Mountain music, dancing and tradition will be on display once again on the shores of beautiful Lake Junaluska as the Smoky Mountain Folk Festival, now in its 42nd year, celebrates the culture and heritage of Western North Carolina.

When Tom Sigmon tells people in Charlotte that he only lives there part-time, they often ask where he spends the rest of his year. Waynesville, he responds.

As Lake Junaluska weighs whether to become part of the town of Waynesville or form its own town, a public forum for residents to ask questions or share comments will be held at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, April 26, at Bethea Welcome Center.

At stake is Lake Junaluska’s identity and the fate of a community made up of 800 homes. A task force has been formed to study the issue. The mission of the task force includes gathering public opinion, reporting findings to the Junaluska Assembly Community Council and possibly making recommendations.

The taskforce will be made up of three representatives from the community council, three from the Lake Junaluska Assembly Property Owners Organization, three members from the community and one member representing the United Methodist Church.

While Lake Junaluska is not an official town, the community already looks and acts like one. It has its own trash pick-up, water and sewer system, street maintenance and even security force. The homes that make up Lake Junaluska’s residential community pay a yearly fee for those services.

But, an aging water and sewer system and other infrastructure issues have led the community to consider joining Waynesville instead of bearing the expense alone. If the community joins Waynesville, it would see an increase to its property-tax base but would also incur the Lake’s aging infrastructure.

In the coming months Lake Junaluska residents will weigh in on whether to become part of the town of Waynesville.

For Waynesville, the move could mean a million or more dollars in additional property taxes each year and the benefits of being a larger and possibly stronger town.

For Lake Junaluska residents, the daily logistics of running a community of 800 homes could be placed in accomplished hands. And perhaps most importantly, the burden of repairing the community’s aging water and sewer lines would be punted to Waynesville.

But, there are downsides, too. Lake Junaluska residents could lose autonomy and identity. And, Waynesville may not want the hassle of managing Lake Junaluska’s infrastructure if it would cost more than the town stands to reap in new property taxes.

“It appears on the surface to be a win-win, but how much? How much to provide the services?” wondered Waynesville Alderman Wells Greeley during a discussion on the idea at a town board meeting last week.

Discussion of the issue is in its earliest stages and will take months to explore.

“This decision is going to impact Haywood County for the next 100 years and beyond, so we want it to be in all of our best interests,” said Jack Ewing, the CEO of Lake Junaluska Conference and Retreat Center.

While Lake Junaluska is not an official town, the community already looks and acts like one. It has its own trash pick-up, water and sewer system, street maintenance and even security force. The roughly 800 homes that make up Lake Junaluska’s residential community pay a yearly fee for those services.

The idea of merging with Waynesville comes as Lake Junaluska residents stare down the growing problem of aging water and sewer lines.

“The community will need to decide whether they would like to bear that burden alone, or as part of a larger group,” according to a report by a consultant hired to analyze the pros and cons.

The idea of merging with Waynesville was borne out of that reality.

Lake Junaluska Assembly hired a consultant to study the issue and prepare a report outlining various options — merging with Waynesville, forming its own town or remaining as it is now.

Ultimately, the decision will rest with Lake Junaluska’s residents.

“Each option has some advantages and disadvantages,” said Ron Clouser, president of the Lake Junaluska Community Council. “I would hope that people would have an open mind and take time to read the study and see what it proposes.”

Ewing said leadership at Lake Junaluska is not endorsing any option and has no preconceived notion about which course is best.

“Over the next three to six months, there will be multiple opportunities for people at Lake Junaluska to provide input on these options,” Ewing said.

Down the road there could be a vote to gauge residents’ opinions.

Clouser said he wouldn’t want to factionalize residents by moving forward without a “practically unanimous” consensus.

“I don’t want to see us go down a road that has a split with anybody,” said Clouser, one of seven members elected by homeowners to lead their residential community association.

Ewing shared the consultant’s report with Waynesville leaders at their town board meeting last week. Ewing told the five town board members they will obviously need to embark on a fact-finding mission of their own.

“You may say, ‘No, we are not interested in partnering with you in that way,’” Ewing said.

Which is cheaper?

One question that will likely weigh heavily in the decision is cost: Will residents of Lake Junaluska pay more in property taxes than they would in annual fees?

Currently, the town’s property tax rate is 40 cents per $100 of property value. That’s more than what Lake residents currently pay in fees, set at 28 cents per $100 of property value.

But, that fee is bound to go up if the lake has to tackle its water and sewer problems on its own. By how much is not yet known, however, thus making a true dollar for dollar comparison impossible right now.

“Property owners want to know is this going to cost me more or is it going to save me money,” Ewing said. “The report is intentionally silent on finances. It is important, but we didn’t want people to begin with ‘what is the cheapest option for me, and I like that option best.’”

Indeed, that’s not the only issue that will weigh on residents’ minds, Clouser said.

“I think it is going to be more complicated than that. I think it will be more than just an issue of that number,” Clouser said.

What may be more important to residents is how their community character and identity could be impacted. Lake Junaluska has a 100-year history, and residents who cherish that may not want to place their future in someone else’s hands.

“There is a track record of what it means to live at Lake Junaluska. That is an issue at this point,” Clouser said.

Waynesville has a track record of its own: one of bringing independent communities into its fold. The neighboring town of Hazelwood merged with Waynesville two decades ago, but Alderman Gary Caldwell says it didn’t lose its identity.

“Hazelwood will always be Hazelwood and Lake Junaluska will always be Lake Junaluska,” Caldwell said.

Yet Clouser said Junaluskans have a deep sense of pride, both emotional pride in where they live and financial pride in taking care of their own.

Ewing agreed.

“One of the issues our residents are going to talk about is their desire for independence,” Ewing said “Many people may wish to stay the way we are.”

But, there’s a caveat. A true “status quo” simply isn’t an option, he said. Residents must understand “the responsibility of going it alone when it comes to upgrading our infrastructure,” Ewing said.

This is where Waynesville may prove its mettle.

“Waynesville is better resourced to address the needs of the Lake Junaluska community, such as replacing the water and sewer infrastructure, the capital equipment of Lake Junaluska and paving the roadways,” the consultant’s report states.

But, joining forces with Waynesville has other perks as well. Simply put, Waynesville is seen as a quality-run town.

“Waynesville already has a well-established, successful, and relatively progressive governance structure,” the consultant’s report states. “They have established a culture of efficient, effective, and professional administration that has not yet been created at Lake Junaluska.”

Sister communities

Waynesville leaders, meanwhile, have to figure out the financial pros and cons of the different options.

“My original reaction is there is a distinct opportunity for the town of Waynesville. The question is, is it cost effective?” Mayor Gavin Brown said.

While the extra property tax looks good on paper, the town would have to hire additional trash crews, police officers and street workers to take on such a large new area.

But, the cost of repairing the lake’s water and sewer system will be the kicker. If it appears that it will cost more than the town is getting in return, the town could temporarily impose higher property taxes on residents of the Lake than the rest of town.

“If there is a need to bring a certain system up to code, they can charge a higher rater to that specific area for a set period of time,” said Andrew d’Adesky, a graduate student with the Institute of Government at UNC-Chapel Hill that prepared the study on behalf of the Lake.

The town, like the residents of the Lake, has more to consider than just economics. Waynesville and Lake Junaluska are kindred spirits in some ways, both forward-thinking communities on each other’s doorstep. Waynesville Alderman Leroy Roberson said the two have a cross-over relationship.

“There is a mutual community,” Roberson said.

Bringing Lake Junaluska into the town’s fold could be a once in a lifetime opportunity to forever change the town’s course in a positive way, Brown said.

“It would be a nice addition to the town of Waynesville,” Brown said.

But, the town must also ask whether it is worth the hassle. Lake Junaluska is three miles from downtown. Can the town afford to have its attention diverted when there are existing parts of town that need attention?

“Should we add another issue to the town’s plate? Would we spread ourselves too thin?” Brown asked.

Waynesville could also enjoy the benefits of a simply being a larger town.

Lake Junaluska community has around 800 homes — about half are seasonal homes, the other half are lived in by year-round residents. Waynesville’s population of 10,000 would increase by at least 10 percent.

That could mean benefits beyond the obvious increase in property taxes. There are numerous slices of state revenue that towns get based on their population — from a cut of sales tax revenue to street and sidewalk funding.

Bigger population numbers also carry bigger clout, which can come in handy when recruiting businesses or lobbying for the town’s interests in Raleigh.

Lake Junaluska: past and present

Lake Junaluska began as a religious community more than 100 years ago, and as a summer retreat for the United Methodist Church. Pastors, bishops and other church leaders founded the Lake Junaluska for religious gatherings and conferences in 1908.

Almost immediately, they began building summer homes there for their families to escape the heat of the South and a like-minded community quickly built around the Methodist Church retreat.

Lake Junaluska is no longer a private Methodist community. Anyone can buy a home and live there, and it is no doubt the lake community is growing increasingly secular.

But, its roots in the Methodist church have hardly disappeared. Many homes have been passed down through the generations. Children with fond summer memories of the lake came back to live permanently. Lake Junaluska also is a hotbed of retired pastors and bishops. The grounds of the conference center, which dominate the main campus around the lake shore, bustles with conferences and retreats throughout the year.

It took just moments for this roomful of 60 people with their varying musical backgrounds and abilities to unite in song. But they did just that thanks to the guidance of shape-note teacher Anne Lough of Haywood County, who walked them through the basics of this historic musical method.

Lough is an instructor and performer, versed in traditional singing, storytelling, folklore, folk dance and the shape-note tradition. An enthusiastic and charismatic speaker — even on this day with the start of a bad cold — Lough is exceptionally skilled at persuading shy potential musicians to forget their hesitations and join in an old-fashioned sing-along like this one last week at Lake Junaluska. The “sing” was part of the monthly “Live and Learn” series, which features guest speakers and authors on an array of topics, from history to the environment, and in this case, heritage.

“This connects people with their heritage,” Lough said after the event. “This really is Americana — whether they are Baptist, Methodist or Presbyterian.”

Shape notes are a musical notation in which symbols or “shapes” — diamonds, squares, upside-down triangles, right-side-up triangles and so on — match solfege syllables (think do-re-me-fa-sol-la-ti-do). Shape notes allow singers to learn tunes easily and quickly than learning to read music — even the explanation takes longer and is more difficult to grasp than the actual shape-note system.

People who have encountered shape-note singing don’t soon forget the experience. Kate Thurber, a resident of Massachusetts who winters in Waynesville, first heard the unique singing at a Mountain Heritage Day event a couple years ago. She was at the traditional arts and crafts venue at Western Carolina University in the company of a friend.

