Perspective…..

Perspective…..

It is soo very hard to losse sight of what is most important. There are so many things that are competing for our attention these days. From keeping up with the latest fashions, trends, and hobbies, health concerns, children, careers, church work, maintaining our homes, cars, friendships and keeping up with American Idol eliminations. It can be a challenge to keep this all in balance and to insure that you don’t collapse at the same time. The most important thing to remember is that in all you do you must remember to keep the main thing at the top. It’s all about perspective. Our relationship with Godis of most importance, for He give light to what should and how each is to be managed in what way. Your health is definitely important and must come next. If there is no you then what. Family is really after this becuase before any career or and outside work, charity begins at home. All this is followed by our Careers, and church work. A balanced life is what we’re looking for here, and keeping it all in perspective, will cause real balance to manifest. God Bless!

Paula White’s Story – Getting to know her better…

Turning Trash into Treasure: The Testimony of Paula White

By Stephen Hubbard and Lisa Ryan
The 700 Club

CBN.com – Paula White is the one-woman dynamo who is taking the Christian world by storm. She and her husband pastor one of the ten largest churches in the U.S. in Tampa, Florida.

Her daily TV show reaches 90 percent of the world. She has a big-time book deal and the endorsement of one of America’s most respected spiritual leaders… Bishop T.D. Jakes.

All this from a lady who was practically unknown less than five years ago.

“I think it’s funny,” Paula White says. “T.D. Jakes said, ‘Paula, everyone thinks you’re an overnight wonder.’ I said, ‘Daddy, that is the longest night of my life!’”

Paula White’s life started in what seemed to be an ideal situation — the adored child of wealthy parents.

“My father took care of me every day,” she recalls. “He would take me to breakfast every morning and then to the country club. My mom ran the businesses. They were entrepreneurs. We owned toy stores, craft stores, restaurants, and seafood chains. So I just knew that loving arm that would hold me and draw smiley faces on my pancakes.

“I was always told I was Daddy’s little girl. In fact, we owned toy stores, and I would run in and want to get the latest toy off the shelf. My mom would say no way, and my dad would say, ‘Get whatever you want, baby.’”

Paula was five when her family moved from Tupelo, Missisippi, to Memphis, Tennessee.

Out of the blue… her life changed forever.

“My dad comes in one night. He’s been drinking excessively, and he grabs one hand of me. My mother grabs the other, and they begin to pull at me like a Raggedy Ann doll — just tugging at me. He says, ‘Give her to me, or I’ll kill myself.’ She said, ‘No, I won’t.’ She held on to me with her life, and my father extended his hand out and began to bash her head in. I had never seen a violent side to my father. So they call for the police, take him away, put him in jail overnight, he gets out, and takes his life as he had said he would,” Paula says.

Paula faced a much different future without her beloved father to watch over her. Her “perfect” life became increasingly unstable.

From the ages of six to thirteen, Paula endured years of sexual and physical abuse.

“Some were caretakers, some were neighbors, different people,” she says. “It wasn’t a consistent abuse, but it was enough to do damage that psychiatrists said that I would be dysfunctional all my life.”

Paula’s downward spiral continued as she searched for the love she so desperately needed.

“One thing just began to build in my life after another. Then there were the eating disorders: bulimia, anorexia… Sleeping with different people, thinking this is how you find love,” she says. “There was such a fear in me that [men] would never come back so do whatever you have to. Hit me, beat me, call me a dog, do whatever, just don’t leave.”

The odds that Paula White would find Jesus seemed slim since she’d never even been to church.

“I never heard the Gospel until I was 18 years old,” she says. “Jesus Christ… the name was synonymous to me as the Tooth Fairy or Santa Claus. I’d heard the name but I did not know that He was the Son of God, that He walked the earth that He lived, He died, was crucified on an old rugged cross… that there was a God that loved me unconditionally.”

At 18 Paula was visiting the home of a friend.

“I’m sitting in the living room, his uncle comes in, and says, ‘I can see all your pain’. I’m thinking, How can you see any pain? I am a master at this time at masking any hurt [and] anything that would show the dysfunction.

“He begins to pierce me with words that penetrated my being. He starts saying, ‘I know what you’re going through.’ He doesn’t know anything about who I am, my background. He gets out a Bible, and I don’t even know what a Bible is. I have no idea what he’s doing. He says, ‘I have the answer for everything that’s hurting you, for every problem that you face.’ He just begins to, what I call, read me my mail. He takes me through the Word of God — shows me the plan of salvation. Not only does he lead me to the Lord but he releases all the things in my past, shows me from the Word of God that I don’t have to be a victim to the things that happened to me. I have this supernatural encounter. I mean, I got saved! I got rescued. I was radically changed.

“I cannot tell you what exploded on the inside of my being. I can just say I, for the first time in my life, knew love.”

Paula set out on a journey to find out what God was all about.

“So I held the Word of God up and said, ‘I want to know You. I want answers for life. I want to understand who You are. I don’t want to trainwreck my life. I don’t want to go back to anything that had been a part of that dysfunction.’”

Soon Paula’s passion for evangelism was born.

“I found myself in the inner cities of America, all over the world for years,” she says. “Just hugging little boys and girls, telling them about the love of God, and picking up little broken Paulas. I was holding myself, restoring myself, and giving them the Word that so transformed me.”

