January 11, 1988

Item

Title

January 11, 1988

Description

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Vol. 137, No. 8

January 11, 1988

PRICE: 50 CENTS

Methodist
Episcopal
Church

1787-1987

Texas Has Much “On Tap” For General Conference In Fort Worth

by Dr. J. W. Yancy, I, Public Relations

The first official General
Conference Arrangements Meeting,
held by Dr. B. L. McCormick, Texas
General Conference Coordinator,
November 28, revealed in reports that
Texas has much “on tap” for the
entertainment of the General Confer-
ence in Fort Worth.

Bishop Rembert E. Stokes, official
episcopal host to the General
Conference, and Dr. Nancy Phillips
Stokes, official General Conference
hostess, were present to give support
and expertise to this arrangement
group. Dr. Nancy Stokes has formed a
“Blue Ribbon Entourage” for special
courtesies to bishops’ wives and
widows.

Bishop Rembert E. Stokes, Prelate

One of the several Blue Ribbon
courtesies will be a visit to the world-
famous Neiman-Marcus Fashion
Center, as special guests of Neimah-

Marcus. Marian Anderson, the singer,
was the first Negro to be invited as a
guest to Neiman-Marcus, when she
appeared years ago in concert at
Dallas’ Fair Park Auditorium. As a
special guest, Miss Anderson wrote
her name in the Neiman-Marcus Book
of Gold, and Dr. Stokes and her
guests, the bishops’ wives and widows,
will also write their names in this rare
Book of Gold.

Making “progress reports” on
arrangements and entertainment for
the forthcoming General Conference
were Dr. McCormick, housing; Revs.
W. B. Langham, transportation for
bishops and wives and widows; Revel
Simpson, general transportation;

James R. Anderson, General Confer-
ence Brochure; E. F. Boyd, Comptrol-
ler; R. E. Takerson, Booths and Ex-
hibit Space; W. L. Davis, preaching
assignments; Dr. J. W. Yancy, II,
Public Relations; Prof. T. E. Bass,
Mammoth General Conference Choir;
Mrs. Marie Davis, Hospitality and In-
formation Booths, and Mrs, Izean
Davidson, General Conference Ban-
quet.

As a special “Health Service” for
bishops, their wives, bishops’ widows,
and general officers and their wives,
Bishop Stokes has appointed Mrs.
Loyce B. Cawthon, R.N., and officer
of St. Paul A.M.E. Church, Waco, as

Please turn to page 5

Two South African Whites Join
Allen Temple Church in Soweto

For the first time in the history of the
Church in South African two white
persons joined ALLEN A.M.E. Church
in Soweto South Africa thus violating
the Group Areas Act, and many other
Acts enshrined in the statute of the South
African Government Constitution.

The first White man to join a Black
church in South Africa a few years ago
was Dr. Beyers Naude - the well known
anti-Apartheid Activist, who is the
former General Secretary of the South
African Council of Churches.

He joined the Black Dutch Reformed
Church in Alexandra Township outside
Johannesburg. Rev. Paul Vilakazi,
Pastor of Allen Temple informed me

that Brothers Alf James and Carlo
Guipotti were friends of the late
Arthur. ‘‘The fighting Prince Mayi-
sela,’’ Arthur Mayisela was a well
known boxer in South Africa who died
in a tragic car accident this year. He
was a member of Allen Temple.

Rev. Vilakazi said in an interview,
“I believe this is the mighty plan of
Jesus to bring us together with White
brethren 200 years after we broke
away from them at St. George’s Meth-
odist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia
in protest against discrimination.”

He informed me that Alf James is
writing a book on the life of the black
legendary boxer Arthur Mayisela.

a

Bishop and Mrs. C. E. Thomas Inspire
Missionary to Liberia, West Africa

Mrs. Beverly Pitts, on leave of absence
from Board of Education, Memphis, TN
TS

Liberia, WA—Hats are off to Bishop
and Mrs. C. E. Thomas for giving the
kind of leadership in the 13th Episcopal
District that would inspire a young
school teacher to secure a leave from her
job in Memphis, Tennessee, to spend one
year in Liberia, West Africa, as a
missionary. The bishop of the District
was on hand with the welcoming party to
greet Mrs. Pitts upon her arrival in late
July 1987. Bishop Vernon R. Byrd stated
that “Perhaps, this is a first in a long
time. Without funds, or a job, or a place
to live, Mrs. Pitts came by faith—faith
she claimed at St. James A.M.E.

—————————————————————————eeeseseseesee

Church, Memphis, where she is a
member.” Rev. C. A. Jones is pastor of
St. James.

Along with the Home District
Missionary Society, Evangelist Shirley
Prince of St. James has chaired a special
committee to help meet some of the
needs of their sister. Beverly is living in
an apartment at the episcopal office and
working part time as a registrar at
Monrovia College, of which Dr. L. C.
York is president.

Bishop Byrd is seeking, searching and
praying for three ministers of faith to
come and build a church in Accra,
Ghana, where many, many people need
a church building and a pastor. There is
also need for a pastor in Cape Palmer,
Liberia, to operate a school and pastor a
congregation. The appointment has a
parsonage, church building and school
that needs heavy renovation. Lastly, a
pastor is needed in Lower buchannan
Bassa, Liberia. If interested persons find
a sponsor and/or money to try for two
or three years, contact Bishop Byrd, 131
Ashford Road, Cherry Hill, N.J. 08003,
or P.O. Box 4191, Monrovia, Liberia,

frica.
et G. Franklin Holt

Secretary, Liberia Annual Conference

Centena

Mrs. Nellie Austin

Inkster, MI—Mrs. Nellie Austin, 105
years old, was one of the honorees at a
gala, combined birthday celebration at
Smith Chapel A.M.E. Church, where
Rev. Melvin D. Reed is pastor. Mrs.
Austin, along with 30 other members,
was a special celebrant at the beautiful
party hosted by the Senior Citizen’s
Circle Advisory Board.

rian a Special Honoree

“‘Mama’’ Austin, as she is affec-
tionately called, was born in 1882 in
Springfield, Ohio. She moved to Mich-
igan before World War I and later set-
tled in Inkster in 1924. She has been in-
strumental in helping to organize two
churches during her lifetime. The hon-
oree joined Smith Chapel in 1927, and
can recall all of the pastors of the
church since that time.

Mama Austin is a beautiful person,
one who has been diligent in her
church duties and remains faithful as a
servant of God. She was married to her
late husband, William, for 37 years; he
passed away in 1977 at the age of 99.

Mrs. Austin lives alone in her apart-
ment in a senior citizen’s building. She
enjoys life and at every opportunity at-
tends church and other social gather-
ings. Mrs. Frances Spencer, a long-
time family friend, is her daily helpful
companion.

Theola Jones, Reporter

sai aaa
White House Rejects Justice’s Criticism

Washington, DC—The White House
rejected criticism Wednesday from Su-
preme Court Justice Thurgood Mar-
shall about President Reagan’s civil
rights record and said it was inappro-
priate to judge the administration by
the number of blacks in key jobs.

Marshall, in an unusual public criti-
cism of a sitting president, said Reagan
ranked at ‘‘the bottom’’ of American
presidents in terms of racial justice.

Speaking of Reagan, Marshall said,
“Honestly, I think he’s down with
(Herbert) Hoover and that group.
(Woodrow) Wilson. When we (blacks)
really didn’t have a chance.”

At the White House, presidential
spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said Rea-
gan ‘“‘has an outstanding civil rights
record” and ‘‘has supported racial
equality in the last six years of this ad-
ministration, and I can’t understand
his (Marshall’s) remarks, frankly.’’

Reagan has expressed frustration
about his reputation among blacks.

Leanne ee evel
Thurgood Marshall. . .surprises White
House

ST
Critics have noted that Reagan pro-
posed giving tax credits to schools
practicing racial segregation, had
opposed making Martin Luther King’s
birthday a federal holiday and had re-
sisted extension of the Voting Rights
Act.

Reagan’s Cabinet includes one
black, Samuel Pierce, the Secretary of
Housing and Urban Development. At
the White House, Lt. Gen. Colin
Powell, a deputy assistant to the presi-
dent on the National Security Council
Staff, is the highest-ranking black.

5

# 4102

DR

BOUIE
R

P.

STMON

a
PA

E

BARRING

1135

19119

;

PHILADELPHIA


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2 The AME Christian Recorder

January 11, 1988

Anno Domini:

The Year of Our Lord One Thousand Nine Hundred Eighty-Eight

Albert Einstein said there is no such
thing as a new year, except in human
consciousness. It is true that Chris-
tians celebrate their New Year on the
first day of January, anno Domini, and
not anno mundi, the year of the crea-
tion of the world.

The Chinese New Year is celebrated
on January 25th. The Persians cele-
brate the New Year on March 21st; the
Jewish New Year begins on September
18th, and the Moslem New Year begins
on October 18th.

On December 31, at midnight, peo-
ple rang out the old year, 1987, and
rang in the New Year 1988. At one
minute after midnight, we celebrated
the first day of one thousand nine hun-
dred eighty-eight, anno Domini. Someone commented to me, while we
celebrated, it really should have been the beginning of 1992, because the
mathematicians were off four years in their calculations. At one minute after
midnight, 1988, however, the traditionalists, with bells of celebration, rang in
the brand new year.

Yet, the New Year’s bells that I write about somehow escaped the gifted
pen of Edgar Allen Poe in his onomastic writing entitled ‘‘The Bells.’’ Edgar
Allen Poe invites one to ‘‘hear the sledges with the bells, silver bells!’? In a
previous writing, Poe sings of golden bells, brazen bells, iron bells and wed-
ding bells. . .but no New Year’s bells.

Einstein says there is no such thing as time and space. Time has no indepen-
dent existence apart from the order of events by which we measure it. Space
has no objective reality except as an order, or arrangement, of objects we
perceive in it. Time and space do not exist except as a construction of human
consciousness. Structures of conventional symbols shaped by the sense of
man, calendars, clocks, sun dials, milestones and other instruments of
measurement are qualities that have no reality, independent of our senses.
Just as there is no such thing as color without an eye to see it, so an instant of
an hour, or a day, is nothing without an event by which we remember, and an
instrument by which we gauge it, or a human consciousness to perceive it.

The Bible explains it in a similar manner. ‘‘Beloved, be not ignorant of this
one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand
years as one day.’’ Of course, God is a timeless entity, referred to as ‘‘Alpha
and Omega.’’ I, however, think of history, as opposed to eternity, in a rather
simple way. Time broken into chunks is history; and time disintegrated
becomes eternity. We are pushed into history that begins at our birth, when
we take our first independent breath. We are thrown, or rather hurled, into
eternity that begins with our death.

