# 43, May 23, 2003

Mack Dennis Chosen as BTSR Intern at RRCB for Next Academic Year

Austin "Mack" McIver Dennis will be our church's BTSR intern for Sept. '03 to May '04. Mack is a native of Henderson, NC, a graduate of the University of North Carolina and a rising senior at BTSR. He is well known to our youth and aspires to be a pastor after completing his education. He has a wide range of experience from being a preacher for the Samuel Project to being a dishwasher for a sorority. Mack has a delightful sense of humor, is bright, engaging, and could be a pastoral candidate in five years if the Pastor Search Committee reaches a stalemate. Mack is interested in working in all phases of our church, but is particularly interested in the "TwentySomethings." Hey, Shepsons, that includes us. We might think about asking this young man to teach a lesson some time during the year.

Shepson Grandkids Shine in "The Carnival of Animals"

Those in attendance this past Wednesday night were privileged to see the musical "The Carnival of Animals." The Cherub, Carol and Crusader Choirs starred in this performance. There were a number of church staff and Shepson grandchildren in this performance. Attached to this PHA is a photo of some of the Cherubs. Can you find at least three Shepson grandchildren?

Will Teacher Bob Get Us Half Way by July?

According to this week's Spire (that other more proper publication) Teacher Bob will begin at verse forty-eight in chapter eight of John. PH cannot validate this prediction, as PH was not in attendance last Sunday. Somehow PH set his alarm clock for 8:30 PM last Saturday night. PH awakened at 9:30 AM and was guilty of a near unforgivable sin. This was an unusual event, as Shepson Brenda, daughter Elizabeth, borderline collie Paddy and half Lab Livie did not get PH up either. PH begs for forgiveness for this unexcused absence and hopes that all Shepsons (including Courtney Bunn) will forgive him.

There are twenty-one chapters in the Gospel of John. Halfway through John would be around chapter 11, verse 23. We have approximately 118 verses to cover in order to be halfway through John before the Catacombs Lectures. We have six Sundays before July and if Teacher Bob manages to move steadily at twenty verses per week, then we can make it halfway through John by July. At this rate we might get Jesus on the cross by next Easter (chapter 19) and resurrected at a seaside fish fry (chapter 21) by this time next year. But I would not bet any virtuous BB money on this as Teacher Bob could easily revisit the Prologue, the Samaritan woman at the well, the woman caught in adultery and even John the Baptizer. Think of the possibility. The SSBSC could complete a gospel in two years. Which will happen first? Will the SSBSC complete John or the PSC find a pastor? PH is on Teacher Bob's "Chariot of Fire." Movie lovers will remember "Chariots of Fire," whose title originated from William Blake's poem.

And did those feet in ancient time
Walk upon England's mountains green?
And was the holy Lamb of God
On England's pleasant pastures seen?

And did the Countenance Divine
Shine forth upon our clouded hills?
And was Jerusalem builded here
Among these dark Satanic mills?

Bring me my bow of burning gold:
Bring me my arrows of desire:
Bring me my spear: O clouds unfold!
Bring me my chariot of fire.

I will not cease from mental fight,
Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand
Till we have built Jerusalem
In England's green and pleasant land.

Prayer Rounds

Wayland Is Slip Sliding Along

Missionary Bill leaned this week that Shepson Wayland had an accident last Saturday and his right knee may have been injured. Apparently this was one of those at home bathroom accidents. Wayland had an appointment with an orthopedic surgeon this week.

Carl Sizemore has requested that the name of his mother-in-law, Bernice Jett, be added to our class prayer list. Mrs. Jett is having surgery Tuesday to relieve some of the discomfort caused by rheumatoid arthritis

In addition to Wayland and Bernice Jett, We should continue to remember the Mears Family, Kim Dodson, Dot and Cecil Sherman, Terry Marsh's parents, Chester's father, Jessica Price-Vaughan, the Manor Bible Study Class, the Church Staff, the Pastor's Search Committee, our new intern Mack Dennis and those only known to you.

Prayer Rounds

PH is not aware of any new prayer concerns. We should continue to remember Wayland after losing his sister, the Mears Family, the Torstrick Family, Kim Dodson, Dot and Cecil Sherman, Terry Marsh's parents, Chester's father, Jessica Price-Vaughan, the Manor Bible Study Class, the Church Staff, the Pastor's Search Committee and those only known to you. One of those known to PH is Jenny Danielson who has stage IV cancer of the pancreas. For many years she has been the dynamic leader of the Triad Post-Polio Support Group in North Carolina. As so often, bad thinks happen to good people.

