Carter Smith rarely asks for a helping hand, although he makes an occasional request for assistance in putting on a necklace or opening a bottle of Gatorade.

Smith, a 19-year-old freshman at the University of Tennessee at Martin, is determined to make life as normal as possible, even though he was born without a right hand.

“I try to find a new way to do something,” Smith said. “I have never really had to adjust. I have had it my whole life. It comes natural.”

As natural as playing baseball.

Smith is a left-handed pitcher for the UT-Martin baseball team, which is scheduled to play Tuesday at the University of Memphis. As a starter this season, Smith has won three and lost three. Mixing an 86-mph fastball with his favorite pitch, a change-up, Smith has struck out 22 batters in 34 innings.

“I don’t think there is anything I can’t do,” said Smith, 19. As a youngster, he said, he was inspired by Jim Abbott, the one-handed Major League pitcher who played for five teams in the 1990s

Before each pitch, Smith holds his glove with his right limb. After the pitch, he immediately puts his left hand in the glove. When he fields the ball, he pulls off the glove with his right arm, snatches the ball with his left hand and throws.

“It’s kind of neat that he has figured out a way for that to work for himself,” Cates said.

The 6-foot-3 Smith doesn’t bat in college, although he hit one-handed from the right side of the plate his first two years of high school. He also played football in middle school and basketball in college. He began playing T-ball at age 4.

“My parents would never tell me I couldn’t do something,” said Smith, who grew up in Town and Country, Mo., a St. Louis suburb. “They definitely encouraged me and supported me in everything I did.”

He was an all-conference baseball player as a junior at Parkway West High School.

Smith doesn’t mind being asked about his arm, but he refuses to be labeled as handicapped or disabled.

“I don’t think it shakes Carter,” said Taylor Cox, a 2011 Arlington High School graduate from Bartlett who is Smith’s teammate and roommate.

“He does not let it get to him. He is not scared of it. He is not self-conscious of it. He lives with it. He deals with it and handles it very well for a guy who was put in that position. Some people might try to blame God, but that has made his relationship stronger.”

Smith and his parents, Larry and Julie Smith, are members of Central Presbyterian Church in Clayton, Mo. He attended Young Life in high school. On his baseball cap, he’s written his favorite Bible verse: 1 Corinthians 10:31: “So whatever you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”

“That is something I try to think about before I do a lot of things,” said Smith, who prays and reads the Bible daily. “Spiritually, I want to keep growing, keep learning, keep walking in my faith. Hopefully, by my actions, I let Christ shine through me. By my words, too, and the things I do or won’t do. I think Christ expects me to lead people to him by example.”

Smith and Cox are preparing to join UTM’s Fellowship of Christian Athletes leadership team. They attended an FCA retreat in January. “It changed us all,” said Cox, who was baptized in February at New Home Baptist Church in Martin. Smith also attends the church.

“You would never know anything was wrong with Carter,” said Zach Cochran, FCA campus minister. “He is one of the most joyful people I know. Carter humbles me the way he enjoys life so much.”

Smith said his father encourages him by sending devotionals and telling him to be persistent. The young pitcher also was inspired by Jim Abbott, a former Major League pitcher who was born without a right hand. Abbott played for five Major League teams from 1989-99 and pitched a no-hitter in 1993.

“Ever since watching him when I was a kid, seeing him pitch and seeing what he could do, that definitely inspired me to keep working hard,” Smith said.

Last summer, Smith met an 8-year-old St. Louis baseball player who was born with no hands.

“I tried to inspire him and give him words of wisdom to keep working hard,” Smith said.

Smith works hard on and off the field. He has a 3.7 GPA in sports management.

“I don’t think there is anything I can’t do,” he said.

“I want to use baseball as a platform to glorify God and bring others to Christ,” he said. “Jesus means everything. It is the most important thing in my life. Once you become a Christian, everything else kind of shrinks in how important things are to you.”

Unlike some who have been born and raised in the Christian faith, I cannot pinpoint the day Jesus came into my life.

I can recall the exact day baseball did: Aug. 16, 1969. I turned 5 that year, and it was the gift of a glove, baseball and bat that captured my imagination.

Maybe it was the smell of the leather Spalding glove with Rico Petrocelli’s name scrawled across the pocket, the uniform beauty of the red stitches making their odd patterns across the gleaming white baseball, or the heft and feel of the wooden 28-inch Ted Williams Louisville Slugger in the palms of my hands, stamped with the name of the man whom I would learn, with apologies to Ty Cobb and Tony Gwynn, is arguably the greatest pure hitter in the history of baseball.

I didn’t know then that the 1969 Major League baseball season was dramatically different from the the year before. With the creation of divisional playoffs, 1968 saw the last outright winners of the National and American Leagues move directly into the World Series. It also was the last year American League pitchers would hold a bat in their hands during the regular season, the lords of baseball having created something called a D.H., or designated hitter.

In 1968, pitchers dominated the game, most notably Bob Gibson and Denny McClain. That dominance resulted in lowering the pitcher’s mound 5 inches and tightening the strike zone — two changes that sought to even the matchup between pitcher and batter.

