Celebrating the Heroes of
Black Church History
So Great a Cloud of Witnesses
Hebrews 12:1-3
Our Story/Our Calling:
God Has Not Placed Us Here by Accident!
My Story/My Calling
My Story/My Calling
Co-Authors
Co-Editors
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…”
(Hebrews 12:1-3)
Hebrews 12:1-3—Cloud of Witnesses
“…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”
(Hebrews 12:1-3).
Surrounded by Witnesses
Not a Bunch of Couch Potatoes,
Out-of-Shape Fans
Surrounded by World-Class
Spiritual Witnesses
Noah
Abraham
Daniel
Surrounded by World-Class
African American Spiritual Witnesses
Look to Jesus!
“Let us throw off hindrances and sin and let us
run with perseverance the race set before us.
Let us fix our eyes on Jesus.”
Leaving a Lasting Family Legacy
Honoring the African American Family
Rev. Thomas Jones
Honoring the African American Family
“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 Family
. . . 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”
(Rev. Thomas Jones).
Honoring the African American Family
Hardships do not
make it too hard to love!
Honoring the African American Marriage
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 and godly Christian 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.”
Finding Spiritual Freedom in Christ
All he ever needed to learn,
he learned in his enslaved home from a father
whose spirit was never enslaved
because his spirit was free in Christ!
Honoring the African American Mother
Pointing to the Father of the Fatherless
“When I was a child, my mother used to tell me to
look to Jesus,
and that He who protected the
widow and the fatherless
would take care of me also”
(Rev. Peter Randolph).
Pointing to the Father of the Fatherless
Enslaved African Americans Christians
survived by
painting pictures of God onto the
palettes of their life portraits.
They viewed God as the Father of the fatherless,
the God who collects their tears in His bottle,
and as God the Just Judge.
Leaving a Lasting Male Legacy
Lemuel Haynes:
An Epitaph Worth Living For
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 12:2-3
Following 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 Him
who 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 points 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).
Rev. Absalom Jones:
God Sees and Saves: Exodus 3:7-8
Rev. Absalom Jones:
God Sees and Saves: Exodus 3:7-8
“Our text tells us that He has seen their afflictions,
and heard their cry: his eye and his ear were
constantly open to their complaint: every tear they
shed was preserved, and every groan they uttered
was recorded, in order to testify at a future day,
against the authors of their oppressions.”
Rev. Absalom Jones:
God Sees and Saves: Exodus 3:7-8
“But our text goes further: it describes the Judge
of the world to be so much moved with what he
saw and what he heard, that he rises from his
throne and he comes down from heaven in his
own person, in order to deliver them out of the
hands of the Egyptians. Glory to God for this
precious record of his power and goodness.”
Daniel Payne: A Manly Man of God
Daniel Payne: A Manly Man of God
Standing 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.”
Daniel Payne: A Manly Man of God
“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.”
Leaving a Lasting Female Legacy
Sharing Christ in Suffering:
Jesus with Skin On
Octavia
Albert
Sharing Christ in Suffering:
Jesus with Skin On
“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.”
Octavia
Albert
Sharing Christ in Suffering:
Jesus with Skin On
“Aunt Charlotte my heart throbs with
sympathy, and my eyes are filled with
tears, whenever I hear you tell of the
trials of yourself and others.”
(Shared Sorrow Is Endurable Sorrow)
Octavia
Albert
Sharing Christ in Suffering:
Jesus with Skin On
“I never thought anybody but Jesus
would care enough for me to tell of my
trials and sorrows in this world.
I thought none but Jesus could know
what I have passed through”
(Charlotte Brooks).
Octavia
Albert
Finding Christ in Suffering
Charlotte
Brooks
Finding Christ in Suffering
Charlotte 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.”
Charlotte
Brooks
Finding Christ in Suffering
“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.’”
Charlotte
Brooks
Finding Christ in Suffering
“I tell you, child, Christianity 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.”
Charlotte
Brooks
Our Identity in Christ
Maria Stewart
Our Identity in Christ
“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. . . .
Maria Stewart
Our Identity in Christ
. . . 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).”
Maria Stewart
Healing Hope Is Future Hope:
Revelation 7:9-10
Healing Hope Is Future Hope:
Revelation 7:9-10
“After this I looked and there before me was a
great multitude that no one could count,
from every nation, tribe, people, and language,
standing before the throne
and in front of the Lamb.”
Healing Hope Is Future Hope:
Revelation 7:9-10
“They were wearing white robes
and were holding branches in their hands.
And they cried out in a loud voice:
‘Salvation belongs to our God,
who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.’”
Healing Hope Is Future Hope:
Revelation 7:9-10
Eternal Worship Will Not Be Segregated
Because in Eternity Our
Race Relationships Will Be Grace Relationships
Celebrating the Heroes of
Black Church History