Bishop's boyhood: Crew films documentary on ex-Oldfield resident

By Iva Butler
of The Daily Times Staff

Bishop B. Courtney McBath is remembered fondly as a boy growing up in the Oldfield Community of Alcoa.

Calvary Alliance of Churches and Ministries was founded by McBath in 1998 and serves leaders throughout the world. Now one of the largest churches in America, the ministry is located in Norfolk, Va.

Today is Bishop B. Courtney McBath Day in Alcoa.

On Thursday, a film crew from his church in Virginia, led by Terry Webb, was videotaping a documentary on McBath's early life at the places he lived in Alcoa. People still remember him well after 30 years.

"Since we have been here we have been very touched and still proud of him. We are learning history about him that we didn't know," Webb said.

Alcoa City Commissioner George Williams was videotaped as he recalled bygone ago days in the Oldfield Community.

"The road was dirty and dusty. You couldn't tell where one yard began and another ended because there were so many kids playing there was very little grass," Williams said.

"There was no EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) at that time, and the aluminum company (ALCOA Inc.) truck would come by every few weeks and put oil on the road to cut down on the dust."

Cora Thompson Goss, who formerly baby-sat McBath, was interviewed with Williams.

Every weekend she and her boyfriend would take McBath, then 1 1/2 years old, with them to Morristown to visit her family.

"You can't understand Courtney without understanding Connie McBath (his mother) and Miss Gert (his grandmother Gertrude Echols)," Goss said.

"Granny came to Tennessee from Georgia when Connie was about 4. She had polio," Goss recalled while standing in front of a house where the family used to live.

It was hard for his mother to get around until she got older because of the polio.

"Miss Gert was a God-fearing woman who would do anything for anybody. After my mother passed, she became my mother," Goss said. "Miss Gert loved all her children, grandchildren and all the neighborhood children."

Williams recalled that as children, when they smelled good aromas coming from Miss Gert's house, they knew it was time to eat. She cooked huge meals and never turned anybody away, he said.

He remembers that even at an early age Courtney McBath displayed an intellectual curiosity.

"The worst thing you could do was answer a question from Courtney because he always had another question. He was real articulate," Williams said.

Goss noticed similar traits.

"As a child Courtney was very obedient, always learning. He was not involved in sports like the other children. He was more of a bookworm," she said.

Both his grandmother and mother went back to school and got degrees later in life. They had places to go.

Williams remembered that "at 75 Miss Gert drove a five-speed pickup truck like she was on a mission."

Connie McBath was a single mother who ran a beauty shop in her home and studied there before getting her nursing degree.

"Courtney's foundation dictated and required that he achieve," Goss said.

When she was older, his grandmother bought her first home, which now stands beside Alcoa Church of Christ. Before she lived in rental homes and she would keep Courtney after school.

During his middle school years, McBath attended Eagleton. He later went to Alcoa High School. After that he graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a Bachelor of Science in humanities and engineering; a Master of Arts in Biblical Studies from Regent University; and a Doctor of Ministry from Providence Bible College and Theological Seminary.

Goss spoke of how as a boy, Courtney McBath always enjoyed going to Sunday School.

"You could see the interest he had in the Bible and how he loved to learn."

As a boy, the young Courtney organized a little bus ministry, Williams said.

Quentin "Bean" Anthony, an advertising representative for The Daily Times, was a senior when McBath was a sophomore about 30 years ago at Alcoa High. Anthony grew up knowing McBath.

"Courtney was the manager of the basketball team when I played. He kept us in order," he said.

"Courtney was a kid small in stature but thought there was nothing he couldn't do. There was no task he didn't think he could achieve. He was a very smart student. That probably helped get him to where he is today," Anthony said.

"He didn't play basketball and football like us other kids. Tennis was his game. He was no shy person. He didn't ever meet a stranger.

"Back in the day, people might have thought there was a color barrier. Not Courtney. He treated everybody the same. He didn't have any enemies -- none whatsoever," Anthony said.

"Back in those days church was like mandatory for every kid. You went whether you wanted to or not. I know he was a God-fearing man back then, like he is now. He was a churchgoer; that's for sure," he added.

"He was a smart kid. He could more or less cruise through school. If he wanted to make an "A" in school in something, he could. He was one of those people that just knew things. He participated in things we didn't do, like spelling bees and tennis," Anthony said.

"To this day, I know classmates of his that still remember him 30 years down the road. He was well-liked by everybody," he concluded.

Williams joked that when McBath's security team came in Wednesday to make preparations, they told him they did not want the bishop in a hotel higher than the seventh floor. Williams told them, "This is Alcoa. We don't have anything seven stories."

His appearance in Alcoa is part of the Richard Williams Jr. Leadership Development Academy Week,

On Thursday night, McBath said the prayer before the Blount County Commission meeting.

Today McBath is to attend a reception at 9 a.m. in the Alcoa High School Auditorium, where he will meet local officials; speak to the AHS student body and faculty at 9:45 in the school gym; have lunch at noon at the Blount County Chamber of Commerce; meet with Academy Leadership cadets at 6:30 p.m. at Alcoa First Methodist Church, 617 Gilbert St., Alcoa; and speak at 7 p.m. worship service at the church speaking on "Being All that You Can Be."