The national pastime in 1968 was punctuated not only by Gibson’s devastating fastball and McClain’s 31 pitching victories, but also by a series of cataclysmic social and political events that pulled at the seams of the nation’s social fabric and revealed how far we were from living up to our valued ideals and aspirations.

The season began in April with the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in Memphis, was met midway in June with news of the assassination of Bobby Kennedy in Los Angeles, and closed in late August with the violent response of the police to protest marches during the Democratic National Convention in Chicago over America’s continued involvement in the Vietnam War.

In a wonderful book entitled “Summer of ’68: The Season That Changed Baseball and America Forever,” author Tim Wendel chronicles those tumultuous events through they eyes of those who played the game. Wendel tells the story against the backdrop of the 1968 World Series played between the St. Louis Cardinals, the most racially integrated team in baseball, and the Detroit Tigers, whose hometown was still smoldering in 1968 after devastating racial riots burned entire city blocks the summer before.

The book vividly recalls both a classic seven-game World Series and the political and social events that surrounded it. In baseball’s history, we see how we have fared as a nation when it comes to our ideals and aspirations. There are times when the game not only testifies to moments when we have honored those ideals and aspirations, but also bears witness to periods in our history when we have not.

Perhaps only in America could a game that provides a mirror in which we come face to face with our hypocrisy also provide a social crucible in which we strive, as Abraham Lincoln eloquently put it, to act out of “the better angels of our nature.”

It has been argued that the game of baseball — with its 25-player roster and 162-game schedule — reflects the democratic principle of the sanctity of the common good coupled with the fact that on a given day, in a tight situation, any one of us may be called upon to step up and shoulder the responsibility to advance the common good.

Unlike in basketball and football, when you are down by one, you can’t call a timeout to design an offensive play around the all-star. In that moment, you play with what you’ve got. As legendary manager Earl Weaver once said, “You can’t sit on a lead in baseball; you’ve got to give the other man his chance. That’s why baseball is the greatest game of them all.”

Dr. Brad Thomas, whose first love was the Brooklyn Dodgers, is senior pastor of St. John’s United Methodist Church in Midtown. The church is hosting a summer preaching series called “The Way of Baseball,” at 10:50 a.m. every Sunday from July 8 to Aug. 12. Guest preachers include Dr. Scott Morris, Rev. John Kilzer and Rabbi Micah Greenstein. For more information, please visit http://stjohnsmidtown.org.

My sister went to a hospital emergency room complaining of an excruciating headache that had become unbearable. Nearly four hours later, a doctor informed us that he had found a brain tumor.

With surgery, he told us, she might last six to nine months. It was incurable. We were devastated.

My sister Fran was eternally devoted to her family.

She went to college with me in Huntsville, Ala., but when Mother was hospitalized with a venomous spider bite, Fran came home and stayed.

When Mother had the first of three strokes, Fran was the one who called me at the university to tell me what was going on.

When Mother miraculously awakened from a three-month coma, Fran was with her at the hospital.

When Mother was released to continue her recuperation at home, Fran told her siblings to go on with their lives. She wasn’t going anywhere.

As Fran was dying, I learned something about the depth of a child’s love for her mother, and a mother’s love for her child.

Mother’s first stroke left her with 95 percent hearing loss, and weakness on her right side. Yet I saw her expend every ounce of energy she could trying to take care of Fran.

At times, I heard her crying bitterly and praying intensely for divine intervention. Neither appeared to be forthcoming.

Francine Chandler died in 2005. She was only 44. As Fran slowly slipped away, Mother reached over and rubbed her eyes closed. Fran was gone, but so was a part of Mother.

A mother’s love is patient. It is kind. It does not boast. It is not proud. It is not self-seeking. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

A mother’s love never fails.

Several weeks ago, my mother, Mary Chandler, spent the weekend with me. In the course of our dialogue, she became emotional.

“Danny, I think I am coming down with Alzheimer,” she said. “I am forgetting things, losing things, and can’t remember things I used to know without thinking about them. I don’t know what to do ’cause I know it won’t get better. I don’t want to be a burden on y’all.”

I assured her that her children would be here to help. I urged her to focus on the present — her next birthday, my son’s impending high school graduation.

I redirected the conversation and found a way for us to share a laugh, although the tears were flowing inside of me. Seeing the distress in her face was heartbreaking. She is fading, and she knows it.

We are not taking time to despair. We are going to enjoy this Mother’s Day, and every one thereafter.

Danny R. Chandler, a Realtor, is the founder of Mississippi FOCUS and the Chandler Foundation Scholarship programs.

Mothers gather to pray for their schools and children. Concerned citizens join together to pray for our country and its soldiers. Hospital workers gather to pray for their patients and co-workers. Pastors pray for their wives and ministries. The specific topics vary, but these Christian prayer groups believe in the power of God to answer their prayers. Many of these prayer partners also agree that the experience transforms them.

“When we pray together, we find that our hearts are changed during the process,” said Fern Nichols, president and founder of Moms in Prayer International (formerly Moms In Touch). She said she and other mothers find that much power comes through corporate prayer. “Christian moms seem to have the same sweet hearts all over the world as they pray for the salvation and deliverance of their children.”

