Bishop Gregory G. M. Ingram - Chair, Commission on Publications
The Reverend Dr. Johnny Barbour, Jr., Publisher
The Reverend Dr. Calvin H. Sydnor III, Editor
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1. A WORD FROM THE EDITOR:
The Sydnor family will be on vacation for the next week. This is a probably a first, I am ashamed to say, that we have planned a vacation. In the past when the Army transferred us, we had a vacation of sorts, but I do not believe that we have ever planned one. At last year’s Pastors’ Institute (8th, 10th, and 12th Episcopal Districts) held in Dallas, Texas, Charlotte and I were retreat leaders for a spouses retreat. We talked about the importance of pastors and their families taking time off for themselves and even heard the retreat participants remind each other and us that the General Conference and annual conferences were not vacations. Charlotte and I returned home, attended the 2004 General Conference, attended the Kentucky Annual Conference, moved to Nashville and rationalized that we didn't have time for a vacation. Essentially, we picked up where we left off before we went to the retreat in Dallas, being busy and doing for everyone else and not taking care of ourselves. I had even promised us a vacation, but failed to keep my promise.
And, then we went to the 2005 13th Episcopal District Spouses’ Retreat in Nashville in which we were the presenters and again, the issue of the importance of clergy taking time off, came. Supervisor Stan McKenzie gave a fervent response and “preached” the importance of clergy taking time for rest and relaxation and even shared with us that he handled all of the vacation schedules for the McKenzie family. He waxed eloquent and said if pastors took a vacation and if their churches fell apart in their absence, then “shame on them” because they obviously are not effective pastors. If he had given an invitation, Charlotte and I would have been to first to go forward for we were “guilty.”
After that meeting, we decided that we were going to take charge of our rest and relaxation; well actually, Charlotte took charge and she planned our vacation and I am not going to stay at home by myself. We are scheduled to fly to Arizona tomorrow. We have never, in our lives, flown away for a vacation. Thank you 2004 Pastor’s (8th, 10th, 12th Episcopal Districts) Institute; thank you, 13th District Spouses Retreat; thank you, Supervisor Stan McKenzie; thank you, Sister Jeanette T. Johns for motivating clergy and the Sydnor’s to take care of themselves. We heard you! I hope that others hear.
Now, I am like a former smoker, I hope that my fellow General Officers will take some time off. I know that Dr. and Mrs. Daryl Ingram and Dr. and Mrs. Richard Lewis took off a couple of days, but I am not sure about the other General Officers who work hard and are loyal to their calling. Dr. Barbour, Dr. Dickerson, Dr. Flowers, Dr. Fugh, Dr. Harris, and Dr. Wade, if you all have not done so, you need to take a vacation.
And, I would bet there are bishops who have never taken a vacation. And, pastors too, who have not taken a vacation. Bishops, presiding elders, and pastors read this and plan to take some time for yourselves and your families. We are all blessed people and “blessed people are busy people.” We all need a rest from our day-to-day activities.
Keep us in your prayers. We are scheduled to be gone for a week. Brother Stan McKenzie advocates taking several vacations a year and that is what Charlotte and I are going to attempt to do.
Please keep us in your prayers.
2. EDITORIAL:
I receive the current issue of The Secret Chamber and it is a superb product. Kudos to Dr. James Wade, the Executive Director of the Department of Church Growth and Development. He builds upon his predecessors and has developed an inspirational and professional looking periodical. If you have not subscribed to The Secret Chamber, you should do so immediately.
As I perused The Secret Chamber, it occurred to me that the African Methodist Episcopal Church is blessed with a wealth of talent beginning with our bishops, general officers, connectional officers, presiding elders, pastors and laity. We have a rich history and we are building on the legacy of our founder, the Right Reverend Richard Allen. The African Methodist Episcopal Church does not have the financial foundation that some of the other mainline denominations have, but we are faithful with the resources that we have.
I have said all of that to say, we have the best general departments of any denomination. Our periodicals are relevant, inspirational, professional, timely, and faithful to our heritage and to the legacy of our founding fathers and mothers. In addition to The Secret Chamber, the AME Church also publishes The Christian Recorder (in hardcopy and online and in multiple languages), The A.M.E. Church Review, The Voice of Missions, The Journal of Religious Education, The Missionary Magazine, and The YPD Magazine.
Additionally, the Church maintains an online presence with the Official AME Website, the Department of Employee Security, the Department of Christian Education, AME Spouses, Clergy Family Information Center, CONN-M-SWAWO + PK'S, the Connectional Lay Organization, RAYAC, and AME Women in Ministry. The Christian Recorder Online is published in five languages and has the capacity to publish in a total of nine languages, English, Portuguese, Spanish, French, Dutch, Swedish, Russian, Italian, and German.
