The Reverend Dr. Johnny Barbour, Jr., Publisher
The Reverend Dr. Calvin H. Sydnor III, Editor
1. MESSAGE FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, GLOBAL WITNESS AND MINISTRY:
The Reverend Dr. George Flowers, Executive Director of Global Witness and Ministry says that Pearl Street AME Church, Jackson, Mississippi cannot receive any more items at this time in support of Hurricane Katrina. The response has been overwhelming and the support given is appreciated.
Dr. Flowers asks that items in support of Hurricane Katrina be taken to Allen AME Church, Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The Reverend Bland Washington is the pastor of Allen AME Church, 6175 Scenic Highway, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70802, Telephone, 225.357-8110.
2. BREAKING NEWS (9/16/05) – 10:15 a.m.
Regretfully we share the news of the passing of Dr. Joseph C. McKinney, Retired General Officer, and Former Treasurer of the African Methodist Episcopal Church.
Arrangements are pending and will be forthcoming.
Please remember his wife, Mrs. Mary McKinney and family in your prayers.
- BEREAVEMENT ANNOUNCEMENTS PROVIDED BY:
Bishop Carolyn Tyler Guidry, Chair
Commission on Social Action Clergy Family Information Center
Mrs. Ora L. Easley - Administrator Email: Amespouses1@aol.com
(Nashville, Tennessee Contact) Phone: (615) 837-9736 Fax: (615) 833-3781
(Memphis, Tennessee Contact) (901) 578-4554 (Phone & Fax)
- CONDOLENCES TO THE BEREAVED FROM THE CHRISTIAN RECORDER:
The Chair of the Commission on Publications, the Right Reverend Gregory G. M. Ingram; the Publisher, the Reverend Dr. Johnny Barbour and the Editor of the Christian Recorder, the Reverend Dr. Calvin H. Sydnor III offer our condolences and prayers to those who have lost loved ones. We pray that the peace of Christ will be with you during this time of your bereavement.
3. CNN TO BROADCAST PHOTOS OF MISSING CHILDREN THIS WEEKEND:
CNN is scheduled to continuously broadcast photos of Hurricane Katrina children who remain missing from their families or guardians on Saturday morning beginning at 7 a.m. until 11 p.m. Photos will be shown in a panel on the left of the TV screen, along with the phone number of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (1-888-544-5475) which has been helping to reunite children with their families.
(Information extracted from USA Today, Friday, September 16, 2005)
4. AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE FROM DR. JEROME HARRIS:
Dr. Jerome V. Harris, Executive Director of the AMEC Department of Annuity Investment and Insurance has arranged with the annuity investment vendors, Symetra Insurance Company and American Express, to process requests for "Hardship" annuity withdrawals on an EXPEDITED basis for those participants affected by Hurricane Katrina.
All participants assigned to the Eighth (Mississippi and Louisiana), Ninth (Alabama) and Eleventh (Florida) Episcopal Districts are eligible for expedited hardship annuity withdrawals. In an effort to provide more immediate financial assistance to persons in these devastated areas, expedited payments can now be made and received in as soon as 24 hours, depending on the mode of distribution, i.e. Direct Bank Transfer, US Mail, etc. The normal withdrawal process usually requires approximately 3 - 4 weeks, so our pastors and their families are blessed, in this time of difficulty, with the expedited arrangement.
Participants desiring to avail themselves to this process should contact the AMEC Department of Annuity Investment and Insurance directly at (901) 527-2006 or by Email at amec_des@bellsouth.com
Dr. Jerome V. Harris
Executive Director
AMEC Department of Annuity Investment and Insurance
5. AID HURRICANE KATRINA VICTIMS:
- West Tennessee Annual Conferences truck filled with items to assist Hurricane Katrina victims arrived in Jackson, Mississippi. The items have been distributed.
- The foresight of Rev. Colleen Gibson at Greater Payne Chapel A. M. E. Church and her members in securing an 18-wheeler was a blessing. Missionaries have enthusiastically stepped forward and our donations have multiplied with each passing day.
Bottled water, non-perishable food, baby food, blankets, new and gently-worn clothing, pillows, diapers, and toiletries for men, women, and children were among the items loaded on the truck.
This is just our launching point and more is sure to come!
Submitted by LesaCarol@aol.com
- Mr. and Mrs. Winston Pittman (Louisville Annual Conference) have donated a brand-new van to a Hurricane Katrina victim family in need who had a large family...
Praise the Lord!
Submitted by Supervisor Stan McKenzie
6. HURRICANE KATRINA PRAISE REPORT:
Visitors Chapel AME in Hot Springs, Arkansas has been wonderful to my daughter. They took up an offering for her and some of the members gave her individual contributions (money, clothing, linen, etc.). They have been WONDERFUL to her. The Arkansas congregation has shown her so much love and support. We are so grateful to them. She started attending that church while she was doing her internship in Hot Springs during the summers of 2004 and 2005. They have truly made her feel like a member of their family. They are a prime example of true AME's.
Additionally, the Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity on the campus of Henderson State University (also Arkansas) gave her a refrigerator full of juices, water, and milk and gave her a monetary donation. We are just overjoyed with this outpouring of love and support. God is good!
