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JENNINGS — New Northside Missionary Baptist Church here echoed to the gospel sounds of an electric organ, bass and drums as about 180 more people piled up to worship on a recent Sunday. The grandparents walked with their grandchildren on the benches holding hands. Hugs.
Loud and cheerful voices sang in unison. About a portion of the pews were full.
The Rev. Rodrick Burton, senior pastor of the historic Black Baptist Church, spoke of God’s preference for other people to come together. Worship and share a meal.
The message resonated with the church, weekly in-person attendance has slowly recovered since the COVID-19 pandemic closed its doors 3 years ago.
“It’s been a process, but we’ve come a long way,” said Richard Prymer, 67, of Florissant, who along with his wife, Annie, among several worshippers dressed in masks.
New Northside, like most other places of worship, closed for months when the virus exploded, opening only with capacity limits and strict fitness precautions. Over the past year, the church has settled into a new normal. Where the church used to see about three other hundred people for normal weekly services, it now gets two hundred at most, Burton said.
“People don’t go back to using the same number as before,” Burton said.
The percentage of U. S. adults who report attending devotees at least once a month is 3 percentage points lower than before COVID, rising from 33% in 2019 to 30% in 2022, according to a Pew Research Center report released March 28. Pew reported a decrease of 6 percentage problems among Christians and 3 percentage problems among Jews, but did not analyze trends for other denominations due to limitations in pattern size.
Religious participation and weekly church attendance have been declining for years in the United States. And first, after recovering from record lows in 2020, weekly footfall has stalled. This, church leaders say, would possibly lead to fewer volunteers and donations than remaining small, viable places of worship.
But there is a silver lining. While 20% of others surveyed through Pew said they attend in-person worship less than before the pandemic, 15% say they participate more, online.
“When you upload everything, we have overall more people worshipping in one way or another than before COVID,” said Matt Miofsky, senior pastor of The Gathering, a United Methodist church founded in 2015 that has 3 campuses on St. Lawrence. Louis and an online presence that includes an engaged podcast and regular mini sermons on social media.
The church has noticed newcomers who, after the pandemic, sought recommendations and discovered them first online and then in person, Miofsky said.
“The isolation, the loneliness, the struggle made other people come to church for the first time. Many of the new people we have reached are younger, more diverse, and have less experience with the church than at any time in our history. . “
In person decreases, increases
Several denominations in St. Louis have noted declines in in-person attendance since the pandemic.
Attendance at Catholic Mass was delayed last year in the Archdiocese of St. Louis, where a plan to organize parishes among dwindling numbers of Catholics and registered priests circulated widely. Louis, according to parish records. In 2019, that number was 35%.
The same goes for the Southern Baptist Convention, which last year reported a national decline in average weekly attendance of 18. 7 percent, from 4. 4 million others in 2020 to 3. 6 million in 2021, according to an annual report released last May.
Attendance is around 80% before COVID-19 in all 5800 Lutheran churches in the U. S. “The U. S. and Canadian governments, said Mike Behr, spokesman for the Kirkwood-based synod of the Missouri Lutheran Church.
The collection sees about 1,250 worshipers in the user week, up from 1,600 before the pandemic, Miofsky said. But virtual sermons get another 1,000 prospects online, he said.
Many churches had some sort of online presence before closing in 2020, but it has become a necessity because of the pandemic, Burton said.
“The general consensus on the religion network is that if you need to be viable, you need to know other people on the user and online,” he said.
Virtual ones are especially useful for older members, who are at the highest risk of becoming seriously ill or dying from COVID-19.
But devout leaders say the online presence also allows them to reach young and new worshippers without geographical boundaries, adding intellectual fitness to others and even social assistance after the pandemic.
Churches that fulfill those wishes are seeing an uptick in attendance, said the Rev. Linden Bowie, president of the Missouri Missionary Baptist Convention and pastor of Zion Travelers Missionary Baptist Church in Riverview.
the global conversion that we live in, so those churches are doing well, but if the church resumes business as usual, those churches may not return,” Bowie said.
