The Journey Continues

Republished from Fall 2010 issue of Joshua's Journal- A Reid Temple AME Church Publication from the Commission on Public Relations (pp. 22-24) (http://www.reidtemple.org/)

“Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers [and Sisters,] I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”

Philippians 3:12-14
New International Version

This Fall, my daughter Zuri and I bid a fond farewell to our Reid Temple family to relocate to Evanston, IL. There I will begin studies towards the completion of the PhD in Theological, Ethical and Historical Studies at Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary on the campus of Northwestern University. 
When I was asked to write an article of thanksgiving and reflection on my ministry experiences at Reid Temple I was both humbled and quite surprised. I’ve been a member for some seventeen plus years and praise God that what has been done in, through and for me is uniquely my testimony, so what I offer in this article is simply a glimpse into my journey that someone may be inspired, encouraged and possibly even feel a sense of closeness to my life and ministry. To everyone who reads this, please accept my gratitude for your part thus far and I solicit your prayers as God continues to write more chapters in this story of who I am becoming.

In thanksgiving to my father in ministry, our Pastor, Rev. Dr. Lee P. Washington and the people of Reid Temple it would be a difficult, perhaps even impossible, feat to attempt to name every person who has impacted my life, and the life of my daughter, throughout our journey at Reid. There have been mothers who have shown me how to be a mother, fathers who have shown me what it means to be treated like a lady, families who have welcomed me to their tables and friends who have shared rooms, beds and floors with me when I had none to call my own. When my resources were strained there have been people who hearkened the voice of the Spirit and slide me money in a handshake, grocery store and gas station gift cards, clothes, prayers and encouragement without expecting anything in return. When I had to walk to church, ran away from home to the church, found myself sleeping in the parking lot of the church, Reid Temple members have been there so much so that I cannot help but acknowledge that I was raised by what an African proverb calls “village-hands.”

Although my parents never married and each had their own challenges to overcome as young adult parents, there never arose a shortage of “village-hands” willing to help raise me, many of whom were Reid Temple members at one time or another. I moved once a year until I reached the seventh grade, yet I managed to successfully navigate the proverbial “ins and outs” of academia, but I never really had one solid place to call “home.” That was until January 1993, when I followed my youth choir director and his young bride-to-be to a church on Good Luck Road where everyone was family; I seemed to finally have a home. It has been the stability provided in the nurturing community of Reid Temple AME Church that has molded me into the type of young woman I am becoming.

As a youth growing up in the family of Reid Temple in the mid-nineties I was afforded so many amazing opportunities. While we didn’t have the quarter of a million dollar youth ministry budget we had by the time I became the Commissioner of Youth & Young Adults in 2004, Pastor Washington’s vision has always included a heavy emphasis on youth ministries. During my years as a youth we had a youth minister, Rev. Henry N. Cole, who loved us, connected with us, and who was a father figure to many of us who didn’t have fathers actively present in our lives. He regularly taught Bible Study, coordinated service projects and conferences that helped each of us to develop personal, life-sustaining relationships with Jesus. It was out of the richness of the Reid Temple youth ministry exposure that God’s calling on my life began to be made evident.

In 1994 we held a Youth Conference and part of the conference included a healing service during which Rev. Cole had me to participate in the laying on of hands of an attendee. The woman entered the service unable to walk unassisted and left leaping and rejoicing God’s greatness. Following this high Spirit filled encounter, I knelt at the altar, prayed and felt a strange “burning” sensation on my lips and it frightened me. Upon sharing my experience with Rev.Cole he instructed me to read Isaiah 6:6-8. Of course, as a young person, this passage was even more frightening than the experience! Under no circumstances did I have a desire nor willingness to believe that God could possibly mean for me to project this verse into my life. Accordingly, I attempted to avoid any conversation of Spirit workings in my personal life as well as all high Spirit encounters in corporate worship. When the power of God would be revealed in a high moment of worship, I became uncomfortable and would excuse myself; a strategy that seemed viable until I encountered Rev. Debyii L. Sababu Thomas at the Reid Temple Women’s Retreat in 1995. As the Spirit moved within the evening worship experience I came face to face with the power of who God was calling and equipping me to be. A second time, God confirmed my call in a visible manner as Rev. Debyii empowered me to “walk” in the gifts God had given me in praying a demonic spirit out of one of the youth on the trip. Dreams, Spirit encounters, experienced ministers and congregational support all confirmed and validated that God was calling me, yet I ignored the call and ran from what I knew God was calling me to do for the next nine years; but when God anoints us for a purpose we are permitted to run only for a season!

The concept of anointing is said to have originated with the practice of shepherds. It is said that various flying pests like lice and other insects would fly near the heads of sheep while grazing, endangering the sheep by being able to get into their ears and kill them. The good shepherd would “anoint” the heads of the sheep to make their wool too slippery for the pests to even take hold of the sheep’s wool. This ministry to which I am called, and for which I am anointed, takes seriously the call to keep lice and other insects of the world from burrowing into the sheep’s ears and killing them. I am called to preach, teach, administrate, and lead the people in worship in such a way that invites those on the margins to be welcomed at God’s holy table while being ever mindful that there is a spirit at war against the people of God that seeks to bring confusion at that table. Accordingly I am called to study so that I may be equipped in head to then equip the people for the work of ministry with more than a shout of hallelujah.

Reid Temple A.M.E. Church has been the place where I learned to trust God’s voice and to follow God’s directions for this journey. This next leg of the journey is one that we eagerly anticipate and solicit your prayers for as we press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called [us] heavenward in Christ Jesus!