The Reverend Dr. Johnny Barbour, Jr., Publisher
The Reverend Dr. Calvin H. Sydnor III, Editor
1. PREACHERS AND BUSY PEOPLE OF ALL PROFESSIONS NEED A BREAK. HERE IS SOME SAGE ADVICE FROM A WELL-KNOWN AME WHO ASKED TO REMAIN ANONYMOUS:
Everyone deserves a break from their normal routine. Everyone needs a Sabbath rest, our pastors and ministers need to take time for themselves and their families. I am not getting a sense that our minister across our Zion are taking care of themselves and their families. The Church’s emphasis this year is “Living Well.” If our pastoral leadership does not take care of themselves and their families, they certainly are not “Living Well.” I get the sense that our pastors are “doing church business” while they are suppose to be on vacation. And, really I get more of a sense that many of our pastors are not taking vacations. I suspect that many of them cannot divorce themselves from their cell phones. I am concerned! Really! Because I KNOW the need!!!
Here is my secret about taking time for self and family. A cruise is the most successful way to get away from everything and everybody. It may be more difficult to ignore cell phones now since some mobile phone programs can reach anywhere in the world, but my reluctant recommendation would be to take your cell phone with you, but leave them turned off during the cruise; PERIOD!
True, you may need them while you're traveling on land, but NOT on ship. Just let everyone know you will NOT be available for that period of time. They'll survive; I promise!
The joy of cruising is that once you're on the ship and in your stateroom, you unpack once and for all! You're done! And then it's time to familiarize yourself with the ship and prepare to enjoy EVERYTHING it offers.
My suggestion for a first cruise would be anywhere in the Caribbean area. Choose an itinerary that has several ports of call. That way you'll get to see several of the islands and learn the great things about each. Also, have at least a couple of days "At Sea". Those are the days when the ship doesn't stop anywhere at all and you simply enjoy taking in various activities that are offered, or sunning yourself on the deck, OR simply relaxing in one of the public areas (or the Library!) with a good book. Oh, yes -- a stateroom with BALCONY is worth the few extra dollars when you're cruising to a warm area like the Caribbean. Nothing like it!!!
Okay, after this one I'll talk you into cruising to Alaska. You wouldn't believe the beauty God has created up there!!!
Right now, if anyone needing a break would just place a call to his or her favorite travel agent and say that he or she would like some info, I'd be a "happy camper." If the travel agent is a GOOD one, you'll get good advice and have no problems at all. Just think, no hotels as you move from place to place, just a huge city on the water and it all belongs to you and your spouse!
I'll guarantee you one thing. If you go on one cruise, you'll return already planning your second one!
And, one more thing for AMEs, “AME meetings are not vacations and should not be counted as vacations.” If preachers accept a preaching engagement while they are on “vacation”, then they are not really on a vacation.”
Editor’s comment: The article above is from a leader in the African Methodist Episcopal Church who is especially concerned about pastors and their families who take care of everyone else, but often do not take care of themselves. And I would add, if a pastor cannot leave his or her church to take a vacation, without things falling apart, he or she is not much of a pastor. And I will add further that the message above was directed to me. So, I admit that I need to work on taking time for me and my family. I am certain that there are others out there who have the same problem.
2. THE EDITOR'S COMMENTS ON THE NEWS
- President Bush announced that pulling out of Iraq is not an option and said, “We will settle for nothing less than victory.” A number of members of Congress are calling for the withdrawal of American Troops from Iraq. I agree with the members of Congress. We need to bring the troops home. We have gotten mired down in Iraq and Afghanistan, and in the case of Iraq, we shouldn’t have gone there in the first place. There were no weapons of mass destruction and soldiers and marines are being killed and maimed everyday and we apparently do not have an exit strategy.
When churches engage in a building programs, they have to have an exit strategy, i.e., how they are going to pay off the loan. Pastors often experience conflict in building and renovation programs because they appeal for support in borrowing money but have not articulated an exit strategy, that is, how the church is going to pay off the loan. And President Bush has gone head-on into the war in Iraq and articulated how our troops were going to be militarily successful, but he failed in not having an exit strategy and he obviously had not counted on the protracted insurgency.
And added to this, the news reports this week question Bush’s timing to go to war and the now exposed, Downing Street Memo, a report on a meeting that British Prime Minister Tony Blair held with his people in which they discussed President Bush’s determination to go to war without legitimate justification.
The secular media announced the Army’s shortfall in recruiting, especially in the African American community. I am a retired soldier of 28 years in uniform and I fully support our soldiers, airmen, marines, Coast Guardsmen, Department of Defense employees 110% but I do not support what we have done, and are doing in Iraq. I support military or civilian public service for all youths, rich and poor, but I would caution any of our young people about joining the military today. Our nation, in my opinion, is not on the “moral high ground.” In today’s (6/20/05) “Letters to the Editor” in The Tennessean, Stephen Smith described the war in Iraq as a “rich man’s war and a poor man’s fight.” Bob Herbert, New York Times op-ed columnist in today’s (6/20/05) column wrote, “It has become clearer than ever that Americans do not want to fight George W. Bush's tragically misguided war in Iraq.” His op-ed piece is entitled, “Someone else’s child.” He went on to write, “It's easy to be macho when you have nothing at risk. The hawks want the war to be fought with other people's children, while their own children go safely off to college, or to the mall. The number of influential American officials who have children in uniform in Iraq is minuscule.” I don’t want our AME youths to be a part of this debacle by the Bush administration.
Last Night on FOX
- Last night FOX News showed another Black man being beat up by the local police in South Carolina. I didn’t see anything in today’s local paper. The young man didn’t seem to be resisting or fighting back. The news report said that two policemen had been terminated.
3. THE 29TH BIENNIAL SESSION CONNECTIONAL LAY ORGANIZATION OF THE AFRICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, JULY 24TH – 28TH, 2005, HOUSTON, TEXAS, HILTON AMERICAS OF HOUSTON, TEXAS:
Registration: $200.00
Bishop Samuel L. Green, Sr.
Lay Commission Chairman
Bishop Gregory G. M. Ingram
Host Bishop
Mr. Jesse L. Burns, Jr., President
Connectional Lay Organization
Mrs. Florence J. Warren, Director of Lay Activities
Connectional Lay Organization
Mr. Charles Rainwater, President
Tenth Episcopal District
Highlights:
Sunday, July 24, 2005
Power Brunch- (El Hajj Level, Musical Guest and Carita Montgomery-Featured Speaker)
Service of Word Sacrament – Bishop Gregory G. M. Ingram, Preaching
Monday, July 25, 2005
Election of Connectional Officers (2005-2009)
Judge Mablean Ephriam, Keynote Speaker
Tuesday, July 26, 2005
Attorney Harry E. Johnson, Keynote Speaker (Men’s Empowerment Lunch)
RNC & DNC Presentations- (Chairmen Ken Mehlman and Governor Howard Dean, M.D.)
President’s Black Tie Affair (Benefit for Morris Brown College)
Concert Featuring: Vickie Winans (Benefiting the Morris Brown Initiative and CLEDC)
Wednesday; July 25, 2005
Gwendolyn Boyd, Keynote Speaker (Women’s Empowerment Lunch)
Late Night Explosion featuring James Fortune and Fiya – Musical Guest
Thursday, July 26, 2005
Installation of Connectional Officers
Awards Banquet & Scholarship Presentations
4. SAINT JAMES AMEC, MEMPHIS TO CELEBRATE YOUTH DAY ON JUNE 26TH:
The Young People of St. James African Methodist Episcopal Church, 600 North Fourth St., Memphis, TN, will celebrate Youth Day on Sunday, June 26, 2005. The morning service begins at 10 a.m. and will feature as guest speaker Rev. Darrion Garrett, Youth Minister from Brown Baptist Church, Southaven, Mississippi. Please join us as the Young People lead us in a dynamic worship experience on Sunday, June 26, 10 a.m. at St. James. Rev. Walter Winstead Reid Jr., is Pastor.
5. CORRECTED SEVENTH EPISCOPAL DISTRICT 2005 CALENDAR:
The Rt. Reverend Preston W. Williams, II, Presiding Prelate
AUGUST 22-27, 2005 PALMETTO ANNUAL CONFERENCE
Host Church Greater St. Luke, 78 Gordon Street
Charleston, SC 29403 (843) 723-4498
Host Pastor Rev. L. T. Baker
Host Presiding Elder Rev. Dr. Allen W. Parrott
Co-Host Presiding Elder Rev. Dr. Alonzo Middleton
Co-Host Presiding Elder Rev. Sandy Drayton
AUGUST 29- NORTHEAST SOUTH CAROLINA
SEPTEMBER 3, 2005 ANNUAL CONFERENCE
Host Church Union Station, 945 South Main Street
Sumter, SC 29150 (803) 775-8200
Host Pastor Rev. Friendly J. Gadson
Host Presiding Elder Rev. Robert Lee McCants
Co-Host Presiding Elder Rev. Theron E. Shields
Co-Host Presiding Elder Rev. Charles J. Graves
SEPTEMBER 12-17, 2005 COLUMBIA SOUTH CAROLINA
ANNUAL CONFERENCE
Host Church Emmanuel, 2130 Barhamville Rd., PO Box 4662
Columbia, SC 29204 (803) 854-5067
Host Pastor Rev. Timothy Cokley
Host Presiding Elder Rev. William Smith
Co-Host Presiding Elder Rev. Rosalyn G. Coleman
Co-Host Presiding Elder Rev. James R. Glover
SEPTEMBER 19-24, 2005 SOUTH CAROLINA ANNUAL CONFERENCE
Host Church Saint James – Summerville
1831 Jedburg Road
Summerville, SC 29483 (843) 688-5719
Host Pastor Rev. Eddie Gaston
Host Presiding Elder Rev. John Randolph
Co-Host Presiding Elder Rev. John H. Gillison
Co-Host Presiding Elder Rev. Samuel Myers
OCTOBER 3-8, 2005 PIEDMONT ANNUAL CONFERENCE
Host Church Friendship A.M.E. Church
104 Bell St.
Clinton, SC 29325
Host Pastor Rev. Charles R. Watkins (803) 833-0366
Host Presiding Elder Rev. Oscar A. Klugh
Co-Host Presiding Elder Rev. Jonathan Baker
OCTOBER 10-15, 2005 CENTRAL SOUTH CAROLINA ANNUAL CONFERENCE
Host Church Union A.M.E. Church
P.O. Box 710
Elloree, SC 29047 (803) 826-6410
Host Pastor Rev. John Washington
Host Presiding Elder Rev. W. J. Baxter
Co-Host Presiding Elder Rev. Malachi Duncan
Co-Host Presiding Elder Rev. Alvin Blake
6. JOIN ST. PAUL AME CHURCH-LEXINGTON FOR AN AUGUST 6TH TRIP TO HOLIDAY WORLD AND SPLASHIN' SAFARI:
Cost per person is $40 (Includes bus fare and admission to the park) Departure Time: 7:30 a.m., (251 North Upper Street-meet at church parking lot); Return Time: 7:00 p.m. If you plan to join us, the deadline is July 9th.
Contact Carrie Newton @ 859-263-1376 or Sharon Stone @ 859-381-8973 for more information.
7. THE COLLEGE CORNER – A YOUTH SERMON FROM BROTHER CRAIG ROBINSON, A SOPHOMORE AT MOREHOUSE COLLEGE:
It’s Harvest Time
Key Verse: Matthew 9: 35-38 & 10:1-14
By Craig T. Robinson Jr.
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ
Our gospel lesson for this week is a plea for help straight from the lips of our Lord. His people, the children of Israel despised and dejected look for someone to sooth their bruised bodies and souls with the love of their God. Jesus sees this as an opportunity to usher a broken generation into the kingdom of heaven. He does not see a worthless mob, but a beautiful crop of souls waiting to be picked up and made whole. And so Jesus puts forth the plea. “The workers are few, “and there is much to be done. This plea transcends the millennia for the Jesus has seen the plight of a new generation of God’s people yet the workers are still few. Family it is harvest time; it is time to take up the mission of Christ, which is to seek out and save the lost. It’s Harvest Time. There are so many people whom God wants to bring to their full potential and we are the disciples who must stand in the gap, it’s Harvest Time saints of God, We cannot rest until all God children know about the man named Jesus and his power to save us from our sins, heal us from our diseased bodies, minds and spirits, and deliver us from our greatest enemy ourselves. It’s Harvest Time!
Who is the Harvest
The harvest first and foremost is ourselves. Before we are able to go out and gather God’s people we must be saved and have Jesus living and working in us. You cannot give what you do not posses. To be a harvester we must first know and trust the planter. Do you know the planter? Do you know how much blood he shed that you might blossom as one of God’s righteous sons or daughters? Have you accepted him as lord of your life? Jesus first had to call his disciples and bid them deny themselves follow him before they could serve him.
After we have been harvested then who becomes the harvest? The harvest is the child in day care who falls and scrapes their knee or gets called a bad name and needs someone to pick then up and give them a hug. It the young man whom society has labeled as a menace destined for the penitentiary and needs a strong male figure to encourage and mentor him. It the young lady torn between going through with the pregnancy or having an abortion. It’s the senior citizen whose family has abandoned them in an old folks' home. These are the harvest. They are awaiting one of us to come and heal their broken hearts, calm their fears, and sooth them like Christ with his tender love and mercy.
The Work
Now that we have identified the harvest lets talk about the work. What are we going to do? We are going to go into our communities and dive out spirits and heal sick bodies, proclaim peace on earth and blessings toward all men. We are making disciples, followers of Christ Jesus being molded and shaped in the likeness of Christ. We are to teach the commands that the Father gives “Love the Lord your God with all your heart soul and mind, and love your neighbor as you love yourself." Freely giving to the world what life in Christ has given to us. The joy of our salvation (who can say they‘ve had joy since they have been saved), the peace of God that passes all understanding (in any and every circumstance, and healing for our sin-sick soul (look passed you mess and made a miracle out of you).
Where must we go, where is the harvest field. I assure you my brothers and sisters that the field is not too far. In fact if you look to your left or to your right or again look at yourself you are bound to find someone who is waiting to experience the power of God in their life. You don’t have to go far for right outside the walls of this sanctuary are hundreds of young people waiting to be brought to the house of God and given a safe place learn and grow and live. We don’t have to do far, for in our homes there is a mommy or daddy, sister or brother, aunt or uncle that stand at the breaking point and are waiting on you to give them a word from the lord that will turn their weeping into joy, their pain into praise, their sorrow into shouting. Jesus said in chapter 10:5-6 “Do not go among the gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel.” In other words theirs ministry to do within our own communities’ right under our noses.
When must this task start? As Soon as possible for as Jesus proclaims in the text the Kingdom of God is near. God will soon rule with all power in the hearts and minds of his people on Earth and in heaven. Jesus will return do not let him return with your work undone. Yes the workers are few, but that doesn’t mean that they have to be lazy. People are hurting, young people are dying spiritually and physically. Morals and values are being overruled by alternatives that God’s very word says are an abomination. There is no time to waste. Jesus says that he himself does not know the time or the hour when he will return but it will be like a thief in the night. In the Revelation of John chapter 22 Jesus says “Yes, I am coming soon”. Do not let the blood of the lost be on your hands. Listen to the old folks who used to sing Keep your lamps trimmed and burning, the time is drawing nigh. Children don’t get weary till your work is done!
The Way
Somebody says, “How Preacher“. How are we supposed to minister in a world gone mad? How, when the devils weapons of mass distraction have infiltrated the lives of our young people. How, brother or sister preacher are we going to do this thing? Well I’m glad you asked. We got to go back to the beginning of chapter ten. How were the disciples able to do these miracles because Jesus gave them see verse 1, authority to do these things. In almost every other translation I consulted authority was substituted for power. You can’t do a thing for God without his power. The devil isn’t going to listen to you if you don’t have Christ’s power, disease will laugh in your face if you don’t have Christ’s power. Those spirits know one man and one man only and that is Jesus. So the disciples were hooked up with power imparted by Jesus himself.
We too were given this power from on high. On the day of Pentecost the Holy Ghost came as the comforter for Jesus having ascended to heaven. The Holy Ghost came to equip the saints to continue the mission of Christ. What kind of power is this? Holy Ghost Power, this is faith power because if I believe that whatsoever I ask in the name of Jesus will be so. This is resurrection power that shook of death and then taunted it by posing the question death where is your sting, grave where is your victory. This is wonderworking, miracle making, and mind boggling Holy Ghost power.
Now excuse me for asking but I have to ask. Do you have the Holy Ghost? But that answer is predicated on a question I asked earlier, are you saved do you know the Lord Jesus in the pardoning of your sins and believe that God raised Jesus from the dead. If you can say yes to that question then you are on your way to finding out whether or not your have the holy ghost. Well how do I know? Well for some they speak speaking tongues, languages that only God can understand, some can interpret those tongues so that the church can benefit from the message, some prophesy and others preach. But the main thing it does is make us holy, new creatures like Christ. And as for me when I got the Holy Ghost the world didn’t catch my eye like it used to. I can deny myself; crucify my flesh because Christ lives in me. That a true sign of the Holy Ghost the club stops being the premier hangout, one night stands with a stranger are no longer our favorite pastime. Talking about someone behind their back stops being our chief hobby. The Holy Ghost catches you like the rod of the shepherd guiding his sheep and pulls you back in line, back on the path of holiness.
The old folks said it this way: something’s got a hold of me
It makes me walk right
It makes me talk right
It makes me think right
It makes me love right
The Holy Ghost, the Holy Ghost, the Holy Ghost.
The results/challenge
And once God has purged and pruned you, after he works in you and on you and got your stuff in order. You can work with the words of Mathew 28:19 before you “Go and make disciple of all nations baptizing then in the name of the father, the son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them everything I have commanded you. The results will be amazing. Souls will be saved because Jesus name is lifted on high with power. Lives will be changed because in Christ we are a new creation, old things have passed away behold all things are made new. The devil will be terrified for Paul says in Philippians chapter 2:10 at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, on heaven and on earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. And finally God’s kingdom will be established and fortified here on Earth.
Family it’s harvest time, and the workers are few, I hear a challenge echoed in the word of the Lord God as he spoke in Isaiah 6: 8 “ Whom shall I send, and who will go for us”. The hope is that one of us if not all of us will forget about ourselves, raise our hand and say “Here am I send me.”
In the name of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen
8. THE PASTOR’S CORNER - THE LOVE OF THE FATHER:
17“When he came to his senses, he said, 18’I will go back to my father.’ 20But while he was still a long way off, his father say him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. 31The father said, 32‘[He] was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’” (Luke 15: 17, 18, 20, 31, 32)
The parable we often call “The Story of the Prodigal Son” is really a parable describing “The Love of the Father.” Love is the loftiest preference one person demonstrates for another. The love of our Heavenly Father is extravagant and truly exemplifies this definition of love. His love for us was demonstrated most of all at the cross of His Son, Jesus Christ.
In this story a father has a son who requests his inheritance early and sets off in life to experience what the world has to offer. The son’s behavior is descriptive of man’s independent attitude toward God, Our Heavenly Father. Sin is an attitude of independence toward God. And sin always separates us from God’s loving plan for our lives.
The son wastes his wealth and finds himself destitute and broken. The story tells us “he came to his senses,” and said, “I will set out and go back to my father.” It is in the response of the father to the son’s return (Luke 15: 20) that we see the demonstration of the love our Heavenly Father has for us.