At the Congregation of Israel Temple in Creve Coeur, attendance is largely back to pre-COVID-19 levels, said Rabbi Amy Feder, who is also president of the St. Louis Rabbinical and Cantoral Association. number of participants enroll in the facilities virtually.
“I see those other people on the street and they say, ‘Oh, I see them every single Friday night,’ and I say, ‘Oh, I didn’t know,'” Feder said.
“Take time”
Back in New Northside, Annie Prymer, who attended the service with her husband, Richard, on scholarship day, said the couple’s college-age children, who live out of town, virtually adhere to the facility. But being there with her circle of church relatives “is just another vibe,” she said.
“When you enter the church, you receive communion,” said Prymer, 64.
James Stringfellow, 70, of St. Louis, said his aunt is one of many seniors who haven’t returned to New Northside in person, but still donates and connects virtually. Burton and other church leaders visited his home.
“They’re still part of the church family,” said Stringfellow, who has frequented New Northside for nearly 50 years.
On Communion Day, the Church of Burton welcomed several new members to be baptized that day. He said the slight drop in in-person attendance only means leaders “have more paints to do. “
“The Christian scriptures say, don’t abandon the gathering of yourselves,” Burton said. “I think other people will come back. It just takes time. ” Nassim Benchaabane • 314-340-8167 @Nassim Bnchabane on Twitter nbenchaabane@post- despacho. com
UNIONVILLE, Mo. — With brown winter grass framing its low buildings, the hilltop hog farm a few miles from town looks a lot like many other sites dotted around the pig belt. But this one belongs to a Chinese company, and for some people, that makes all the difference.
The recent appearance in the skies over Missouri of what President Biden called a Chinese spy balloon has only underscored popular apprehensions about Beijing’s intentions. In the wake of the aircraft, the cross-currents shaking U. S. -China relations show how a profound lack of acceptance as truth is overwhelming industry ties once noted as mutually beneficial.
The growing anti-China sentiment also means additional scrutiny for the farm’s owner, Smithfield Foods, which it acquired in 2013 through a Chinese company, WH Group. ownership of U. S. land threatens the United States.
“I don’t have anybody from China directing what I do,” said Kraig Westerbeek, Smithfield’s vice president. “I don’t think this company is owned by the Chinese government. Frankly, I don’t even perceive the conversation. “
As U. S. -S. -S. relations have taken place. As the U. S. and China hit their lowest point in 40 years, Chinese ownership of U. S. farmland has suddenly become controversial. Twenty-seven states, plus Missouri, are contemplating proposals that would ban or limit foreign acquisitions of farmland. Congress would likely require long-term sales to be approved by a government investment committee.
The fury is striking, given China’s modest assets. According to U. S. Department of Agriculture figures, Chinese entities own less than 3 acres of 10,000-acre U. S. land. Little Luxembourg has more.
But lawmakers say the Chinese government can simply use long-term agreements, adding with private companies, to conduct espionage or jeopardize the country’s food supply. on land he had purchased 12 miles from a U. S. Army base. The U. S. Air Force said the assignment posed “a significant risk to national security. “
While Chinese land purchases have increased since 2019, they are still lower than those of Canada, the Netherlands, Italy, the United Kingdom, Germany and at least nine other countries, according to the Congressional Research Service. amount to more than 40 million acres, a domain larger than Iowa and which has exceeded 16% in two years.
Beijing is a small sign of a near-spending frenzy: China’s annual investment in all U. S. industries. The U. S. economy has fallen more than 90% since peaking at $49 billion in 2016, according to Rhodium Group, a New York-based consultancy.
“I just can’t get excited about it,” said Dennis Wilder, a former Central Intelligence Agency analyst who spoke with President George W. Bush on China’s policy on that capability.
