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of the Fifth FpiscojKil DistrJcl
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Ttw Hi Rev, D. Ormond* W«Hmm ,
Presiding IWmp
tteorg* lone*. President
Hok idl
OS K A1.008A, KANSAS
Herbert R Dudley, President
Connections! Daymen's Dengue
Detroit, Michigan
Conference President*
Puget Sound Conference
Mrs Ocorgla Marshall, V. P.
California Conference
4210 Market Street
Oakland, Calif.
C. A. Stafford
Southern California
1594 E. 45 Street
Do* Angeles 11, Calif.
A. Ij. Mitchell
Colorado Conference
319 N. 7th Street
Albuquerque, N. M.
Dr. J. Rouls Ransom
Kansas Conference
2251 Topeka Blvd.
Topeka, Kansas
.T J. Parks
Nebraska Conf.
2044 N. 7th Street
Kansas City. Kas.
Joseph T. Anscet
North Missouri Conf.
106 South Wintz
Macon, Missouri
Clarence E. Owens
Southwest Missouri Conf.
2104 E. 27th Street
Kansas City, Mo.
A D. Hammons
Missouri Conference
4u9 Dafayeite Street
Jefferson City. Mo.
Send all news releases to youi
co ,t rence president by the 20th
ol each month.
8th and Towne
1 a\vme n Organize
Southern California Con foreno*
The Laymen’s League of His
toric 8th and Towne Church, Los
Angeles, Calif., was organized
following the meeting of the
Southern California Annual Con
ference in September, 1949. Fol
lowing the rules of organization of
the League as stipulated in the
Discipline of the A.M.E. church
as amended in Kansas City, Kas.,
in 1948, the election of officers
was held by the Rev. Frederick
D. Jordan, esteemed pastor of the
church. Brother W. Thomas Per
son, one of the leading officers
of the church, was elected presi
dent of the League for the year.
Sister Pinkie Wilson was elected
vice-president. Other officers of
the League include Sister Hallie
Randell, secretary; Sister Jay
Fairchild, assistant secretary;
Brother Paul H. Greenway, treas
urer; Brother Clarence Jones,
chaplain.
Brother Person immediately
launched his program for the year
pointing to the Annual Laymen’s
Day and the Episcopal District
meeting in Kansas City, Kas., in
June, 1950.
The Laymen’s Day program
was an unusually successful day.
Attorney Bernard Jefferson, a
local Layman and outstanding at
torney in the community, was the
principal speaker at the morning
worship period. He brought an
inspiring and challenging message
to the Laymen. The afternoon
program was devoted to a pre
view of outstanding political can
didates in the city who brought
views of how we as laymen could
improve our community with ex
planations of pending and pro
posed legislation immediately fac
ing the people of the community.
Congresswoman Helen Gahagan
Douglas and Attorney Vince M.
Townsend, jr., were participants
on the program. Mrs. Juanita
Miller, was also a guest speaker
► on the program. Mr. George
Beavers, Chairman of the Board
of Directors of the Golden State
Life Insurance Company, was the
moderator of the panel discussion
lor the afternoon. Without a
doubt, this Layman’s Day pro
gram was a complete success spir
itually, informatively and finan
cially.
Notes on Colo ratio
Annual Conf.
By James A. Atkins
‘‘Meeting the Leadership Needs
of a New Era" was the central
theme of the sixty-fourth annual
session of the Colorado A.M.E.
conference at Prince Chapel, Tuc- .
son, Ariz., Sept. 20-24th, the Rt.
Rev. D. Ormonde Walker, bishop
of the Fifth A.M.E. district, pre
siding.
Business of the Conference was
considered under several general
headings:
Improving the leadership of the
Colorado Conference, with spe
cial reference to the needs of
the small churches.
Meeting the increasing fi
nancial obligations of the Gen
eral Conference.
Extending the influence of the
A.M.E. church through larger
lay participation.
Working with Youth
Greater Church and Community
co-operation.
In a special session with the
laymen, Bishop Walker made an
urgent plea for their strong and
undivided support of his program
to revitalize the Church in the
Fifth District by providing a
higher caliber of leaders. The
first item on his agenda was to
increase the salaries of the Pre
siding Elders of the area.
Liberal contributions were
made by the Conference to the !
| missionary work of the A.M.E. '
j Church in foreign fields and to
: Douglas Hospital in Kansas City,
• Kas.
Results of the Laymen’s League
' annual election:
A. L. Mitchell, president. Albuquerque.
New Mexico.
