2nd Pastoral Anniversary Celebration

This past week, we celebrated 2 years as Pastor of the First Mount Zion Baptist Church, and the Lord really blessed us. We began the week of celebration on Tuesday, as we had First Lady's Appreciation Night, as Pastor Tracey Brown & Ruth Fellowship Ministries of Plainfield, NJ came and she blessed Penny and myself tremendously. The rest of the week we had some of my real good friends in the ministry: Pastor Rudy V. Carlton & Jehovah Jireh Praise & Worship Center, Pastor John T. Teabout & Greater Friendship Baptist Church and Pastor Eddie Spencer & First Baptist Church, Nutley. On yesterday my good friend and brother Pastor Vincent M. Rouse & Pleasant Grove Baptist Church came in and really blessed me with the Word of God.

This occasion has caused me to do a serious reflection on my time here as Pastor of FMZ, and what I have discovered was that my tenure here has been nothing short than a roller coaster ride. It has been both bitter and sweet, filled with good times and bad times, littered with its share of smiles and plenty of tears. But through it all, there is no place I would rather be because this is my assignment from the Lord, and he could have chosen anybody else to fulfill this assignment, but I am so glad that he indeed chose me.

I am thankful for a godly, praying and anointed wife to share this responsibility with. For there have been many evenings where I came home beat down by the issues of the church and by many of the people, and if I didn't have her in my life, I may have done or said something crazy. But I believe the Lord placed her in my life and ministry for that purpose and I love her and am eternally grateful for her.

There are many of my members who really make my time at FMZ enjoyable, and they are too many to name, but I want them to know that there Pastor loves them very much. We are presently in a transition, where we are in the process of closing on the sale of our present church and readying ourselves to march into our new location. This transition has caused our church to be in a state of pause or neutral, but we are getting close to our breakthrough, if we continue our faith in the promises of God.