"The prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise them up; and anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective."
~James 5:15-16
June 22, 2009
The Rev. Dr. Cedric E. Kirkland-Harris, 58, passed away Thursday, June 11, 2009. He was a native of Newark, N.J. Dr. Kirkland-Harris was the former pastor of the Bank Street Memorial Baptist Church in Norfolk and was a member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc.June 10, 2009
Please join me in prayer for our friend and brother, Rev. Paul Clark, Endorsing Agent for Chaplains and Pastoral Counselors. Paul's mother, Inez Clark passed this weekend after a brief illness in Los Angeles, CA. Condolences may be sent to Paul at his mothers home at:
The Rev. Paul Clark
8904 Tenth Avenue
Inglewood, CA. 90305
Funeral Services will be held on Saturday, June 13th at 10 AM at the Faithful Central Bible Church in Inglewood.
June 4, 2009
Message from the Spiritual and Personal Wholeness Committee
Unless you feed the shepherd, the shepherd will eat the sheep.
~ Basque Spanish Proverb
What feeds you? What restores you, builds you up, and fills you up? Where do you go when you need to be ministered to or when you need a church pew of your own? What makes your soul sing? Perhaps you retreat to nature or the house of a friend or recharge through exercise or dance or silence. Taking Sabbath time is essential, both to serve as an example and to maintain a suppleness of soul. This is not optional.
All of us must be fed, and if you don’t consciously take time out for this, it will get taken out of you, or taken out by you on others. You will become ill-tempered with your congregants or family members, frustrated at the pace of your ministry, short on humor and long on complaints.
Remember old cartoons where a ravenous character, perhaps abandoned on a deserted isle with some other unfortunate soul, begins to slip into hungry deliriums where their companion morphs into a hamhock on legs? Let this serve as a cautionary tale for you. Unless you feed the shepherd, the shepherd will eat the sheep.
Jesus urged Peter to feed his sheep and to care for his lambs, but the shepherd, too, must be nourished, lest they turn a hungry eye to their charges, and tear the flock apart.
Take some time away.
Do you remember the last time you abandoned yourself to laughter?
When did you last experience true contentment and peace?
Where do you truly rest in God, and know the fullness of the Spirit?
Pay attention to your responses, and seek these times out. Make them a concerted part of the rhythm of your ministry. If you are stumped or struggled for answers, consider meeting with a spiritual director, or taking some time off (even a day) to dwell on these things.
May you know fullness and satisfaction in God.
Rev. Jamie P. Washam
May 26, 2009
Dan Buttry will have surgery on June 1 for prostrate cancer. Dan is taking this very seriously because his father died of prostate cancer at the same age as he is now, but he also states that "... medical technology is so much greater today…over 90% of patients like me getting the treatment I'm getting are fully recovered in 3 months and have a survival rate of 5 years (which is considered then cancer-free)." Thank you for your prayers for Dan's healing and for his family. Your prayer support is much appreciated!
May 13, 2009
Dr. Richard M. Jones, who retired as deputy executive director in 1991 after 36 years of service to American Baptist National Ministries, died on Friday, May 8, following a fall several days earlier. He was 81. A memorial gathering, “A Celebration of Life and Service,” will be held on Saturday, May 23, at 2 p.m. at Lakeshore Avenue Baptist Church, 3534 Lakeshore Ave., Oakland, CA, where Jones was a member. Condolences can be sent to Shirley Jones at 1300 Quarry Court #405, Point Richmond, CA 94801.
May 6, 2009
Please keep Ken Blazier's wife Elaine and family in your prayers. (Ken once served as Director of Church Education with the former Board of Educational Ministries and later as Executive Director of Interim Ministries-ABC.) Ken had surgery early last week and although he was recovering well, he was struck with a massive embolism and passed away yesterday at Phoenixville Hospital. The Memorial Service for Ken Blazier will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Monday, May 11, at Wayne Presbyterian Church located at 125 E. Lancaster Ave., Wayne, PA.
May 6, 2009
Please also keep Grant Hansen and family in your prayers. (Grant was for years head of the Division of Christian Education in BEM.) His wife Fern, who once worked as staff for the Board of International Ministries, passed away on Friday, May 1st. There will be a service on Saturday, May 9th at First Baptist in Oakland.
April 29, 2009
Rev. Víctor Mercado
We have learned that at 5:30 P.M. on Monday, April 27, 2009, Rev. Víctor Mercado, Area Director for Latin America and the Caribbean from March 1975 until June 1992 went to be with the Lord. He was surrounded by his wife, Iris Morales, his oldest son, Víctor Manuel, Rev. Guillermo Otero, his pastor, Rev. Roberto Dieppa, newly appointed Executive Minister of the Iglesias Bautistas de Puerto Rico, Rev. Miriam Z. Gutiérrez, Interim Executive Minister and friends and relatives. He had been hospitalized for six days due to renal and lung deficiencies. The Lord’s presence was felt throughout this whole time. Víctor’s family feels strengthened and hopeful in that one day they will see each other again in heaven.
On Wednesday, April 29, there will be a viewing at Primera Iglesia Bautista de Rio Piedras, Calle Brumbaugh #1058, San Juan, Puerto Rico starting in the afternoon. There will be a memorial service celebrating Víctor’s life and ministry at 7:30 PM Wednesday evening.
On Thursday, April 30 at 9:00 A.M. the funeral service will be held at the Funeraria Ehret in Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico and from there at 10:00 A.M. they will proceed to Borinquen Memorial Cemetary in Caguas.
Víctor’s contribution as a pastor to the Baptist Churches of Puerto Rico was vanguard and filled with promise. He was capable of discerning and advancing the cause of the Puerto Rican denomination encouraging companions in ministry, being a mentor in the profoundness of faith and its relationship with life, and being a prophet of these times facing an unjust society, leaders that have dishonored ministry and institutions that have strayed from the true cause of God.
Condolences may be sent to his widow:
Iris Mercado
Calle Alcala #1752
Urb. College Park
Río Piedras, Puerto Rico 00921
April 6, 2009
Virginia F. Palmer, long-time American Baptist, passed away March 13, 2009, at the age of 86. A Memorial Celebration was held on Saturday, March 28, 2009, at the Catalina Church of Midtown.
If you have prayer requests you would like to have posted please email to: sue.sechrist@abc-usa.org.
Back to the Well; Refreshment for the Spirit - The Lord's Prayer