Finites have their place in history; it is that chunk or span of time we call
life. Infinites have place in eternity; it is that existence without end. Finites
have medical histories, academic histories, social histories, personal histories,
and some even have criminal histories. History is record and proves in every
person a mixture of good and evil. It has been said that history is little more
than the register of the crimes, follies and misfortune of mankind. History is
always temporary. It is yesterday, it is today, the very present moment of
ones’ life. Eternity, however, is permanent; it is tomorrow and forever—the
after-life existence. History is human experience and eternity will remain a
timeless existence.

This new year of 1988 I again turn to the First Book of Chronicles, the 4th
Chapter and 8th Verse. ‘‘And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, Oh,

ROBERT H. REID, JR.

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The A.M.E. Christian Recorder welcomes letters from ils readers on matters of general interest, All
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that thou wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that thine hand
might be with me, and that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not
grieve me! And God granted him that which he requested.”’

People of Bible times, more than 2,000 years ago, were really no different
from us. People in 1988 will want peace, love, happiness, prosperity, success
and all the other blessings. The more difficult your struggle in life, the more
likely you are to lean on a higher power. For Jabez, it was his God. I read that
his mother had a hard time giving birth to him, thus, she named him Jabez,
which means ‘‘distress.’’

It is interesting that Jabez does not only wish for his requests, he earnestly
prays to his God for them. Out of his history and culture, his religious knowl-
edge and training, he called on the God of Israel, the God of Abraham, Isaac,
Ishmael, and Jacob, the God of his people.

In the Year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred eighty-eight, let’s not
keep wishing for blessings. Line up with the Higher Power. If you add faith
plus love plus work, you will have the desired victory. Faith is dynamic; love
energized is power, and commitment to work gets results. The great Apostle
Paul said, “‘though I have all faith, and have not love, I am nothing.’’ I am en-
couraging all in 1988 to use their space and life to their fullest ability, and none
will become a nothing, a zero or a failure. Then your new anno Domini will
become your anno regni, the year of the reign of peace, love, success, hap-
piness and prosperity.

Let’s get with it now, before another year has passed you by and you will
have missed again!

Sh de he ae he ete bh ee beh ee nh hh eh eh ah ee a hh th bh th th hh th he hh bh he th th id

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January 11, 1988

The AME Christian Recorder

Reverend and Mrs. V. L. Brenson Celebrate Their

36th Wedding Anniversary

From a Close-up View
by Rev. V. L. Brenson

Rev. V. L. Brenson, the pastor of
Bryant Temple A.M.E. Church, Los
Angeles, CA, is serving his 19th year.
The Brensons were married in Clarks-
ville, Tennessee, on November 16,
1951, by Rev. H. L. Parks. The Bren-
sons have two daughters, Beverly
Brenson Payne and Verdella Renee
Brenson, and a grandson, Little Teddy
Payne, IV. The Brensons like to refer
to themselves as Bride and Groom
when they are near their wedding anni-
versary.

The Bride and Groom left Los
Angeles at 7:00 a.m. and arrived in
Baltimore at 3:59 p.m. After checking
in at the hotel, Rev. Brenson called Dr.
John Bryant to let him know he was in
town. Dr. Bryant is the pastor of
Bethel A.M.E. Church in Baltimore.
Dr. Bryant had invited Rev. Brenson
to be his guest preacher at the 8:00
a.m. service. Sunday at 7:40 a.m. Dr.
Bryant and his son picked up the Bren-
sons and took them to Bethel, which
was half-full when they arrived at 7:50
a.m. By 8:15 a.m. the church was full.
You that have never worshiped at
Bethel, it seats 1500 persons. Yes, what
you have heard is true and the half of it
has not been told about John Bryant
and the Bethel Family.

Dr. John Bryant is a candidate for
Episcopal Honors at the upcoming
General Conference. At the last Gen-
eral Conference he was left at the
door. I predict if the church elects 4
bishops, he will be one of the 4; if they
elect 3, he will be one of the 3; if they
elect 2, he will be one of the 2, and if
they elect 1, he should be the one!

Bishop and Mother Bryant came to
the 8:00 a.m. service. As we all know,
Mother Bryant has not been too well
for some time. We would have been

Hampton Feeds 5000
——— ae

t

In Baltimore, MD

Rev. and Mrs. V. L. Brenson celebrate their 36th wedding anniversary in Baltimore, MD.

disappointed if they had not been pres-
ent. I feel Bishop and Mother Bryant
went beyond the call of duty to attend
the 8:00 a.m. service.

After the sermon, Bishop Bryant ex-
pressed his appreciation for the ser-
mon and said, ‘‘the Lord used you this
morning, I can see why you have done
so well at Bryant Temple.’’ After the
service, we were served a delicious
home cooked breakfast. Bishop
Adams, Presiding Bishop of the 2nd
Episcopal District, arrived before the
service was over. The Bryants know
how to make you feel at home away
from home.

After breakfast Bishop Adams took
us to Payne Memorial A.M.E. Church
for their 92nd Annual Men’s Day cele-
bration. Bishop Adams was to deliver
the message; instead, he presented
your humble servant to deliver the
message, making this the last annual
Men’s Day in the old building. Rev.
Howard R. Camper, pastor of Payne
Memorial A.M.E. Church, is getting
ready to build a new church. After the
close of the service, the Chairperson

The Feeding of the Multitude

by Charolett Martin, Reporter

4

Dr. R. J. Hampton

LT

You would have thought the hands of
time had been turned back to the Biblical
days when Jesus fed the multitude of
5,000!

The occasion?? A 20th century feeding
of 5,000 hosted by Dr. R. J. Hampton,
candidate for Episcopal Honors, and the
Hampton for Bishop Campaign
Committee.

It’s not often that 5,000 people receive
a dinner invitation to the same dinner.
But, this was the case in Tulsa, OK
during the Connectional Lay
Organization Meeting.

It was an exciting day filled with
laughter, musical entertainment, Joy and
good will. The grand host himself (Dr.
R. J. Hampton) worked the crowd
untiringly; as he mingled for six straight
hours, greeting people and extending
well wishes. Every now and then you
could see him wiping sweat from his
brow—and reasonably so, the
temperature soared in the high 80's But,
he wasn't alone; Mrs. Nora Hampton,

Mrs. Nora Hampton

his wife was right there by his side
spreading her Southern Hospitality

The Hampton Campaign workers
were also visible on every hand
greeting guest, serving food, and
checking to make sure “all was well” with
their dinner guest.

The festive outdoor picnic-style dinner
was carried out in grand style. A long
stem red rose was placed in the center of
every table covering and over-all radius
of half-a-mile. The entire area, warmly
decorated in red and white uncannily
invited all to a “down-home” good time

Heaping portions of brisket, pork,
deer, squirrel, pig feet, raccoon, goat,
turkey, ham, chicken and fish along with
cole slaw, baked beans and melon made
up the menu as thousands filed through
the serving line

Among the 5,000 dinner guest were
churchmen from across the connection
Dr. Hampton's own bishop, Bishop H

Please turn to page 5

thanked the Bishop for coming and
also thanked him for bringing a good
preacher with him.

Rev. and Mrs. Camper took the
Brensons out for dinner at one of the
nicest places in Baltimore and then
showed them the city. There is nothing
like old friends and nothing like mak-
ing new friends. Old friends and new
friends go together.

At 7:00 a.m. Monday morning
someone knocked on our hotel door.
After they had knocked several times,
we thought maybe we should answer
it. Our daughter, Verdella, had
ordered our breakfast from Los
Angeles, and had it sent to our room.

Early that afternoon we were the
dinner guests of Bishop John and Dr.
Dolly Adams in Washington, DC. The
next afternoon Dr. John Bryant and
his family picked us up and took us
out to dinner.

As you can see with a bird’s eye
view, everybody went out of their way
to see that we had a beautiful anniver-
sary away from home. We arrived
back in Los Angeles Thursday night.

St. Matthew A.M.E.
Church

Observes First
Quarterly
Conference

The conference was opened with a
very spiritual devotional service, fol-
lowed by an uplifting sermon delivered
by the Presiding Elder Wilson. The
Elder’s sermon came from the book
of Matthew, with highlights from the
fifth chapter.

The business session was opened
with all boards offering written and
verbal reports. All boards were
adopted and approved and all officers
were confirmed

The Elder Wilson highlighted events
on the local and national level. The
Elder expressed his gratitude for a very
good quarter

GQQQVWIQWIVIIIIO

Speak Gently—It Is
Better To Rule By

Love Than By
Fear

22QQQIWIIIIIGS

St. Paul Holds
Bicentennial
Harvest Rally

Pittsburgh, PA—The Rev. Ernest
Dokes, Sr., and the Mass Choir of
Grace African Methodist Episcopal
Church of Warren, Ohio, were guests
for a service at St. Paul A.M.E.
Church, which was the culmination of
a ‘‘Harvest Rally Celebration.”’

The Rev. Mr. Dokes previously
pastored in the Pittsburgh Conference
at Trinity A.M.E. and Brown Chapel,
prior to his transfer to the North Ohio
Conference. There he pastored St.
Paul in Akron before becoming the
minister of his present charge. He
serves as President of the Ministerial
Alliance and is a member of the
NAACP, the North Ohio Conference
Board of Examiners, Deeds and
Abstracts, and the General Budget
Committee. He is also a North Ohio
Conference Bicentennial Committee
member, which has been emphasizing
200 years of African Methodism
throughout the forty-five churches
located in Northern Ohio.

Rev. Dokes has a rich heritage in
African Methodism, as did his father,
the late Presiding Elder Fred D.
Dokes, Sr. His brother, Fred, pastors
in Huntington, West Virginia, and the
late Rev. Norman Dokes pastored in
the Pittsburgh Conference.

Rev. Dokes and his wife, Ernestine
West Dokes, are parents of seven
children.

A Thanksgiving feast was shared
between the morning worship service
and the four o’clock P. M. service,
with Mrs. Faye Johnson serving as din-
ner chairperson and Ms. Ruth G.
Dalton the program chairperson.

The Rev. Taylor T. Thompson is
the pastor of St. Paul Church.

NOTICE

Do Not Send Color
Pictures For Our Black

And White Production

A. Lee Henderson
Publisher

Happy New Year!

