Memphis-Cordova Community Church

[Moogy]

Is anyone here from Memphis? What do you know about Cordova Community Church? From reading their website, I think it sounds like a spin-off from a COC. Some of their doctrine sounds very COC, while other points would have been heresy in my old churches. I am curious because I have a relative who goes there at least part of the time.

[Memtiger]

Yes, Ealy baptized me 30 plus years ago, and I know several who go there and some of the names in the calendar are familiar.

I remember them starting the church and the ruffled feathers it caused years ago.

[fieldsofdreams]

I know a guy who used to be a C.o.C. preacher and now works at Harding University who just preached there. He's one of the few guys who wasn't afraid to answer, "I don't know" to some questions at my old church, so I'd assume they're akin to a "liberal" C.o.C.

[Moogy]

Did they split from another COC or did they just start a new congregation? I can't imagine my parents going there. But they are still too COC for me!

[Memtiger]

Ealy was always trying to push the coc to broader places. He was always interested in development and might be the first to promote that wealth, growth, prosperity type churches within the coc back in the 80s. He is a consultant and has a website called Generis.com for other churches.

I have no fight with him, and I know several that have followed him since the Brownsville rd days and I still see them on occasion some weekly.

[margin overa]

Ealy was always trying to push the coc to broader places. He was always interested in development and might be the first to promote that wealth, growth, prosperity type churches within the coc back in the 80s. He is a consultant and has a website called Generis.com for other churches.

I have no fight with him, and I know several that have followed him since the Brownsville rd days and I still see them on occasion some weekly.

I have no real beef with Gary Ealy personally, but I've never liked his focus on church giving=church growth, or the company he helped found. It represents a corporitization of religious group philosophy, essentially focusing on increasing the church's budget by encouraging/shaming members to give more. Back when I was still a CofCer, I was an active member of a theologically moderate, quite large CofC that had a preacher and a set of elders who wanted to double the building's auditorium and classroom capacity, and engaged Generis to hold a series of workshops for the church to inspire "vision" and "focus". Despite all their claims to the contrary, the real focus was on increasing giving to make this happen. Anyone who protested this intense focus on money was dismissed summarily or attempted to be brought on board by encouraging them to help lead the church in realizing this new "vision". The end result was and is all about money leading to growth ("nickels and numbers"), whatever their rationalizations.

I've known a couple of CofCs who worked that Generis program to achieve some financial goal - a new building, a new set of classroms, another minister - and the question then becomes "What now?" when that goal has been achieved. Another congregation I had some friends in brought in Generis several times in several years to help them keep kickstarting new goals and visions, which must be good for Ealy & Co.; I'm not so sure it's what a church is supposed to be about, personally.

[Memtiger]

I agree.

My folks left Brownsville rd when they started the small confession groups and started the real push to shame everyone into
giving for a new gym. But really it did not take much for my folks to get their feathers ruffled and go to a new church every 4 years.

sycamore view enlarged everything a few years ago and highland moved east into their new fluffy building, Ealy worked with Highland before he opened his church.

[margin overa]

I didn't know Highland had succumbed to that push to get into bigger quarters. That's a shame, if true. Did they move east of Memphis? I last went there when Harold Shank was their main preacher, which was quite a while ago, I believe.
EDIT: Google shows that they moved out to Cordova. At the time I attended there, the church was committed to staying in Memphis proper, not joining the "white flight" out east.

[Memtiger]

When I have more time I will update you. Yes when I attended in the earlymid 90s there was clear message from the pulpit to serve memphis and stay where they were, Union Ave intercongregational services, and Shank preached it. But the fact was Shank and the current elders and staff had eyes east, they really wanted to be a Bellevue type church where Factory Outlet was, but they had to scale back to where they are now. Its country club church now.

Now Highland is an empty lot. Its a big deal in my family and inner circle.

[KLP]

Are they ever going to finish that construction on the bypass/loop 240 or the I40 ??? oy