Labor Day Weekend 2025, The Anniversary of our Arrival in Tennessee 1975
PERSPECTIVE
(Reprinted from the non-profit newsletter forty years ago)
Reflections after Ten Years in Nashville: Summer 1985
Ten years ago in July 1975 I was sitting on the floor in Jack and Roma Jamison’s kitchen in Hermitage talking in muffled voice to Jeannie back in Texas. (Jack was the first executive director at the non-profit). I had come back to Nashville for further conversations about a possible move. (Earlier that summer we had made our first trip east of the Mississippi River into Tennessee and met Jack. He had offered a half-time job as director social services.) The few days I had been back in Nashville had not been productive in locating another half time position. We also wanted to leave apartment life and rent a house. Neither things had worked out so I had delayed calling home having no good news. She was upset that I had not kept her posted. I asked her if she just wanted me to come home. We decided no, that I would stay a couple of days longer. Jack had come into the kitchen as I hung up the wall phone. He told me that he never stayed anywhere for long. Ultimately he was looking for someone who could assume his role when he left in five years or so. Over those two days, we found a house to rent near Stratford High School at the edge of Inglewood and I was offered the Outreach/ShadeTree position at First Nazarene. Labor Day weekend we moved from Texas to Tennessee for two half-time jobs, $10,000 total annual salary. Had it been a financial decision, we’d stayed in Texas since Jeannie was making over $14,000 at Bell Helicopter. Such moves can’t alway be calibrated in dollars.
Life would have been very different had we decided that evening to pull back and stay in Texas. Over these ten years the question of pulling back has come up at other times. I recall the residential group home we operated and the agony we went through in trying to keep it open. Board members praying to the point of tears was a moment I won’t forget.
Also the times when paydays came and income didn’t. We did get paid later after yet one more time of God coming through. Those were testing times for all of us involved. There have also been great moments. I’ve spent time with musicians and singers who have freely given the time and talents to support us—Steve Green, Scott Roley, Steve and Annie Chapman, Gary McSpadden, Bill Gaither, the Gatlin Brothers. Their involvement and friendships enriched my life. I could not begin to name all others—those who were my affirmers, my encouragers, the listeners in my life—like ‘pastor’ Lee Woolery, Jim Quiggins a TNC, Charlie Newman at Teen Challenge, Luci Freed at the Crisis Pregnancy Center, Don Finto at the Belmont Church, General Superintendent Ray Hurn, Wilbur Brannon of Pastoral Ministries, Mike Nelson, former pastor of Hendersonville Chapel naming a few. Although as busy as we all were, I relished the time we had together.
I recall too the number of adoptive placements I have witnessed and little ‘adoptive’ buddies like Greg Blankenship in Knoxville who counts me as his friend. I feel as a pastor must feel as I sit in church week after week sharing the pew and knowing the inside stories of many of the faces I see—the traumas and grief they’ve weathered as families and individuals. I count it a privilege to have this perspective.
If you catch me a bit overcome it may be that someone just caught eye and their story was flashing momentarily in my mind—grateful for all that transpired for them. I rarely go anywhere in town that I don’t bump into someone who has been through the front doors or been associated with us as clients, contributors, volunteers or ladies members of the auxiliary.
There have been bittersweet times, like a request from an adoptive couple to remove a little boy after they learned he was blind. An overstepping Vanderbilt doctor had said he wouldn’t be normal achieving the usual milestones. After placement in another home with several children, he was near average—much more than the ’vegetable’ the doctor had miss-diagnosed.
The stages of growth the agency has come through has taken it out of me at times. With Jeannie often filling in as secretary during these first years, out of our marriage too. But during these years two beautiful little girls came into our lives—Jennifer now eight and Micki now six. Contrary to popular belief, directors of Christian family agencies do not have perfect parenting styles. The proverbial fish bowl we’ve lived in shattered a good while ago.
I’ve wished I could personally thank each of you for being channels of support of our work. I cannot tell you how many times your checks and notes of encouragement arrived at just the right time—like this morning! As we’ve grown I regret that time doesn’t allow us to spend time sharing with you what your investment has accomplished. Our annual budget has increased fourfold during these years. Please know that we are sincere when we speak of our gratitude for you support—in a real sense—this is YOUR work.
We have seen what can happen with all of us—staff, volunteers, foster parents, our board working in concert to serve others.
We are all here in service to God who has honored our efforts. You’ve been a link in the chain that has made it all happen.
Sincerely yours,
Mike Malloy, Executive Director
Postscript: Six months later, January of 1986 we learned of our first case of HIV/AIDS, Keith Smith. That launched us into BEYOND FEAR, the initial name of our program addressing the needs of those with AIDS. As the pandemic grew and fears with it, we discretely offered services to those with the disease and support to their families often totally isolated. We also offered education to calm the spreading social anxiety and judgement.