In this context, the pressing calls to ban Chinese land transactions seem important, basically as a sign of deteriorating relations between the U. S. and China. Just 3 years ago, President Donald Trump celebrated an industrial deal that committed Beijing to double its purchases of American land. Agricultural products.
Today, China is celebrated as the first foreign visitor from American farmers, vilified as a malicious adversary.
The proposed restrictions on Chinese land purchases also reflect growing distrust of Chinese President Xi Jinping. Its internal repression and external assertiveness have undermined China’s external position, while its adoption of a superior state over the economy has blurred the line between Chinese personal sector enterprises and the government. .
“Is there such a thing as a personal enterprise in China? I’m sure it exists,” Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis. ), chairman of the House Select Committee on China, said in a recent interview.
However, while many politicians still see no danger in relations with China, the opinion in the room is more nuanced. Smithfield is one of the largest economic players in a wide swath of rural Missouri, employs approximately 2800 other people, and contracts with 110 employee circles. Relatives farms.
Its acquisition in 2013 through W. H. The organization, then known as Shuanghui International, drew the ire of some U. S. politicians who feared it would lead to higher prices for consumers. But the Chinese customer said he wants a reliable source of red meat to satisfy the desires of a developing middle class in China. And Shuanghui is far from the first foreign player in the U. S. food industry. U. S. After a three-month review, the Interagency Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) approved the agreement.
W. H. Group is an index company on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, which means that its managers have a legal responsibility to maximize the profits that drive up the share price. Its payroll of 40,000 is up from 37,000 a decade ago. The company is still headquartered in Smithfield, Virginia, where it has been since 1936.
While critics have said the acquisition threatens the U. S. food supply, the acquisition has been a threat to the U. S. food supply. In the U. S. , the red meat Smithfield ships to China consists largely of portions of red meat that American diners avoid, such as the animals’ paws and tongue. And unlike the North Dakota example, the nearest military base is more than a hundred miles from Unionville.
Today, Smithfield’s operations have also replaced little from when it owned across the United States, leaving local populations to balance the grim prospect of an unspecified risk versus the tangible benefits of the company’s presence.
“You can mention China as many other people as possible and it’s not going for good,” said Charley Bill Pittman, mayor of Unionville. “But it’s just an asset, economically. “
The Unionville farm operates a state-of-the-art formula that converts methane from pig manure into herbal gas. Up to 72,000 pigs are confined here in dozens of white, low-rise structures. Covered lagoons.
As manure decomposes, it releases methane, which is captured and purified before being transported to application customers. The formula produces enough force to force 14,000 average houses over a year. “This is a clinical project. It’s a commercially viable business,” Westerbeek said. , which manages the company’s renewable energy joint venture.
Smithfield has several services in Missouri, added a slaughterhouse in Milan, and is a family presence in many small towns. Since 2020, the company has spent $47 million to modernize its utilities.
Scott Whitworth, 55, a farmer in Worthington, a nearby town of about 50 people, has been doing business with the company for about 20 years. He runs his business from an old one-story school that was built during the Depression Works Progress Administration (WPA).
Whitworth supplies the pig manufacturer with lubricants, appliances and fertilizers while raising its own pigs and cattle. He still deals with the same Smithfield representative he had before the Chinese took over. If something were to happen to Smithfield, he said, “it would just destroy. “the local economy.
“I don’t like foreign ownership very much. But that’s the way to be global now,” said Whitworth, who has been a farmer since he was 12. “I would prefer the Americans to be the owners. But those guys are smart neighbors. They’re smart for the community. “
In Missouri, the overseas farm has long been a political flashpoint. State law generally limits foreigners to 1% of the agricultural area. During last year’s state Senate race, Democrat Trudy Busch Valentine criticized Republican Eric Schmitt for voting in 2013 to ease asset lines. , a move that allowed W. H. Group to win Smithfield’s 130,000 acres in Missouri.
