The following is an assessment the Jerusalem Council held on April 14, 2005 in Los Angeles.
The meeting was called to order at 10:00 a.m. with a welcome by President, Pastor Dennis Plurde.
The mood of the meeting was set by two high school students who played piano, violin, and saxophone.
Willie Hall then gave a bit of the history of how we arrived at the meeting and the process was to listen to what each other were saying and be directed by the authority of the scripture, and the Holy Spirit. This process would be used to equip Senators how to vote on the Bylaw change at the August Senate.
Dr. James A. Scott took charge of the meeting at this point and lead the group in reading of scripture. There were many viewpoints on the subject, but each one was very respectful of each other.
There was only one threat made during the whole day and that came from a pastor who said if the denomination went pro homosexual, the church would leave the denomination.
It was explained to him that this meeting was the Ministers Council and not the denomination.
It was also learned that many of our pastors have persons in their families who are homosexual and they have had to struggle with the problem over the years. They loved them but not their life style. No one came out for homosexuality but said the scripture is clear on the subject.
This meeting was well attended. The count was between 53 and 56 persons. Just before we ask people to fill out the three questions:
A magnificent difference, etc.
We received 17 of the written responses with the following breakdown.
(3) Do not accept the change
(3) What ever happens will not effect our standing
(11) Must go through with the change.
Copies of these are enclosed. There are also copies of statements from two of the committees. As we closed the meeting, all stood in a circle with hands joined together and listened to Hezekiah Walker’s song (I Need You to Survive). After closing prayer was given by Dr. William “Bill” Thurmond. A week after the meeting there is some confusion as to separation of ABCUSA and Ministers Council which we will address in our next correspondence.
In His Service,
Willie Hall
Senator from Los Angeles