c. 2004 Religion News Service

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. _ Carolyn McKinstry guided a visitor through the basement of the historic Sixteenth Street Baptist Church and pointed out some glaring cracks in the walls.

“The building is a symbol and has its own voice,” McKinstry said.

Right now, the voice seems to be asking for help. Church and community leaders are answering the call with the launch of a fund-raising campaign to repair and upgrade the structure.

“This is our sacred site; this is our community treasure,” said McKinstry, who as a 14-year-old girl survived the Sept. 15, 1963, bomb that killed four other girls, her friends, as they prepared for Sunday service.

The $3.8 million restoration plan calls for stabilizing the foundation, repairing cracks, re-roofing the building and creating a new drainage system to stop water leaks into the church basement.

“It’s something that needs to be done,” said the Rev. Arthur Price, pastor of the 200-member church. “Sixteenth Street is a Birmingham icon, an Alabama icon.”

At a ceremony for Mayor Bernard Kincaid’s second-term inauguration in January, Neal Berte toured the church after a worship service.

“There was water standing on one side of the downstairs where they teach Sunday school,” said Berte, chancellor of Birmingham-Southern College and co-chair with McKinstry of the campaign steering committee. “On the outside, the bricks were separated. It just sort of said over and over, there are major restoration needs for this facility.”

Berte helped gather community participation for a newly formed nonprofit foundation that commissioned a detailed report on what it would take to stabilize the building. Anyone walking around the building can see the need.

“You can see a crack right in the middle of the back wall of the church,” Price said. “Where they found the bodies, there’s cracking in the wall. On a rainy day, the church takes in water.”

The deterioration of the architectural icon means that Birmingham’s historical heritage is at stake.

“This is in many ways Birmingham’s church,” Berte said. “It just needs to be taken care of.”

Berte hopes about $3 million will be raised in Birmingham and hopes for $800,000 in contributions from around the country, including possibly some federal funding.

So far, the foundation has pledges of about $1,367,000, Berte said. “We’re counting on the community at large to step up and get this done,” Berte said.

The nonprofit foundation will fund the restoration. It will remain completely separate from the church budget, Berte said.

The foundation plans to use about $80,000 of the money to make a push for national historic landmark status for the church, a designation similar to that given to the Old North Church in Boston.

“We think it is appropriate to be named a landmark,” Berte said.

A recent community service at the church commemorated the deaths of the four girls in 1963.

Since the bombing, the church has attracted more than 200,000 visitors a year.

“As a survivor of 1963, I just witnessed an outpouring of emotion and awe and respect for that church by people all over the world,” McKinstry said. “I’ve seen it over and over again.”

The steady stream of visitors offers the city a chance to convey a new image to the world, she said.

“There’s more to the story than what happened on Sept. 15 _ how did all of Birmingham rise above what happened here?” McKinstry said. “It is a poignant story. It leaves us with a grave responsibility. We have a legacy to preserve.”

In 1963, Sixteenth Street Baptist Church served as a key meeting place for civil rights rallies led by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., and a starting point for marches and rallies.

Founded in 1873 as the First Colored Baptist Church, Sixteenth Street Baptist Church members began construction on the present building in 1909; it was finished in 1911, with seating for 1,600 people. Wallace Rayfield, the city’s first black architect, designed the structure.

After so far withstanding a bomb and the ravages of time, it remains a beautiful and enduring monument, Price said.

“This is a pretty sound building,” Price said. “There was a lot of detail and excellent work that went into the building.”

The modified Romanesque and Byzantine arch design features twin red-roofed towers at the front corners. “It provides a sense of hope, a sense of courage for the struggle,” Price said. “This is one of Alabama’s treasures and we need to keep it around.”

MO END