Similarly, a political action committee supporting Josh Hawley for the state attorney general in 2016 aired a television ad showing a sinister-looking Chinese business leader triumphantly visiting his Missouri farms, titled “Stop Helping Chinese People Buy Our Farms. “
In Jefferson City, the state capital, at least nine proposals to limit or ban foreign ownership are under the attention of the General Assembly.
State Sen. Bill Eigel, R-Weldon Spring, has proposed a blanket ban on foreign purchases of real estate, adding farmland. He is also involved in the Missouri’s influence of the World Economic Forum, the Swiss non-profit agreement that is the beast noire of anti-globalist forces. “Every acre owned by a foreign entity takes a little bit of our sovereignty as a country,” Eigel said. “We don’t want foreign owners to take over our farmland. “
However, even some Chinese hawks say that Chinese land purchases are too small for them to matter. Derek Scissors, a China expert at the center-right American Enterprise Institute, said lawmakers instead face U. S. dependence on China for feed ingredients, adding vitamins.
“If we’re ready and China isolates us, how temporarily can we fill production?” asked Scissors. This is potentially a serious point of vulnerability. “
The state’s farmer teams are divided on the land ownership factor.
The Missouri Bureau of Agriculture said it supports lowering the 1 percent cap and said “food security is national security. “A spokesman for agriculture did not respond to requests for clarification.
At February’s Missouri Pork Expo, an annual industry exhibit held at the Lake of the Ozarks resort, members of the state’s red meat deal had things on their minds: the lingering effects of last year’s drought; inflation; labour shortages; and the risk of African swine fever.
“China owns Smithfield and all the land it owns amounts to nothing,” said Phil Howerton, 71, who raises pigs about 65 miles southeast of Kansas City. have land to sell. “
During a red meat lunch with fried fish and drinking Bud Lights at the satisfied hour, several participants highlighted their dependence on foreign markets. Agricultural exports to China last year set a record $36 billion, according to the USDA.
Farmer Scott Hays, 55, said he was “very nervous” about U. S. -China relations. For years, U. S. farmers have provided China with soybeans, corn, beef, and red meat, while Chinese factories have filled Walmart and Target shelves with affordable clothing and accessories. electronics, he said.
“It’s unfortunate that we find ourselves in this scenario of wrongly accepting as truth with them,” he said. The unusual guy from either country won’t do well if we continue in this direction. “
MAPLEWOOD – Boardwalk Waffles
Eric K. Moore has been at the center of more than 40 lawsuits that say the same thing: He didn’t pay his bills.
Files and interviews with his creditors tell a similar story: Moore promised to pay his debts and didn’t, or paid very little. Sometimes the parties worked things out. But judges have ruled against Moore at least 3 dozen times.
Even then, it did not make the required payments, according to creditors and court records.
Left behind are homeowners, family circle businesses and even the enjoyed, who have been forced to cut back on their dreams and retirement savings to fill in the gaps in their finances.
David McCreery owns a store on Grand Boulevard in Tower Grove South. Moore signed a lease there last June, with plans to open another boardwalk. But his rent checks have largely recovered and he now owes McCreery thousands of dollars, according to a court filing.
“We built this company and enjoyed it,” McCreery said. And he destroyed it. “
In an interview, Moore stated the debts. He said the maximum of the expenses accumulated more than five years ago, when he drank heavily. “Sometimes the decisions weren’t the best,” he said at the time.
“I my mistakes,” Moore said.
He says he’s sober now, looking for Boardwalk to be a success, and needs to pay off his debts. His challenge now, he says, is that he tried to grow too fast.
In some ways, Moore’s story is not unusual. Experts say only about 2 million U. S. businesses spend the year bankrupt and the owners of about 600,000 of them leave without paying their debts.
The opposite cases to Moore vary in geography and scope, from home renovations on St. Louis to a grocery shopping center he owned as a condominium in Fayetteville, Georgia. They come with paints that Moore’s general contractor never completed, dining appliances he never paid for. and piles of thousands of dollars in unpaid rent, NSF checks, and non-public loans.
