Shaping a Thriving Community: Insights from Williamson County’s Mayor
Join Mike Glenn, president of the Engaged Church Network, as he sits down with Rogers Anderson, Williamson County’s longtime mayor, to discuss the incredible transformation of one of Tennessee's fastest-growing regions. With over 20 years of leadership experience, Rogers shares insights on navigating change, prioritizing education, and fostering community growth.
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Mike Glenn: [00:00:00] Hi, thanks for joining us on our podcast today. I am Mike Glenn, the president of The Engaged Church Network, and we are focused in helping pastors of local churches and leadership of local churches understand the changing dynamics of Middle Tennessee. And nobody can help us better understand that than Rogers Anderson.
Roger has been the county mayor for Williamson County for over 20 years, uh, having served on the county council and, uh, various roles in that, and then was elected mayor, uh, uh, just what, 22 years ago now or something like that?
Rogers Anderson: Correct.
Mike Glenn: But, uh, as we were talking before we started recording, the Williamson County that he came into is very, very different than the Williamson County that, that you work in now.
So one of the things I wanna h- talk to Roger about is how we recognize those changes and then how we [00:01:00] respond to those changes in our roles as, as leaders. So tell me about the, the W- Williamson County, 'cause when I came here in 1991, people would talk about having to drive all the way into Nashville. You know, "Well, Mike, we don't wanna do that.
You have to drive all the way into Nashville or all the way down to Franklin." And now those are just You, you make those commutes without any thought at all, without
Rogers Anderson: Well, there's no question. First of all, thanks for letting me have a few minutes of your time to talk about some of the changes, but no question about it, the, one of the fastest growing counties, pers- percentage-wise on population, I should say, has been Williamson County over the last 20 years.
Uh, I think there's a reason for that. There's a reason for that traffic. Uh, and part of that goes back to those l- men and women [00:02:00] back in the late '80s and early '90s that were leading this city, these cities, we have six cities and one county, saying, "We can do more." Not necessarily we can do better, but we can do more.
And one of those definitions of more was quality of life, a safer community, a transit community, transit being, being able to get around. But we can do better in public education. Nothing wrong with private schools. As you know, I have chil- grandchildren in both public and private. But we built our reputation around public education, good outcomes way before things were measured.
Uh, when you and I were in high school, if you got out, you went on. You were just that- Right ... individual that did that. But today, we literally track those students to see how they're doing, elementary, middle, high school, where do they go, what do they do, what kind of [00:03:00] scholarships are available for them. So that was the culture for so many years, and to that, it led into corporations looking to move to this county- Right
because of that model that had been implemented. You look back in the days you come, you came here, there probably wasn't a mall.
Mike Glenn: No. The mall was built, but it was empty.
Rogers Anderson: Yes. Uh, it was a field of strawberries and- ... and corn, and it's unbelievable. Yeah. And, and there was a lot of tension in those days. Well, a lot
Mike Glenn: of our friends used to hunt that land.
Rogers Anderson: Absolutely.
Mike Glenn: Mm-hmm.
Rogers Anderson: Lot... You know, I don't know if people even understand, but I grew up, frog gigging was a way of life. Mm-hmm. And there was a lot of that that went on over there in those little p- ponds. Right.
Mike Glenn: Yeah.
Rogers Anderson: So a lot of that has changed over the years, but it's been based around the quality of education.
And [00:04:00] you look at today's parents that move in- Mm ... well over 55% of the population has a BS degree or better.
Mike Glenn: Wow.
Rogers Anderson: S- And so today's model, our parents, our citizens, our taxpayers, they demand, they want the best quality education they can get. Now, that can come through the public side or it can come through the private side, depending on- Mm-hmm
your school of thought in that area. But changes c- will come when people come from other parts, not only the continental United States, but throughout the world, their values, uh, how they feel about certain things, uh, how they perceive government, whether they like government or not, um, you know, how they perceive this whole concept.
But it's also, Mike, as you're well aware of, we still have a certain [00:05:00] percentage of our population, they're struggling.
Mike Glenn: Right.
Rogers Anderson: They're struggling just to meet the daily needs that they have to have.
Mike Glenn: And sometimes in a place like Williamson County, you can assume that everybody's doing fine.
Rogers Anderson: That is correct.
Mike Glenn: And they're not. There, there is that subculture there underneath it that, that has those kind of struggles.
Rogers Anderson: Certain organizations, there are lots of 501[c][3]s that could use daily help. I think of the many places that you can go and, uh, just meet your daily need of food, whether it's Grace Works or Gen1 or any of these multiple churches that have pantries for their citizens and people around that individual church to go and just take food off.
