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I would like to thank the Deacons whom I
have known in my life. I include in
this the women we title Deaconess, or whatever you call the women who help in
the ministry of mercy. I am in debt
to the ones who carried groceries to the door of my apartment in the projects
of Newark, NJ. To the ones who had a
phone installed in my mother’s house so she could call for rides to
church. To the ones who carried her
to the doctor and hospital and helped us in our years of need. I am thankful for the ones who came and paid
my rent when I was broke for a few months in seminary.
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I am thankful and proud of the ones who
have served with me at New City Fellowship.
Thank you for going into scary places, into outrageous situations, and
sitting with the desperate, the hungry, the sick, and the dying. Thanks for going under houses to fix
broken pipes in the dead of winter, for washing and cutting the nails of a
man with diseased feet, for paying for coffins and graves, for carrying
groceries to more single moms in the projects.
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Thanks for being on call, letting me
stay home while you went. Thanks for
leading people to Jesus as you prayed with them. Thanks for saying “no” to the crooks and deceivers, and after
you were conned for being willing to take a risk again. Thanks for confronting the lazy, the
wasteful, the foolish, yet loving them.
Thanks for giving the ex-cons and recovering addicts another
chance. I am so very proud of you
for you have given meaning to the name Christian, and respect to the name of
Christ’s Church. Keep your hand to
the plow!
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