1. The father saw him from a long way off. God is longing for our return. Everybody is important to our Father. Jesus told in Luke 15: 3-7 how the shepherd left the ninety-nine sheep to find the one that was lost. The Father doesn’t give up on anyone. He desires union with His children. We are to rejoice every time someone accepts Christ as Savior.
In this story a father has a son who requests his inheritance early and sets off in life to experience what the world has to offer. The son’s behavior is descriptive of man’s independent attitude toward God, Our Heavenly Father. Sin is an attitude of independence toward God. And sin always separates us from God’s loving plan for our lives.
The son wastes his wealth and finds himself destitute and broken. The story tells us “he came to his senses,” and said, “I will set out and go back to my father.” It is in the response of the father to the son’s return (Luke 15: 20) that we see the demonstration of the love our Heavenly Father has for us.
1. The father saw him from a long way off. God is longing for our return. Everybody is important to our Father. Jesus told in Luke 15: 3-7 how the shepherd left the ninety-nine sheep to find the one that was lost. The Father doesn’t give up on anyone. He desires union with His children. We are to rejoice every time someone accepts Christ as Savior.
2. The father was filled with compassion. Compassion can be defined as a sympathetic consciousness of other’s distress together with a desire to alleviate it. Our Father doesn’t consider how we’ve squandered his blessings and our inheritance as His children. He looks beyond our faults and sees our needs.
3. The father ran to him. When we turn toward God, the Father, He doesn’t require us to travel the distance between Him and us. He runs to cover the distance between Him and us. He covered that distance when He sent His Son from heaven to earth to save us.
4. The father threw his arms around him. God desires to wrap His arms around His children. The arm of God is symbolic of His provision, protection, and direction (Deuteronomy 4: 32-40).
5. The father kissed him. Paul included in many of his letters to the church the phrase “Greet one another with a holy kiss.” (Romans 16:16) This kiss was symbolic of the fellowship of the body of Christ. Our Father welcomes us back into fellowship with Him, the body of Christ, and His heavenly kingdom and greets us with a holy kiss of His love.
The greatest demonstration of God’s love was made when He sent His Son to Calvary’s cross to pay the price for our sins. “This is how God shoed his love among us: He sent His One and only Son into the world that we might live through Him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” (I John 4: 9-10) This is “THE LOVE OF THE FATHER.”
Pastor James Moody
Quinn Chapel AMEC, Chicago
9. CLERGY FAMILY BEREAVEMENT NOTICE:
Regretfully we share news of the passing of the Reverend Alvin Blake, a Presiding Elder in the Central Conference of the Seventh Episcopal District.
Service Arrangements
Visitation: Wednesday, June 22, 2005
7:00 PM - 8:00 p.m.
St. Stephen AME Church
2839 Maybank Highway
Johns Island, SC 29455
843-559-3968 (Phone)
Funeral:Thursday, June 23, 2005
11:00 a.m.
Emanuel AME Church
110 Calhoun Street
Charleston, SC 29403
843-722-2561 (Phone)
843-722-1869 (Fax)
Services entrusted to:
Pasley's Mortuary
1115 5th Avenue
Charleston, SC
843-571-2300 (Phone)
843-571-6322 (Fax)
Condolences can be sent to his spouse, Mrs. Ernestine Blake, c/o of the above addresses.
Please remember the family in your prayers.
10. ALL BEREAVEMENT AND FUNERAL ANNOUNCEMENTS RECEIVED FROM THE CLERGY FAMILY INFORMATION CENTER:
Bishop Carolyn Tyler Guidry, Chair
Commission on Social Action
Clergy Family Information Center
CONN-M-SWAWO+PK’S
Mrs. Ora L. Easley - Administrator
Email: Amespouses1@aol.com
(Nashville, TN Contact)
Phone: (615) 837-9736
Fax: (615) 833-3781
(Memphis, TN Contact)
(901) 578-4554 (Phone & Fax)