Dr. R. A. Washington
Presiding Elder
Fifth Episcopal District
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The AME Christian Recorder

January 11, 1988

Liberia’s President Doe
Sends Representation and
91st Anniversary Donation

Liberia, West Africa—Nearly a thou-
sand people gathered in the sanctuary
of Eliza Turner A.M.E. Church for
the church’s 91st anniversary. It was a
joy to smell fresh paint, see beautifully
hung lights, and sense a wonderful atti-
tude of the congregation. Minister
Yancy Peters Flah, Deputy Minister
for Presidential affairs, was the chair-
man for the day. Chairman Flah ex-
plained to the eagerly awaiting congre-
gation that President Samuel Kanon
Doe regretted that he could not be
present, as promised, due to a goodwill
tour to Nimba County. President Doe
sent a representative from his office
and a generous contribution. The
crowd applauded the great leadership
that President Doe is giving to the

the Republic of Liberia.

God blessed in a mighty way, as
Bishop Vernon R. Byrd challenged the
church to “Make Somebody Strong.”
Luke 22:32. “What do you say to a black
boy or girl in South Africa, where the
mountains are violent; the hills are angry
and where the roads are black with
uncertainties?’ HELP MAKE THEM
STRONG with a faith in God that will
not shrink.” Souls were won for Christ
on that day and much money was raised.

Immediately following the 11:00 a.m.
service, Bishop Byrd dedicated a new
Sunday School building of Mrs.
Watkins, one of the prayer warriors of
the congregation, donated by a friend of
the church.

Director of WMS Well Received

by Elaine B. Horace

Mrs. Bettye J. Allen
Promotion/Missionary Education Di-
rector of the Women’s Missionary Society
elected Secretary of the PCEM Commit-
tee Friendship Press.

Chicago, IL—Mrs. Bettye J. Allen,
our newly elected PME Director of the
WMS, was also elected in the Septem-
ber meeting of the PCEM, as secretary
of the Committee. The PCEM (Pro-
gram Committee for Education in
Mission) is an ecumenical committee
of the Friendship Press who develops
the mission themes. The themes serve
as a guide for mission study. Usually
two major themes are developed—one
of a geographical nature and the other
a general theme. Each denomination is
at liberty to add a supportive theme
for reinforcing the ecumenical themes
if so desired.

PME Director Allen, though new,

with the PCEM Committee, was viable
in her input in the committee’s func-
tion. She, being knowledgeable, enthu-
siastic, and a spirit to share, won her
the respect of the committee to the ex-
tent that they wished her to render a
service on the committee as secretary.
We know that Mrs. Allen will give
both the PME office and the PCEM
Committee the quality and quantity of
service that we all will be proud of. She
is an educator, hard worker and a pro-
ducer.

She is a member of the Woodlawn
A.M.E. Church in Chicago, and of the
Fourth Episcopal District. Mrs. Allen
is a devoted Christian worker, with a
strong family background. She is the
mother of two children, Mr. Cedric
Jenkins, a Supervisor Manager with
the American Gaston Company, and
Dr. Jondelle B. Jenkins, a Podiatric
Surgeon.

We all congratulate Director Bettye
J. Allen, one of our own whom we
love and respect for her untiring and
unselfish service.

She has rendered a service as YPD
Director Locally, Conference and Dis-
trict along with many years of service
on the Connectional WMS level.

She loves her God, her Church and
holds her leaders in the highest of
esteem with respect, love and honor.

Mrs. Elaine Baily Horace

Blankets Given To Fight Off
Winter Cold In Tennessee

Chattanooga, TN—Operation Blessing
will disburse 400 new blankets in Chat-
tanooga, 300 in Knoxville and 500 in
Nashville.

The initiative, one of numerous
Operating Blessing projects, will give
away 65,935 blankets this fall and
winter. Each gray wool blanket costs
between five and six dollars, depending
on transportation costs.

Another program, CBN’s 1987
Back-to-School Clothing Project for
disadvantaged children, has just been
completed. Children have received
everything from socks to winter
jackets in 39 communities around the
country. Overall, Operation Blessing
has administered the allocation of
about $6 million worth of new
garments to deserving persons in 1987.

Operation Blessing routinely sup-
plies funds, goods and services to chur-

ches and other charitable organizations
on a matching basis in order to reach
out more extensively to the poor and
hungry. For the blanket project,
however, all funds are directly from
Operation Blessing. All assistance is
carefully monitored by Operation
Blessing to ensure that items go to
those truly in need.

CBN has been operating Operation
Blessing since 1978 under the direction
of Ben Kinchlow, CBN Executive Vice
President and popular co-host of the
“*700 Club.’’ In fiscal 1986-1987 alone,
Operation Blessing made available
about $50 million in CBN funds and
matching gifts, services and products
to help people in need worldwide.

For further information on the
blanket project, contact Marie Crowe,
CBN Area Manager in Tennessee, at
(615) 899-6904.

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Dr. J. E. January, Pastor.

Civil Rights Journal—Commentary #313

James Baldwin: Teacher, Friend, Freedom Fighter

by Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr.

At the funeral service in New York
City for noted author James Baldwin —
a service which was truly a celebration of
his life — novelist Toni Morrison spoke
to Baldwin as if he were still alive. She
commented on ‘“‘the astonishing gift of
your art and your friendship... a
tenderness so delicate I thought it could
not last, but last it did and envelop me it
did .... The season was always
Christmas with you there.”

Playwright and poet Amiri Baraka, in
his eulogy, recalled Baldwin as “my
friend, my older brother,” and added,
“He was close, as man, as human
relative; we could make it some cold
seasons merely warmed by_ his
handshake, smile or eyes.” Author Maya
Angelou also spoke of the warmth of his
support, saying, “He is my brother.”

Though the recollections of this
great friend and teacher were intensely
personal, they were also _ intensely
political. Baraka called Baldwin “this
glorious, elegant grist of our oppressed
African American nation . . .” who, he
said, “made us feel, for one thing, that we
could defend ourselves or define
ourselves, that we were in the world, not
merely as animate slaves, but as
terrifyingly sensitive measures of what is
good or evil, beautiful or ugly... .”

Baraka also noted, “Jimmy was a ‘civil
rights leader,’ too . . . at the hot peak
of the movement Jimmy was one of its
truest voices.” And so he was. From the
earliest days of the Civil Rights
Movement, James Baldwin was there to
give active and visible support to the
struggle, even though it made him
unpopular in some circles.

1 personally remember, while in prison
in North Carolina as a member of the
Wilmington 10, that Baldwin’s powerful,
life-affirming writings helped us
continue the struggle, even from behind
prison bars. Then in January of 1977,
Baldwin wrote a lengthy public letter to
President Carter, decrying the continued
persecution of political prisoners. The
letter, written from Paris, appeared in
the New York Times and was instru-
mental in galvanizing the international
public pressure which would eventual-
ly help lead to the Wilmington 10 case
being overturned in Federal Court.

After being freed from prison,
Baldwin and I had long conversations —
conversations in which we sifted through
the politics and events of the day and
strategized about the on-going liberation
of African American people. He always

understood and validated the strength of
our people, constantly prodding us to
take the risks necessary to struggle for
freedom. Or, as Baraka noted, “He
always made us know we were
dangerously intelligent and as
courageous as the will to be free.”

At the same time Baldwin also
understood and championed the plight
of all oppressed peoples. As he noted in
his letter to President Carter, the
situation of U.S. political prisoners was
“but a very small indication of the
situation of the wretched in this country:
the nonwhite, the Indian, the Puerto
Rican, the Mexican, the Oriental.”

We have seen three great African
Americans leave us in recent days: John
Oliver Killens, Harold Washington and,
now, James Baldwin. Yet, their legacy
lives on.

Maya Angelou asked, “Where are the
Black writers who will confront this
racist nation?” This is the legacy for us all
— writer and non-writer alike. As
Baldwin, himself, said: “For while the
tale of how we suffer, and how we are
delighted, and how we may triumph is
never new, it always must be heard.”

N? LOMO? LOUD? LOMO? AOVOM? BS

@ May Your New Year
Be Filled With Joy!

Q

Dr. D. C. Coleman
Presiding Elder
Fourth Episcopal District

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January 11, 1988

13th District Missionary PSS DLOF ates Bicentennial Through Writings

Mrs. Ruby N. Doyle of the 13th
Episcopal District, and a member of the
West Kentucky Conference Branch
Missionary Society, contributed to the
great Bicentennial celebrations of the
A.M.E. Church through her writings
about the A.M.E. heritage. Mrs. Doyle,
a member of Youngs Chapel A.M.E.
Church of Louisville, KY, used her
considerable writing talents for writing a
252-page A.M.E._history/ textbook;
“The Dover Trek,” which was the drama
used in Dover, Delaware, on June 13,
during the Philadelphia Bicentennial
celebrations; a chronology spanning 200
years of A.M.E. women’s participation
in Christian, social, and civic endeavors;
and a book of four religious plays about
the A.M.E. Church. Mrs. Doyle, a life-
long member of her church, feels that the
amazing history of the A.M.E. Church
and the inspired lives of its dedicated
leaders and foreparents needs to be
known by every Christian who sails
under the banner of African Methodism.

Mrs. Doyle’s twenty-chapter history
/textbook, entitled Twenty Daring
Decades: An A.M.E. History/Text-
book for Young Readers, came about
in a rather novel way. She says that
sometime after the 1984 General Con-
ference, she was leafing through the
booklet ‘‘Quadrennial Report and Re-
commendations of Bicentennial Com-
mittee,’’ which had been put under the
section entitled ‘‘Bicentennial Literary
Works,’’ she came across a sentence
that said, ‘‘The committee further rec-
ognizes that a need exists to develop a
book of poems and essays aimed at
youth. . .’’ She says that she especially
appreciated that recommendation be-
cause, as a Y.P.D. advisor, she knew
that she could use the material in her
young adult Y.P.D. class. But, realiz-

The AME Christian Recorder

=

Mrs. Ruby Nell Doyle

ing the bicentennial was some years
off, she decided to write some material
herself that would be of interest to her
class; and the end result was the idea
for writing the twenty-chapter book.
The book has a chapter for each
decade that the church has been in
existence, starting with the 1787-1797
decade and ending with the 1977-1987
decade. It details the development of the
church and the labors of the consecrat-
ed leaders from its beginning in Phila-
delphia through the pre-Civil War per-
iod, the Civil War, Radical
Reconstruction, WWI and WWII per-
iods, on through the ‘‘Armageddon’’
days of the Sixties and up until today.
Many church controversies which could
have divided or torn the church apart,
but only made it stronger, are detailed in
this 200-year history book of the church.
Mrs. Doyle says that she is extremely
pleased with the reception her book has
received throughout the Connection;
and says she is constantly amazed at
some communications she has received
telling about creative ways in which
particular chapters—especially the
chapters dealing with the 1857-1867,
1917-1927, and 1958-1967 decades, had
been presented and what the response

had been.