R. C. Pearce, vice president, Casper.
Wyoming.
Mrs. Ruth Snow, secretary, Pueblo,
Colorado.
Mrs. Fannie Harper, correspondent
secretary, Tucson Arizona.
Mrs. Katie Strelen, assistant secretary.
Phoenix, Ariz.
Mrs. Juanita Gregory, treasurer, Salt
Lake City, Utah.
Mrs. Cloteal Lawrence, chaplain, Mc
Nary, Arizona.
Election of lay delegates to the
quadrennium will be held in Al
buquerque, New Mexico, May
17, 1951.
Sixty-fifth annual conference
will be at Shorter A.M.E. church,
Denver.
Review of South
California Conf.
C. A. Gibbs, presiding bishop
of the 14th Episcopal district and
W. R. Wilkes, presiding bishop of
the 16th district, were present as
special guests of Bishop Walker.
They all‘were of accord preaching
against sin; calling the church
to repentance and to come back
to the old land mark.
Bishop Walker in stating that we
cannot even please ourselves
when we please God reminded us
of Peter when he said it is better
to obey God than man. He saw
the conditions of each church and
acted with the spirit in moving
ministers who had served their
appointments well. I am sure that
when we all get adjusted we will
say all things work together for
good to them that love God.
Bishop Walker told us to stop
“jazzing our songs” b«t sing out
of the Methodist Hymnals.
Three good sermons each day
and good singing lifted our souls
during the conference.
General officers present were
the Rev. Fred A. Hughes, editor
of the Western Recorder and the
Messed
Is the Leader
Blessed is the leader who has
not sought the high places, but
who has been drafted into serv
ice, because of his ability and
willingness to serve.
Blessed is the leader who
knows where he is going, why he
is going, and how to get there,
knows no discouragement, who
presents no alibi.
Blessed is the leader who knows
how to lead without being dicta
torial; true leaders are humble.
Blessed is the leader who seeks
for the best of those he serves.
Blessed is the leader who leads
for the good of the most con
cerned, and not for personal
gratification of his own ideas.
Blessed is the leader who de
velops leaders while leading.
Blessed is the leader who
marches with the group, inter
prets correctly the signs on the
pathway that leads to success.
Blessed is the leader who has
his head in the clouds, but his
feet on the ground.
Blessed is the leader who con
siders leadership an opportunity
for service.
—Author Unknown.
Laymen League of
Emmanuel Church
Ralph R. King, pastor
So. Calif. ( "nfpwnw
Sunday, July 30th, the Lay
men Organization of the So. Calif.
Conference assembled for the pur
pose of organizing the laymen of
the local churches. The confer
ence president, Mr. Coley W.
Stafford, Mr. Benjamin W. In
grham, Mr. Henry Pettigrew were
present and a number of laymen
from local churches. The meet
ing opened with a program of
Spiritual and Gospel songs, by
“The Greater New Hope Sing
ers’* sponsored by Mrs. Elorrise
Cooper. After an enjoyable song
feast, Mr. Ingrham acting as mas
ter of ceremonies, introduced the
speaker, Mr. Henry Pettigrew of
Wards Chapel A.M.E. church who
! gave a very spirited and informa
tive message. After electing of
ficers the meeting closed with re
; marks by the president, Mrs.
Pauline Jones. All left with a de
termination to go forward.
Mrs. Juanita Lee Sommons,
Secretary.
League anized
At Annual Coni.
An organization of Laymen was
held at the seat of the Puget
Sound Annual Conference
I in Tacoma, Washington, August
9th. The following officers were
elected. Mrs. Fannie Cook, presi
dent, Seattle; Mrs. S. Strong, vice
president and Mrs. D. M. Woods,
treasurer.
John A. Woods reporter
809 No. 2nd Street
Yakima, Washington.
Senate Group Approves
Edith Sampson for UN
WASHINGTON.* (ANP). The
Senate Foreign Relations commit
tee has approved the presidential
appointment of Atty. Edith Samp
son as alternate U. S. delegate to
the UN, it was disclosed here last
Wednesday.__
Rev. J. S. Brookens, editor of the
A.M.E. Review.
Camilla Leftridge,
Reporter.
The 1 intslle Of Freedom
"Trinity Church
Kansas City, Kas.
Rev. S. M. Pointer, Pastor
Nebraska Conference
The first appreciation week for
the pastor was held Sept. 18 to
24. All organizations and many
neighbor churches participated.