Um, certainly here in the last couple of weeks, we're all very familiar with what has happened with the, um, calamity of the floods and the bad weather up in the Upper East Tennessee. We were just earlier today, [00:06:00] um, packaging up food to, to, to, um, be sure we're able to be involved at the local level in that next community.
Right, right. 'Cause they're really our neighbors.
Mike Glenn: Sure.
Rogers Anderson: They may be three hours away, but they're our neighbors.
Mike Glenn: Yeah.
Rogers Anderson: So that fiber has been woven throughout Williamson County, and I think it's important to realize when I was a boy growing up, you had the school and the church, or maybe the church and the school, depending on- Right, yeah
how you wanna phrase that. As,
Mike Glenn: as, the same way I grew up, yeah.
Rogers Anderson: And our community is still strong faith-based. More of them-
Mike Glenn: Mm-hmm ...
Rogers Anderson: but they're all in our county and they're all in our cities.
Mike Glenn: Mm-hmm. So when you start and you begin to notice the changes, what, what were some of the first changes you noticed?
Rogers Anderson: In my early days was seeing that- We had quality public education with good outcomes.
Mike Glenn: Mm-hmm.
Rogers Anderson: And the county commission during those [00:07:00] early infinite years not only helped fund the capital cost- Right ... to brick some order, but they also helped fund the cost of the operation, improving the quality of what comes through there with children- Mm-hmm ... the quality of teachers, uh, addressing the things that needed to be addressed.
W- Not, not necessarily the concept, if it was good enough for me, it's good enough for my children.
Mike Glenn: Right.
Rogers Anderson: There has to be an improvement-
Mike Glenn: Mm-hmm ...
Rogers Anderson: that all of us go through.
Mike Glenn: Brentwood High School was built since I was here, uh, since I came in '91, so Brentwood High School was just coming online. Before then, everybody went down to Franklin.
But now, Brentwood High School has been, I, I don't want to say torn down, but all of that Brentwood Middle School and the high school has been revamped. You got the performing arts center, you got the STEM building, all of that. And, uh, how did the county decide to, to... I, I mean, Brentwood was a fine school, a fine high school, [00:08:00] but you've added significant upgrades in particular areas.
Rogers Anderson: Well, let's go back to the basics. When I got here in about 1980, we had about 35,000 people. Probably when you got here in about 1990, we might've had 40 to 45,000. That's right. Mm-hmm. Today, we have 265,000.
Mike Glenn: My word.
Rogers Anderson: So w-
Mike Glenn: And they're all, they're all trying to turn left on Franklin Road, right?
Rogers Anderson: Well, if they're not turning left on Franklin Road, they're turning right on Concord Road.
But at the end of the day, I would not embarrass you on your own podcast, but we have 53 public schools in Williamson County. Up until two years ago, we were building or opening a new school every 18 months. Wow. Now, a new high school's around 90 to 95 million. A middle school's around 60. Elementary school, [00:09:00] 40 to 50.
In the days you got here, most of the band members, sports members, boosters- Mm-hmm ... whatever you wanna call them, they helped build those schools. Yes. Today, that's part of that-
Mike Glenn: Mm-hmm ...
Rogers Anderson: dollar that we put in.
Mike Glenn: Mm-hmm.
Rogers Anderson: Whether it's those auditoriums, performing arts buildings, uh, s- uh, sports complexes- Mm-hmm ... and things like that, that's part of the total education that is being challenged.
In Brentwood, because there's no more land-
Mike Glenn: Right ...
Rogers Anderson: that would accommodate, the decision was made a couple of years ago, let's build around it. Very similar to the old Franklin High School. Mm-hmm. They wanted to leave it there, so you build around it, tear down, put in. Mm-hmm. Takes a little longer, but there was no land available in- Right
Brentwood to do that. Yeah. Or take Brentwood High School, middle school, and transfer, uh, transport it off the center area.
Mike Glenn: Right.
Rogers Anderson: And they, the [00:10:00] community didn't want that.
Mike Glenn: No.
Rogers Anderson: But every high school in Williamson County has been addressed. If you've not been out to Page High School- No, I will ... it's a small college.
Mike Glenn: Yes. Yeah.
Rogers Anderson: It's probably larger than where you... Well, you went to Alabama, I went to Tennessee.
Mike Glenn: Right.
Rogers Anderson: Uh, but that school w- was bigger than a lot of my- ... areas of the u- in, in my day. So every high school has been addressed.
Mike Glenn: Mm-hmm.
Rogers Anderson: And we have a true feeder system, being an elementary school to middle school that feeds into that high school.
Mike Glenn: Right.
Rogers Anderson: Now, zoning still occurs at the elementary and the middle school. So that's kind of the history-
Mike Glenn: Mm-hmm ...