Paula married her husband Randy, and they lead Without Walls in Tampa, Florida.

“There’s so many things that God has given me,” he says. “I have a wonderful husband, wonderful children, wonderful friends, a great church. My life is so satisfied and fulfilled in so many other areas that I focus on what God has given me and what I do have instead of what I don’t have.”

Most of all Paula White is determined to pass on “what she does have” to the people who need it most.

“My greatest thrill was not preaching in public,” she says. “It was going into a restaurant, looking into a waitress’s eyes, seeing behind the package [to] the depth of her soul, and giving her that same love that God gave me when I was 18 years old.

“Life labeled me, people gave up on me, and thought that there was no hope, but God takes the people who have been cast aside and look like trash. God’s in the recycling business. He recycles that trash and brings forth treasure.

“What nothing in this world can put back together, God can. If someone says it’s too much, what they’re saying is that the blood of Jesus Christ, the covenant that God made, is not enough. I stand as an [example] to say it is more than enough.”

You’re on the right road.

It is a tactic of the adversary to make you believe that the road you are traveling on is not the one that will lead you to your destiny. You must know and remind yourself daily that obstacles, tests and trials are apart of the journey. In order for you to reach the promise you must conquer the perils and pitfalls of the process for their purpose is for your perfection. Your perception of every problem is paramount to your prevailing. If you can change your thoughts towards these tests you can use them as stepping stones to your success. When God is involved, a promise is a promise and is sure to come to pass. You must believe and allow God to show himself and his power and Glory through you. What you need to succeed is already been planted within you and God wants to use it to bless you!

You’re almost There! ….Don’t Quit!!!!!

You’re so close to your breakthrough that the light is starting to shine through. It’s normally at the time it seems darkest and you feel the weakest that we lose sight of the promise of our soon coming change and deliverance from the prevailing storm. Take courage because the darkness provides a platform and introduction for the brightness of the sun. It is coming and you will be freed from the terror by night. Don’t let the lack of light cause you too lose faith in the everelasting covenant of the Father. “God is not a man that He should Lie……If He said it, will He not do it?” It shall , it will, it must come to pass!

When faith runs short….!

There will come times In life in which our ability to believe inspite of all that we’ve experienced and what we are facing at the present time will be hindered. We might even feel as though there is nothing left for us to count on and no help available to rescue us from our rapidly approaching fate. These times are just right for another spiritual principle to kick in and charge us forward through the battling seas to reach the promise of the sandy peaceful beaches of life. This principle says that when I don’t understand it and can’t seem to perceive it,; when my belief in it won’t give me the strength to move towards it, I must be obedient to the voice that call s me to it and launch forth regardless of the feelings. My wings may not have been tested, but the manufacturer of such aerial dynamic objects is creator of the wind that carries them, the tree I dive from, and the body that holds them. Therefore, what shall I fear, for I am not forgotten and I will surely overcome this test to speak on it another day. So, let me say this to you strong and mighty believer of Christ, when you just can’t seem to walk by faith and not by sight, start walking towards the voice who’s calling in obedience and watch you’re your dark period get swallowed by the awesomeness of God’s Light! -Soulworshiper

When Sunday comes….It shall come to pass!

You’re so close to your breakthrough that the light is starting to shine through. It’s normally at the time it seems darkest and you feel the weakest that we lose sight of the promise of our soon coming change and deliverance from the prevailing storm. Take courage because the darkness provides a platform and introduction for the brightness of the sun. It is coming and you will be freed from the terror by night. Don’t let the lack of light cause you too lose faith in the everelasting covenant of the Father. “God is not a man that He should Lie……If He said it, will He not do it?” It shall , it will, it must come to pass!

Bishop G.E. Patterson – Funeral Service Program

PROGRAM OF SERVICE INTERNATIONAL FUNERAL SERVICE
COGIC PRESIDING BISHOP G.E. PATTERSON
SATURDAY, MARCH 31, 2007

Organ Prelude

The Processional
• The Acolytes
• The Ecumenical and Denominational Leaders
• The National Elected and Appointed Officers
• The Board of Bishops
• The General Officers
• The Adjutant General
• The General Board
• The Assistant Presiding Bishops

The Patterson Family

The Sealing of the Bier

Opening Sentences The Right Reverend Samuel L. Green Jr.
• Member, General Board

Hymn of Comfort The Right Reverend Matthew Willaims
• “Come Unto Me” Adjutant General
• The Choir and Congregation

Invocation The Right Reverend Jerry W. Macklin
• Member, General Board

Old Testament Scripture The Right Reverend Nathaniel W. Wells
• Member, General Board

Choral Response The C.H. Mason Memorial Choir

New Testament Scripture The Right Reverend Leroy R. Anderson
• Member, General Board

Affirmation of Faith The Right Reverend Philip A. Brooks
• Member, General Board

Anthem The C.H. Mason Memorial Choir

Acknowledgements of The Right Reverend Roy L.H. Winbush
• Civic and Religious Leaders Assistant Secretary, General Board

William Jefferson Clinton
• 42nd President of the United States

Reflections from The White House The Honorable Alphonso Jackson
• Secretary, Housing and Urban Development
• Official Representative of Pres. George W. Bush

Ecumenical Tribute The Right Reverend James B. