AFRICAN-AMERICAN

There are precious few African Americans in the foreign mission community today. How can this be changed? Black Americans today seem to focus their outreach within large American cities and within East African countries. Perhaps the following article will shed a ray of hope for those who are more unreached-focused. It was published in AIMS's Winter '96-97 _Final Frontiers_ magazine. My guess is that this information came from JoAnna Rochester's work (See address below). UPDATE: For more great resources check out the April 2000 _Mission Frontiers_ Magazine from the U.S.Center for World Mission HTTP://www.missionfrontiers.org--NW

As a young man, William Carey challenged a group of ministers to take

the Great Commission seriously. "Young man," one of them rebuked him, "When God chooses to win the heathen, He will do it without your help or ours." Carey persisted in the call he received from God, and in the process he made missions history.

Almost any missions aware person has heard of William Carey. It is unfortunate, however, that fewer people have heard of Lott Carey, who, along with Colin Teague, helped form the Richmond African Baptist Missionary Society. These men were credited with being the first American missionaries to Africa, though current records prove this honor actually goes to fellow African American missionaries David George and Jesse Peters.

Though many are unaware of the contributions of African American missionaries, their zeal and commitment is a matter of historical record. The missionary activity of the African American church is a testimony of its faithfulness in fulfilling the Great Commission.

• In 1770, six years before our war for independence, a black missionary named John Marrant, who may be considered the very first American missionary, preached the Gospel among the Cherokee, Creek, Catawar, and Housaw Indians.
• In 1782, George Liele became the first American overseas missionary. In this same year, David George, who pastored the first Black Baptist Church in America, began preaching in Nova Scotia. He would later plant churches in West Africa.
• The first American single woman who traveled overseas as a missionary was Betsy Stockton, originally a slave of the president of Princeton University, Dr. Green.

These few examples offer a mere taste of the richness of African American missions history. February is Black History Month. During this time, we hear about many great black Americans who contributed to our American society--people like Booker T. Washington, Dr. Martin Luther King, and Sojourner Truth, to name a few. Certainly, these men and women deserve honor and recognition, but let us not forget the other black Americans who impacted the eternal destiny of people all over this world. These brave men and women shared the Gospel in this country and abroad, and in the process became heroes of the Christian faith. *Reprinted from AIMS Final Frontiers <aims@CBN.org>

* RESOURCES FOR MOBILIZING AFRICAN-AMERICANS *

VIDEOS

• To The Ends of the Earth. Many of the talking heads on the video promoting Praying Through The Window III are blacks from Ghana. Order Through Caleb Project, 10 West Dry Creek Circle, Littleton, CO 80120 HTTP://www.calebproject.org
• The Destiny Movement created a really high-quality video on the history of Blacks in Missions for a Mission conference for Blacks held in Atlanta I think in 1987. If you can get your hands on this video, I highly recommend it! I wrote to the 227 Godby Road. address on an old Destiny order form and the Post Office returned the letter "not Deliverable as Addressed." Do you have a more current address?

BLACK MISSION SPEAKERS:

• JoAnna Rochester is in leadership of an agency called Every People, Tribe, and Nation is both a mobilization and church-planting agency which seeks to call Blacks to reach unevangelized peoples. They also have Short-Term Projects (Leadership & World Mission Training School) and an International Missions conference scheduled for Nov. 7-8. I was very impressed with JoAnna's seminar: Minorities in Missions, at the Heartland MissionsFest. You can order the tape of that seminar from <HMF@XC.org> or contact EPTN directly at P.O. Box 129, Detroit, MI 48221 Or Call 313-891-0067
• Beverly Pegues is the director of the Windows International Network, associated with New Life Fellowship in Colorado Springs, and is coordinating much of the "Praying Through The Window" campaign. 719-522-1040

Rev. Ken Wilson (my Dad), who has been a key liaison between a white suburban mega-church and Black urban churches in Birmingham, AL, has also recommended the following Black speakers. The first three are relatively broadly known, and the last three, while capable of speaking on the topic, do not have as much of a life emphasis on foreign mission:

• Elward Ellis-Destiny Movement, Inc.-probably near Atlanta
• Crawford Lorritts-associated with Destiny; Union City, GA 404-969-7278
• Eugene Burrell-Navigators; 202-635-0907
• Rich Berry-Church pastor in Atlanta (404) 785-3810
• Charlie Speight-Navigators; (404) 627-2256
• Michael Jones-Campus Crusade/transitioning to church pastor in Birmingham, AL
• Vernard Gant-with a Christian school in Colorado Springs

