Crowd packs BMCR worship service at AC2017

By Jessica Brodie

GREENVILLE—The Rev. Keith Hunter brought the evening message at the annual Black Methodists for Church Renewal worship Tuesday at Annual Conference.

So many people attended the service that extra chairs had to be brought in to accommodate everyone. Bishop Jonathan Holston and his wife, Felecia, also attended.

BMCR is the organized black caucus of The United Methodist Church. It represents and is dedicated to the more than 2,400 black UMC congregations and approximately 500,000 African-American members across the United States. The Rev. Pattie Gordon is the coordinator for the South Carolina BMCR.

The Rev. Constance Barnes served as mistress of ceremony for the evening worship, and a prayer was offered by the Rev. Judith Knox. The Rev. Brenda Washington read the Scripture for the evening, Proverbs 27:13-17, and the crowd also got the chance to hear from Jim Salley, South Carolina native and the associate vice chancellor for institutional advancement at Africa University, which the South Carolina Conference and South Carolina BMCR support.

An offering for the BMCR children’s conference was collected, and Holston said a few words before Hunter took to the podium.

Holston spoke about the importance of coming together and being helpful to each other as we do the ministry of the Lord.

“This is the time and the time is now,” Holston said. “We have to go into our communities and make a difference. We have to open our doors on Sunday but also on Saturday and on Friday and all week long.”

He said if a ministry is important to us, we will make time to make a difference, but if it is not, we will always make an excuse. “

I need your help, laity and clergy, to make a difference,” Holston said. “I need you to be the people who are the hands and feet and mouthpiece of God.”