With groups praying for more than 11,000 schools across the U.S. and in more than 140 other countries, Moms in Prayer focuses on praying Scripture using the Four Steps of Prayer — praise, silent confession, thanksgiving and intercession for children, teachers and school staff — as they join together privately in their homes and in churches. A prayer booklet that outlines the four steps and other key points about the group is now printed in more than 50 languages.

Based in Poway, Calif., this interdenominational Christian ministry began in 1984 when Nichols’ two oldest sons went to junior high school. She was burdened over them and the pressures they would face as she had less hands-on contact with them.

She prayed for God to send her one mom to pray with her, and soon discovered other mothers who shared her desire. Her concept quickly grew to about 200 groups in the U.S. and Canada by 1988. Now many mothers and grandmothers pray together for their children in preschool through college and career, whether in public or private schools or homeschooled.

“We find as praying mothers that when we cry out in our time of trouble, God will deliver our children from every issue they face,” said Nichols, “and this isn’t day-after-day wishing. It’s putting our hope in Christ, who never disappoints.”

Esther Halliwell, the Tennessee state coordinator for Moms in Prayer, said she joined a Moms in Prayer group 11 years ago when her daughter entered fifth grade. After praying with several other moms, she began to lead a group and then became area coordinator two years ago and state coordinator last February. A total of 204 schools across the state have Moms in Prayer groups registered to pray for them and 29 leaders are registered in Shelby County. The goal, she said, is that all schools are covered in prayer.

“I’ve seen God work through many moms who pray as they gain a stronger grasp of the Bible and are filled with hope, peace and a renewed faith,” Halliwell said.
She finds the focus on Scripture-guided prayer in one accord makes Moms in Prayer different from other prayer groups.

“While we can’t be with our children all the time, we know that our prayers go where we can’t, and God is always there,” she said.

Asbury United Methodist Church, 2969 S. Mendenhall, offers a Sunday school class that combines prayer with discussion about current issues that includes biblical references. Dr. Herbert Lester, the senior pastor, said the group is diverse in both race and age, with many varying opinions.

“We’re trying to put into action what the Bible says with a willingness to work to make it happen,” he said.

School consolidation is one major issue the group prays about from a global perspective. The members support Stacey Ferguson, organizer of the Pray for the Schools initiative, and often attend the monthly prayer group at Hickory Ridge Mall.

A group of 12 chaplains and leaders of the Faith & Health Department of Methodist University Hospital meets every Monday morning for prayer. Chris Bounds, manager of the chaplains, navigators and staff of the Family Care Center, said since Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare is a faith-based institution, they are free to pray wherever and whenever, also offering prayer over the intercom system and by providing chapels and prayer rooms throughout their locations.

“With our partner congregations (navigators), we are able to reach our tentacles out into the community bonded by prayer,” said Bounds.

Russell Belisle, chaplain of Methodist University Hospital and pastor of Cross of Calvary Lutheran Church in Memphis, explained their prayers begin by listening to each other and forming a heartfelt association. Joe Ranager, senior chaplain of Methodist Healthcare and a United Methodist minister of two churches in Senatobia, Miss., said they also minister more effectively individually and as a team by beginning their week in prayer.

Billie Cash, Collierville-based Christian author and speaker, moderates a prayer group from her church called For God and Country. The group prays for 75 minutes on the third Tuesday of each month. The leader of the group, Norma Seifert, hosts the group in her Collierville home and prepares Scripture prayers for American troops and government leaders who are prayed for by name.

She and Cash, who comes from a military family and is wife to a retired Navy officer, also lead seminars related to voting and the election process and speak across the country to military families.

Cash’s book, “PrayerSurge,” comes from her prayer experience based on Psalm 4:3 that says God sets apart the godly for Himself and when we call, God hears our prayers. She compares the name of her book to a storm surge: “When a storm comes, you need a wall of people to protect you and your radar is God.”

With six books already published, she is working on her next one, but said she has been delayed as she feels her main focus now is praying until her son, a Navy chaplain, returns from Afghanistan. She calls this season of praying as being in the weight room of God.

Cash, who also prays as she walks through her neighborhood, said prayer is an unseen work that connects her to many others.

“Prayer is really the work of my life and it’s like breath to me now.” She calls it loving God back.

Brian Harris, pastor of Bibleway World Outreach Ministries in Oakland, said he and another minister, Pastor Benjamin Allen of Matthew 6:33 Ministries in Memphis, began to meet informally for lunch each week and then decided their fellowship needed prayer.

“The women are usually the ones who step up to pray and it’s unusual for the men to come together,” he said. Now their group includes several other ministers, and they meet every month for prayer and rotate churches.

“We discuss and pray about breaking down racial and denominational barriers and pray in Jesus’ name.”

Allen said they are getting back to the basics of what the Bible teaches and he’s honored to be a part of it.