In addition, we have the AME Herald.com, A.M.E. Today, Fifth District Prayer@aol.com and many other Websites associated with the African Methodist Episcopal Church. Most of the Episcopal Districts of the AME Church have official Websites and newsletters, and the First Episcopal District has a newspaper, The First District Flame. The YPD has a newsletter and well as presiding elder districts that have newsletters and official Websites. Local churches across the connection have newsletters and official Websites.
The AME Church is “connected” and no one ought to say that he or she “does not know what's going on.” Those who say that they “do not know what is going on in the AME Church” have not bothered to find out what is going on in the Church.
The bottom-line is that we are in the Twenty-First Century and moving fast and every pastor and every church who wish to be relevant in ministry must be connected to the Internet. The “information highway” is loaded with information. If a pastor is not connected to the Internet, he or she is being left behind by technology and information that is changing daily.
As an example, the Department of Employee Security regularly puts out a newsletter about annuities and up-to-date retirement information, and if the AME Church has any ministers who are not enrolled in the retirement and annuity program, those ministers should be ashamed for not taking care of their futures and their families.
Another bottom-line is that the AME Church is faithful to its constituency and the challenge is for the AME constituency to be faithful to the AME Church and to provide relevant ministry “in a time such as now.” Relevance today means that we are connected to information.
Every member of the clergy and lay leaders should subscribe to all of our AME periodicals.
3. THERE IS AN ALTERNATIVE TO INVASIVE CANCER TREATMENT - “PROTON BEAM THERAPY”:
There is an alternative to invasive cancer treatment and it is called. “Proton Beam.” Proton Beam Therapy is a new type of cancer treatment. It is a localized form of radiation therapy, in which a proton beam is directed solely at a tumor lying deep within the body in order to destroy the tumor. When a proton beam is used to treat a tumor, the side effects are minimal compared with those of a conventional electron beam and X-ray radiation therapy. This is because the proton beam has little effect on the surrounding healthy tissue and only the cancerous cells are treated. Compared with surgical treatment and chemotherapy, the strain on the patient is reduced.
Proton beam therapy is drawing attention worldwide as a promising application for the treatment of a variety of difficult-to-treat diseases. In the United States, proton therapy is routinely covered and paid for by Medicare and other medical insurance plans. It also appears likely that it will be accepted for insurance coverage in Europe and Japan in the near future.
The information about Proton Beam appended above is taken from the following website: http://www.hitachi.us/Apps/hitachicom/content.jsp?page=protonbeam/Proton+Beam+Therapy.html&level
=1§ion=protonbeam&parent
=protonbeam&nav=left&path=jsp/hitachi/forbus/LifeSciences/
Proton Treatment Facilities: http://www.prostateproton.com/links.html
Loma Linda Proton Treatment Center - Loma Linda, California
Midwest Proton Radiotherapy Institute (MPRI) - Bloomington, Indiana
Northeast Proton Therapy Center - Massachusetts General Hospital - Harvard (also here)
M D Anderson Proton Therapy Center - Houston, Texas (coming online Jan 2006)
I was told yesterday that Hampton University (Virginia) is attempting to get a treatment facility in Hampton.
4. THE EDITOR COMMENTS UPON THE NEWS:
- I found it interesting that Wednesday’s issue (8/10/05) of The Tennessean newspaper placed the article entitled, “Constitution’s deadline boosts Iraq violence” in which the article mention the mounting violence in Iraq in which one U.S. soldier was killed, two were wounded, and seven Iraqis were killed on page five. If the “global struggle against violent extremism” is as important as the President says, U.S. soldiers being killed should be page 1 stories.
- If that was not enough, today’s issue of The Tennessean (8/11/05) placed a story entitled, “Gunmen drag Iraqi official from car in Baghdad” on page 6. Imbedded in that article is the revelation that “Four U.S. soldiers were killed shortly before midnight Tuesday…” It seems to me that the headline should have read, “Five U.S. Soldiers killed in the global struggle against violent extremism” or something of that nature and that the story should have been on page 1.
- Yesterday’s paper reports that four Americans have been killed this week in Afghanistan; and again the article was on page 5. Four soldiers killed and the week is not over yet.
- When we can downplay the violence against those who are putting their lives “on the line” and hide their stories on the back pages of our daily newspapers, it seems to me that is no sense of urgency about resolving the mess in Iraq. It is my opinion that that nation is not at war; the military is at war.