Rogers Anderson: as people move here, trying to build those schools, stay ahead of the curve a little bit. And, um, graduation rates today, 96th percentile and
Mike Glenn: plus. Outstanding.
Rogers Anderson: Outstanding. Um, we've addressed, tried to address all the needs, [00:11:00] but it all boils down to dollars and cents.
Mike Glenn: Yeah. When did you realize that you were dealing with a different animal than when you started?
Rogers Anderson: What kind of animal?
Mike Glenn: Well, just Okay, y- uh, this is what happens in a, in a local church. You come to be the pastor of the church, and then that church changes- Yeah ... and then you get to be... I tell people I pastored four or five churches at the same address.
Yeah. Uh, you have led two or three counties at the same address.
Rogers Anderson: Yeah.
Mike Glenn: So what, what were some of those indicators to know that now you needed a different leadership emphasis or a different leadership style?
Rogers Anderson: I would think as all leaders, we have to be sensitive to the fact that change is gonna occur.
Mm-hmm. Um, I don't necessarily agree just to change for the sake of changing- Mm-hmm ... but change for the better, change for the good, and that probably [00:12:00] has really occurred over the last 10 or 15 years. That with the influx of people coming in, as we discussed, new ideas, new concepts, new ways to deliver things, and new views.
They're moving for a pl- from a place that maybe they didn't like what was going on. They saw- Right ... here, you know, we talk about the grass is always greener on the- ... other side, but, uh, and the, and the reality of it is you and I are getting older.
Mike Glenn: Mm-hmm.
Rogers Anderson: And there is this next generation- Right ... that's gonna fill that void, um, after they, after we're gone, they're gonna need to step in.
Mm-hmm. And so their leadership is important. Now that, I think it's important to remember we all need to try to be peacemakers when we can.
Mike Glenn: Mm-hmm.
Rogers Anderson: We all need to lead with the, uh, what we know how, the history of why, but be willing to be receptive to other areas. Now, that's difficult sometimes- Mm-hmm ... as you get a little older.
Mike Glenn: Right.
Rogers Anderson: [00:13:00] That someone's challenging the way- ... that you have done something. Um, but at the fact of the matter, that's part of the evolution of a developing community- Mm-hmm ... and encouraging these men and women, these businesses that move here, you are welcome.
Mike Glenn: Mm-hmm.
Rogers Anderson: But not everything needs to change, but we understand there's gonna be change coming.
Mike Glenn: Right.
Rogers Anderson: And so I would say 10 or 15 years ago, um- That I, I can honestly say that there was some pushback on different ways we did things. Not that we were doing it wrong or illegal.
Mike Glenn: Mm-hmm.
Rogers Anderson: Because comptroller comes in every year. Checks off whether you're doing it right or wrong.
Mike Glenn: Yeah.
Rogers Anderson: Um, but it's the style.
It's the vehicle. Right. Mm-hmm. Uh, I don't... What was the first car you ever had?
Mike Glenn: 1969 Volkswagen Beetle.
Rogers Anderson: Did it have electric windows?
Mike Glenn: No.
Rogers Anderson: Did it have FM/AM radio? No. [00:14:00] Would you buy that vehicle today other than
Mike Glenn: storage? Other than sentimental reasons, no. No, I
Rogers Anderson: would not. And why is that?
Mike Glenn: Uh, because I- Notice I'm interviewing the interviewer
I, I, I like, I like my sounds.
Rogers Anderson: That's
Mike Glenn: right. I, I gotta have, yeah.
Rogers Anderson: And all those changes. Mm-hmm. When we, you know, when the seatbelt first came out, I said, "This is not-"
Mike Glenn: Yeah ...
Rogers Anderson: easy.
Mike Glenn: Yeah.
Rogers Anderson: Today you can't go anywhere.
Mike Glenn: You can't go anywhere with it. Well, you know, one of the things that, uh, uh, that, that both you and I have seen is the change in the digital world.
Rogers Anderson: Absolutely.
Mike Glenn: And how much, how much of your work now you do and how much communication you do with citizens and all of that, the newsletters I get and all that from, from the county, the library and all of that, keeping me posted and, and, uh, and informed. So that's, uh, that's not natural to you and me. We, you know, that's not our world that we grew up in, that our children have certainly, have certainly done that.
Rogers Anderson: Well, all of those things that you're [00:15:00] discussing are part of the culture in which we live today, but the basic denominator is, in my opinion, you have to love your community.
Mike Glenn: Mm-hmm.
Rogers Anderson: It goes without saying, you ha- you know, you, your faith is so strong in Paramount, it's the backbone. Mm-hmm. It's the cornerstone of all individuals.
I, I believe that with all my heart, because in those difficult times, you need to rely on someone other than Mike Glenn or Roger Anderson.