Praying together

Praying for children and schools:
Moms in Prayer International, momsinprayer.org, (800) 949-MOMS
Tennessee coordinator: Esther Halliwell, tn@momsinprayer.org
For information about Shelby County Moms in Prayer groups, contact Cindy Snider at applesnider@bellsouth.net

Praying for the schools:
First Friday of each month, noon–1 p.m.
Schaeffer Memorial Chapel, 7887 Poplar in Germantown; The Prayer Station at Hickory Ridge Mall; The Downtown Church, 502 S. Main in Memphis; and Union Grove Baptist Church, 2285 Frayser Blvd.
Stacey Ferguson, organizer: prayfortheschools@comcast.net

Praying for troops and country:
God and Country, circle of Central Church’s women’s ministries
Billie Cash: billiecash.com, brcash@comcast.net or
Norma Seifert: NormaSeif@aol.com, nsfairoaks@gmail.com

Praying for issues of Memphis and the world:
Asbury United Methodist Church/Wired Word Sunday school class
(901) 363-1135

Prayer for Memphis and the Mid-South:
Fourth Wednesday of each month the focus is on prayer needs of the city from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., Wilson Chapel at Christ United Methodist Church, 4488 Poplar.
Gail Duron: blessyall@aol.com

Pastors and chaplains praying:
Brian Harris: Brian.harris@biblewayworldoutreach.org
Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare Center of Excellence in Faith & Health: Russell.belisle@mlh.org, joe.ranager@mlh.org and chrisbounds@mlh.org

By Kelly Douglas
Special to The Commercial Appeal

Last year, the father of one of my fourth-grade students asked if it would be OK for his son, Inam, to tell classmates about a new charity.

Inam’s birthday fell in December, a time when many would already be in the mindset of giving.

“Why not?” I told Dr. Nadeem Zafar I loved the idea.

When it came time for Inam’s birthday, I was pleasantly surprised at what unfolded in our fourth-grade classroom; Inam created a short Power Point presentation to show the class. He told us the beautiful story of two faith communities who gave gifts to each other — gifts of friendship.

We all enjoyed hearing about how they were working together to build an incredible new park nearby and were even more interested in the park’s origin.

Here is Inam’s story in his own words:

“The Friendship Park was an idea created by Heartsong Church and Memphis Islamic Center. The idea was that the Friendship Park would promote friendships from every religion, culture, race, etc.

“It all started when Memphis Islamic Center started building their building across the street from Heartsong Church. Heartsong put up a banner that said, “Welcome Muslims from MIC.” Heartsong also gave the Muslims a room to pray in. Ever since, they have been friends. The Friendship Park will include water slides, butterfly gardens, rock climbing walls, and more.”

As a teacher at Lausanne, my favorite thing about this story is its diversity of cultural and religious backgrounds. Lausanne kids are confident in who they are as individuals as well as their heritage.

With 48 different countries represented by our student body, Lausanne celebrates everything: Christmas, Hanukkah, Eid, Easter, Passover, Diwali, etc. etc. etc. It’s fun for kids to teach each other about what makes their family unique. Everyone is honored.

Inam’s presentation about the Friendship Park project was a natural fit at Lausanne, where global-minded thinking is part of everyday life, as are deep, meaningful relationships. It’s also a place where students are empowered to seek their own journeys and build character through service to others, something that Inam demonstrated in raising our awareness about Friendship Park and the Memphis Friendship Foundation.

After Inam’s presentation, his peers raised more than $100 to contribute to the Memphis Friendship Foundation in honor of their friend, his birthday and his efforts to help support the building of Friendship Park.

Even in the fourth grade, we all got it when he said the formation of the Friendship Park was “SO Lausanne.”

A celebration

Founders of Friendship Park are hosting a free community picnic from noon-2 p.m. today on the grounds where the park will be built at 800 N. Houston Levee Road.

The picnic will include food from five ethnic groups, along with a petting zoo for kids, a tour and a 20-minute presentation on the park. For reservations, visit memphisfriendshipfoundation.org.

Kelly Douglas is a fourth-grade teacher at Lausanne Collegiate School.

By Sarah Naids
Special to The Commercial Appeal

After witnessing several instances of discrimination and bigotry in my school and community, I began to search for other cases of discrimination.

Sure enough, I found them. I read horrific accounts of the Murfreesboro mosque conflict, the protests by the Westboro Baptist Church and the Quran burnings in Florida.

I asked myself why anyone would commit these offensive acts, and remembered what my rabbi always tells me: “We are ‘others’ to some. We are ‘outsiders’ to many.”

So when a different group of people is made an ‘other,’ we should be the first to embrace them and help them combat whatever forces oppress them.”

I set out to do precisely that — to stand up, to cause change, and not merely to wonder why I experienced such intolerance and discrimination. I asked myself how I could begin to remove the obstacle of bigotry. Combating ignorance, I believed, was the first step.

I approached the Facing History teacher at Houston High School, Michael Robinson, about my desire to help fight for human rights, and asked him to help me start an educational lecture series titled “Tear Down the Walls.” The project brings in distinguished community members to address contemporary issues such as racial injustice, religious discrimination and socioeconomic division.

So far, there have been six lectures, each attended by at least 50 students and a dozen teachers, exposing my peers to ideas that they may never have learned about otherwise. Topics have included Islam, the American civil rights movement, Judaism, Buddhism, second-generation Holocaust survivors, and apartheid in South Africa. Talks about women’s rights and treatment of the physically and mentally disabled are still to come.