Please keep us in your prayers,
Sister Ora Washington
Visitors Chapel AME Church
El Paso, Texas
7. MAYOR COBLE AND BISHOP WILLIAMS DISAPPOINTED WITH FEMA:
Columbia, SC - Monday morning September 12th Mayor Robert D. Coble who governs the City of Columbia met with Bishop Preston W. Williams II who presides over the African Methodist Episcopal Churches of South Carolina. The two leaders met at the Mayor's offices where both men discussed Hurricane Katrina’s impact on the people of the Gulf States as well as here in South Carolina. Their mutual disappointment with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) drew their focus.
Mayor Coble began by candidly expressing his frustration with FEMA’s poor management of the Katrina crisis. Citing a lack of coordination, communication and organization, Mayor Coble stated he had to gather victim assistance information himself when he was unable to do so through the slow and ill-informed federal agency. In relation to many of the gulf state residents who were unable to leave their homes due to financial and medical constraints, Mayor Coble blasted FEMA for not having had an emergency travel plan in place for those who were in need of assistance. The Mayor further stated that the ability to transport victims should have been in place before Katrina’s end, and people’s medical safety ranging from their medication to their actual medical care should have been better prepared; not to mention the fundamentals of food, water and shelter.
Mayor Coble then stated that he has seen “AME’s everywhere in the process of helping.” Bishop Williams replied, “The AME Church will be there shoulder to shoulder with the city of Columbia and the state to assist in any way that we can.”
Refocusing on the people of the Gulf States, Mayor Coble spoke of the depression he saw in the faces of many who survived Katrina and that he believed the helping hands of others who care are the beginning of transforming that pain into hope. Mayor Coble and Bishop Williams agreed that reuniting families should be a top priority and both the city of Columbia and the AME Church are actively involved in the temporary resettlement of displaced families into households here in South Carolina. During the coming weeks both the Mayor and Bishop Williams will be pursuing long term assistance for the victims of Katrina in the form permanent housing and employment.
Submitted by:
Benjamin Harrison
Public Relations Director
The Seventh Episcopal District AME Church
Tel 803.935.0500
Cell 803.528.7104mailto:803.528.7104HarrisonAMEMedia@aol.com
8. THE REVEREND DR. MICHAEL E. BELLS TO BE THE PREACHER FOR ST. MARK AFRICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH MILWAUKEE ANNUAL FALL REVIVAL:
Milwaukee, Wisconsin. St. Mark African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church, “The Church of the Anvil” holds its annual Fall Revival September 26-28, 2005, at 7:00 p.m. nightly. The Revivalist is the Rev. Dr. Michael E. Bell, Sr., pastor of Allen Chapel AME Church in Washington, DC. This year’s theme is, “God’s Blueprint for Daily Living.”
Founded in 1869, St. Mark is the oldest African American congregation in Wisconsin. Bell is a 3rd generation preacher and received his Master of Divinity Degree from Howard University. He did additional post-graduate work at the Interdenominational Center-Atlanta, the Houston School of Theology-Houston and Perkins School of Theology (SMU) -Dallas.
Dr. Bell has preached around the country, in South Africa and Bermuda and for the United States armed forces. He was also selected as one of the “Outstanding Young Men of America for 1998.”
Dr. Bell was recently appointed to the pastoral charge of Allen Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church-Washington, D.C. where he is expected to continue his charitable works of giving of himself to his congregation and community.
The Rev. Darryl Williams, pastor of St. Mark said, “Rev. Dr. Bell is a noted evangelist and that St. Mark invites the community to come and be spiritually revived through praise and worship by this powerful speaker and through the local ministries of music.”
Sharing in the week’s worship experience are choirs, from Wayman AME Church-Racine, Wisconsin, and St. Matthew CME, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. These choirs will be joined by St. Mark’s Youth, Celestial and its Anvil choirs. St. Mark is located at 1616 W. Atkinson Avenue. For additional information, please contact the church at (414) 562-8030.
9. NAMAYO INITIATIVE: ZAMBIA 2006:
The Fifth Episcopal District and the Reverend Dr. Cecelia Williams Bryant, Episcopal Supervisor is looking for women who would like to travel to Zambia with, from April 7th - 17th 2006.
Women with hearts of compassion for the suffering, starvation, and health issues of our African sisters are welcome to join us on this missionary trip. Physicians, nurses, health care professionals, mental health professionals, and Christian educators are also needed. Please call 323.730.7750 ext: 1200 or email NaMayoInitiative@aol.com for more information and a brochure."
10. A MESSAGE FROM THE EDITOR:
- The Editor is attending his Annual Conference in Frankfort, Kentucky. Exciting things are taking place. Excellent preaching, teaching and sharing are taking place and preachers and laity are excited. Bishop Vashti Murphy McKenzie and Supervisor Stan McKenzie are providing excellent leadership.
- Please, pray for everyone affected by Katrina and especially our AME churches, AME families, pastors affected by Hurricane Katrina. The effects of the hurricane have caused people to be relocated, churches to be closed and as a result, many of our pastors are not being paid their salaries. And, there are presiding elders who are not being paid.
- Mrs. Etta Cowan, (our Aunt Etta) age 104 and longtime member of St. James AME Church, Covington, Kentucky died on Tuesday night. Details will be sent to Sister Easley so that the full information can be published in The Christian Recorder.