And they are at least 15 years old.
Costumes piled up on Moore long before Boardwalk opened. Like what:
• In 2007, Tower Grove owner Peter Newcomb said he had paid Moore General Contracting for poorly completed or never completed renovations. Moore did not go to court and the approval ruling gave the Newcombs more than $70,000. But the Newcombs never saw anything about it.
Eric Moore’s call “is a dirty word in our family,” Newcomb said. “My daughter says let’s go to her ice cream shop and, when they need us to pay, say, ‘It’s Eric. He owes us. ‘”
• In 2010, the owners of Tin Can Tavern and Grille in Columbia alleged that Moore, his then-wife, Laurie Bowman Moore, and their former company, Can O’ Beer, agreed to manage Tin Can and pay its owners $59,000 — he has never yet paid the bill. A judgment passed on Tin Can awarded for more than $525,000.
“I haven’t noticed a dime,” said former Tin Can co-owner Mike Headrick. “I will never see that money, and I have finished wasting my time and power with this negative vibe. “
Laurie Bowman Moore, now Laurie Bowman, declined to comment.
• In 2012, Nancy and Richard Summers of Town and Country won a $466,000 lawsuit against the Moores. Bowman Moore, a friend of Summers’ daughter, and the Moores had borrowed $250,000 from the couple for a real estate transaction.
The Moores agreed to return $300,000 in 120 days, or incur interest at 28 a year, according to a complaint filed through the Summers in 2011. The deal went wrong and the Moores never paid the debt.
• In 2016, Bowman Moore’s aunt, Jo Anne Bowman, won a more than $188,000 lawsuit against the Moores. The Moores had asked Bowman to withdraw $105,000 from his retirement account and lend it to him at 20% interest. They agreed to pay back $80,000 of the cash in 60 days, so you can return it to your retirement account without penalty.
Eighteen months later, the Moores had paid just $5,900. Bowman filed a lawsuit, the Moores did not appear in court, and a judgment was issued on the award of the original loan plus compound interest at 30% per annum, in accordance with the terms of the original contract.
Even one of Moore’s lawyers sued him. Mitchell D. Jacobs, who requested to withdraw from at least instances in December 2017, sued Moore in 2018 for more than $7,200 in unpaid expenses and interest, and in 2022 for more than $1,800. Jacobs represents Moore. Se declined to comment on this story, citing privacy rules.
“I almost give him credit for his point of corruption,” said owner Arthur Wilhelm, who sued Moore’s general contractor company in 2006, alleging his paintings caused about $23,000 in damage to his St. Louis.
“He just lives his life without worries, without fear,” Wilhelm said. “He’s one step ahead of everyone else. “
Boardwalk sells smoothies, ice cream sandwiches in Belgian waffles and ice cream served in waffle bowls and waffle cones. There are now 3 locations in the area: on Manchester Road in Maplewood, on Telegraph Road in Oakville and on Russell Boulevard in Soulard.
It has plans for retail stores on Grand Boulevard in the Grand Center Arts District and Grand in the South Grand Business District.
The one of the five sites, adding the expansion sites, demanded it.
They even chased him, twice, at his first location, 7326B Manchester Road in Maplewood, just down the street from his existing corner window. The store was in the house before another ice cream shop, and in 2016, Moore agreed to pay for that store’s owner, Michael S. McLaughlin, more than $22,000 for freezers, symptoms and other accessories.
When Boardwalk paid the money, McLaughlin’s attorney demanded full payment. Moore issued a check for $2,500.
Then, in 2019, 7326B owner Jerry Gibbs filed a lawsuit. He won a $4,800 trial and Moore’s promise to leave.
But Moore in the procedure of moving his store to its current location on the block, and said delays in preparing the new store prevented him from paying or moving, Gibbs’ attorney, Todd Sivia, said.