I expected that acting on my passion would be a challenge, and it has been. I have been called “a problem-causer” and “a hippie liberal.” Some of my close friends have tried to convince me that the struggle for peace and acceptance is futile. But I intend to fight anyway for the “others” and for the “outsiders.”

My eyes have been opened to the needs of these “outsiders” in the world, and as a member of a historically ostracized group of people, I feel especially obligated to assist them. For the consciousness that I have reached by witnessing prejudice around me, I will always be grateful.

Sarah Naids, a senior at Houston High School, was awarded the 2012 Princeton University Prize in Race Relations for founding a diversity lecture series at her school. A recognition ceremony will be held 5-6:30 p.m. May 22 at the Community Foundation of Greater Memphis.

For thousands of years, Jewish life has been a long and historical journey, from village to village and country to country to escape oppression and to preserve a heritage.

Even in America today, Jewish life continues that journey, quietly shifting from small towns to large cities, particularly in the South, as Jews seek another generation of opportunity for themselves and their children.

Joe Martin Erber and Meyer Gelman, who passed away in the fall of 1991, stand before the lovely ark of Congregation Ahavath Rayim, the last orthodox shul in the state. Joe is the lay leader of the shul, a local policeman, and an employee of the U.S. Post Office. Photography by Bill Aron; part of the “Bagels & Grits: Exploring Jewish Life in the Deep South” exhibit at Temple Israel.

“Bagels & Grits: Exploring Jewish Life in the Deep South,” an exhibit now on display at the Temple Israel Museum until May 31, takes a pictorial look at how Southern Jews were able to thrive in the South by fusing their religious tradition with Southern culture.

Pictured in most of the 20 black-and-white images are the faces of Jewish immigrants and their descendants who settled in Southern towns and cities for a better life.

There they made a living and adopted the culture of their surroundings, while holding on to the teachings and traditions of their faith. They became merchants and farmers and doctors and lawyers. They built synagogues, celebrated the Jewish holidays, and raised their children. They survived by blending into the life around them as their forefathers had done for thousands of years in lands far away.

“When people ask me what happened to the Jews in the Mississippi Delta, I tell them that their families are still around. They just moved to Memphis,’’ said Rabbi Micah Greenstein, senior rabbi at Temple Israel.

The Bagels & Grits exhibit was created by photographer Bill Aron, who dedicated 14 years to preserving the images of Southern Jewish life. Many of the people he photographed are the descendants of Jewish immigrants who came to the United States in the 19th and 20th centuries fleeing oppression and to seek a better life. And some are themselves immigrants, while others are simply the descendants of Jews who migrated south during the course of American history.

The one common theme throughout the exhibit: Judaism has survived throughout the centuries because the Jewish people have successfully embraced and adapted to their surroundings.

Many Jewish communities continue to thrive throughout the South, mostly in larger cities such as Memphis, Atlanta, Birmingham and Nashville. But the once-thriving Jewish communities in small Southern towns have mostly disappeared; their synagogues are abandoned or demolished and some continue to function, but as Christian churches.

“A distinguishing aspect of the Temple Israel Museum is that it is a ‘living’ museum; that is, the Judaica objects in it were used by families around the world in celebrating life’s joys and commemorating life’s sorrows,’’ said Greenstein.

“Bagels and Grits is the Southern embodiment of this idea, since the photographs are of the relatives and descendants of the synagogues and towns from which many Memphis Jews are descended.’’

Bagels & Grits

What: “Bagels & Grits: Exploring Jewish Life in the Deep South,” an exhibit on loan from the Museum of the Southern Jewish Experience, which operates under the auspices of the Goldring/Woldenberg Institute of Southern Jewish Life in Jackson, Miss.

Where: Temple Israel, 1376 E. Massey

When: Open from 10 a.m.- 2 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays; 10 a.m. to noon Sundays, through May 31.

Sponsors: Robin and Billy Orgel and the Temple Israel Museum.

For more information: Call Temple Israel at (901) 761-3130.

Susan Adler Thorp, a former columnist for The Commercial Appeal, is president of Susan Adler Thorp Communications.

The word “iconic” has become so familiar in contemporary celebrity worship, especially of actors and musical performers, that it’s easy to forget its origins in the religious rituals and sacred artistic symbolism of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Calvary Episcopal Church tries to remedy the situation with “Icons in Transformation,” an exhibition that juxtaposes traditional icons with the abstract artwork of Russian artist Ludmila Pawlowska. The traditional icons were created by monks at the Vassilevsky Monastery in Suzdal, northeast of Moscow. The exhibition of 110 works will be displayed in the church’s Great Reception Hall and sanctuary and other areas through June 22.

The touring exhibition ‘Icons in Transformation’ combines traditional Russian Orthodox Christian iconography with the works of Russian artist Ludmila Pawlowska.

“Icons in Transformation” is touring churches and cathedrals in the United States and has previously been seen in cities such as Seattle, St. Louis, Topeka, Kan., and Lexington, Ky.

The exhibition was brought to Calvary by the church’s interim rector, Rev. Philip Wiehe.

“One of the things that seemed important during this interim time,” said Wiehe, “was to do something different, a new possibility, but related to our other programs. I received an e-mail from Jan Lech (the artist’s husband), who was looking for venues for the exhibition. The work looked attractive online, but when I went to St. Louis and saw it in the cathedral, it looked wonderful. I thought that it would be perfect for us.”

