So Great a Cloud of Witnesses

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So Great a Cloud of Witnesses Embracing the
Multi-cultural Legacy of African American Soul
Care and Spiritual Direction
Hebrews 121-3
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Addressing the Elephant in the Room
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Co-Authors
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Co-Editors
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My Story/My Calling
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My Story/My Calling
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My Story/My Calling
Capital Bible Seminary
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A Voice for the Voiceless
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A Gift to and a Gift from African Americans
Gift From Value
Gift To Validate
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Hebrews 121-3Cloud of Witnesses
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a
great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off
everything that hinders us and the sin that so
easily entangles us, and let us run with
perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us
fix our eyes on Jesus the author and perfecter of
our faith, who for the joy set before him endured
the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at
the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him
who endured such opposition from sinful men, so
that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
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Surrounded by Witnesses
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Not a Bunch of Coach Potatoes, Out-of-Shape Fans
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Surrounded by World Class Spiritual Witnesses
Abraham
Noah
Daniel
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Surrounded by World Class Spiritual Athletes!
Lovie Smith, Head Coach, Chicago Bears
Jon Kitna, Starting QB, Detroit Lions
Tony Dungy Head Coach Indianapolis Colts
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Surrounded by World Class African American
Spiritual Witnesses
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Let us throw off hindrances and sin and let us
run with perseverance the race set before us
Entering Historical Hurt
Engaging Historical Hope
Beyond the Suffering
Genesis 1613
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Whet Your Appetite
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Family Life Five Generations, Beaufort, SC
Leaving a Lasting Family Legacy
Family Worship Christian Slave Preaching
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Leaving a Lasting Family Legacy
i Johnson, God Struck Me Dead, p. 80.
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Pulling the Rope in UnisonVenture Smith
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Pulling the Rope in Unison
He then explained the object lesson to his young
bride. If we pull in life against each other
we shall fail, but if we pull together we shall
succeed.
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Tug-of-War or Pulling the Rope in Unison
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Pulling the Rope in Unison
If we pull in life against each other we shall
fail, but if we pull together we shall succeed.
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Honoring the African American Father
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Honoring the African American Father
I loved my father. He was such a good man. He
was a good carpenter and could do anything. My
mother just rejoiced in him. . . . I sometimes
think I learned more in my early childhood about
how to live than I have learned since.
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Honoring the African American Father
All he ever needed to learn, he learned in his
enslaved home from a father whose spirit was
never enslaved.
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Honoring the African American Father
I can testify, from my own painful experience,
to the deep and fond affection which the slave
cherishes in his heart for his home and its dear
ones. . . . (Rev. Thomas Jones)
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Honoring the African American Father
. . . We have no other tie to link us to the
human family, but our fervent love for those who
are with us and of us in relations of sympathy
and devotedness, in wrongs and wretchedness
(Reverend Thomas Jones of NC).
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Honoring the African American Father
Hardships do not make it too hard to love!
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Honoring the African American Mother
Josiah Henson writes of his mother from whom he
was separated by slave sale only to be reunited
by repurchase after he had fallen ill.
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Honoring the African American Mother
She was a good mother to us, a woman of deep
piety, anxious above all things to touch our
hearts with a sense of religion. Back with her,
I was once more with my best friend on earth,
and under her care.
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Mother Wit Octavia Albert and Charlotte Brooks
It was in the fall of 1879 that I met Charlotte
Brooks. I have spent hours with her listening to
her telling of her sad life of bondage in the
cane-fields of Louisiana.
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Mother Wit Octavia Albert and Charlotte Brooks
I tell you, child, religion is good anywhereat
the plow-handle, at the hoe-handle, anywhere. If
you are filled with the love of my Jesus you are
happy. Brooks taught that trials make us
God-dependent. You see, my child, God will take
care of his people. He will hear us when we cry.
True, we cant get any thing to eat sometimes,
but trials make us pray more.
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Mother Wit Octavia Albert and Charlotte Brooks
Brooks also taught that the lack of trials can
lead to a slackening of faith. I sometimes
think my people dont pray like they used to in
slavery. You know when any child of God gets
trouble thats the time to try their faith. Since
freedom it seems my people dont trust the Lord
as they used to. Sin is growing bold, and
religion is growing cold.
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Following the North Star

• In your life and ministry,
• how could you apply principles from
• Venture Smith Pulling the Rope in Unison?
• 2. Thomas Jones Hardships Do Not Make It Too
• Hard to Love?
• 3. Octavia Albert Listening to Sad Stories?
• 4. Charlotte Brooks Trials Make Us God-
• Dependent?

