January 21, 2002

Neighboring churches join forces to maximize each church's strength
___By George Henson
___Staff Writer
___DALLAS--January was indeed a time of new beginnings for two Dallas-area churches as they overcame their individual weaknesses to become one stronger church.
___Calvary Baptist Church of Oak Cliff and Westmoreland Heights Baptist Church were located only 3 miles apart, but they were traveling in different directions. Calvary once was a thriving congregation, but its expansive facilities dwarfed the congregation of about 50. Westmoreland Heights was averaging 300 in Sunday morning attendance, but its pews were so packed that people left because they could not find places to sit or park.
___Both situations changed Jan. 13, when the two congregations merged. Calvary is providing the buildings, and Westmoreland Heights is providing most of the people.
___Westmoreland Heights also will provide the church staff. Ted Kiser, pastor at Westmoreland Heights since 1994, will lead the joint congregation as pastor. Calvary's most recent pastor left last September.
___David Hughes resigned as Calvary's minister of music about a year ago but agreed to stay on until a replacement could be found. That person will come from Westmoreland Heights. Calvary also was without a youth minister, so Westmoreland Heights filled that vacancy as well.
___Support staff has been blended, with custodians and secretaries from both churches staying on. Instrumentalists will include one from each congregation.
___"We wanted to make everything in the negotiations a win/win proposition," Kiser said. "We didn't want anyone to lose on any issue. We didn't want anyone to feel pushed around."
___While both congregations are excited about the new venture together, members acknowledge change can bring with it some pain. One issue that could have been divisive, but was not, was naming the merged church.
___"It will remain Calvary Baptist Church of Oak Cliff," Kiser said. "They had told us they were prepared to change the name and probably expected a name change, but we thought it would be a nice gift to them to honor the church's ministry through all these years by leaving the name just as it always has been."
___The faces inside will look a little different, however. Calvary was primarily an Anglo congregation; Westmoreland Heights was a multi-cultural congregation of Hispanics, African-Americans, Native Americans and Anglos.
___It also was difficult for some of the Westmoreland Heights members to leave their building behind.
___"They are accepting, but our last service there was tearful," Kiser admitted. "We have members who were married there, their children were born into the nursery there, their children were baptized there. So in some ways, it was hard. Their first priority is to reach people for Jesus, though, so they're glad to do it."
___Westmoreland Heights had been looking for a new location for more than two years. Its sanctuary had been filled to 95 percent capacity or more since that time, and education space sometimes was filled beyond capacity.
___The location prohibited adding buildings or parking.
___This space crunch diminished members' enthusiasm about bringing others to church, because there was no place to put them, Kiser said.
___Now the joint congregation will have plenty of room for more growth. Calvary's sanctuary seats more than 800 people, and there is education space for about 1,000.
___The Westmoreland Heights property now is for sale, and Kiser hopes a Hispanic Baptist congregation will move in there, since many Hispanics live in the surrounding community.

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