Footnotes
[1]
We emphasize that our interviews corroborate Righter's
recounting of his early organizational efforts for two reasons. First,
some people in the community, including clergy, have questioned Righters
credibility. Since our report on Righter's organizational activities
draws heavily from his own recounting, we feel it is important to point
out that his recollections are in accord with the recollections of
others. Second, our assessment of the situation is that Righter received
very little, if any, cooperation from Presbytery pastors in organizing
the new congregation. Without the assistance of local newspapers, he
would have had virtually no leads as to where to recruit members for the
congregation. While in the next chapter we are critical of Righter and
the Congregation for failing to fulfill the expectations of the Miami
Presbytery vis-a-vis development of relations with other congregations,
we failed to find much evidence of Presbyterian pastors' opening the
door for cooperative ventures.