On Sunday morning, November 18, 2007, the saints and friends gathered at 11:30a.m. to continue the celebration of all that the Lord had done for us the past 32 years in a wonderful service of Worship.

 Songs of praise were rendered by the choir, some of which were originally written and put to music by Bro. Kenneth Jackson, i.e. “Wrapped In His Love” and “Alleluia”.  Remarks on the difference the pastor and church had made in their lives were given by Sis. Jamala Sampson, Bro. Terrell Jackson, Bro. Emmanuel Deas and Sis. Latonya Marsh. At the conclusion of the service, remarks were also given by visiting Bishop Steve Walters.

 The sermon was delivered in 3-fold message sermonettes by (1) Min. Tarryl McIntyre “Increasing the Kingdom of God Trough Quantity.” Sermon topic, Jesus the Great Recruit.  Some points to remember were that some pastors try to build congregations numerically for the purpose of monetary gain, but not our pastor.  Working in the military, a recruit’s main objective is to pull you in.  The recruit will tell you everything good, just to sign you up, even if everything is bad.  But there is nothing bad about the Kingdom of God, everything’s good, so what’s keeping you from completely signing up?  Main scripture text was St. Mark 1:14-16, other scripture texts were James 5:19-20, Proverbs 11:30; 14:25, and St. Luke 14:15.  Jesus taught his disciples how to be recruiters for the Kingdom of God, this is what our pastor, the head recruit at our church is trying to teach us.  Min McIntyre challenged us by asking the thought provoking question, do we have what it takes for people to drop they’re doing to follow us? Our pastor wants us to follow him as he follows Christ.

Message (2) Min. Steve Sweet, “Increasing the Kingdom of God Through Quality.”  Main scripture text was St. John 3:1-5, and St. Matthew 6:33.  In order to have quality in the saints’ lives we must realize that we first have an invitation when we come and hear the word, we must come through faith, then increase our faith, read and study the word of God, and live the word of God.  In order to increase in quality, we must repent, change our lifestyle, turn from old ways.  God didn’t intend for us to repent and continue in our old lifestyles.  We must go down in water and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ so that our sins can be remitted, Acts 2:38.  We must be fully immersed in water, and not merely sprinkled.  Nicodemus may have come to Jesus by night, so that he could separate himself from the people and possible ridicule.  He seemed to have honor, and respect, but not quality and the reality of having Jesus Christ in his life.  Some people have been in church 15-20 years, but remain in the same place as when they came in, where is the quality?  Some, like the withered fig tree, have no fruit in their lives.  We must pray, hear the word, come to Sunday School and Bible Class in order for quality to show in our lives.  Min. Sweet’s final admonishment was that each of us will pursue a quality life in Christ.

Message (3) Min. Matthew Pinkney began with an evangelistic approach by singing the song “Glad I Got Jesus In My Heart,” which got most people on their feet.  He then began his summary of the first two sermonettes  by choosing the topic “Commitment”, sub-topic:  “It Starts From the Top.”  Scripture text was taken from II Kings 22:11, 23:1-3,21,22,25.  Some of the sermon points highlighted are as follows:  Commitment is defined in various ways. (1) The Act of pledging or engaging oneself. (2) Being bound emotionally, spiritually to a course of action or to another person or being. No organization or establishment can exist without commitment.  The greatest example of commitment is God’s everlasting commitment to restore man back to his original state. God wants a commitment from you just as He has committed himself to you. King Josiah gave a powerful example of recommitting Israel back to God. Making everyone pledge their oath back to God, turn away from those idols and false images once they heard the word that was found in the CHURCH.......WOW!!!!!  Min. Pinkney ended his sermonette with a powerful altar call, and asking everyone present to come forward and commit themselves back to the Lord. Two souls were baptized in Jesus’ name.

The church members presented Sis. Janis Deas with a gift certificate to shop wherever she wished to purchase something for herself, and Pastor Deas was given Gold’s Gym Power Series exercise equipment.  Pastor and Sis. Deas also received many other cards and gifts from the saints. Final remarks were given by Pastor Earnest Deas and Sis. Deas.

This year’s Anniversary Committee members consisted of the Women’s Auxiliary officers:  Sisters Janis Deas, Cynthia Howard, Yolanda Murphy, Blanche Holmes and Qualyn McIntyre.