One SSBSC Event Winding Down and Another Event Coming Up

Our May ISH mission project is coming to a close in a week. How many diapers and Wal Mart Gift certificates did we donate to ISH? Missionaries Charlotte and Bill will let us know at the end of May. Mark your calendar for our Farm Social on June 28. Sign up lists will be forthcoming.

Wayland Is 29 on the 26th

Next Monday (Memorial Day) World War II Marine Veteran Shepson Wayland Andrews will be twenty-nine. Many members of the Great Generation founded RRCB. Our surviving WW II veteran members are diminishing. We are honored to have Wayland and other members of the Great Generation in our class.

The Sun Do Move

Shepson Brenda's great-great grandfather Dr. Benjamin Falls was instrumental in the conversion of Virginia Baptist preacher William Hatcher. Hatcher was originally from Bedford County Virginia. He later was a pastor in Petersburg, Manchester, and at Richmond's Grace Street Baptist Church. In his retirement Hatcher founded the Fork Union Military Academy. During his time in Richmond Hatcher became a friend of John Jasper. Jasper was born a slave and became one of Richmond's great nineteenth century preachers. Hatcher often went to hear Jasper preach. One of the few recollections of Jasper's greatest sermon is printed in Hatcher's biography of Jasper's life. That sermon was entitled "The Sun Do Move."

John Jasper was born on July 4, 1812, in Fluvanna County at the Carysbrook Plantation. He was the youngest of twenty-four children. His paternal grandfather was brought over as a slave from Africa. Jasper grew up as a slave and worked as a child as a cart boy. He later worked for his owner's holdings in Williamsburg, Chesterfield County and Richmond. He developed an early interest in astronomy. His female owner was a devout Baptist. He learned to read from the Bible. Before the end of the Civil War Jasper had become a skilled preacher. At the age of fifty-two he became a free man. During Reconstruction he often preached to other African Americans on Brown's Island here in Richmond. He probably holds the record for the most baptisms in a two hour time period. That number was three hundred. On September 3, 1867, he co-founded the Sixth Mount Zion Baptist Church. That church still exists today at Duval and St. John's Street. The building erected in 1887 was remodeled in 1925 and today honors Jasper with the Jasper Reading Room. In 1878 Jasper delivered his "The Sun Do Move" sermon. This was not his best sermon but he was asked to deliver it 253 times, including once to the entire Virginia General Assembly. The sermon could take up to ninety minutes to deliver. Jasper's three scriptural references to prove his point are from the following in the King James Bible:

Joshua 10:12-13 Then spake Joshua to the Lord in the day when the Lord delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel. Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon; and thou, Moon, in the valley of Ajalon. And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies. Is not this written in the book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day.

Jasper's logic explained that if the sun stood still, then it must have been moving.

2 Kings 20:9-11 And Isaiah said. This sign shalt thou have of the Lord that the Lord will do the thing that he hath spoken: shall the shadow go forward ten degrees or go back ten degrees? And Hezekiah answered. It is a light thing for the shadow to go down ten degrees; nay, but let the shadow return backward ten degrees. And Isaiah the prophet cried unto the Lord; and he brought the shadow ten degrees backward, by which it had gone down in the dial of Ahaz.

Jasper's logic explained that if the shadow moved backward ten degrees; the sun had to be moving.

Malachi 1:11 For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same my name shall be great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering; for my name shall be great among the heathen, saith the Lord of hosts.

Jasper explained that the scripture could not be any clearer about the sun rising and going down.

Although he may have studied the Bible literally as was not uncommon for his time, he was an includer. He wrote a hymn that demonstrates his inclusiveness.

Everyone Got to Rise to Meet King Jesus in the Morning

Everyone got to rise to meet King Jesus in the morning,
The high and the low,
The rich and the poor,
The bond and the free,
As well as me.

You got to rise to meet King Jesus in the morning,
Whether you is prepared or not.
To God's tribunal
You've got to go.
You've got to rise to meet King Jesus in the morning.

The learned and the unlearned,
Barbarian, Gentile, and the Jew,
Have you read it in His word,
That the people was drowned in the flood,
Everybody got to rise to meet King Jesus in the morning.

And finally Jasper's take on being born again:

"If you is what you was, you ain't."

And on the life ever after:

"My soul will mount higher in a chariot of fire,
And the world is put under my feet."

Jasper died March 30, 1901, at the age of eighty-eight.

PH note: Reference sources for this Jasper piece are from William Hatcher's biography of John Jasper and from an article by Nancy B. Miner in the 2003, number 73 issue of the Fluvanna County Historical Society.

A John Jasper web link: http://www.johnjasper.123ts.com

Fun Photo

In the photo attached the Cherubs left to right are: Marian Nase, Abby Holland, Kelley Lee, Ryan Nicholson, Brian Price, Ian Gaal, Madi Blankenship and Elizabeth Vaughan.

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