Mike Glenn: Mm-hmm.
Rogers Anderson: I do believe that communication is harder now because people don't-
Mike Glenn: Yeah, and despite all of our stuff, it's harder, isn't it?
Rogers Anderson: Yeah. Yeah. Yes, it is. People don't wanna really hear about good public policy.
Mm-hmm.
Rogers Anderson: They wanna hear about what's really good for them.
Mike Glenn: Mm-hmm.
Rogers Anderson: And when I think of that, I think of some people that need food and clothing and shelter and those types of things that our area churches need to be providing. Our congregations [00:16:00] need to be looking. It's great to go overseas- Mm-hmm ... but we've got a lot of needs right here in Williamson County.
Mike Glenn: Yeah, great. Good. Now, you mentioned something I want, I wanna spend a little time on. Uh, obviously, we, we're taping this during the election season.
Rogers Anderson: Oh.
Mike Glenn: And so everybody talks about the polarization of the country. Uh, there are some who would say, Rogers, that, uh, Christians do not be- need to be involved at all in the political process.
Now, I've known you a long time, and I have known you, uh, always to be a, a man who's very sincere about your faith, very consistent in your faith, and a man of great integrity. Thank you. And, um, and so what would you say about Christians being involved in a, in the, in the political sphere?
Rogers Anderson: I think they need to be involved.
I think civ- the, the key word there is we have to remember the word civility.
Mike Glenn: Mm-hmm.
Rogers Anderson: We need to how to, if, if your candidate is, is one and I'm the other, [00:17:00] that we can still have that conversation, but let's keep it civil. Let's talk about issues- Mm-hmm ... where we can. I think it's okay to disagree. I think you have to figure out that.
Mm-hmm. Um, when Tennessee and Alabama play, um, we're probably on different sides of the stadium. And until just recently, I didn't wanna talk to you about sports. But at the last two or three years, I have wanted to talk
Mike Glenn: to you It's been a, I'm a little harder to find.
Rogers Anderson: Yes. Yeah. But it's, it's kind of like that, that I think, I, I really believe that Christians should be, but understand not every- just because you're a Christian, you're not gonna get everyone's to buy into that.
Mike Glenn: Mm-hmm.
Rogers Anderson: Christianity means one thing to you and a little bit different to, to, to you and me. But at the end of the day, it's our faith. It's [00:18:00] who we're worshiping. It's our God. Um, you know, fol- we're following Jesus.
Mike Glenn: Mm-hmm.
Rogers Anderson: We're following Jesus, do the best we can. And I, I have made it a practice, it's hard, and I've made mistakes, and I've couple times had to ask, I, I messed that up, but I really do believe love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and love your neighbors likewise.
Now, that's not always easy.
Mike Glenn: No.
Rogers Anderson: That is not always easy.
Mike Glenn: Yeah, that's my prayer. But Lord, do you know my neighbor?
Rogers Anderson: Yes, it is.
Mike Glenn: Yeah.
Rogers Anderson: But I, at the end of the day, whether you're, uh, I, I don't know that I'm 100% right on this, but at the end of the day, I think there's gonna be a lot of people in heaven that, how'd they get here?
Mike Glenn: Yeah Yeah, and I'm probably one that's going to surprise people, right? How did he get here?
Rogers Anderson: So- But [00:19:00] to your listeners and in your community, you know, you know your congregation, your flock best, or you should.
Mike Glenn: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Rogers Anderson: And let- That's right ... us know where we can help in the government side. Uh, there are certain things I can, there are certain things we can't do by law.
Mike Glenn: Mm-hmm.
Rogers Anderson: If there's a need in your community, then let us know. Yeah. Let us... We have outlets. We have outlets other than government- Mm-hmm ... that can help so many people. Yeah.
Mike Glenn: Yeah.
Rogers Anderson: Does that answer your question?
Mike Glenn: Yes, it does, and I'm glad you took the time to be with us today. Did you listen to him? Uh, Roger has been a successful leader, uh, of Williamson County for over 20 years.
Couple of things he mentioned I wanna emphasize to you. One, you have to love your community. You can't love a church, you can't love a commu- you can't lead a church that, uh, [00:20:00] uh, lead a community unless you love them. He does. Change is part of it, and, uh, sometimes that change is, is difficult, uh, but it's always an opportunity to do something better and deeper and richer.
I love the, I love the, the, the thing he talked about of we decided in Williamson County to focus on education, and they did that really, really well, and then that became, uh, the center that all the growth came around. So in your church, in your community, find that one thing that you do uniquely well and build around that.
This is Rogers Anderson. I'm very glad he took the time. Thank you for being here today. I'm Mike Glenn, and this is the Engage Church Network. Thanks for being with us.