5. THE TENSION CONCERNING LITURGY AND WORSHIP IS NOT NEW:
At the General Conference of 1848, it was decided that the history of the African Methodist Episcopal Church needed to be recorded and the Reverend Dr. Daniel A. Payne was elected the Church’s first Historiographer. He knew that the job was going the be arduous one and asked Bishop Paul Quinn if he could be released from pastoral responsibilities. Bishop Quinn refused his request and at the close of the 1850 Baltimore Annual Conference that was held in Washington, D.C., assigned Payne to Ebenezer AME Church in Baltimore. The people at Ebenezer, passing a resolution, rejected him, giving as their reason, “The people say they have no objection to your moral character. They believe you are a Christian gentleman; but they say you have too fine a carpet on your parlor floor, and you won't let them sing the cornfield ditties…” Bishop Vinton Anderson reports in the article that he wrote in the book, Worship Today entitled, “Sunday Morning Worship in the African Methodist Episcopal Church” that Payne resisted the use of spirituals, calling them cornfield ditties and labeled those who participated in slave songs and the ring shouts as “ridiculous and heathenist.”
In the forties and fifties, there was the tension between gospel music and traditional hymns and spirituals. Today the tension continues with the discussion about hip-hop versus traditional liturgical worship.
6. HIP HOP CALL TO WORSHIP:
MINISTER: I am a part of the fellowship of the unashamed. I have the Holy Ghost Power; the dye has been cast. I have stepped over the line. The decision has been made; I am a disciple of Jesus Christ! I will not look back; let-up; slow-down; back-up, or be still.
PEOPLE: My past is redeemed. My present makes sense. My future is secure. I am finished and done with low-living; sight-walking; small-planning, colorless-dreams; tamed-visions; mundane-talking, cheap-living, and dwarfed-goals!
MINISTER: I no longer need pre-eminence, prosperity, position, promotions, plaudits or popularity. I do not have to be right, first tops, recognized, praised, regarded or rewarded. I now live by faith, lean on the Lord, run with patience, lifted by prayer, and labor by Holy Ghost power.
PEOPLE: My face is set. My goal is heaven. My road is narrow. My way is rough. My guide is reliable. My mission is clear. I cannot be bought, compromised, detoured, turned away, deluded, or delayed.
MINISTER: I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice, hesitate in the presence of the adversary, negotiate at the table of the enemy, ponder at the pool of popularity, or meander in the maze of mediocrity.
PEOPLE: I will not… Give up! Shut up! Let up!, until I have stayed up; stored up; prayed up; paid up; worked up for the cause of Christ. I am a disciple of Jesus Christ! I must go till He comes. Give till I drop. Teach till all I know and work till He stops me.
ALL: And when Jesus comes, He will have no problem recognizing me, because He'll remember I was the one He gave power!
Editor’s note: Joi-Marie McKenzie is one of the authors of the Hip-Hop Call to Worship appended above and that the Call to Worship has a copyright.
7. THE REVEREND CHARLOTTE B. SYDNOR HAS BEEN SELECTED AS A MEMBER OF THE LEADERSHIP MIDDLE TENNESSEE CLASS OF 2006:
Leadership Middle Tennessee, a regional leadership institute, was founded in 1999 because of the Regional Partnerships initiative of Partnership 2000. The initiative was founded in 1994 under the leadership of Jerry Benefield of Nissan Corporation in direct response to the "lack of a regional agenda" as identified in the Partnership 2000 agenda.
Leadership Middle Tennessee serves a 10-county area: Cheatham, Davidson, Dickson, Maury, Montgomery, Robertson, Rutherford, Sumner, Williamson, and Wilson.
Leadership Middle Tennessee will contribute to future planned and sustainable economic and community growth and development in the 10-county area by the participation of community, business and government leaders in an annual regional leadership program and subsequent alumni activities designed to encourage and promote a regional perspective on current issues
Participants of the program are selected based on their being active community, business or government leaders who have demonstrated a high level of community commitment.
8. NEWS FROM OTHER DENOMINATIONS:
- The United Methodist NEWSCOPE, the Weekly Newsletter for United Methodist Leaders
- The United Methodist Church reports a decline by approximately 80,000 persons in 2004. Thirteen annual conferences across the denomination reported small increases (1% - 1.19%) in membership. The United Methodist Newscope, the weekly newsletter for United Methodist Leaders, reported in this week’s issue that the decrease in members “continues the drop in membership seen in at least three decades.” The figures are based upon un-audited numbers provided by annual conference reports.
- Former President Bill Clinton and his 1996 competitor Bob Dole will host a black-tie fundraiser for UM-related Bennett College on Sept. 21, 2005. Dr. Johnnetta B. Cole is the President of Bennett College.
- “Amazing Grace” continues to be the favorite hymn of United Methodists.
Submitted by The United Methodist NEWSCOPE, Volume 33, No. 31/ August 5, 2005
Archive of The Christian Recorder Online from 2004-2016; Dr. Calvin H. Sydnor III, 20th Editor of The Christian Recorder