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Following Founding Fathers
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Lemuel Haynes An Epitaph Worth Living For
Here lies the dust of a poor hell-deserving
sinner, who ventured into eternity trusting
wholly on the merits of Christ for salvation. . .
.
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Lemuel Haynes An Epitaph Worth Living For
. . . . In the full belief of the great doctrines
he preached while on earth, he invites his
children and all who read this, to trust their
eternal interest on the same foundation.
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Hebrews 122-3Following the Faithful Witness
Let us fix our eyes on Jesus the author and
perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set
before him endured the cross, scorning its shame,
and sat down at the right hand of the throne of
God. Consider Him who endured such opposition
from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary
and lose heart.
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Hebrews 122-3The Faithful Witness
The great cloud of past Christian witnesses
ultimately point to the greatest Witness and the
greatest reason for enduring suffering Jesus
Christ! The result of earthly witness is to point
to the Heavenly Witness so that together we will
not grow weary and lose heart. Jesus is the
Faithful Witness (Revelation 15).
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Hebrews 122-3Following the Faithful Witness
Only by fixing our eyes on Jesus can we move
beyond the suffering.
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Founding Fathers Daniel Payne
Standing his ground and confronting the white
authorities on the train, he said to them,
Before Ill dishonor my manhood by going into
that car, stop your train and put me off.
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Founding Fathers Daniel Payne
Payne notes that after he left the train, The
guilty conductor looked out and said, Old man,
you can get on the platform at the back of the
car. I replied only by contemptuous silence.
Payne then carried his own luggage, walking a
great distance over a heavy bed of sand to his
next speaking engagement in the deep South. Payne
literally walked the talk.
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The Rosa Parks of His Day
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A Manly Man of God
I was the child of many prayers. My father
dedicated me to the service of God before I was
born, declaring that if the Lord would give him
a son that son should be consecrated to him, and
named after the Prophet Daniel.
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Founding Fathers Rev. Richard Allen
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Richard Allen An Artful Soul Physician
Feeling an engagement of mind for your welfare,
I address you with an affectionate sympathy,
having been a slave, and as desirous of freedom
as any of you yet the bands of bondage were so
strong that no way appeared for my release yet
at times a hope arose in my heart that a way
would open for it and when my mind was
mercifully visited with the feeling of the love
of God, . . .
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Richard Allen An Artful Soul Physician
. . . that he would make way for my enlargement
and then these hopes increased, and a confidence
arose as a patient waiting was necessary, I was
sometimes favored with it, at other times I was
very impatient. Then the prospect of liberty
almost vanquished away, and I was in darkness
and perplexity.
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Following the North Star

• In your life and ministry,
• how could you apply principles from
• Lemuel Haynes An Epitaph Worth Living For?
• 2. Daniel Alexander Payne A Manly Man of God?
• 3. Rev. Richard Allen An Artful Soul Physician?

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Sisters of the Spirit
i Ibid., p. 287. ii Ibid., p. 288. iii
Ibid., p. 16.
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Zilpha Elaw
Spiritual Friendship
If, therefore, there is anything in the soul
reviving and thrilling Christian intercourse we
have enjoyed together in the Spirit of Christ,
and in the holy communion with which we have so
frequently met together in the house of God, . . .
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Zilpha Elaw
Spiritual Friendship
. . . mingled our ascending petitions at the
throne of grace, unbosomed our spiritual
conflicts and trials to one another, and listened
with devotional interest to the messages of
gospel mercy, and the unfolding mysteries of
divine grace.
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Maria Stewart
Identity in Christ
Many think, because your skins are tinged with a
sable hue, that you are an inferior race of
beings but God does not consider you as such. He
hath formed and fashioned you in his own glorious
image, and hath bestowed upon you reason and
strong powers of intellect. . . .
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Maria Stewart
Identity in Christ
. . . He hath made you to have dominion over the
beasts of the field, the fowls of the air, and
the fish of the sea (Genesis 126). He hath
crowned you with glory and honor hath made you
but a little lower than the angels (Psalms
85).
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Julia Foote
Biblical Sufferology
God permits afflictions and persecutions to come
upon his chosen people to answer various ends. .
. .
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Julia Foote
Biblical Sufferology
Sometimes for the trial of their faith, and the
exercise of their patience and resignation to His
will, and sometimes to draw them off from all
human dependence, and to teach them to trust in
Him alone.
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Following the North Star
In your life and ministry, how could you apply
principles from 1. Zilpha Elaw Modeling
Spiritual Friendship? 2. Maria Stewart
Emphasizing Identity in Christ? 3. Julia Foote
Presenting Biblical Sufferology?
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Following the North Star
Consider Him who endured such opposition from
sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and
lose heart (Hebrews 123). Through Christ we
move beyond the suffering!
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There Is a Balm in Gilead There is a balm in
Gilead To make the wounded whole, There is a balm
in Gilead To heal the sin-sick soul. There is a
balm in Gilead To make the wounded whole, There
is a balm in Gilead To heal the sin-sick soul.
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There Is a Balm in Gilead Sometimes I feel
discouraged And think my works in vain, But then
the Holy Spirit Revives my soul again. There is a
balm in Gilead To make the wounded whole, There
is a balm in Gilead To heal the sin-sick soul.
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There Is a Balm in Gilead If you cannot sing
like Peter, If you cannot preach like Paul, You
can tell the love of Jesus, And say He died for
all. There is a balm in Gilead To make the
wounded whole, There is a balm in Gilead To heal
the sin-sick soul (Repeat).
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So Great a Cloud of Witnesses Embracing the
Multi-cultural Legacy of African American Soul
Care and Spiritual Direction
Hebrews 121-3 So Great a Cloud of Witnesses