Like an uninvited and unwelcomed guest, death has once again invaded our space and interrupted the peace in our hearts. This is not a typical Weekly Focus. This weekend, my wife Betty and I will be in Salisbury, N. C. to attend the homegoing celebrations and services of a mighty woman of God and a lifelong friend. When I was a youngster growing up in church, Carrie Hunter, a high school and college friend of my sister, Gwen, joined my dad’s church, Royal Light Holy Church of Deliverance. She later became an evangelist through whom many of her family and friends were saved and most joined our church.

One Sunday morning after the benediction, she walked up to me with that holy glow and bright smile that defined her and excitedly told me there was a bright light glowing from my countenance! She looked at others standing near and asked, “Can’t y’all see it?” I don’t know if anyone else did, but I never forgot that experience and like Mary, I pondered it in my heart.

“You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden” (Matthew 5:14 NLT).

This Little Light of Mine: Pentecost at My 21st Birthday Party!

In my final year of undergraduate school at NCCU in Durham when I was about to turn 21, some friends of my brother, Griffin, from A & T State University planned a surprise birthday party for me at A & T. They invited gospel choirs from NCCU, WSSU, and A & T and asked me to MC the concert. It was a ploy to get me there. As the choirs sang gloriously and joyfully, the Spirit of the Lord filled the room, students began speaking in tongues and prophesying! Some other students from the campus wandered in and witnessed that Pentecostal move of God. About a year or so after that, following a Sunday morning service in Durham, a young man came up to me, introduced himself and told me that he had been saved at my 21st birthday party! The light that Carrie Hunter saw on my countenance, now made sense to me! It is a light that I must let shine everywhere I go!

Earlier this month, Dr Carrie Hunter Bolton went home to be with the Lord. She let her light shine throughout her life as a preacher, college professor, pastor, and voice for the voiceless, even in the halls of the Congress of the United States where she gave a powerful speech for campaign finance reform in 2000 that is so relevant today. See here: https://www.c-span.org/program/puglic-affairs-event/rally-for-campaign-finance-reform/158560

After the ad, scroll to the 12:08 minute mark to hear Pastor Carrie Hunter Bolton’s short, but fiery, and powerful words to our U. S. Congress.

 Focus Quote: “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.”  –Matt. 5:16 NKJV.

 Special Note: Please lift Pastor Alfred Holston, former chair of the GMCHC Ministerial Alliance, in prayer. He asked us to let you know that he desires your prayers as he battles a major health crisis. “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man [or woman] availed much” (James 5:16b). 

 And please continue to join us for our 5:14 pm prayer. “Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us” (1 John 5:14). Just pause and pray wherever you are. Just connect to God and pray! We and many others will also be praying with you. There is power in agreement!