Rev. Pointer was highly pleased
that the members showed they
had appreciated his work and
that we admire him and his
queenly wife. He stated that he
wants to become a bishop from
1 Trinity church.
He preached an inspiring mes
sage on Sunday morning on “The
Door of Life,” Text I Am the
Door, John 10:9, and the senior
1 choir was at its best under the
direction of Mrs. Eunice Jackson
and Mrs. Cozeta Kirkland at the
organ. Mr. arid Mrs. Charles
Daily of Rt. No. I, K.C.K , united
with the church.
Sunday, Oct. 1, 1950 was Rev.
Pointer’s last message for the con
ference year. All clubs and or
ganizations made their annual re
ports Sunday night.
The last event of the confer
ence year was a banquet by the
Nebraska Conference Laymen’s
League, honoring Bishop D. Or
mande Walker and his family. It
was sponsored by the Laymen’s
League of Trinity church, Mr.
i J. J. Parks presided, Monday,
Oct. 2 at 8 p.m.
Wednesday Oct. 4, Rev. Pointer
preached the opening sermon at
j the 13th annual session of the
Nebraska Annual Conference of
, the A.M.E. ^iurch, held at Bethel
A.M.E. church, Leavenworth,
Kas.
In the last quarterly confer
ence the Laymen empowered the
presiding elder to request to the
bishop the return of Rev. E. W.
Newton as presiding elder and
Rev. S. M. Pointer pastor.
The Laymen meet the first
Sunday of each month and the
attendance is increasing as the
members want to know more
about the church and help in
its program.
Mr. Leora Grayson, reporter.
Editor’s Note—Rev. Pointer and Presid
ing Elder Newton were both returned.
Tenth District Has
Lay Publication
The Laymen’s Voice extends
congratulations to the Texas Lay
man who now have their second
edition of the Texas Layman
publication off the press. It is a
monthly, adopted by the Texas
Laymen’s organization as their
official mouthpiece.
by
Lffir Lockhart Clark
Perhaps if we draw some com
mon-place parallels to the life of
Richard Allerl, founder of the Af
rican Methodist Episcopal Church,
we will find them a source of in
spiration to the work and program
of this laymen movement.
Let us sketch a brief picture
of the man first. Richard Allen
was a small physical stature;
there was nothing in his outward
appearance to suggest that he pos
sessed extraordinary talents. His
speech was ordinary. Yet his
life summed up to an extraordin
ary achievement. Allen purchased
his freedom for $2,000 at the age
of 26. He purchased the lot at
the corner of Sixth and Lombard
Streets in Philadelphia where he
brought a blacksmith shop and
converted its humble appoint
ments, out of his own means into
a place of worship. Allen did
not just limit his work to the
building of a church; he saw an
urgent need for his people to ac
quire the tools for raising their
citizenship status from that of
slavernent to men of free pursuits.
Allen, therefore proceeded to dovetail
a formal educational program with the
church program. Regular night claasee
were instituted where adults could be
taught their 3 Rs. He utilized his In
fluence to help make education available
to Colored children. In those days they
did not have free public schools as we
I of today.
Allen also had time o touch upon the
economic needs of his people by helping
other leaders show them how through co
operative pooling of their savings, they
could provide safeguards for each Other
In times of illness and bereavement. Out
of this movement grow one of the first
Colored burial societies or lodges
This very ordinary and plain
looking man also had time for
helping the larger community
which should be everyone’s con
cern. During the height of the
Yellow Fever epidemic in Phila
delphia, Allen helped nurse hun
dreds of the sick and bury the
dead. His services were so out
standing that Dr. Benjamin Rush
made public reference to them in
his writings. And when Richard
Allen died, he was worth—mind
you—$40,000. This is just a bare
sketch of the life of a humble
slave who started out with noth
ing—but his bare hands. He did
not even possess any constitu
tional rights as a man.
* • *
What parallels can we draw
from this character which would
be applicable to the work of our
present-day movement?
First, if the goal which we set
for ourselves is right and it is
meant that we should accomplish
that end—then we should make
no excuses for ourselves.
(To be continued next week.)
Editorially Speaking
Too much can not be said about
the program of expansion and the
amount of interest displayed dur
ing the seven annual conferences
already held.
We can now sing “The Church
is Moving On” with momentum
and power. After many years of
work the missionary ministers
who receive very little salary will
I be paid this year, a quarterly al
lotment which will help them
along at their post of duty. Pre
siding Elders will have an in
crease in salary and churches may
receive aid from the conference
in their building programs. We
are in a great program of King
dom building. Let us not only con
i tribute and give but sacrifice.