Pawlowska came from a family of dissidents. Her grandfather was arrested by the Stalinist government and deported to a gulag in Siberia. Her father’s movements and choices in life were limited because he refused to join the Communist Party. Born in Karaganda, Kazakhstan, Pawlowska went to Moscow at 15 to study art, though she felt stifled by the emphasis on social realism.

Twenty years ago, she and Lech moved to Sweden, where she was able to explore the potential of working in abstraction, but it took the death of her mother to send Pawlowska on the search for visual equivalents for spiritual experience. Traveling in Russia, her visits to monasteries and her discovery of ancient icons seemed to open a window to what she wanted to accomplish.

“I think the juxtaposition of the contemporary art and the traditional icons works,” Wiehe said. “Certainly, art is a personal matter, and I don’t expect everyone to like every piece. I don’t. But the reaction of people is always stunning to behold. There’s a sharp intake of breath. And there’s a great discussion every Sunday. That’s been wonderful. Primarily, the exhibition is for our parishioners, but it’s also for the city. It’s free and open, and anyone can come see it.”

Ludmila Pawlowska, ‘Icons in Transformation’

At Calvary Episcopal Church, 102 N. Second, through June 22. The exhibition may be viewed from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday through Friday. Call (901) 525-6602. At 9:30 p.m. Sunday, there will be a discussion, “Art, Spirituality and the Russian Soul,” presented by Rev. Philip Wiehe and David Armbruster, an expert in Russian history and culture at the University of Memphis.

Quincy Pondexter didn’t always mind his P’s and Q’s while growing up in California under the watchful eyes of his grandparents, both of whom were ordained ministers.

“I remember being that kid in the pews at church clowning around,” said Pondexter, a guard and forward for the Memphis Grizzlies. “My family really instilled in my heart to always have faith. I was real blessed to grow up the way I did.”

Pondexter was blessed earlier this week when he was cleared to play after spraining his left knee. “Thank God,” Pondexter tweeted after he got the test results, according to The Commercial Appeal’s Ronald Tillery.

Pondexter, who was traded to the Grizzlies last December, says his faith helps him keep things in perspective. “I keep a faith-based, family-first attitude, and it translates to the game of basketball,” he said. “I come out and give my best effort. I work extremely hard.”

Pondexter’s attitude and hard work have impressed his coaches and teammates.

“Coach (Lionel Hollins) is hard on him,” said Grizzlies forward Zach Randolph.

“He understands coach wants him to be better. He doesn’t argue back. He is a real family guy and been raised the right way. He has a great attitude about everything. I am proud of him, real proud of him.”

Grizzlies guard Tony Allen calls Pondexter an encourager. “He can knock down 3s, and he is definitely a hard worker.”

Pondexter, 24, is playing about 16 minutes per game this year, averaging 4.3 points and 2 rebounds. Coming off the bench isn’t easy for a man who was a star at the University of Washington, where he holds the school record for games played (136) and is third in career scoring (1,786 points). But his faith keeps him grounded.

“I am someone who dedicates his heart to the game,” he said. “I have been given this opportunity. I want to make the most of it. Growing up, you realize you don’t take anything for granted. Not everything is given.”

Pondexter’s favorite Bible verse is Proverbs 3:5-6: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight.”

Pondexter’s professional basketball path has been anything but straight. He was drafted 26th overall by the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2010, then immediately was traded to the New Orleans Hornets, who traded him to Memphis a year later.

“Our paths are already written out,” Pondexter said. “We’ve got to play out whatever God wants us to play out.”

Pondexter, a member of Faith Community Church in Fresno, Calif., is excited about the playoffs, which begin this weekend. He’d like to win an NBA championship. But he has a greater goal.

“I want to be a role model,” Pondexter said.

“I am doing everything I am supposed to do as a Christian man. I feel like those are my best times when I am right morally and my heart is pure. I am always going to try to do things the right way.”

BATESVILLE, Miss. — Before dawn, a Buddhist monk stands beneath a tall pine in a long brown robe the color of Mother Earth. He rings a bronze bell suspended from a low-hanging limb to signal it’s time for walking meditation.

By the light of a crescent moon, monks and nuns in the same brown robes walk slowly, silently. The crunch of gravel and the tap of footsteps on blacktop are the only sounds in the cool air. They focus on two things: breathing and walking. They may silently repeat a simple phrase.

Breathing in, I know that I am breathing in. Breathing out, I know that I am breathing out.

They don’t let their minds wander. They neither wonder what’s for breakfast nor worry about the potatoes that need to be planted. They don’t wish for the excitement of an upcoming retreat or weigh important decisions. They simply bring their minds to the present moment: the coo of a dove, the caw of a crow, and the first rays of golden sunlight that brush the maple leaves.

On this secluded two-lane road, a farmer slows his pickup and waves. The monastics, all born in Vietnam, peek their shaved heads from behind brown hoods, smile and wave back.

It’s a striking contrast, but this rural Batesville, Miss., landscape is home to both, an hour’s drive south of Memphis.