“It was pouring the rain and we happened to go in a building and they happened to be doing shaped note singing. It was beautiful,” said Thurber, who welcomed the opportunity to learn more about the technique.

Culture and music, Lough told the crowd, go hand in hand: shape notes “are part of our Protestant hymn tradition here in America,” she said. “It’s very important to American musical history.”

And the Southern Appalachians have a particularly rich tradition in shape-note singing, one that lives on in “sings” today.

Initially in America, the pilgrims were strictly singers of psalms. They used the Ainsworth Psalter, published in Holland in 1612 and brought to these shores in 1620.

But culture and music do indeed go together, and as the decades passed and more secular folk arrived in America, purely religious singing gave way to more casual singing in the community.

Rote learning, the primary method of teaching and learning vocal pieces, was slow and cumbersome.

Enter shape-note singing, a means to help singing teachers help those wanting to sing. A three-shape system dominated pre-Civil War; after that, a seven-shape system came on the scene, too, not so much replacing the previous notations as supplementing them. But the system’s roots are much more ancient than America, Lough said.

Guido of Arezzo, a medieval monk, is believed to have created a method of teaching vocal songs that was dubbed the Guidonian Hand. In this system, each portion of the hand represented a specific note. While teaching, the music instructor would indicate which notes to sing by pointing at his hand.

From a simple hand grew entire musical-notation systems.

Lough, a native of Virginia, has lived in Western North Carolina with her husband, Rob, since the 1990s. She said the musical culture here has proven a wonderful experience for the couple: Rob Lough, like his wife, is a musician.

“I could never have imagined the richness, the interest in preservation” found here in WNC, Lough said, who added she doubted that there is anywhere else outside this region that would have allowed her to make her living as a musician. Lough plays the autoharp, guitar, hammered and mountain dulcimer.

Lake Junaluska Conference and Retreat Center has reached a critical crossroads on the eve of its 100-year mark. It’s headed toward financial insolvency, and the only thing that can save it now is a bold and aggressive makeover aimed at reclaiming dwindling guest numbers.

The Methodist institution and Haywood County landmark has struggled to stay relevant in a changing world. Lake Junaluska found itself suddenly marooned — caught off guard and with no lifeboat in sight — as the audience for its mainstay church conferences and theological retreats aged.

Meanwhile, its outdated facilities failed to keep up with the tastes and expectations of guests it could have otherwise courted to make up for the lost numbers.

Failure to change course is certain death. But the road to recovery is marked by a modicum of risk — taking on debt in order to bail itself out.

The Smoky Mountain News had a candid and open conversation with the man hired to turn the ship around, Lake Junaluska’s new executive director Jack Ewing.

SMN: So just what is Lake Junaluska’s financial status?

Jack Ewing: “The bottom line is in the last six years we have balanced our budget only once, and I am sorry to say in all probability we will end 2011 with a deficit budget as well.”

Losses have ranged from $200,000 to $400,000 a year recently out of a nearly $9 million budget. Reserves have made up the difference, but those reserves are running out, down to around $2 million.

Meanwhile, guests continue to decline. And subsidies from the Methodist church have been taken away, making the situation even worse.

Why is the conference center losing money?

The Lake has seen a 17 percent decline in overnight stays since 2007. Overnight stays are the conference center’s main source of revenue, and more than 90 percent of its hotel guests are part of a group conference or retreat held on the groups.

“We are heavily dependent on groups for revenue. It is not good for us to be heavily dependent on group business because our group business is declining. Here is another unfortunate truth about group business. A majority of our groups book two to three years in advance. The projection for 2012 is worse than the projection for 2011.”

Is there a clear road back to financial solvency?

“You might look at this and say, ‘It is bleak. You may as well shut the doors.’ It is bleak until you stand on the balcony of the Terrace Hotel and say, ‘This is unbelievable.’ The potential is great. Once we have lodging, food and meeting space that meets or exceeds our guests’ expectations, it will be so easy to sell Lake Junaluska. But, it is going to take some money. We’ve got to find some money to make it happen.”

What solution have you and the board of directors decided on?

“The world is changing. What people want is changing, and what people are willing to pay for is changing, and therefore Lake Junaluska will have to change as well. The first major challenge we have is the condition of our dining, lodging and meeting space are not of the standard that will sustain our traditional guest base nor attract a broader guest base.”

What do you mean by a larger guest base?

“We have to figure out how to optimize our leisure vacation business, because who would not want to come and stay at Lake Junaluska. We are open to people to come off the street and say ‘Can I stay at your hotel?’ They don’t have to be United Methodist, they don’t have to be part of a group. Our lodging facilities are open for people to stay.”

With an annual occupancy rate of only 26 percent, revenue simply isn’t covering the overhead of keeping the facilities open. The Lake has to increase its guest numbers, and that means tapping the vacation market and going after secular conference business.

Why didn’t the administration take action to right the ship sooner?

“It is always easy in retrospect to look at things and say ‘Why didn’t we figure this out earlier?’ I think it is a combination of several factors.” In a sense, the Lake was hit by a perfect storm that is obvious in hindsight but perhaps not so much at the time.

The traditional audience for church conferences and retreats is aging. Meanwhile, the Lake put off make-overs to guest rooms and failed to keep its facilities modern and as a result couldn’t attract new business to make up for what it was losing.

Were you hired as the turnaround guy?

In short, yes, Ewing said.

“I didn’t know the details of the challenge, but I knew the challenge.”

