness, and the fastidious management of the property. By lunch at the second stop, friendly conversation emerged as we broke bread together, and some of our neighbors picked up applications to live in Housing Partnership developments.
As we rode through the busy streets, Charlotte’s infamous traffic seemed to fade away and sprightly conversation and fellowship dominated the bus atmosphere. Our prayer for understanding was answered by the end of this two-hour bus tour. Before exiting the bus in the church parking lot, several neighbors stood, voicing appreciation for the trip. After the comments, applause from our neighbors broke out. Most importantly, these neighbors offered gratitude to our church for daring to make such a beautiful, positive investment in our community -- a community which felt ignored for many years.
Several of our neighbors also expressed their desire to become residents of our new development when we all celebrate its completion together. The great blessing for Mayfield that April day was seeing fearful people who boarded the bus as adversaries change seats to become enthusiastic partners and allies in this great work of building Beloved Community.
The Reverend Dr. Peter M. Wherry serves as pastor of Mayfield Memorial Missionary Baptist Church. His previous accomplishments include seminary teaching and lecturing, professional singing, serving on the Virginia State Board of Juvenile Justice, and authoring numerous published works. He was the founding Moderator of the United Missionary Baptist Association of Metro Charlotte and marked his fortieth year in the Gospel Ministry in 2019.
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*The church renamed itself The Field and the Housing Partnership became DreamKey Partners since the original publication date.
Postscript: The groundbreaking date is set for April 2022 for a new architectural design with more units.