The idea for what is now Magnolia Grove Monastery and mindfulness practice meditation center was born out of a conversation in 2002 among several Vietnamese families from the region who came to Memphis for a peace walk.

World-renowned Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh, the Buddhist monk, author and peace activist whom Martin Luther King Jr. nominated for the 1967 Nobel Peace Prize, attended the walk. Local Buddhist families knew he already had meditation centers in the United States, one in Vermont (now located in New York) and another in California. But neither was close enough for local families to visit regularly.

“The thought came to our mind that a center in the Mid-South could help a lot of people,” said Binh Ho, a co-founder of the center who is affectionately known at the monastery as Uncle Ben.

So with the primary support of a few area families — including Ho and his wife, Hai Le, of Oxford, Miss.; Long Truong and My Ha Tran of Corinth, Miss.; Dac Hoang and Hong Pham of Clarksdale, Miss.; and Huong Pham of Tupelo, Miss. — 120 acres of untamed Batesville pasture were purchased in 2003.

For several years, lay Buddhists held retreats and meditated there, hoping their teacher one day would send monastics to live there permanently.

In 2005, Thich Nhat Hanh, who lives at Plum Village, a retreat center in France, accepted the Mississippi monastery as a mindfulness practice center in the tradition of his teaching. And in March 2010, the first nuns moved to the property. Today, 32 monastics call the Batesville monastery home.

Though the daily schedule varies, the lives of the monks and nuns are centered on the practice of mindfulness, or living in the present moment. The atmosphere is neither somber nor overly solemn. They laugh and sing, tease one another, and entertain guests for retreats. But much of their time is spent in silence — whether sitting in the meditation hall near a giant statue of the Buddha or sweeping the kitchen floor. They don’t dwell in past regrets or fret about the future. They acknowledge the conditions of happiness of the moment. Two eyes that can see. Two feet that allow them to walk without pain. A plate of food to nourish their bodies.

“Why do we have to take care of the present moment?” Brother Phap Huy asked. “It is where all the wonder is possible. You cannot go to the past and drink a cup of tea. You cannot go to the future to drink a cup of tea. But now, we are drinking a cup of tea.”

The feature of their practice most noticeable to visitors is the “inviting” of the bell. Buddhists use loving language, Sister Boi Nghiem explained, so they don’t say strike or hit the bell. Instead, its sound is invited.

The sounds of the bell or clock chimes resonate through the neatly landscaped grounds every 15 minutes during the day. It’s a tool to help bring their minds back to the present moment.

On a recent Friday night, nuns were in line, ladling fresh vegetables and seasoned broth into mismatched plastic bowls when the phone rang. Everyone stopped. Eyes closed, heads bowed and jaws relaxed for the first three rings.

It’s an adjustment for visitors who aren’t accustomed to the practice. They often keep talking or working until a nun whispers: “It’s the bell,” a gentle reminder to stop and breathe.

“Here, whenever the phone rings, we simply stop talking,” Sister Boi Nghiem said. “We stop walking. We stop eating. And very important — and very hard — we stop thinking. … Just enjoy your in-breath, enjoy your out-breath, and say, ‘Hey, I am alive.’”
Brother Phap Huy encourages visitors to incorporate the idea into their daily lives.
“For instance, you can use a red light,” he said. “Take that 30 seconds just to sit and observe your breath and to enjoy that moment. If your loved one is sitting next to you as a passenger, just look at her and appreciate her presence. … The sound of the ambulance is a means for us to practice, to return to the present moment, or when the telephone rings. Back home, you can use this to breathe three times.”
The monastics’ approach to work is different than the Western, results-based ideal. It’s not about getting to the finish line first or attaining a high-level position. When one task is accomplished another will always manifest. The idea is to enjoy the work itself, whether that’s filing papers in the office or planting seeds in the garden.
During a recent working meditation, Sister Thang Nghiem squatted next to a plant bed, a cone-shaped straw hat shading her face from the sun. Her gloved hands crumbled the dry dirt — inch by inch — while she reminded a visitor to take her time. Back and forth, back and forth, she only weeded about 10 feet of soil in the course of two hours.
“It’s also a way to cultivate our minds,” she said. “We look at our minds like the ground, the earth. … Like the potato. You plant it, and it will grow. It’s the same with our mind, with the seed of happiness. … (I)f you recognize it and you’re truly present with it — just like you are truly present with that little potato — then you will see how it grows.”
But that doesn’t mean there are no deadlines at the monastery or that no one is ever in a hurry.
“Our master, he walks very slow with his beautiful practice of walking meditation,” Sister Thang Nghiem said. “But one time we got caught in traffic, and the flight was on time.”
So they rushed to the gate.

“I was behind him, and it was almost like running meditation,” she said, laughing. “The practice should be fun, flexible and skillful.”

Meals at the monastery — all vegan — are served and eaten in silence. It’s a time for the monastics and visitors to reflect on the conditions required for the food to end up on their plates. It also helps mindfulness practitioners to eat in moderation. They enjoy the taste of every grain of rice, the texture of every bite of pepper.

“We see the farmers in the field,” Sister Boi Nghiem said. “We see the truck drivers. We see the people stacking the food in the supermarket. We see our brothers and sisters cooking in the kitchen. We see the sunshine. We see the clouds. We see the earth.