He took over as director of Lake Junaluska in January following the 11-year tenure of former director Jimmy Carr.

Ewing comes from a background in college education, serving as the president of two Methodist colleges during 16 years. He equates his role now with his role at Dakota Wesleyan University, where there hadn’t been a balanced budget in 10 years and a sense of hopelessness had set in before Ewing arrived.

“It is amazing how a sense of hope helps both the employees of and organization and the supporters of an organization. I am trying to give hope. It is not a pie in the sky hope, it is real.”

Lake Junaluska was dealt a major blow four years ago when the Southeastern Jurisdiction of the United Methodist Church began phasing out $1 million in annual subsidies for operations. How is that going?

“Hear me loud and clear: we are exceedingly grateful for the funding the church has provided us. The church has made it possible for us to remain in business.”

The loss of that funding, however, was major.

“That is a huge challenge for us going forward. It is the crisis that helps us to focus our efforts and energy going forward.”

Why are fewer groups booking conferences at Lake Junaluska?

Part of the problem is the traditional demographic that attended Methodist conferences.

“United Methodists are aging and are not being replaced by younger people attending events. They are either dying or they are not physically capable of coming. We are going to have a very focused effort on trying to attract children, youth and their parents.

How do we get those young people to come to Lake Junaluska?

It is going to require us to think differently. The playground built 35 years ago may not be the right playground for children today.” The same for other athletic and recreation facilities.

Where will you pick up extra business if Methodist conference attendance is dropping?

“We are going to have to attract some secular business.”

Lake Junaluska plans to heavily market itself as an ideal retreat and conference venue to the non-profit world.

But the Lake also hopes to pick up business from individual guests who just want to come on vacation to Lake Junaluska. Right now, only 10 percent of guests staying at the lake are simply vacationers unconnected to a conference or group. That has to increase for the operations viable.

What does Lake Junaluska have going for it as a conference and retreat center, or vacation destination for that matter?

“What makes Lake Junaluska so spectacular are the outdoors spaces. The lake is by far our greatest asset. We have got to take care of it, we have got to invest in it. We have to make sure we are protecting our shore and our water quality. All our renovated facilities on the lake need to engage with the lake.”

How much will renovations and new facilities cost?

About $20 to $30 million. But it’s sizably less than a master plan for the lake created three years ago, with a price tag of twice that amount.

What role will fundraising play?

“I think we can raise half of that money. There’s a lot of people who have money who want to give it to Lake Junaluska, they just don’t know it yet.

“Because of the incredible experience people have had at Lake Junaluska over the years, when we tell the story and give specific examples of how a gift can impact the future of Lake Junaluska, they will want to give.

“It is really beautiful when you can sit down and say, ‘Here is what we are trying to accomplish’ and connect with the need all of us have to be a part of something significant beyond ourselves. They are ready to give but they want to know what we are going to do.”

Where will the rest of the money come from?

“We are going to have to borrow some money in order to make this happen.”

Ewing hopes to take out a traditional loan from a financial institution, but as for collateral, that “is an existing question we would have to look at.”

The lake has undeveloped land it could put up for collateral rather than the facility they are taking out a construction loan for. To pay back the loan, the Lake will need to net more each year than it spends on operations — not only erase its deficit but actually create a positive balance sheet — to make the loan payments.

The lake only has $2.5 million in current debt.

What if the extra business you are banking on doesn’t materialize after taking on the debt?

“Who has ever been successful in their lives from an entrepreneurial perspective if they haven’t taken the risk?”

But in this case, Ewing sees the risk as almost nil.

“We have confidence this will happen.”

Stuart Auditorium is old as Lake Junaluska itself, originally little more than a canvas roof over a tent frame, holding the very first Methodist sermons when the institution was founded in the early 1900s. What will become of this large lakeshore venue?

“When Stuart was built in 1913 it was not intended to last for two centuries.”

It isn’t big enough — it seats 2,000 but really the Lake needs a venue for closer to 3,000. It has exorbitant heating and cooling costs. It doesn’t meet modern audio-visual standards. In short, it might be torn down, although complete overhaul isn’t out of the question.

“Stuart is a place people love. While I strongly desire us to have a facility that meets our need going forward, if it can be done by preserving the current facility, great. But what is most important is to have a forward-looking building.”

Whatever is built back in Stuart’s place will have the same signature look of a giant revival tent.

“If we replace it, people will know it is Stuart Auditorium. It would be a newer version, a 21st century building that meets our space needs going forward. Stuart will be the signature building going forward for the next 100 years.”

What else could face the wrecking ball?

The Harrell Center falls dismally short as the primary meeting space on the grounds and fails to accommodate the needs of groups coming to the Lake. A new Harrell Center will be outfitted with flexible meeting space and will tie in with the new Stuart Auditorium next door — as well as integrate with the underutilized lake shore.

A new Harrell Center would be able to host a 400-person banquet. The largest banquet space on the grounds now is 150.

Jones Cafeteria is also on the short list, but like Stuart, could be fixed with a major, major renovation instead of complete tear down.

What about the Terrace?

Ewing called the Terrace an unfortunate example of the “architecture du jour” syndrome. It looked great in the 1970s — but the fleeting look didn’t last.

The Terrace needs façade work to make it more attractive from the outside, new furnishings in all the guest rooms, and complete gutting of the guest room bathrooms.

It is terribly dated. Most hotels update their rooms every five to seven years. It’s never been done at the Terrace since it opened in 1977, and people aren’t getting the value of what they are paying now, Ewing said. A major interior renovation is in the cards.