Another A.M.E. bicentennial literary
project in which Mrs. Doyle engaged
was the writing of a drama entitled, “The
Dover Trek,” which was presented
during the Philadelphia Bicentennial
Celebration on June 13, in Dover,
Delaware. It was written from guidelines
and directions supplied by the
Bicentennial Committee chaired by
Bishop Vinton R. Anderson. This
particular project came under the task
team of the bicentennial Youth Activity
Committee whose members included
Mrs. Johanna Green, Connectional
Y.P.D. Director; Mrs. Frank C.
Cummings, First Episcopal District
Supervisor; Mrs. Ruth Hughes, First
Episcopal W.M.S. President; and Mrs.
Shermanita Dixon, First Episcopal
Y.P.D. Director. “The Dover Trek”
drama is composed of four acts, and
each act depicts highlights from the life
of Richard Allen in his journey from
slavery in Dover, Delaware, until his
permanent move to Philadelphia.

After the drama was written, the
manuscript was submitted to the
Smithsonian Institute to be checked for
historical accuracy of the facts presented.
Edward D. Smith, historian, sent back a
letter expressing his “pleasure of
reviewing” the four skits and his
“congratulations” on the work. A
condensed version of “The Dover Trek”
drama was ably performed by Y.P.D.
members from the First Episcopal
District under the superb direction of
Mrs. Shermanita Dixon. Mrs. Doyle
said that watching the performance of
“The Dover Trek” by such talented
performers was, indeed, a moving and
gratifying experience.

Mrs. Doyle says that one of the most
rewarding literary projects in which she

Apartheid — A Special Frontline Series With Judy Woodruff

by Judy Woodruff

Many white South Africans claim
that the entire country is theirs by
right. No black man, they say, oc-
cupied South Africa before the first
tiny Dutch settlement in 1652.

But, part I of ‘Apartheid — A
Special FRONTLINE Series with Judy
Woodruff’’ makes clear that blacks
were, in fact, in South Africa hundreds
of years before whites. Archeologists’
discoveries have proved it.

The Afrikaner nationalists who
created Apartheid distrusted other
whites as well as blacks. The young
Afrikaner Republics battled the British
in the Boer War in the 1890’s and were
brutally suppressed. The British im-
prisoned Afrikaner women and
children in concentration camps where
tens of thousands died.

Black South Africans suffered on a
far larger scale. After they were
defeated by the British and Afrikaners
in the late 1800’s they were herded on-
to tiny reservations that could not sus-
tain them. Denied the rights of land
ownership, they were systematically
forced to become cheap laborers for
white mines and farms.

The desperate situation of blacks
gave rise to the first black liberation
movement in Africa; the African Na-
tional Congress (ANC). In 1948,
united by a hatred for the British and a
fear of the black majority, the
Afrikaners voted—in a Nationalist
Party government that would put the
interest of Afrikaners first. Its motto:
“apartheid’’ or ‘‘apartness.’’

Part 2 (1948-1963)

“The black man, he would overrun

you, and then what would you do?
You shoot him. That was the thing we
wanted to avoid. We don’t want to
shoot the black man. We would rather
govern him.’’ Wentzel du Plessis, an
Afrikaner politician, explains the
policy of the white Nationalist govern-
ment swept into power in 1948.

Part II of ‘‘Apartheid — A Special
FRONTLINE Series with Judy
Woodruff’, lays out the details of the
new apartheid policy, including: classi-
fying all South Africans by race,
removing blacks from cities where
many had lived for generations, and
establishing separate and unequal
schooling for blacks,

But apartheid spawned increasing
black resistance. The 1950’s brought
forth new leaders like Nelson
Mandela, a young lawyer, who led
mass campaigns in defiance of apar-
theid laws.

In 1960, during the last non-violent
campaign, police fired on a crowd at
Sharpeville, killing 69, The black resis-
tance movement went underground
and turned to force. But soon all the
major leaders were arrested. Nelson
Mandela, convicted of staging a sabo-
tage campaign, was sentenced to life.
Prime Minister Hendrick Verwoerd
had asserted total control

Part 3 (1963-1977)

“Independent homelands’’ for
blacks was the centerpiece of Prime
Minister Hendrick Verwoerd’s vision
of ‘‘grand apartheid.’’ Part Il of
‘*Apartheid — A Special
FRONTLINE Series with Judy
Woodruff?’ shows how the white
government found African leaders to

collaborate with them on this policy.

The government’s plan was to make
all blacks citizens of nominally in-
dependent homelands. South Africa’s
race problem would then disappear —
at least on paper — since all blacks
would then be foreigners. The policy
meant deporting three and a half
million blacks into rural areas that
desperately meeded investment to
make them economically viable, The
government refused to spend the
money.

This homeland policy bred increased
resistance to apartheid. Black students
were the vanguard, led by a
charismatic medical student, Steve
Biko. In 1976, school children in the
huge black ghetto of Soweto rebelled
against their education and set off the
first sustained nationwide attack on
apartheid, Steve Biko hoped to unite
the student militants with black
military groups living in exile, He did
not realize his hopes. In 1976 he died
of injuries suffered while in police

custody.
(To be continued)

The Feeding Of
The Multitude

Continued from page 3

Hartford Brookins spoke to the
gathering as only Bishop Brookins can
do

Expressions were given by Bishop D
Ward Nichols, Bishop Vernon R. Byrd,

Rey. Floyd Flake, congressman and the
hosts Rev. & Mrs. R. J. Hampton

It was truly an occasion to
remember—The Feeding of 5,000! Were

you there”?

engaged of the Bicentennial Celebration
was researching information for a
writing “A Bicentennial Chronology:
Women of the A.M.E. Church (1787-
1986).” This chronology details the
outstanding labors of dedicated and
inspired A.M.E. women from 1787 until
today. Many historical figures who grace
the pages of history books and who were
prominent in anti-lynching movements,
voting rights for women, and other civil
rights movements were A.M.E.’s
chronological entries from 1787 when
Jane Murray walked out of St. George
Methodist Episcopal Church with
Richard Allen until now, when A.M.E.
women hold connectional positions in
the church and hold positions of
leadership in worldwide and national
ecumenical bodies show how the women
have helped to make the A.M.E. Church
the great influential church that it is
today. This literary work is dedicated to
Mrs. Wilhelmina Lawrence for her
many years of inspired service to the
W.M.S. Mrs. Doyle said that when she
was in Atlanta at the Missionary
Quadrennial, she was very pleased to see
that a copy of the chronology had been
placed in the “Women’s Missionary
Archives, which was under the
leadership of Mrs. Octavia Dandridge,
W.M.S. Connectional Historiographer.

Mrs. Doyle is also the author of A
Richard Allen Celebration: Religious
Plays and Pageants for All Age Groups,
a 100-plus-page book of four plays about
the A.M.E. heritage, which will be going
into its second printing soon. Mrs.
Doyle, a retired high school English
teacher, is currently enrolled in Simmons
Bible College in Louisville and is
working toward a B.Th. in Chnistian
Education. She hopes this background
will enhance her effectiveness as a
Christian worker and as a wniter of
religious literature. Mrs. Doyle’s A.M.E.
books and information pertaining to
them may be obtained by writing to her

aE Mrs. Ruby Nell Doyle

345 Glendora Avenue
Louisville, Kentucky 40212

.

Texas Has Much On Tap
For General Conference
In Fort Worth

Continued from page 1

“Bishop Stokes’ Special Health
Service Coordinator.”

Nurse Cawthon’s “Health Service
Suite” will be located in near
proximity to the residence of bishops
and wives and widows and general
officers. This health service is not
proposed to circumvent or conflict
with general church health
nomenclature; rather, it is merely a
special health facility offered the
A.M.E. Church by official General
Conference episcopal host Bishop
Rembert E. Stokes

All Texas is marching to the “drum
beat” of Bishop Stokes for the
entertainment of the General
Conference in Fort Worth. Bishop
Stokes is the “Texas Drum Major,”
Dr, McCormick, as coordinator, is the
“baton-wielder” for the Texas
entertainment of the 1988 General
Conference

Dr, James R. Anderson, Director
of the General Conference Brochure
Production, is taking advertisements
now. His full-page announcements
will appear in the A.M.E, Christian
Recorder subsequently, Those
interested in taking out brochure ads
may contact Dr. Anderson as follows:

Dr. James R. Anderson
1717 Meadow Valley
Dallas, Texas 7$232


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6

The AME. Christian Recorder

i | it

News From The Northwest

Texas Conference

The Northwest Texas District Min-
isters and Laity met with their most
capable Presiding Elder of the North-
west Texas District, Rev. I. C.
Cooper, recently at Baker Chapel
A.M.E. Church, Big Springs, Texas,
for their yearly Planning Meeting.

Registration began promptly at 9:00
a.m., with the General Session begin-
ning at 10:00 a.m. The laymen of the
district rendered a spirited devotional
period, which set the tone for the
meeting. After the devotion, the busi-
ness session of the meeting was turned
over to Presiding Elder Cooper, who
presided with dignity and poise.

After the reading and approval of
the minutes, the district was organized.
Mrs. Leola Jones William was elected
vice chairperson of Stewardesses.
Elected as Marshals were: Rev. Floyd
Green, Jr., Rev. Richard Green and
Willie I. Graham.

Presiding Elder Cooper brought be-
fore the district body for consideration
suggestions and voting: Ads for the
General Conference Souvenir Book,
and Paul Quinn Homecoming Souve-
nir Book. The district decided to take
a full-page for each.

The Northwest Texas District body,
along with the ministers, elected the
host churches for the following: the
District Conference will be held at
Greater St. Paul A.M.E. Church, San
Angelo, TX, March 2425, 1988, Rev.
E. L. Wright, pastor. Sunday School
Convention, Greater St. Luke A.M.E.
Church, Midland, TX, June 15-17,
1988, Rev. S. V. Ferguson, pastor.
Annual Conference, Bethel A.M.E.
Church, Lubbock, TX, Rev. D. A.
Smith, pastor.

It was announced by Presiding Elder
Cooper that the General Conference
would be held July 6-16, 1988, Fort
Worth, TX. July 27-29, 1988, Con-
vocation, Paul Quinn College, Waco,
TX.

Presiding Elder Cooper presented
the newly-elected Lay President, Mr.
Worthy Gilbert, who introduced his
officers for the 1987-88 Conference
year. Mr. Gilbert stated briefly some
of the work that would be going on
this conference year.

Mr. W. I. Graham, Conference
President of Ushers, gave a brief sum-
mary of plans for the conference year.
He also read the Ushers’ Budget for
each church.

Rev. C. L. Boyd, pastor of Johnson

* :
* Best Wishes For a
* Bright New Year!