“These are the things we should think of when we eat. When we eat that piece of carrot, we eat that piece of carrot. We don’t eat our worry. We don’t eat our anger. And not our sadness.”

The final meditation of the day is called noble silence. Though not easily observed by visiting children or chatty teenagers, the monks and nuns don’t speak from about 9 p.m., after sitting meditation, until after the breakfast dishes are washed the next morning. It’s a time to reflect on any discord with other people or to examine problems within oneself without the distraction of noise.

The simple way of life at the monastery helps the monastics recognize even the smallest moments of happiness without getting lost in worry or anxiety.

“Our teacher says: ‘It’s OK to suffer, but don’t just suffer only,’ ” Sister Boi Nghiem said. “How often do we remind ourselves that our eyes can still see colors or that we still have healthy lungs or that we walk without any pain in our feet? Or we still have 10 fingers? How often do we look at that?

“This is the simple happiness that we want to share with people. You have to open your eyes to the wonders of life and see the conditions of happiness. Be fully present for your children, for your loved ones.”

Learning to live in the moment takes practice, Sister Boi Nghiem said. But it begins simply.

Just breathe.

In the early 1990s, John Siebeling and his wife, Leslie, were content being missionaries in Kenya.

The couple had moved to Africa from Baton Rouge, La., to work with a friend and mentor at the Nairobi Lighthouse Church. Siebeling had recently graduated from LSU with a history degree and was fresh out of the Ministers Training Institute at Bethany World Prayer Center.

“Leslie and I were happy in Kenya,” John Siebeling said. “Things were going great. And then I knew it was time for us to go back to the States and pastor our own church. We didn’t know how or where to do that.”

He pulled out a map of the U.S. and started praying over it. He’d been to Memphis only once before, on a mission trip. “I guess something just dropped into my heart,” he said. “I couldn’t stop thinking about it.”

The Siebelings moved to Memphis in 1996 to start the Life Church. Fewer than 100 people attended the first worship service in rented space in the old Home Builders Association building in Cordova.

Today, more than 6,000 people attend services at Life Church’s three locations in Cordova, Collierville and Jackson, Tenn. In 2010, Outreach magazine named Life Church the ninth-fastest-growing church in America.

“Those first few years, we felt like we were plowing and wondering when we were going to see what we had planted,” said Leslie Siebeling, who leads the church’s Women’s Ministry. “But we kept going and kept believing.”

According to Lifeway Research in Nashville, 53 of the 100 fastest-growing churches in America are nondenominational.

“I’m not presumptuous enough to claim to know exactly why nondenominational churches are growing like they are,” said John Bryson, teaching pastor at Fellowship Memphis, another large and growing congregation.

“But the churches I know that are growing usually have strong leadership, the freedom to create contextualized ministry, a strong Gospel centrality, rich community, a passion for justice and strong, relevant Bible teaching.”

The Siebelings say those are their goals for Life Church.

“We’re learning to be more relevant, more accepting and open and really helping people,” John Siebeling said. “We try to answer questions that no one else wants to answer. People know we are a church for their Mondays, not just their Sundays.”

A week at Life Church is as busy as a shopping center. In fact, its main campus is in a shopping center on Germantown Road in Cordova. In 2001, the congregation moved into a renovated Mega Market, which they purchased in 2007. Now they own the entire shopping center, and there are plans to expand the ministry there.

Life Church has myriad projects on the board, including medical clinics, occupational training programs and continuing education. There are 45 acres for growth in Collierville, and the Cordova home continues to add services to accommodate an ever-growing congregation.

The current 60,000-square-foot facility has a state-of-the-art multimedia-filled 1,000-capacity sanctuary. Two Saturday evening services and four Sunday services are usually packed and rocking with a 30-voice choir and a full band.

Siebeling bounces from Cordova to Collierville then back to Cordova to lead services each Sunday. Services at the Jackson campus are primarily conducted by video and supplemented by guest speakers.

Television, another part of Life Church’s original vision, continues to spur growth in attendance, the pastor said. Life Church services are broadcast weekly on three local TV stations and one digital channel.

“You see three screens behind me during the service,” he said. “We get the message out about what we’re doing any way we can. We use television, video, websites, Twitter, Facebook. … We hope to have online worship services soon where people can interact with the pastors and the church services in real time.”

Nate Babcock has witnessed Life Church’s growth firsthand. He grew up in the congregation, attending some of its earliest services as a teenager, helping set up chairs in the Home Builders Association building each week.

“It’s a fun service — a lot of life,” Babcock said. “When we moved to the new facility, things really took off.”

Church statistics show that since last August, the congregation has given away more than 140,000 pounds of food, provided more than 157,000 meals to the needy (including almost 2,000 schoolchildren each week), and served more than 7,500 people with their Generous House clothing distribution facility located next to the church.
“We look at it this way — the weekend services are pep rallies for what we do during the week,” Siebeling said. “People are hurting so much these days, particularly financially. That’s how we can make a difference in the community.”

Gabe Bewley, a member for more than three years, said the church has made a difference for him.

“There’s no judgment on anyone there,” he said. “It’s ‘come as you are.’ Outstanding people and great leadership.”