Any plans for the Lambuth?

Ewing wants to transform the stately inn into a “grand hotel experience.”

“I like to think about it being Greenbrier like. People will want to come to Lake Junaluska to stay at Lambuth Inn.”

Renovations will make it into a luxury hotel, although not with the luxury price tag.

What’s the time line?

Everything must be finished in five years. The Terrace will likely come first, then the Harrell Center, then Stuart, then the Lambuth.

How did you decide what needed fixing most?

“How do we strategically invest in things that will be revenue producing? We cannot be spending money on things that will not have a return on investment.”

A strategic planning committee in concert with the board of directors for the lake developed the master plan for what had to be done. Also, a facility audit of every building at Lake Junaluska was prepared by an outside firm with the help of a local architect.

What will you do about the deficits until the Lake’s new image and facilities start to bring in increased revenue?

The Lake will balance its budget starting in 2012. It has to come up with at least half a million to do so — enough to cover the $200,000 to $300,000 operational deficit it has been running and to cover the last $250,000 in subsidies from the church that will be phased out next year.

“Everybody on the staff has been challenged to think of ways to optimize revenue and control expenses.”

If demand doesn’t justify keeping all the buildings open, why not shut some down?

“We have the same number of facilities open today as we had 10 years ago. We may have to in the short-term ‘right size’ the organization before we can grow bigger and grow stronger. We may have to shut down some buildings.”

In fact, the Lake has been shutting down the Lambuth Inn – and occasionally even the Terrace – during slow weeks in the winter for a few years already.

“It is not new. We are just trying to be a little bit more strategic in the way that we do that. But it isn’t what we want to do long term.”

Has Lake Junaluska considered offering alcohol to appeal to a broader market and younger demographic? Or at least allowing it under special use permits?

“There is nothing in this plan about serving alcohol to attract groups from the outside. There are plenty of groups that would love to come that do not expect or need to have alcohol. We are planning this future with a clear understanding and commitment of Lake Junaluska as a place that does not include alcohol.”

Besides, the property deeds that govern facilities at Lake Junaluska ban alcohol.

“So at this point it is a moot issue. There may be a need for that issue to be evaluated at some point in the future, but it is not part of our planning process.”

Is charging for a grounds pass on the table, rather than allowing free public access to the walking trail, rose walk and gardens, playground and other recreation sites?

“The way I am approaching that is not from the perspective of charging people to come but giving people the opportunity to spend money when they arrive. There is a tremendous opportunity for a place where we are not charging somebody for the experience but giving people an opportunity to get something they want and that will be beneficial for us.”

This means ice cream, coffee, sandwiches and retail — perhaps by vendors but perhaps food ventures run by the lake itself. Ewing envisions a plaza lakeside around the new Stuart Auditorium.

In an out-of-the-way room on the ground floor, seven congregants of Longs Chapel United Methodist Church in Lake Junaluska gather around two beat-up tables. It’s Sunday School, a staple of Protestant church life, and there are thousands of groups just like it meeting around the country right now.

The room, even, is like any other Sunday School room. Battered rocking chair, metal folding chairs, a nondescript bookshelf or two.

The goal, though, is different.

They’re here trying to do something that few Americans have done: read the Bible — the whole thing, Old and New testaments — in 90 days.

Today, the topic is Genesis and parts of Exodus, and it’s a little controversial even among this group of professing Christians, many longtime churchgoers.

“I don’t like all the animal sacrifices,” says Kim Mullholland, a mother and full-time speech therapist who says she’s been in church her whole life. “It’s something that’s innocent, that’s what bothers me.”

Andrew Cooper also has some reservations. He’s much older than Mulholland, but is himself reading through the entire book for the first time.

“I’ve got a lot of questions now about this same God,” says Cooper. “I don’t know about all that.”

There isn’t much reliable data to show how many Americans have ever gotten from Genesis to the last page of Revelation. But there is a plethora of studies that tell us that, on the whole, even those who say they’re Christians are ignorant of most religious texts, the Bible included.

A 2007 Gallup poll showed that 60 percent of Americans don’t know who gave the Sermon on the Mount. Roughly the same number couldn’t name all four gospels.

A 2010 study by the Pew Research Center showed that nearly half had never heard of Ramadan and 61 percent couldn’t identify the Biblical character Job.

Among Christian subgroups, the stats weren’t much higher, even for the most basic doctrinal questions.

That, says Teressa Spencer, is the whole point of her church’s Bible in 90 Days initiative.

Spencer is director of ministries at Longs Chapel, and she’s been trying to get a read-the-Bible program going there for years.

“It just became really obvious to me how many people in worship spaces had not read the Bible,” said Spencer. And after enough talking about it, one pastor finally gave her a hand, finding a curriculum from Bible-publishing giant Zondervan.

It’s called, aptly enough, The Bible in 90 Days, and the Bible it’s using looks much more like a hardback self-help book than Bible.

It’s meant to be that way, says Ted Cooper. He is the guy who started the program by simply reading through the Bible in 1999. It wasn’t quite a literary exercise, but it was close.

Cooper was agnostic, and decided to read the Bible as a matter of interest, not devotion. So he got a large-print Bible and started on page one.

“I didn’t know that you weren’t supposed to read the Bible just like any other book,” says Cooper. “I didn’t know that if you were going to try to do that you were supposed to do that over a long period of time.”