»%

Bethel A.M.E. Church
Baltimore, Maryland
Dr. John R. Bryant

Perevetretrrrseccrccosroser eset ss ess soso oy

SII KS IIS III ISIS II IAI SSSI ISISTISISISISISISSSSSSIS SION

Chapel A.M.E, Church, Amarillo,
TX, presided with distinction over the
highly spirited Noon Worship Service,
with pastors within the district assist-
ing.

Presiding Elder Cooper presented
the speaker, Rev. Floyd Green, Jr.,
pastor of Simms Chapel A.M.E.
Church, Stamford, TX, Rev. Green se-
lected his scripture from Matthew 18,
beginning with the 9th verse. He chose
as a theme: ‘‘There Is a Hell.’’ This
was a soul-searching message—a mes-
sage that touched everyone. Rev.
Green was superb.

The Green Trio was excellent in lift-
ing the name of Jesus through songs.

Rev. E. L. Wright, pastor of Great-
er St. Paul A.M.E. Church, San
Angelo, and Chairman of the Tutorial
Program, gave brief remarks concern-
ing the program and its goals.

The Missionary Society of the
Northwest Texas District met in an
afternoon assembly with our newly
and most capable President, Mrs.
Anna D. Jones, who presided with
charm and poise. Mrs. Ora Jean
Wilson, Conference Worship Direc-
tor, led the group in a most eloquent
devotion. It was a spirited challenge of
faith, hope, love and devotion. As the
beautiful hymn, ‘‘I Surrender All’’
was being sung, one could visualize
their love and faith in Jesus.

After the devotion, Mrs. Jones out-
lined in detail what to expect during
the conference year. She introduced
the elected officers for the year
1987-88. Mrs. Anna J. Lowe, Second
Vice President, read the Standing
Committee Chairpersons for the year.

At the conclusion of the Second
Vice President appointments, Presi-
dent Jones called for the election to fill
the vacancies of Treasurer and Parlia-
mentarian. Mrs. Catherine Robinson,
Bethel A.M.E. Church, Lubbock, was
elected Treasurer, and Mrs. Ronetta
Howard, Bethel A.M.E. Church, Lub-
bock, was elected Parliamentarian.

Presiding Elder Cooper, district of-
ficers, pastors and laity wish to say to
Rev. M. L. Goffney and members of
Baker Chapel A.M.E. Church, thanks
for the kind hospitality shown while
visiting your church and the city of Big
Springs.

Naomi L. Graham, Reporter

KEKKKKKKK

eR IAI III IIR III II IRI HI KIRA I III II IIIA

Southwest Texas Conference District
Holds Planning Meeting

The Southwest Texas Conference
District Planning Meeting was held
at St. Paul A.M.E. Church, Flatonia,
Texas, Dr. O. W, Hodges, Presiding
Elder, Rev, Effie P. Blandin was Host
Pastor, and Dr. N. H, Franklin, Dean.

The meeting began with an impres-
sive Spiritual Fellowship and Coffee.
The opening convocation was at 10:45
a.m, with Dr. Hodges presiding, There
was a devotion, then organization and
reports of the churches.

After a 5-minute recess, the Wor-
ship Service convened with the Dean,
Rev. Franklin, presiding. The Old Tes-
tament scripture was read by Rev. A.
Burke (Ezekiel 1:15), and the New
Testament scripture was read by Rev.
R. D. Sanders (John 15:1), A powerful
message was delivered by Rev. M. L.

Lewis, the theme being ‘Be Content
With What You Have!’’ (Hebrews
13:5). There was a special solo by Rev.
R. D. Sanders entitled *‘] Made It,"

A delectable dinner of roast turkey
and all the trimmings was served after
the service.

The services reconvened with Dr.
Hodges presiding. The devotion was a
spiritual love feast, followed by the
presentation of Certificates and the in-
stallation and charge to the officers.
There were three proposals discussed.

All were thankful to the Master for
their spiritual and financial success,
and to the Host Pastor for the superb
hospitality and fellowship that was
enjoyed.

Mrs. I. V. Greene, Reporter

In Jubilee for Bicentennial
And In Family Solidarity During
This Holy Season — We Praise God
And Hope For Peace and Love In 1988

a

Reverend and Mrs. Thomas L. McCray
Cleveland District Pastor
North Ohio Annual Conference

wy

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PAS NSIS NNN NIN NIN NSIS NSN NSS SISA ASS SS

NOMMMMDMMDMAD DADAM OIDI OOOO IOOOIOMNOAO OOO SA

May Your New Year _ Be Filled With Joy!

Price Chapel A.M.E. Church

SWOVAAAVAVANANANANANAN ANA NAAN AANA oO;

WS

Y

Rev. Richard Tankerson

Dallas, Texas

EOAAA WA AANA AAA AAW A AiAP9d 4A Ad AAPAE A APAey AMA OAPI QD

Rev. James R. Anderson
Dallas, Texas


===== DSC05396.JPG =====

January 11, 1988

The AME Christian Recorder

Atlanta—The chains that hold back Black Americans from realizing their dreams in an
educational handicap handed down by history, a corporate executive recently told 100
leaders of historically Black colleges who met in Atlanta.

Marshall B. Bass, senior vice president of RJR Nabisco, Inc., addressed a conference on
student financial aid organized by the Southern Education Foundation and the U.S.
Department of Education.

The Chains That Hold
Back Black Americans

Atlanta, GA—The chains that hold
back Black Americans from realizing
their dreams is an educational handi-
cap handed down by history, a corpor-
ate executive recently told 100 leaders
of historically Black colleges who met
in Atlanta.

Marshall B. Bass, senior vice presi-
dent of RJR Nabisco, Inc., addressed
a conference on student financial aid
organized by the Southern Education
Foundation and the U.S. Department
of Education. Bass praised the group
for addressing student financial aid
problems at traditionally Black col-
leges.

“Social consciousness has weak-
ened prejudice. Legislation has out-
lawed discrimination in housing,
employment and other arenas, but an
educational gap continues to shackle
the Black race,’’ Bass said.

“‘Education is the primary tool that
will enable minorities to keep moving
ahead in our society,’’ Bass continued.
‘“‘Uplifting educational standards
should be the highest priority in every
Black household in America, because
the desire to achieve begins at home.
But achieving higher academic goals
requires monetary resources as well as
motivation. And I believe that the bus-
iness sector is becoming increasingly
important to enhanced educational op-
portunities for Blacks.”’

He noted that U.S. business funds a
growing array of educational programs
that benefit both Black youth and
adults, including undergraduate schol-
arships, internship programs, graduate
study assistance, and basic adult edu-
cation programs.

“Corporate support of minority
education enhances the pool of well-
qualified corporate job candidates,
and prepares people for other careers
in which they can make a positive con-
tribution to the economy. That, in
turn, enhances the climate in which we
do business,’’ he explained.

Bass said that RJR Nabisco is par-
ticularly concerned that cutbacks in
federal aid, weak recruiting efforts, ris-
ing tuition costs and lack of education-
al encouragement have contributed to
a3 percent drop in college enrollment
among Blacks since 1980.

“It’s estimated that one year at an
average public college now costs about
$5,600,’ Bass said, ‘‘while a private
school requires more than $10,000 a

year. Considering that one-third of all
Black American families have incomes
under $11,000 a year, the implications
for our nation’s future educational
standards are alarming.’’

For those reasons, RJR Nabisco is
the largest contributor to United
Negro College Fund schools; makes
substantial grants to the Consortium
for Graduate Study in Management
for minorities attending nine major
universities; and has helped fund con-
struction of new facilities at histori-
cally Black colleges. In addition, the
company funds numerous scholarships
earmarked for minority youth study-
ing business, engineering and journal-
ism.

“For us, support of minority educa-
tion is a matter of corporate con-
science, and common sense,’’ Bass
said. ‘‘Educational issues cannot be
shouldered by civic and government
agencies alone.’’

RJR Nabisco, Inc., an international
consumer products corporation with
headquarters in Atlanta, GA, is the
parent company of R. J. Reynolds
Tobacco Co. and Nabisco Brands,
Inc.

—<<——S>-—E St /*

Dr. William Lee Freeman
Presiding Elder
First Episcopal District

Consultation Calls For Urgent
Action By Churches On AIDS

Toronto, Ont,—'*We believe that at-
tempts to link the AIDS crisis with the
wrath of God are irresponsible, ser-
iously harmful and misrepresent the

character of God, God calls us as a
people, a whole people, and no one is
expendable.’’

This conclusion is among those
reached by a gathering of 130 ethicists,
theologians, persons with AIDS,
health care professionals, community
workers and church representatives at-
tending a three-day meeting this past
weekend to discuss the theological and
ethical issues related to Acquired Im-
mune Deficiency Syndrome.

The consultation, sponsored by the
National Council of Churches
(U.S.A.), the World Council of
Churches and the Canadian Council of
Churches, drew participants from
across Canada and the United States.
The purpose of the event was to devel-
op a “‘blueprint’’ that would encour-
age the mainline churches to become
constructively involved in the AIDS
crisis.

Among the recommendations
adopted by working groups at the con-
sultation were the following:

*We confess that in Canada and the
United States our churches have been
almost totally silent on AIDS.

*We the churches must take up the
challenge to participate in and provide
leadership in both sex education and
AIDS prevention so that the epidemic
will be stemmed.

*We the churches have failed to re-
spond to the global health crisis, espe-
cially the concerns of those people liv-
ing in conditions of extreme poverty in
developing countries.

*We the churches need to challenge
governments and health care profes-
sionals to assure all people the right to
medical care.

*We the churches must lobby for
the passage and application of laws
which provide human rights for all per-
sons and protect against wrongful dis-
crimination,

*We the churches must encourage
the distribution of AIDS-related infor-
mation, even when it relates to behavy-
ior which may be in conflict with
church teaching, in order to save lives.
For example, how to use condoms
properly and the use of non-contami-
nated needles.

*We acknowledge that the role of
health care providers is to care for the
sick regardless of illness, race, color,
creed, lifestyle, sexual orientation or
economic status, even in situations of
personal risk.

*Throughout the world, women,
children and men are dying of AIDS.
WE MUST ACT NOW. We commit
ourselves to eradicating the bigotry
and hatred that are feeding on this dis-
ease. AIDS has no religion, no nation-
ality, no gender and no sexual orienta-
tion.

The report and recommendations of
the consultation will be forwarded to
the sponsoring church councils and cir-
culated widely through local congrega-
tions in Canada and the United States.
It is the hope of the consultation par-
ticipants that their work will not only
help stimulate open dialogue on the
ethical and the theological issues re-
lated to AIDS, but also prompt urgent
action by the churches.

Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton
Appoints A.M.E. Pastor

West Memphis, AR—Rev. Robert
Nelson, Jr., of West Memphis, pastor
of Bethel A.M.E. Church, has been
notified by Governor Bill Clinton of
his appointment to the Highway Safety
Program Advisory Council.

Rev. Nelson’s appointment will be
brought before the Senate for confir-
mation at the General Assembly.

The term will expire January 14,
1989.

RARARAARARAARAAAAAY

ADS

é

Best Wishes for the
New Year!

b Yh Yh “h “a hh “hy hh ‘A A HH

Rev. Leslie White
Wichita, Kansas

IAAAAA


===== DSC05397.JPG =====

The AME Christian Recorder

January 11, 1988

Unions, Civil Rights Groups Denounce South African-Backed TV Miniseries

Washington, DC—Communications
Workers of America (CWA) President
Morton Bahr, and Randall Robinson,
Executive Director of Trans-Africa,
were joined by William Winpisinger,
President, International Association
of Machinists (LAM), Jack Sheinkman,
President, Amalgamated Clothing and
Textile Workers Union (ACTWU),
and John Sweeny, President, Service
Employees International Union, in de-
nouncing the television miniseries
“Shaka Zulu’’ as a violation of the
United Nations-sanctioned cultural
embargo against the South African
government.

** ‘Shaka Zulu’ is an outrageous ex-
ample of the South African govern-
ment’s attempts to shore up their op-
pressive regime,’’ said Randall Robin-
son of The Free South Africa Move-
ment/Trans-Africa. ‘‘The purpose of
this show is not to celebrate African

history, but to weaken American iden-
tification with South Africans by por-
traying them as savages,’’ Robinson
continued, ‘‘We would never tolerate
such a presentation of European his-
tory, and we should not allow this de-
famation to stand.’’

The account of Shaka, who was an
outstanding military and political lead-
er, has been distorted into a stereo-
typical portrayal of Africans as bar-
baric, savage and inferior to Whites.
The nudity, violence, and sexual over-
tones of this series are unprecedented
in prime-time entertainment television,
while this demeaning portrayal of
Black people is excused as ‘authentic.’

‘*Why is it that American news cam-
eras are banned from bringing South
African news to the televisions of
America, but the South Africans are
allowed to put this racist, demeaning
propaganda on American television?’’

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May Your New Year Be Bright!

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asked CWA President Bahr.

“Shaka Zulu’’ has been surrepti-
tiously placed on American television
by an independent distributor, to con-
ceal the involvement of the South Afri-
can government in its production, The
miniseries was produced by Harmony
Gold with at least $2.5 million in fi-
nancing by the South African Broad-
casting Corporation and with the full
support of the South African Parlia-
ment, Since when has the South Afri-
can government spent $2.5 million on
anything to benefit Black South Afri-
cans?

“We live in the information age,
when images and information can be
exchanged around the world in the
blink of an eye,’’ commented Bahr.
“We must be ever vigilant in opposing
those who would use electronic enter-
tainment, television, to support op-
pression and injustice.’’

An Educator’s Opinion

Sane

The leaders emphasized that Ameri-
can working people know that an in-
jury to one is an injury to all, and will
stand beside their brothers and sisters
in the labor and freedom movement in
South Africa.

The series, which has met with pro-
test in Los Angeles and New York
City, and which recently aired in
Washington, DC, is scheduled to begin
in Atlanta, Georgia, and has aired in
other cities around the country.

The leaders objected to Fox Broad-
casting using the American airwaves to
spread this propaganda, which the
other networks rejected. The series is
in syndication and can be shown in any
part of the country at any time. There-
fore, they urged everyone who believes
in peace, justice and freedom to write
protest letters to Fox Broadcasting and
its local affiliates who schedule the
series.

Mentoring: Collegiality In Action

More than a few of my colleagues in
the teaching profession recall their first
day in the classroom with a shudder.
They recall feeling anchor-less, adrift
on uncharted seas, with navigation in-
struments nowhere to be found.

What had gone wrong? They had
taken all the prescribed courses, ab-
sorbed the material on the psychology
of learning and the tenets of effective
pedagogy, deepened their dedication.
But what these teachers were missing
(this knowledge dawned slowly) was
the help of those who had stood before
where they stood now. They needed

_ Mentors. Instead, they received lessons

from on high—dictates from bureau-
cracies far removed from the day-to-
day realities of classroom practice.

Sadly, not much has changed. In
very few schools is there an alternative
to the sink-or-swim process of induc-
tion to teaching. In very few schools is
there a formal means to ensure that
novice practitioners receive counsel
from veteran teachers.

The result, far too often, is rigid re-
liance on state- or district-mandated
curricular materials—standardized
practice. And standardized practice, as
the Rand Corporation’s Linda Dar-
ling-Hammond has asserted, is mal-
practice.

The people most able to save novic-
es from this syndrome are seasoned
practitioners. Recent studies drill
home the message that the surest route
to improved instruction is a formal
system of teachers helping teachers.

At least one district—California’s
Bellflower Unified School District
(B.U.S.D.)—has taken this lesson to
heart. With the passage of the Hughes-
Hart Educational Reform Act of 1983,
the California legislature gave birth to
a comprehensive teacher mentor pro-
gram. The Reform Act stipulated that
mentor teachers would receive $4,000
in addition to their regular annual
salaries.

The California Reform Act stated
that mentors must continue to teach at
least 60 percent of the time. But the
local NEA affiliate—the Bellflower
Education Association (BEA)—found
this provision unacceptable. BEA
members worried that teachers re-
duced to nearly half-time status would
become increasingly detached from
classroom realities.

As a result, NEA members in the
Bellflower district negotiated a con-
tract stating that all mentoring activi-

ties shall be in addition to regular
classroom duties. The contract further
states that a mentor teacher ‘‘shall not
be exempt from any other extra assign-
ment or staff meetings’’ required of
other teachers.

The BEA guidelines reflect the un-
derstanding that the goal of mentoring
is not only to acclimate novice teach-
ers, but also to promote movement to-
ward a schoolwide culture of coopera-
tion. BEA members took every pre-
caution to ensure that the mentor pro-
gram would not isolate mentors from
their faculty colleagues.

I’m excited by the success of the
Bellflower mentor teacher program. It
demonstrates again that local debate
and deliberation—not a fixed formula
—offer the keys to effective, workable
reform strategies. The Bellflower pro-
gram stands as a tribute to the ideal of
local faculty autonomy.

I recommend the creativity of my
NEA colleagues in the Bellflower dis-
trict. At the same time, I look forward
to the day when all teachers will be
mentors to all teachers. In an ideal set-
ting, all teachers would work collegial-
ly to help each other hone instructional
skills, translate abstract research re-
sults into practical classroom strate-
gies, and expand subject-area knowl-
edge.

Education, after all, is not an indi-
vidual act performed by individual
teachers. Education is a collective fac-
ulty responsibility, and it works best
when schools create working environ-
ments that facilitate teacher inter-
action, that foster the exchange of
ideas and insights.

This exchange—this collegial give-
and-take—needs to become a career-
long process. No teacher has complet-
ed—or ever completes—the process of
professional growth and development.
The best of teachers is a lifelong
learner.

The Bellflower mentor program of-
fers one example of the advances that
are possible when schools guarantee
teachers the time and the autonomy ¢o
help each other help learning come
alive for each and every student.
That’s an example that we ought not
to ignore.

Reputation Is For
Time, Character Is
For Eternity


===== DSC05398.JPG =====

January 11, 198%

The AME Christian Recorder

Children are the poorest Americans
and poverty is the greatest child killer
If we don’t raise our voices for chil-
dren:

THOUSANDS OF THEM WILL
CONTINUE TO DIE YOUNG
EVERY YEAR
® Poverty kills an American child

every 53 minutes.

* The United States is tied for last
place among 20 industrialized na-
tions in keeping our babies alive in
the first year of life.

® The Black infant mortality rate is
almost twice the rate for White
children. If Black and White infant
mortality rates had been equal in
1984, 5,309 fewer Black babies
would have died that year.

TENS OF THOUSANDS WILL
CONTINUE TO SUFFER PRE-
VENTABLE HEALTH PROBLEMS

e Nearly one in four American
babies is born to a woman who
does not receive prenatal care in
the early stages of pregnancy.
Among teen mothers, almost half
do not receive early prenatal care.
Babies born to mothers who re-
ceive no or little prenatal care are
three times more likely to be born
at low birthweight, placing them at
much greater risk of death and life-
long disabilities.

e Almost 20 percent of our pre-
schoolers are not fully immunized
against one or more of basic pre-
ventable diseases like measles and
diptheria.

e One-third of America’s 35 million
uninsured persons are children.
Overall, one in six children has no
health insurance. One in three has
never seen a dentist.

HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS

WILL GO HUNGRY AND WITH-

OUT NEEDED NUTRITION

In Celebration of Children— Children and Bovert

® The Physician Task Force on Hun

ger in America estimated in 1985
that malnutrition affects almost
$00,000 American children

* 3.4 million pregnant women, in
fants, and young children go with
out the nutrition supplements of
the WIC program for which they
are eligible.

HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS
WILL DROP OUT OF SCHOOL

e Every year about 700,000 students
at the ninth-grade level or above
drop out of school.

® More than 30 percent of our youth
do so badly on skills tests that they
would be turned down for enlist-
ment in our armed forces, except in
special circumstances.

HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS

WILL GROW UP WITHOUT DE-

CENT SHELTER

¢ More than 20 percent of the popu-
lation in homeless shelters are chil-
dren, not including those in run-
away shelters.

e Families with children make up
about 30 percent of the homeless
population; in many major U.S.
cities the number is closer to 50
percent.

HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS
WILL BECOME PARENTS TOO
SOON

e About 1 million teenage girls get
pregnant each year and almost half
a million babies are born to teen-
agers. This is equivalent to the pop-
ulation of Boston.

MILLIONS OF CHILDREN WILL
GROW UP POOR
e Nearly thirteen million children, or
one in five, live in families surviving
on an income at or below the
poverty level ($8,400 per year for a
family of three in 1985).

Why are so many American children
poor?

¢ Parental unemployment: Over
million Americans are looking for
jobs

* Eroding family wages; Over 5 mil-
lion Americans working at a mini
mum wage earn less than 75 per-
cent of the poverty level for a fam-
ily of 3, The minimum wage has
not been indexed for inflation since
1981.

¢ Changing family demographics and
the growth of single parent house-
holds. Over 1 out of 2 children ina
female-headed household is poor.
If that household is headed by a
mother under 25, 3 out of 4 are
poor.

e Unfair budget policies: Since 1980
federal funding for poor children
and families has declined in real
terms.

