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2B - January 28, 2015 The Chronicle
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ANNOUNCEMENTS********************************************************************************St. James Presbyterian Church, U.S.A., is seeking an ideal candidate to fillthe position of full-time Minister of Music. The minister of music is respon-sible for giving comprehensive leadership to music ministry of the church dur-ing worship, special services, programs and outside engagements.The candidate should possess knowledge of the Christian worship serviceand have a strong knowledge of various religious music e.g., traditionalhymns, spirituals, gospels and contemporary. The candidate should be profi-cient with the piano, organ; have knowledge of various musical instruments,able to arrange music, teach voice and choral parts. It is preferred that thecandidate possess a minor or major music degree with a minimum of 5 yearsof experience and able to play music by note and by ear.Individuals interested in applying for this position should submit his or herresume, that should include at least two (2) references [email protected], The resume may also be delivered in person ormailed to, St. James Presbyterian Church U.S.A., Attn.: PersonnelCommittee, 1314 Secessionville Road, James Island, SC 29412. The deadlinefor submitting an application is January 31, 2015. St. James PresbyterianChurch, U.S.A., is an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer.********************************************************************************Organist Needed: If you are dependable, committed, and dedicated to theministry of music, then this job is for you. Jerusalem Missionary BaptistChurch (3317 Meeting Street, North Charleston, SC) is seeking an organistfor Sunday morning worship services. If you are interested, please contact:Bro. Al McCullough @ 308-9432; Sis. Louerelza Monroe @ 554-4536; Min.Tracy Gantt @ 934-0296. Please apply by February 9, 2015. Rev. BernardBrown, Sr., Pastor********************************************************************************The Holy Ghost Crusaders Praying Band 48th Anniversary will be celebrat-ed on Wednesday, January 28 - Friday, January 30, 2015 at Greater St. LukeA.M.E. Church(78 Gordon St., Chas., SC 29403). Devotional service is at7:30 p.m. nightly by the Praying band. Rev. Randolph Miller will be therevivalist. Rev. Herbert Temoney is the host pastor.********************************************************************************Greater St. Luke AME Church observes FOUNDER’S DAY on Sunday,February 8, 2015 at the 11:00 a.m. worship service. Allen University’s Choiris the featured guest choir. The church is located at 78 Gordon Street,Charleston, S. C. 29403. Rev. Hebert L. Temoney, pastor
CHURCH & SOCIALCHURCH & SOCIALwww.charlestonchronicle.net
Southern Baptist Leaders Call For Integrated Churches(AP) - Leaders in nation’slargest Protestant denomina-tion are preaching that integrat-ed churches can be a key driverof racial justice in society. Butthat could be a hard sell to thosesitting in Southern BaptistConvention congregations.
The Rev. Russell Moore, wholeads the Southern Baptist’sEthics and Religious LibertyCommission, is one of severalwhite leaders calling for multi-ethnic congregations in thewake of the unrest spurred bythe killings of black men bywhite police officers inFerguson, Missouri, and NewYork City.
“In the church, a blackChristian and a white Christianare brothers and sisters,” Moorewrote recently. “We care whathappens to the other, becausewhen one part of the Bodyhurts, the whole Body hurts. …When we know one another asbrothers and sisters, we willstart to stand up and speak upfor one another.”
The effort has taken on partic-ular urgency for Moore andother Southern Baptist leaderswho have been working to over-come the denomination’s histo-ry. The convention was formedin 1845 in a split with otherBaptists when SouthernBaptists resolved to continueallowing slave owners tobecome missionaries.
During the civil rights move-ment, Southern Baptists werelargely silent or actively opposedending segregation. The
denomination eventuallydeclared racism a sin, and in 2011renewed efforts to reach out toLatinos, African-Americans andothers. The next year, thedenomination elected its firstAfrican-American president, theRev. Fred Luter, Jr.
Moore’s commission has alsoorganized a leadership summitcalled “The Gospel and RacialReconciliation” to be held thisspring.
Moore said he has two goalsfor the summit. He wants tospur churches to work for racialreconciliation by articulating itas a Gospel demand. And hewants to facilitate personal rela-
tionships between SouthernBaptists of different races.But some would also like to see
concrete efforts to integrate theSouthern Baptist Convention,especially at the level of leader-ship. “The church lacks themoral authority to address theworld about race before we setour own house in order,” saidthe Rev. Dwight McKissic, ablack Southern Baptist pastorin Arlington, Texas.
While he praised recent state-ments by SBC leaders, he alsonoted that the denominationcontinues to employ all whitesas top executives and seminarypresidents.
“It’s obvious the rhetoric andreality is not matching,” he said.Nonwhite congregations made
up 20 percent of the SouthernBaptist Convention’s nearly51,000 congregations in 2012,the most recent year statisticsare available from the denomi-nation. But less than 1 percent ofthose congregations are multi-ethnic. The vast majority ofSouthern Baptists attend achurch predominantly filled bypeople of their own race, be itblack, white or Hispanic. Thesituation is nearly identical inmost Christian denominationsin the United States.