“In spite of everything, we control him to make him pay,” Sivia said. “He left and left. “
Last June, Moore signed a lease to open a boardwalk in Tower Grove South, in a location once occupied through Tower Grove Creamery.
His $7,000 security deposit check was recovered, according to a complaint filed through McCreery and his wife, Beulah Ann. Moore then gave them a cashier’s check for the same amount and a stack of 12 postdated checks to cover the month of the lease.
So far, all have also recovered, McCreery’s attorney, Matthew Ghio, said.
Writing NSF checks over $750 is a Class E felony in Missouri, punishable by up to 4 years in prison or jail, or a fine of up to $10,000. However, a spokesperson for the St. County District Attorney. Louis, Wesley Bell, said such cases are rarely prosecuted because they require intent to defraud, which can be difficult to prove.
The McCreerys’ lawsuit seeks payment of double the amount Moore owes in rent plus other expenses, which amounted to $37,000 in December. The McCreries have someone in line to rent the space, but the tenant can’t move in until Moore moves in, Ghio said.
He said a lease transfers the right to own an area from the landlord to the tenant. The only means of terminating this right are through the tenant agreeing to leave voluntarily, which Moore did, or through a court order.
Meanwhile, the store is not yet open and Moore is the area to inventory ice cream, McCreery said.
The McCreeries filed to drop the lawsuit and pay him $5,000 to leave. Moore ignored the offer, McCreery said.
McCreery is 82, his wife is 79. They can go penniless, that would help, he said. What worries them most is the damage the empty store causes to the reputation and atmosphere of the South Grand shopping district, of which they are passionate supporters.
Moore said: “I don’t have any challenges with the McCreerys. I think they’re great people. Hopefully we can succeed in some sort of agreement before the next hearing date. It’s tarnished, but I’m hopeful. “
The other 3 also continued:
• In June, the owner of Boardwalk’s Telegraph Road in Oakville alleged Moore owed more than $28,000 in rent, overdue fees, taxes and other fees. In November, Moore signed a consent agreement to pay more than $31,000 in installments until the balance is paid.
• In November, owner Grand Center Inc. sued Boardwalk’s still-shuttered Grand Center store, alleging that Moore had not paid rent for months.
• In January, Maple King Properties, which owns the construction at Boardwalk’s existing Maplewood location, also filed a lawsuit for the time being. The company had already received a consent judgment for more than $34,000 and an agreement that Boardwalk would vacate the facility. This time, they said Maple King owed $14,500.
The ruling ruled a judgment in absentia for more than $36,000 and ownership of the property.
Moore said he is now paying the rent he owes to the 3 locations. A Grand Center attorney showed Moore is now applying for contract. Maple King did not expel him; lawyers for the owners of Telegraph Road have not responded to repeated requests.
However, last month, the owners of 1001 Russell Boulevard in Soulard sued Moore for more than $75,000 in rent, utilities, late charges and other charges. He didn’t pay rent and didn’t leave, they say.
“Deportation proceedings are ongoing,” said Alexander Kuehling, an attorney at 1001 Russell.
In an interview on Wednesday, Moore said his financial woes now stem largely from an overly temporary expansion as the business battled the COVID-19 pandemic: his current store on Manchester Road opened in August 2020; the Telegraph Road site opened in September 2021; the Soulard site in March 2022.
He said he didn’t have the money to grow. But opportunities to open retail stores in Grand Center and Tower Grove seemed too smart to ignore.
Now, however, he has said he is making progress in paying off his debts: “We are looking to fix relations with some landlords,” he said.
And it was brought forward to summer, during the most active season for glaciers. The extra money will help pay off their debts, he said.
Meanwhile, the paintings continue on the site of the Great Center.
A panel in a Boardwalk Waffles store window
Daniel Neman • 314-340-8133
@dnemanfood on Twitter
dneman@post-dispatch. com
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