IT’S NOT TOO LATE TO HELP

No moral or sensible nation can
dare write off such a significant por-
tion of its human assets. This is espec-
ially true now that young people are a
shrinking percentage of our popula-
tion. Our future prosperity as a nation
now depends in large part on our abil-
ity to enhance the productivity of a
new generation of students and work-
ers that is disproportionately poor,
minority, undereducated, and un-
trained.

The budget deficit and the trade de-
ficit pale in comparison to this human
development deficit and the national
spiritual deficit that permits it.

A principal challenge of the next
American decade is the protection of
our children from death by arms,
want, and neglect. Between now and
the year 2000, the nation must mount a
carefully conceived, comprehensive
human investment effort in all our
young and in all our families to over-

DAO «OWONM ADUGN2 LOO? LOW»? MOWVOM? OVO? MLOWIO? AMOWO I? MOWON? MOWVOM? MOO? MOV? LOW? HOWE? MOWO? MO

¥ Wishing You a Prosperous New Year Filled With Joy!

q KOLO” KOQHO” AOHO” AQHO”? AOI AQUOH AOUIOP AOI AQHOH KOH? AOHOH SOHO? AOHIOPH AOHIOH? KOU? KOI.

A.M.E. Christian Recorder

Dr. Robert Reid, Jr.

Editor

Nashville, Tennessee

y: Key Facts

come the debilitating effects of dec
ades of poverty, racial discrimination,
neglect, an eroding employment and
family wage base, and budget and tax
thefts from the weak by the military
and wealthy. We must begin with a na
onal commitment to ensure that
every child has basic health, nutrition,
and early childhood services and thus
has the capacity and opportunity to
learn well and to develop strong basic
academic skills,

Fortunately, most child poverty can
be eliminated or alleviated. The meth-
ods and programs for preventing child
poverty are proven and tested, avail-
able and cost-effective. We know the
way—we need the moral urgency and
the political will.

Children are not a special interest
group. They are our moral responsi-
bility, as well as our future. It is up to
all of us to see that none of them is
robbed of their God-given human po-
tential. Their nutrition, education,
health care, and protection cannot be
part of the ‘‘balancing of competing
interests’’ that government does. We
all must assure that their lives are pro-
tected and nurtured.

WHAT CAN YOU DO?

e Educate yourself and others.

e Reach out and serve children and
families directly.

¢ Work in partnership with commu-
nity organizations and institutions.

e Be an advocate for public justice
for children and families.

e Help make children’s issues visible
in the 1988 election and seek con-
sensus on a survival agenda for
children.

For more information on how you
can help contact:

Religious Affairs Coordinator
The Children’s Defense Fund
122 C Street, N.W.
Washington, DC 20001

What The Whole
World Needs Most
Is A ‘‘Faith’’ Lift!

DCRR DCCA STTD] CRORES CCSSORET TITS

Rev. Wesley I. Reid
Lee Memorial A.M.E. Church
Cleveland, Ohio


===== DSC05399.JPG =====

10

The AME Christian Recorder

January 11, 1988

Reagan’s Conspiracy Against the Homeless

President Reagan

President Reagan mouths easy plati-
tudes about the sanctity of the family.
The actions of his administration,
however, tell a completely different
story, particularly when we examine
the latest attack against homeless fam-
ilies.

We have all seen the evidence of
increasing homelessness: family after
family packed in city shelters like
sardines; young children roaming our
Streets at one and two o'clock in the
morning. This terrible devastation will
soon get even worse if proposed new
federal regulations are allowed to go into
effect.

The Reagan Administration has
decreed that federal emergency support
for homeless families will be abruptly
stopped after 30 days, even though the
average stay for homeless families is 12-
13 months. And remember, these monies
were already restricted—they can only
be used for temporary shelter. They
cannot be used to assist families with
apartment rents or to build permanent
housing. And now, if the Reagan
Administration has its way, these
families will be put out on the street after
one month. In New York City alone
some 4,600 families and over 11,000
children will be affected.

While we're at it, let’s talk about why
so many families are homeless in the first
place. Once upon a time our cities had
more low and moderate-income
housing. Not anymore. Why? For one
thing, during the first six years of the

Happy New Year f

Jno D. Walker
Fort Worth District
Tenth Episcopal District

Reagan Administration federal housing
funds for construction of public housing
and renovation of abandoned buildings
has been slashed from $31 billion to a
mere $8 billion—a $23 billion dollar cut.

Then, to make matters worse, the
administration deregulated thousands of
apartments all over the country which
were previously covered by federal rent
subsidies. This means that the owners of
these buildings—many of them located
in prime metropolitan areas—are now
free to charge whatever the market will
bear as the neighborhood is gentrified.
This also means that many of the present
low and moderate income tenants of
these buildings may soon be joining the
burgeoning ranks of the homeless.

In California alone it is estimated that
as many as 70,000 units will no longer be
subsidized. Nationally, thousands of
tenants have already been pushed out to
make way for those who could afford the
new astronomical rents. As a Chicago
tenants union organizer noted, “We
think this is the beginning of a wave of
dislocations.”

We see here an example of the double-
whammy. First the Reagan Adminis-
tration refuses to adequately fund con-
struction of low and moderate income
housing. Then it brutally slashes fund-
ing for emergency shelters and cuts
needed housing subsidies. Of course, this
kind of policy is to be expected from a
man who suggested the homeless were
sleeping on city grates “by choice.”

The Reagan Administration has
carried out a conspiracy against the
homeless and against low-income
families as well. The homeless are not
homeless “by choice.” Many have been
pushed into it by the callous and
inhumane policies initiated by this
administration.

We in the church and civil rights
communities must speak out against this
insidious conspiracy. But beyond that,
we must also embrace the homeless, by
helping to stop Reagan's evil policies.

May Your & Vew Year
Filled With Joy!

Rev. W. J. Jackson
Orangeburg, South Carolina

May Your New Year Be
Bright!

Connectional Lay Organization
Dr. Kathryn M. Brown
President
Atlanta, Georgia

Wishing You a
Prosperous
New Year!

Dr. L. W. Jenkins
Houston District
Houston, Texas

Vew lear
Be Filled
With Joy!

: Way Your

= ae Se aa

Dr. B. L,. MeCormick
Baker Chapel A.M.E. Church
Fort Worth, Texas

4

2S, New Year!

» Joyous

ny

Turner Chapel A.M.E. Chureh
Washington, DC


===== DSC05400.JPG =====

January 11, 1988

The AME Christian Recorder

Bethel A.M.E. Church 120th Year Presence In Saginaw

Bethel A.M.E. Church, Saginaw, MI, breaks ground for its 1.5 million dollar Educational
building. L-R: J. Shelby, R. McQueen, D. McKandes, Pastor C. G. Robinson, Mrs. E.
Robinson, Bishop Robinson, F. Carter. J. Phillips, S. Burton, C. Doster, E. Selby,
M. Saunders, R. Daniels, J. McGhee, (kneeling) J. Goines, T. Drake and E. Harris,
youth.

Bethel A.M.E. Church dramatized
its dynamic presence in Saginaw, MI,
by celebrating its 120th Anniversary
the entire year. The festivities and pro-
grams began in January. The final
phase of the celebration culminated in
November with the publication of a
souvenir booklet. The history of the
church was presented in drama, song,
recitations, sermons, an essay contest,
and a ground breaking ceremony for
an educational wing in a four day
climax in June.

In 1867 Bethel A.M.E. Church was
organized. Its first meetings were held
in the home of Mr. and Mrs. Allen
Ford on Fourth Avenue. Other charter
members were Mrs. Mary Countee,
Mr. and Mrs. Peterson, Mrs. Margaret
Van Dyke, Mrs. Ellen Foote and Mrs.
Malinda Gant.

This historical event entitled ‘‘Beth-
el Saginaw 1867-1907’’ was effectively
and colorfully dramatized on the
opening Wednesday night program
which included building blocks of Sag-

A Report on the ‘‘Sleeping Giant’? That Has Awakened

Dover District Holds 20th Conference

Dover, DE—With great pride, I have
accepted the commission by our
Presiding Elder, Dr. Joseph D. Tull,
to report on our 20th Dover District
Conference. When I look at the nine-
teen churches in our district, I would
call the Dover District a sleeping giant
that has awakened. Ten of our
beautiful churches have been rebuilt or
renovated, and great improvements
have been made to others in the last 20
years.

This year’s conference sessioh was
held at newly-rebuilt Mt. Zion AME
Church, where the Rev. and Mrs.
Rudolph W. Coleman and the con-
gregation served as our gracious hosts.
The Dover District Evangelists set the
pace for the conference with a spirit-
filled service on Thursday night. The
Macedonia AME Choir, Seaford, DE.,
sang the beautiful songs of Zion and
their pastor, the Rev. Walter Dixon,
took us to the mountain-top with ‘‘A
Message From the Lord.’’ After the
Word, the evangelists, pastors and
District leaders met at the altar for
prayer, led by Rev. Jean Sudler, and
tied our strings together, representing
strength and unity. The power of the
Holy Ghost filled Mt. Zion.

On Friday evening, the conference
officially opened with music from the
great choirs of the hosting church,
Dickerson Chapel, Millsboro; St.
James, Union, Frederica, and fabulous
St. Paul, Harrington, DE. The open-
ing session was graced by the presence
Presiding Elder Atwood J. Foreman,
Wilmington District, Delaware Con-
ference; H. L. Eddy, New England
Conference; and I. V. Patterson, IV,
of the Harrisburg District. Presiding
Elder did allow the Lord to use him as
he took his text from St. Mark 5:30
and spoke on ‘“‘The Transforming
Touch.’’ The Lord’s Supper was serv-
ed and we went out with a song.

On Saturday morning, as we
registered, Mt. Zion served a continen-

tal breakfast. The District Evangelists

opened the day’s session with devo-
tions and Dr. Tull organized the con-
ference. Mrs. Sarah Finley, Delaware
Conference Director of Music,
presented a workshop on the
A.M.E.C. Bicentennial Hymnal and
reports were received from Mrs.
Frances Benson, Conference Director
of Christian Education, and Rev.
James Hill, Conference Self-Help,
Inc. The Rev. Russell Perry, associate
pastor of St. James, Union, Frederica,
was preacher for the noonday worship
service, and spoke on ‘‘One Lord, One
Faith, One Baptism.’’ He was, indeed,
used of the Lord.