BOOK: A Black History of Missions
Cross-Cultural Evangelism A Decade Before William Carey. 10 Pgs. By Elgin Taylor, P.O. Box 728, Woodlake, CA 93286 (US$7)

Note: If you are a Non-Black seeking to influence Black Americans, be aware of what is culturally appropriate. In the South, it must be approached as a cross-cultural experience, whereas, in my experience, Blacks in the Western U.S. may not want to be approached as culturally different. I'd love to hear further testimonies on this subject!--NW

ANSWER From: ELEllis@aol.com (DESTINY)
You May Order the video by sending a check for $95.00 made payable to Destiny Movement, Inc.to my attention at 4370 Apple Tree Drive, Stone Mountain, GA 30083.

the video is $90.00 and the shipping fee is $5.00.

For speaking engagements please contact me by letter and phone. In a letter please state the date, purpose, audience discription, number of people expected. Please follow the letter with a phone call to me at 404-298-9388. After talking with you I will give final consideration needed to determine if I am able to be with you.

AFRICAN`

AIMS MISSIONS TRAINING FOR AFRICAN PASTORS
From: Bob Williams <bob@aims-usa.org> Peggy Rayman, representing the Association of International Mission Services (AIMS) Africa Aflame alliance, recently returned from Kenya, where she and a teaching team presented a missions mobilization seminar to 500 African pastors. The outreach was designed to train Kenyan pastors to evangelize and plant churches among unreached people groups in their own nation and in surrounding countries.

Peggy led a group of teachers who presented The Harvest Connection Seminar... The seminar offers practical tools to help church leaders and concerned individuals mobilize their congregations to strategic involvement in missions. Those participating in this AIMS ministry trip included the Rev. and Mrs. Leonard Farrar and Mr. Terry White from New Canaan Full Gospel Baptist Church in Garner, NC; and Mr. Wic Ware, an urban development specialist from Raleigh, NC. The Rev. Farrar, international overseer of missions for the Full Gospel Baptist Fellowship in the US, commented, "We give thanks to our Heavenly Father for allowing us at last to visit Kenya. The people received us as long-lost relatives. Our team was able to share how important it is that we reach every people group, so that we can usher in the coming of our Lord and Savior. We shared The Harvest Connection with pastors and challenged them to mobilize their churches to reach unreached groups. We praise our Lord and Savior for opening doors and preparing the hearts of His people."

The potential effect of the congregations represented at this training event is staggering. AIMS representatives believe God has kept Kenya safe because He wants to use this nation to launch missionaries to unreached groups. To that end, the last day of the trip saw the formation of a new AIMS/Kenya Alliance. Kenyan representatives appointed a temporary working committee to set up a meeting to which denominational leaders from all over the country will be invited. At that meeting, a permanent steering committee will be elected to oversee further mobilization of the Kenyan church and the adoption of its unreached people groups.

If you want more information about The Harvest Connection Seminar, or about the new Kenyan alliance, please contact AIMS today at PO Box 64534, Virginia Beach, VA 23467, or call 757-579-5850.

AFRICAN-AMERICANS IN MISSION III
From: Glenn Herr <herrglen@iohk.com> A name and ministry in which you might be interested in this connection is Dr. Estelle Gross of Right Way Ministries, P.O. Box 6491 Baltimore, MD 21230-0491, tel. 301-576-8837; no e-mail that I know of. She has been involved in several cross-cultural short term ministries ranging from the Philippines to Mali to Suriname.

Addendum: May 2003: Great Commission Global Ministries
I wanted to make you aware of Great Commission Global Ministries. We are an organization dedicated to blessing all nations by mobilizing people, but especially Black people for world missions. We mobilize people of the African Diaspora for world missions. Our president, Bishop David T. P. Perrin is an outstanding resource as a speaker and his team is an outstanding resource as team leaders, equippers, and mobilizers. We equip, network and mobilize. Our web site is gcgm.org... Most especially, I invite you to attend our International Missions Conference "Maximum Impact Networking II" to be held in Boca Raton Florida July 1-3, 2003. The information is on the website...
Lydia A. Harper [grette2@earthlink.net]

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