Back in the Sunday School room, that’s one of the obstacles that these regular churchgoers are tripping over. Though they study the Bible, they do know that few read through it like a novel. And most Bibles aren’t as reader friendly as novels, either, with their leaf-thin pages, copious footnotes and inches-thick bindings.

“Most people that try to read through the Bible bog down in Leviticus and lose it. Don’t be one of them,” says the smiling speaker on the study video that accompanies the course.

In much of his publicity material, Cooper highlights a stat from a 2007 study that says 72 percent of Americans would like to read the entire Bible some time in their lives.

But the problem many run into when trying is that, though they’ve long self-identified as Christians, what they find in a straight read of the Bible is at the very least unexpected and probably either loathsome or tiresome.

“I started reading and I was just appalled at what was in it,” says Cooper of his first read through. “It just had all these rapes and murders and disembowelments.”

He used to come home, he says, and read particularly shocking passages to his wife, both laughing in disbelief.

It did change his life, though. He changed from agnostic to Christian and decided to help other people read the good book, not necessarily with an eye towards conversion, but just because it’s a good idea.

“We do not say,‘Oh gosh, if you don’t come out of this thing as a believer, then you’ve failed,’” says Cooper. “Our goal is to help people read it, all of it, and we kind of think God can do the big stuff.”

Personal religious convictions aside, a survey of university professors across the ideological spectrum found that knowing the Bible is educationally helpful.

“I can only say that if a student doesn’t know any Bible literature, he or she will simply not understand whole elements of Shakespeare, Sidney, Spenser, Milton, Pope, Wordsworth. One could go on and on,” said Robert Kiely, a Harvard English professor, in the study by the Bible Literacy Project.

The numbers from that study showed that 92 percent of his colleagues agreed, which makes sense, given even a cursory look at art and literature.

Take Absalom, a minor character from the Old Testament. He murdered his half-brother, attempted to usurp his father’s throne and was subsequently killed when his own hair hung him in a tree. He appears for a few chapters in 2 Samuel, yet there are references to him in poetry, music, art and even William Faulkner used the allegorical theme of son revolting against father in his seminal Southern Gothic novel, Absalom! Absalom!

The utter lack of biblical knowledge is somewhat surprising, given that the Bible is the No. 1 bestselling book of the year. Every year.

Selling the Bible is a big business — Thomas Nelson, one of the largest Bible producers, was sold for $473 million in 2006.

Reading it, it seems, isn’t.

Cooper, however, has had success in every state and several countries largely, he thinks, because his program turned the Bible into a book again.

Ninety days, he says, is doable. There’s a light at the end of that tunnel. If you take a year to read any book, for most people, failure is almost a foregone conclusion.

The other key to the program’s success is doing it with other people. Because, Cooper says, the Bible is actually a fairly shocking book.

“Somewhere between 65 and 80 percent of our typical groups have read not very much of the Bible before they do this. Those people are encountering a God that they don’t know, and in many respects they don’t want to know. It’s disturbing to people,” says Cooper. “So if they don’t have anybody to talk with and process with, if you don’t get to share those emotions, either you quit or you feel defeated.”

So, like Mulholland and Cooper and their compatriots, readers get together. They talk about it.

When the 90 days concludes, Cooper says most people have made it through the entire Bible.

“We don’t have to convince people that they want to do this,” says Cooper. “We just have to convince them that they can do it.”

Trevor Hudson has never liked the hymn “I Have Decided To Follow Jesus.”

The world behind me, the cross before me, he says, doesn’t make much sense. Isn’t Christianity about loving the world, not turning your back on them?

Come to mention it, he’s not in love with “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus,” either. Things of earth shall grow strangely dim? But isn’t Jesus supposed to bring the world and its needs into sharper focus?

“It’s blasphemy,” he says of the historic hymns, in an impassioned South African accent.

He’s saying it from the main stage at Stuart Auditorium perched on the edge of Lake Junaluska. His proclamation echoes off the soaring rafters and curving walls of the century-old auditorium, followed by a powerful silence.

Did he just say he hates “I Have Decided To Follow Jesus?” Pins dropping would resound in the silence, before Hudson continues, beseeching the crowd to listen to the world instead of mentally dimming it.

His message might seem unorthodox, but he is not the first to preach global-mindedness from that pulpit, and Lake Junaluska Assembly’s leadership hopes he won’t be the last.

Hudson came to the assembly’s oldest stage this month as part of the summer worship series. It’s a historic tradition that has long brought storied preachers and evangelists to the renowned Methodist conference center in Haywood County.

Actually, visiting preachers have been a part of the history of the place since its inception.

“Of course if you go back in the history — almost since the very beginning in 1913 — they’ve had different labels for the series and services that they had, but there were various pastors coming in from the get go,” says Bill Lowry, resident historian at Lake Junaluska and author of the book The Antechamber of Heaven, a History of Lake Junaluska Assembly.

Through the decades, the assembly has played host to famous clergymen such as Billy Graham and a slew of well-known British preachers.

From the beginning, the services were always well-attended, especially the summer meetings.

“The opening service, which took place in June of 1913, had approximately 4,000 people show up,” says Lowry, which was, he said, thanks in part to the friendly relationship the conference center shared with the local community.

Churches and businesses would get the news about summer preachers, spreading it along their built-in networks, and people came.

From the outset, says Lowry, the focus was worldwide.

“There was a very strong missionary emphasis on the grounds to begin with,” he says. “The very first event was a missionary conference, there were speakers there from China and other countries.”