A delectable lunch was served by the
fine cooks of Mt. Zion, and we
gathered for the afternoon session. Dr.
Tull presented Bro. Jesse Kellam, who
represented the First District Endow-
ment Program. Other reports were
received from Sis. Betty Washington,
Dover Area WMS; Sis. Rosalie
Macklin, Conference YPD Director;
Sis. Delores Drummond, District Sun-
day School Superintendent; Rev.
Luther Walker, Jr., District Head-
quarters Coordinator; Sis. Gloria
Holland, District Music Coordinator;
and Rev. Marcella Wilson, District
Coordinator of Evangelists. Our new
pastor of Prospect AME Church,
Georgetown, DE, Rev. Gerald Scott,
was presented to the conference.

Rey. Tull presented his lovely wife,
Charlotte, who addressed the con-
ference, after which all reports were
received and the Resolution read by
this servant, Rev. Joseph Brame.

The grand 20th Session of the Dover
District Conference was brought to a
close by the singing of our district
theme song, ‘‘Bind Us Together,
Lord.”’

Your Reporter,

Rev. Joseph E. Brame

Pastor, St. Paul AME Church
Harrington, Delaware

inaw and a parade of organizations.
The history of the following organiza-
tions was also presented: Trustee
Board, Steward Board, Deaconess
Board, Christian Education Depart-
ment, Missionary Society, Lay Organi-
zation, Class Leaders and Prayer
Band, Usher Board #1, Stewardess
Board #1, Senior Choir and the Gospel
Chorus. The speaker for the evening, a
former son of Bethel, was Rev. Mc-
Kinley Tyler of Tanner A.M.E.
Church, Ontario, Canada. Music was
provided by the Senior Choir and the
Bowman Gospel Chorus.

Thursday night’s historical dramati-
zation depicted Bethel A.M.E. from
1908-1948. Each nightly time span pre-
sented the church’s previous ministers
and their accomplishments, curing
each phase; also the building occupied
at that time. The church organizations
on parade showed Bethel’s versatility
and the total involvement of the mem-
bership in the church’s spiritual pro-
grams. There was the: Busy Bee Club,
Retirees’ Club, Stewards’ Wives,
Trustees’ Wives, Courtesy Commit-
tee, Nurses Guild, Stewardess Board,
Rev. Norman V. Osborne, Pastor of
Bethel A.M.E. Church, Detroit, and
also a former son of Bethel A.M.E.
Saginaw, who delivered a powerful and
challenging message to the congrega-
tion.

Friday night the youth of Bethel
were on parade. The period 1949-1987
was presented in a play entitled ‘“The
Church Is Moving On,”’ written and di-
rected by Ms. E. Zipporah Thompson.
The dramatizations poignantly illus-
trated the sustaining power of faith
and hope; and reinforced traditional
values. The parade of youth organiza-
tions presented were: Sunday School,
High Teens for Christ, Y.P.D.ers,
Junior Church, Usher Board #3,
Acolytes, Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts,
Junior Choir, H.C.H. Youth Choir,
Bamecians and Stewardess Board #3.
The speaker for the evening, a divinity
school student and a ‘‘Daughter’’ of
Bethel, was Sister Sandra Crosby.

The highlight of the week’s activities
was the 10:00 Sunday Morning Wor-
ship Service in all its splendor, led by
the Honorable Bishop Hubert N.
Robinson. The sanctuary was trans-
formed into yesteryear with ladies
adorned in long dresses, matching
shawls and bonnets and carrying
Bibles. Many long-bearded men with
stove pipe hats and clothes from the
past. The opening hymn was Bethel’s
120th Anniversary Hymn. Its lyrics
were composed by 92-year-old Mrs.

their needs and aspirations today.

Every True AME should have the Book of
Worship to accompany your Bible, Hym-
nal Book, and a Sunday School Quarterly

African
Methodist
Episcopal
Church
Reduced Reduced
Only $5.00

The Book of Worship is a new book with a new name, offered in the hope that it will serve a
new age in our church. The change within is symbolic of the attempt to help Christians and
those who may become Christians to hear God's word, and worship Him, in the language of

BOW-815 .geacemnerern tay Please include 13% postage and handling .- -$5.00

Beatrice Watsor All five verses of the
hymn depicted the Church's history
from beginningto the present day. The
stirring anthen, ‘‘We’re Marching To
Zion’’ was nasterfully sung by the
combined Seiior Choir and Chancel
Choir, Equdly as moving was the
combined Gospel Chorus, Male
Chorus, H.¢€.H. Youth Choir and the
Bamecians with their rendition of ‘‘I
Don’t Feel No Ways Tired.”

An unforgettable moment was the
presentation of the members with 50
years of service to Bethel to the con-
gregation. Each member was given a
gold 50-year pin. Persons conducting
this ceremony were: Roslyn McQueen,
Odahlia Rance, Dorthy McKandes and
Rev. Clarence G. Robinson, Pastor.
Bishop Hubert N. Robinson delivered
a soul-stirring, powerful message. The
invitational hymn’s lyrics were com-
posed by Mrs. Margaret Brown, Senior
Organist of the church. Immediately
following the worship service, the en-
tire congregation marched outside for
the Ground Breaking Ceremony for
the new Educational Wing. The esti-
mated cost of 1.5 million dollars
building will have twelve classrooms, a
gymnasium, fellowship hall, kitchen,
etc., to be completed in the summer of
1988. The ceremony was conducted by
Bishop Robinson, Rev. C. G. Robin-
son, Pastor, Trustees and Stewards.

The finale to a glorious day was the
reception that followed.

Ruby Wofford, Reporter

Roslyn McQueen, Chairperson—

120th Celebration

Henry Brown, Sr., Chairperson
Bicentennial Celebration

Rev. Clarence G. Robinson, Pastor

Rt. Rev. Samuel S. Morris, Jr.
Presiding Bishop, 4th Episcopal District

Wishing You a ‘
i

f Prosperous New Year! |

:

{
Dr. O. L. Dawson

North Houston District a
Houston, Texas
CO | CREST CREST!


===== DSC05401.JPG =====

The AME Christian Recorder

Pictured at the site of the Little Angels Performing Arts Center, Seoul, South Korea, L-R:
Rey. Bass, Pentecost, South Hill, SC; Rev. Sligh, United Methodist, Philadelphia, PA,
and Rev. Joseph Brame, A.M.E., Harrington, DE.

Rotary Taps Rev. Brame For Membership

by Harry G. Farrow, Jr.

Harrington, DE—The 58-year-old
Harrington Rotary Club earlier this
month voted Rev. Joseph Brame,
pastor of St. Paul’s AME Church in
Harrington, to full membership in the
club. Rev. Brame has been the pastor
at the Harrington church for the past
seven years.

Rev. Brame was one of five children
who grew up in Bedford County, Ten-
nessee, but at the age of three, he and
his family moved to St. Louis,
Missouri. He attended public schools
in St. Louis before joining the US Air
Force which took him over a large part
of the world, seeing action in the
Korean War.

Following his term in the Air Force,
he moved to Montclair, NJ, where
he was employed in the trucking and
moving business. Later, he was to
move to Philadelphia, where he open-
ed his own business in the produce and
seafood lines.

Following his first wife’s death due
to ‘‘Myasphenia gravis’ (a disease of
the muscles) in 1971, he began a pur-
suit of the ministry. He married again
to his present wife and, in 1974, he
entered the Philadelphia College of Bi-
ble and the AME Institute in

The Romance of

AFRICAN
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A STUDY O!
AFRICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH

GEORGE A. SINGLETON

Philadelphia. Rev. Brame received his
ordination in 1977.

Following his ordination, he served a
church in Bensalem, PA, for 2 years.
“Tt was a real nice church in Bucks
County, Pennsylvania, and we liked it
very much,”’ said Rev. Brame. Follow-
ing that pastoral service, he took a
church in Chatham, NY. He said,
‘* ..1 enjoy pastoral ministry, but it
can be extremely difficult at times.’’

He selected membership to Rotary
because, as he put it, ‘*...I think they
are involved in worthy causes, and
when Dr. Arthur Gilbert (director of
curriculum in the Lake Forest School
District) asked me to consider
membership, I consented. It (Harr-
ington Rotary Club) is fast becoming
an active club, and I was most in-
terested in participating.’’

Rev. Brame cites as accomplish-
ments at the church the addition to the
church’s central heating system last
year, new rest rooms, a large Sunday
School class, as well as building the
congregation. ‘The goals are all point-
ed to membership and calling the sick
and infirm,’’ added Rev. Brame

Rey. Brame is a former member of
the Chaplain’s staff at Milford Memo-
rial Hospital

THE

St. Petersburg, FL—Young and ambi-
tious, full of vigor and innovation,
Rev. Samuel L. Green, Sr., arrived a
year ago to Greater Mt. Zion A.M.E.
Church. From that point on, there
began a chain of ‘‘firsts’’ in the history
of the church. Primarily, this was the
first time Mt. Zion ever had a minister
so young. However, with this youthful
minister came youthful ideas.

In just a few months under the lead-
ership of Rev. Green, the church start-
ed its first weekly (live) radio broad-
cast, bought its first van, implemented
a 24-hour Dial-A-Devotion line, pub-
lished a membership directory, estab-
lished a tape ministry, organized new
choirs, established a Girl Scout troop,
published a monthly newsletter to the
membership, and established several
new ministries (food, clothing, and
youth corrections) to aid in commu-
nity problems.

Rev. Green has a keen eye for ex-
panding or enhancing existing pro-
grams. He has demonstrated this by
purchasing a mew public address
system, paved the parking lots, pur-
chased new office equipment, remod-
eled the parsonage kitchen, hired a
part-time secretary and accountant,
purchased new property, painted the
interior of the church and installed
security lighting.

With all of the numerous cosmetic
changes, Rev. Green’s major change
for Mt. Zion was a spiritual renais-
sance, which was certainly a rebirth or
rejuvenation of the soul and a spiritual
awakening of one’s Christianity. This
was especially exemplary at Eastertime

January 11, 1988

ESSENSE

First Year In Retrospect

Rev. Samuel L. Green, Sr.

when Rev. Green introduced to the
city a special Easter worship with the
theme of ‘‘Community Unity.’’ He
held this service in a large public audi-
torium to accommodate the large
crowd which gathered in a community
wide effort to worship and pray for the
problems facing the community.

Rev. Green is strongly admired and
highly respected in St. Petersburg. One
very prominent (Baptist) citizen ex-
pressed that Green’s work has ‘‘tilted
and cultivated the spiritual soil here in
St. Petersburg, which initiated spirit-
ual growth.’’ Growth is so evident in
the proliferation of Mt. Zion’s mem-
bership and financial status. If looking
back provides any indication of the
future of Mt. Zion under Rev. Green’s
pastorate, one would quickly conclude
its future will be filled with more prog-
ress and spiritual enhancement.

§,

' Happy 1988!

;

New Year!

Date

1988-1-11

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The Christian Recorder

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