So Great a Cloud of WitnessesEmbracing the Multi-cultural Legacy

of African American Soul Care and Spiritual Direction

Hebrews 12:1-3

Addressing the Elephant in the Room

Co-Authors

Co-Editors

My Story/My Calling

My Story/My Calling

My Story/My Calling

Capital Bible Seminary

A Voice for the Voiceless

A Gift to and a Gift from African Americans

Gift To: Validate Gift From: Value

Hebrews 12:1-3—Cloud 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.”

Surrounded by Witnesses

Not a Bunch of Coach Potatoes, Out-of-Shape Fans

Surrounded by World Class Spiritual Witnesses

Noah Daniel

Abraham

Surrounded by World Class Spiritual Athletes!

Lovie Smith, Head Coach,

Chicago Bears

Jon Kitna, Starting QB,Detroit LionsTony Dungy

Head CoachIndianapolis Colts

Surrounded by World ClassAfrican American Spiritual Witnesses

Entering Historical Hurt Engaging Historical Hope

Beyond the

SufferingGenesis 16:13

“Let us throw off hindrances and sin and let us run with perseverance the race set before us”

Whet Your Appetite

Family Life: Five Generations,

Beaufort, SC

Leaving a Lasting Family Legacy

Family Worship:Christian Slave

Preaching

Leaving a Lasting Family Legacy

Pulling the Rope in Unison:Venture Smith

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.”

Tug-of-War or Pulling the Rope in Unison

Pulling the Rope in Unison

“If we pull in life against each other we shall fail, but if

we pull together we shall succeed.”

Honoring the African American Father

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.”

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.

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)

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).

Honoring the African American Father

Hardships do notmake it too hard to love!

Honoring the African American Mother

Josiah Henson writes of his mother from whom he was

separated by slave sale only to be reunited by repurchaseafter he had fallen ill.

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.”

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.”

“I tell you, child, religion is good anywhere—at 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 can’t get any thing to eat sometimes, but trials make us pray more.”

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 don’t pray like they used to in slavery. You know when any child

of God gets trouble that’s the time to try their faith. Since freedom it seems my people don’t

trust the Lord as they used to. ‘Sin is growing bold,

and religion is growing cold.’”

Mother Wit: Octavia Albert and Charlotte Brooks

Following the North Star

In your life and ministry,how could you apply principles from:

1.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?

Following Founding Fathers

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. . . .

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.”

Hebrews 12:2-3Following 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 Himwho endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”

Hebrews 12:2-3—The 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 1:5).

Hebrews 12:2-3Following the Faithful Witness

Only by fixing our eyes on Jesuscan we move beyond the suffering.

Founding Fathers: Daniel PayneStanding his ground and confronting the white

authorities on the train, he said to them, “Before I’ll dishonor my manhood by going into

that car, stop your train and put me off.”

Founding Fathers: Daniel PaynePayne 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.

The Rosa Parks of His Day

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.”

Founding Fathers: Rev. Richard Allen

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, . . .

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.”

Following the North Star

In your life and ministry, how could you apply principles from:

1.Lemuel Haynes: An Epitaph Worth Living For?2. Daniel Alexander Payne: A Manly Man of God?3. Rev. Richard Allen: An Artful Soul Physician?

Sisters of the Spirit

Zilpha Elaw

“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, . . .

Spiritual Friendship

Zilpha Elaw

. . . 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.”

Spiritual Friendship

Maria Stewart

“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. . . .

Identity in Christ

Maria Stewart

. . . 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 1:26). He hath crowned you with glory and honor; hath made you but a little

lower than the angels (Psalms 8:5).”

Identity in Christ

Julia Foote

“God permits afflictions and persecutions to come upon his

chosen peopleto answer various ends. . . .

Biblical Sufferology

Julia Foote

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.”

Biblical Sufferology

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?

Following the North Star

“Consider Him who endured such oppositionfrom sinful men,

so that you will not grow weary and lose heart” (Hebrews 12:3).

Through Christ we move beyond the suffering!

There Is a Balm in Gilead

There is a balm in GileadTo make the wounded whole,

There is a balm in GileadTo heal the sin-sick soul.There is a balm in Gilead

To make the wounded whole,There is a balm in GileadTo heal the sin-sick soul.

There Is a Balm in Gilead

Sometimes I feel discouragedAnd think my work’s in vain,

But then the Holy SpiritRevives my soul again.

There is a balm in GileadTo make the wounded whole,

There is a balm in GileadTo heal the sin-sick soul.

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).

So Great a Cloud of WitnessesEmbracing the Multi-cultural Legacy

of African American Soul Care and Spiritual Direction

Hebrews 12:1-3“So Great a Cloud of Witnesses”