February 11, 2005: Headlines: COS - Nigeria: Religion: Ministry: DC Military: Several years ago, Pastor Gerald Durley (RPCV Nigeria) extended an invitation to the people of his inner city community to come and watch the game.
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February 11, 2005: Headlines: COS - Nigeria: Religion: Ministry: DC Military: Several years ago, Pastor Gerald Durley (RPCV Nigeria) extended an invitation to the people of his inner city community to come and watch the game.
Several years ago, Pastor Gerald Durley (RPCV Nigeria) extended an invitation to the people of his inner city community to come and watch the game.
Several years ago, Pastor Gerald Durley (RPCV Nigeria) extended an invitation to the people of his inner city community to come and watch the game.
Chaplain's Corner
Love is Contagious
by Lt. Cassandra Johnson
NDW Chaplain
Caption: Buddhist drummers offer a musical interlude during the interfaith Service of Remembrance, Reflection, and Healing. Drummers are Brother Gyoshu Utsumi (left) and Sister Denise Laffan of the Nipponzan Myohoji Atlanta Dojo, with Rev. Dr. Gerald Durley of Providence Missionary Baptist Church looking on.
Prior to this year's Super Bowl Sunday, I was reminded of Gerald Durley, the pastor of the Providence Missionary Baptist Church, a 1,000-member church in the heart of Atlanta.
Several years ago, Pastor Durley extended an invitation to the people of his inner city community to come and watch the game.
As it is with extending an open invitation, they all came - the homeless, the mentally challenged, the drug and alcohol-addicted and the afflicted.
As they entered the church basement many came with alcohol in hand, and with great excitement and anticipation of joining in the celebrations of a Super Bowl game.
Pastor Durley did not turn anyone away and he asked only that they refrain from partaking of the communion of the brethren in reverence to the Lords house.
Love was shown freely to the people of this community and it impacted both the church and its guests in a few ways.
1) The community received the love with great appreciation.
2) Love was given unselfishly and unconditionally.
The homeless had no real monetary donations to contribute toward the church expenses.
3) This love was also contagious. Though they could not give back materially or monetarily, they reciprocated the same love back to the church. They too gave the greatest gift of love.
Because of the genuinely gracious extension of love for the people, something magical happened in the hearts of the people.
By opening the Super Bowl festivities to everyone outside of its membership, the guests developed a special love, respect, and appreciation for pastor Durley and the members of the church.
Such validation of the importance and needs of the people moved them to return to the church and receive more love. The word of God took root in their souls and they in turn were moved to give back the same love to the community, and today, many of the same people of the community serve in leadership positions at the church.
In his own words in an interview with Christianity Today magazine, Durley states, "the church of Christ in the modern day is called to do the same thing that the saints of the early church were called to do.
"They were called to point people to Christ and save souls. I think that is the primary mission.
"And the apostles and first-century believers were doing that. But by the same token, we, as did they, have an obligation to meet the everyday needs of the people."
As we go through this year and beyond, let us remember to meet the needs of people and share the love of Jesus Christ.
This can be a very difficult task when dealing with people who show unlovable actions.
Love is very self sacrificial. It requires us to dig deeper than our own self-will, into the will of our creator who put the will to do what's right within us.
There are times in life when those who are closest to us may become cruel, uncompromising and unyielding.
This is a very opportune time for us to share true unconditional love. So even when faced with adversity after sharing love, it is always reciprocated by our creator.
We are to even bless those who curse us and pray for those who mistreat us according to Luke 6:28. God's love for us is constant and the more we practice love the easier it is to share. Love is contagious.
When this story was posted in April 2005, this was on the front page of PCOL:
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Story Source: DC Military
This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Nigeria; Religion; Ministry
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