NASHVILLE, Tenn.—Residents near Bethel World Outreach, a rapidly growing church here, successfully fought off the church's request to expand its facilities and parking lots.

According to The Tennesseean, the city's Board of Zoning Appeals unanimously denied the request by the church, which was argued before 250 people at a three-hour-plus hearing.

In recent weeks, Members of the Organized Neighbors of Granny White organized to protest the church's plans to expand and were present in large numbers at the meeting. About the same number of church members were on hand, too, at the tense but civil meeting.

Those representing the church told the board they had met or exceeded requests made of them last August to downsize the expansion and make it more in character with the neighborhood. They also said they believed they had jumped through all the hoops to comply with codes and standards for the expansion, as well as spent time and money to make sure it was all done right.

'I believe we have attempted to be very fair,' said Tim Johnson, Bethel senior associate pastor. 'We believe that growth is inevitable. Our hope is that you (board members) would not make this into an emotional decision.'

Those opposed to the project spoke passionately about how the residential character of the neighborhood had been compromised over the years. Because the church--a large, charismatic, interracial congregation--has grown and added special events, classes and workshops, traffic at the intersection has gotten out of hand, expansion opponents said.

'It's fundamentally hard to oppose a church,' said Bill Frasch, of Organized Neighbors of Granny White. 'But I don't think the codes were written to allow this kind of expansion.'

For board members, it seemed to boil down to the length of time projected for construction and paving for parking. Construction was proposed to take place in six phases over an unspecified period of time. Board members said they were concerned that the timeframe wasn't clear.

'A construction project that could go on for years would be extremely difficult on the neighborhood,' board member Jami Wilson said.

Bethel World Outreach has worshipped at the site 16 years.