Missional Discernment Day 2 (Part 1)

Wednesday was the "field trip" portion of the Missional Discernment thread within the New Church Development track. Our study leaders BJ and Doug briefed us on our assignment: we were to be dropped off into various neighborhoods near the downtown area of St. Petersburg, in order to conduct an "exegesis" (critical analysis) of the area as a first step toward determining what type of new worship community might be planted there. Our study sheets included several ideas for our observations as well as some typical questions that we would ask the people we met. We divided ourselves into groups of 3 people so as not to be "intimidating" as a larger group. While we were each dropped off in a different neighborhood, our gathering point was a common address, 620 1st Avenue South. We were not supposed to overtly identify ourselves as Christians to allow more "natural" responses to our conversations.

My three-person discernment group began at the St. Petersburg campus of the University of South Florida (USF). Being a graduate of the Tampa campus of USF myself, it was an odd homecoming to see the familiar colors and logos set amidst a new campus setting that I had never seen up close before (I had been driven past the area in previous visits with my parents, who still live in St. Petersburg). The USF St. Petersburg campus has been greatly expanded and renovated over the last decade and is now a sprawling, multi-building area with lots of green spaces. Unfortunately, being early August, the campus itself was largely devoid of people, and we only met a couple of folks willing to speak with us. Ironically our first "speaking engagement" of our walk was with a USF maintenance worker who is mute. Nonetheless, he enthusiastically brought out a notebook and we chatted briefly via pencil and paper. Our first picture is from the USF campus looking over the nearby harbor where many sailboats are moored.

Our route then took us toward the downtown area, where we chatted with one person who was house-hunting on foot with a notepad and pen. It was an oddly refreshing sight in this era of Google Maps Street View and online posting of real estate listings. We met a few construction workers on their lunch break, and a couple of office workers suggested the Dali Museum when we asked them what was the "coolest" thing to see in the area. On our way to the Dali Museum we were caught by a brief rain shower, and our only cover (a nearby tree) was insufficient to keep us dry. We had to abandon the museum stop in order to get back on schedule.

One of the first things I learned about St. Petersburg as a teenager when I started to drive was that the Avenues run East to West, and the Streets run North to South. Our next walking destination was Central Avenue, the "zero point" or dividing line between the North and South avenues of St. Petersburg. Another, less publicized fact about St. Petersburg is that it is largely divided along racial lines as well. Demographically it is the second-most racially "split" major city in the United States (first place being Chicago). The largely African-American population of the "south side" of St. Petersburg begins roughly at 5th Avenue South and continues to the tip of the southern end of the peninsula. North of that dividing line the population is largely Caucasian and/or "white Hispanic" according to demographic studies.

Our entire route, therefore, was directly in the zone where the two ethnicities mix. We noticed a great deal of new construction, both renovation of older buildings and demolition of homes to make way for newer homes and office buildings. In addition to the USF campus expansion mentioned earlier, more of this construction growth can be attributed to an enormous new Children's Hospital (which spawns many supporting businesses such as doctor's offices and supply companies). We observed foreclosed homes across the street from massive new construction growth (see pictures below).