That outlook is one of the solid foundations the leaders of today’s Lake Junaluska are hoping to build and grow the worship series on in the future.

Because the church is changing, and to stay alive, the assembly has to follow suit.

“I think our largest challenge is to reach a younger community,” says Roger Dowdy, the ministry director. It’s his job to keep things like the summer worship series relevant, and that’s sometimes a challenge — to serve and please the aging group that has long been the pillar of support and simultaneously attract a younger audience that will keep it alive.

“The relevance is by far the most important thing,” says Dowdy. “Preaching is changing in the church, it has become more free from the pulpit, it has become more narrative, whether it’s the preacher’s story or the church story. People want dynamic preaching.”

That’s a truth that can be seen across denominations in the Protestant church writ large in America, from the rise of the house church to the popularity of celebrity pastors and megachurches that focus and rely on the charisma of their leaders.

“It’s this incredible balance that we have to walk,” says Lake Junaluska Executive Director Jack Ewing. “We absolutely have to find ways to attract younger people so that this can continue going forward into the future.”

Ewing came to this job only a few months ago, with the charge and vision for continuing to usher Lake Junaluska into the modern church era.

With things like the summer worship series, the challenge is staying relevant and also true to the rich history of tradition the practice stands on.

Even before Lake Junaluska Assembly encamped on the lake’s shore almost 100 years ago, the tradition of traveling Methodists was already well established in Haywood County.

There are accounts of Methodist preachers stopping to give sermons here in the early 19th century. Many of their names are scrawled on the walls of the third floor chapel in the historic Shook House in Clyde, where many visiting pastors known as circuit riders made their pulpit pitches.

Fast forward nearly two centuries and the tradition hasn’t dimmed, but the strength of the church in society seems to be fading.

That truth isn’t lost on Ewing, who speaks of lost generations that don’t show up to the summer sermons like they did in decades past.

A 2010 Gallup poll found that 16 percent of Americans claim no specific religious identity. It was next to nothing in 1950. Another found that 70 percent of Americans told pollsters they believe religion is losing influence on American life.

Dowdy and Ewing know this is what they have to contend with.

“We will attempt to straddle this line between our traditional population base at the same time as being relevant to new generations,” said Ewing. “The reality is, what worship will look like in Stuart Auditorium 10 years from now, we don’t really know. But it isn’t about just being faithful to a tradition. We need to be faithful to God, not faithful to our traditions.”

Lake Junaluska Assembly Summer Worship schedule

All services begin at 10:45 a.m. in Stuart Auditorium at Lake Junaluska Assembly, unless otherwise noted.

• Rev. Susan Leonard-Ray - July 17

• Rev. Jeremy Troxler - July 24

• Rev. Mike Slaughter (8:30 a.m.) - July 31

• Rev. Grace Imathiu - July 31

• Rev. Shane Bishop - August 7

• Dr. Leonard Sweet - August 14

I traveled over the Balsams this past weekend from Sylva to Lake Junaluska for a native plant sale, and I’m very glad that I set time aside to make the trip. Not only were there some nice specimens to be had, I was able to tour the Corneille Bryan Native Garden.

I did know the garden was there, though many folks in the region don’t realize this tiny labor of love exists in Haywood County. I used to run regularly at Lake Junaluska before going to work weekday mornings at a regional office for the Asheville Citizen-Times in Waynesville. I’d sometimes trot through the garden area, dropping off County Road through the garden on my way back to the lake, happy for a bit of trail under my feet instead of pavement. Or, for variety, I’d run up the hill from the lake area to the road, optimistically dubbing my crawling, gasping effort a “hill workout” in my running journal.

No matter how pathetic and slow the actual effort, running through a garden is not a mindful way to enjoy flowers. Most of my attention, frankly, was devoted to not falling flat on my face. So the opportunity to stroll leisurely through was a delight, heightened by chats beforehand with garden director Janet Manning and Linda McFarland. Linda, in 2003, helped Janet Lilley put together a book, “Seasons in a Wildflower Refuge,” on what one can enjoy there. Well-known regional botanist Dan Pitillo, now retired from Western Carolina University, wrote descriptions for the book of the garden’s plants.

The genesis of the garden dates to the summer of 1989, according to a brochure about the Lake Junaluska site. Tuscola Garden Club members had been discussing the need to encourage more native plantings on the Junaluska Assembly grounds. Maxilla Evans (who died in December 2007) expressed a desire for a place where her lifetime collection of wildflowers could be preserved; and the family of Corneille Downer Bryan was looking for a suitable memorial. Bryan was a nature lover, artist and member of the Tuscola Garden Club.

So began the Corneille Bryan Native Garden, now home to about 500 various trees, shrubs and herbaceous plants. These include shortia, which is native to only an extremely limited area, pinkshell azalea, and various trillums. An endowment through the Bryan family helps maintain the garden.

The garden’s “primary function is to serve as a place of respite and renewal for all who draw strength from the beauty and quiet of this place,” the writers of the brochure note.

I believe what interests me most is how well Manning and the others involved are using such limited space — limited in both terms of size and context. The garden, as noted earlier, is on a fairly steep hill in a ravine, with a mix of oaks, black walnut and locust overhead. The area had become a dump for trash before the garden was created, with new steps, paths and bridges built, and a variety of habitats created.