Despite that lack of integra-
THE RELIGIONCORNER:
Find a Wayby Lyndia Grant
As a columnist and radio talkshow host, it is my obligation tokeep up with what matters. Indoing so, I pay close attention toparticulars, the kind of thingsthat may not matter so much toothers. This is the little voice inmy head that tells me, “This willbe an attention-grabbing story.”
While watching Oprah’s SuperSoul Sunday on the OWN cablenetwork last week, I heard thestory of Diana Nyad. Accordingto her bio from the websiteBio.com, Nyad is a broadcastjournalist, writer and record-breaking swimmer who, at age64, became the first person toswim from Cuba to Floridawithout a shark cage – a dreamshe had since she was 8 yearsold.
On Labor Day, Sept. 2, 2013 —her 50th try — Nyad achievedher dream, swimming 110 milesbetween Havana and Key West,accompanied by a support team.She was in the water for morethan two days, according to thewebsite.
When I listened to Nyad tellOprah her story on a Sundaymorning, I wrote down thethree points she wishes to leavewith the world. They are 1)Never ever give up; 2) You arenever too old to chase yourdream; and 3) It looks like a soli-tary sport, but it’s a team.
During her interview, Oprahasked Nyad how she have feltduring one of her failedattempts, when she was stungby jellyfish so badly that herbody felt as if it was on fire.According to the video shown,her team pulled her from theocean as she cried “Fire! Fire!Fire!” She described the painfulexperience. Only a woman ofgreat resolve would have want-ed to persist following suchintense pain.Next Oprah asked: “What were
you thinking at that time? Didyou want to give up on this idea?What was going through yourmind?” Nyad said “I was think-ing ‘Find a way!’” How coura-geous! I sat on the edge of mybed in awe; with thoughts of mynew journey to take my radioshow into syndication. It hit methat I will indeed “Find a way!”My radio show will be national-ly syndicated within the nearfuture. The dream dies onlywhen we quit.
This target of mine is a ‘newthing,’ my dream given by God;though it must become a micro-cosm, with each piece as if it is asmall world of its own; station-after-station will unfold like arose as a smaller version of thewhole. In the end, it will be likea lovely garden, each flowercomplimenting the other, a cre-ation of a beautiful landscape.Isiah 43:19 says “Behold, I willdo a new thing; now it shallspring forth; shall ye not knowit? I will even make a way in thewilderness, and rivers in thedesert.”
When you find joy in doingwhat you were sent here for, itwill be for you what Gary Zukavsaid; “When the personalitycomes to serve the energy of thesoul.” You and I were born withthe personalities we need totravel this journey designed bythe Greater Power, God. Whiledoing so, remain your authenticself. There is nothing moreempowering to your life than tobe authentic.
Remember, I wrote a fewweeks ago, how we must learnfrom everything, set our inten-tions, meditate and be glad to bealive, no matter what our situa-tions, the way Diana Nyad did!When we do, we learn fromdivorce, cancer, diabetes, defeatand every good or bad thinghappening; and never becomediscouraged. We “Find a way!”
tion, a phone survey of about1,000 churchgoers by LifewayResearch recently found thatonly 37 percent of evangelicalsthought their churches neededto become more ethnicallydiverse. The survey was not bro-ken down by denomination.
David W. Key Sr., director ofBaptist Studies at EmoryUniversity’s Candler School ofTheology, said the conventionadopted a resolution in 1995 rec-ognizing and apologizing for itshistoric role in supporting slav-ery and Jim Crow policies. If thedenomination had also set outto address the inequalities thosepolicies had wrought, it couldhave done a lot over the past twodecades, he said.
Moore said he agrees thatthings are changing too slowlywithin the SBC, but he seessigns of hope. He points to thework of Southeastern BaptistTheological SeminaryPresident Danny Akin, who hasmade recruiting and educating aracially diverse group of futurepastors a key goal.
Akin said he doesn’t think thepatterns and structures built upat the SBC over more than acentury can be changed withoutan active and intentional effort.
“My grief is we’re late to thisparty,” he said. “We should havebeen leading the way. TheChristian church should be thefirst to speak to issues of dis-crimination and injustice … notsitting back.”
Can physical strength help usovercome obstacles and chal-lenges in the spiritual realm?No, "For our struggle is notagainst flesh and blood, butagainst the rulers, against theauthorities, against the powersof this dark world and againstthe spiritual forces of evil in theheavenly realms" (Ephesians6:12). But in prayer even thephysically weak can becomestrong in the spiritual realm. Assuch, we can call upon God togrant us power over evil.
"For physical training is ofsome value, but godliness hasvalue for all things, holdingpromise for both the present lifeand the life to come." -1 Timothy4:8
"Watch and pray so that youwill not fall into temptation.The spirit is willing, but thebody is weak." – Matthew 26:41
Through prayer we obtain anexperiential basis for our faith.We do not ignore the intellector reasons for faith, but prayermakes our experience of Godreal on an emotional level.
Prayer not only strengthensour relationship with God, butwhen we pray with other believ-ers, prayer also strengthens thebonds between fellowChristians.
PrayerGives us
PowerOver Evil