Manning said the group is working to complete a bog section now. This is only one of many habitats featuring a variety of shade-loving and sun-loving native plants. (Much of the ravine is shaded, but a small area (euphemistically dubbed the “sunny meadow”) gets light. There you can find asters, penstemon, columbine and more).

There is much to enjoy and learn from the Corneille Bryan Native Garden. If you take the time to stop and smell the roses, that is, and not run mindlessly through. If there were any roses … but you get the point, I’m sure.  

To get there, go to Lake Junaluska Assembly. You can get to the garden on Stuart Circle from Lakeshore Drive, or by turning off County Road onto Oxford Road or Ivey Lane. Go to www.lakejunaluska.com/facility-maps for even better directions — click on “grounds map.”

(Quintin Ellison can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..)

When the sun crests the mountains’ edge Easter morning, it will creep down through the hills and fall on Lake Junaluska, where more than 300 worshippers will sit awaiting it at the foot of the massive wooden cross that graces the lake’s edge.

It’s the culmination of a weekend full of Easter celebrations and the continuation of a tradition that has stood at the Methodist retreat for years.

Though the Easter sunrise service might be the spiritual climax of the holiday at the Lake, it will be the end to a weekend packed full of events that will draw Lake Junaluska Assembly’s second-largest crowd of the whole year.

The services themselves — and there are several, all commemorating a different piece of Christ’s biblical journey to the cross — have been going on for years, but the other festivities just got their start five years ago, says Ken Howle, director of communications for Lake Junaluska Assembly.

“We did this as a mechanism for reaching out to the local community, to build stronger relationships and to make people feel welcome at Lake Junaluska,” says Howle. And if attendance is the measure of success, the effort is working.

The retreat center will host a massive egg hunt in conjunction with Waynesville’s recreation department, one of the area’s most popular, where 10,000 plastic eggs filled with tiny treats will be hidden for children to find. The hunt, says Howle, drew about 300 kids the first year and has been steadily growing since. They expect 1,000 hunters this year.

Staff and volunteers at the Assembly have been readying the eggs, many of which are recycled from years past, for nearly a month now.

The 5k and 10k Bunny Run last year attracted runners from 10 states, and 300 to 400 participants are expected to run this year.

An egg decorating contest will also be on offer, with prizes donated by Mast General Store.

“There is really something for everybody this weekend at Lake Junaluska,” says Howle. “It’s a big process, but for us this is one of the funnest events that we do each year because it’s a way that we can really give back to the local community.”

As for the services themselves, there will be four, each with a different focus and atmosphere to reflect the differences in Jesus’ death and resurrection.

The spiritual aspects of the celebration will start on Friday night, with a somber service, followed by a massive Easter vigil on Saturday evening and culminating in Sunday’s sunrise service.

The Easter vigil is one of the oldest services in the Christian tradition and will include five different churches from four denominations around the region.

A hat parade

Lake Junaluska’s events aren’t the only ones ringing in the budding spring this weekend, though. Just a few miles west in Dillsboro, locals and tourists alike are dusting off their bonnets for another round of the town’s famed Easter Hat Parade.

Now in its 23rd year, the parade invites guests of all ages — and species — to don their best Easter headwear and join the march through Dillsboro on the Saturday before Easter.

Vintage cars will join the procession and judges will pick the best hats from 20 different categories, from biggest and smallest to ‘poofiest’ and most spring-like.

Here, too, kids can spend the afternoon searching out Easter eggs before taking in and English tea at the Jarrett House Inn.

And for those who are, as yet, hatless, never fear; the Dillsboro Crafters will be on hand for a hat-making workshop ahead of the parade.

So whether it’s taking in the sunrise at the water’s edge or donning a festive chapeau for an afternoon stroll with a few hundred friends, there’s something for everyone this Easter weekend as we celebrate the fading of winter and the budding green of welcome spring.

Easter events

April 16 — A visit from the Easter Bunny, arts and crafts, egg hunts, Easter bonnet contest, duck races and other activities at Stecoah. Activities start at 11 a.m. 828.479.3364 • stecoahvalleycenter.com

April 23 — Run the 5k or 10k Bunny Race, followed by egg hunts and decorating contests at Lake Junaluska. Run begins at 8:30 with Easter services throughout the weekend. 828.452.2881 • lakejunaluska.com

April 22 - 23 — Ride the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad from Bryson City for an egg hunt, bunnies and photos with Snoopy. 800.872.4681 • gsmr.com

April 23 — Don your best bonnet for the Dillsboro Easter Hat Parade. Judging in 20 different categories as well as a hat-making workshop, egg hunt and English tea. Festivities start at 10:30 a.m. with parade at 2 p.m. 800.962.1911 • visitdillsboro.org

April 23 — See the Easter bunny and join in two separate egg hunts: one for infants through age four, and one for ages five to 10 at Bryson City Horse Arena Grounds. Egg drop contest and other events will be available. Activities begin at 1 p.m. 800.867.9246.

April 23 — Community pancake breakfast and egg hunt at Tom Sawyer’s Christmas Tree Farm and Elf Village. Breakfast begins at 8 a.m. with egg hunt to follow at 10 a.m. 828.743.5456

April 23 — Easter egg coloring party for children ages four to 16 at The Waynesville Inn, plus a story reading, pizza dinner and ice cream. Activities begin at 6:30 p.m.

April 24 — Egg hunt led by the Easter bunny outside the Cork and Cleaver restaurant at The Waynesville Inn. Hunt starts at 1:30 p.m. following a brunch. 828.456.5988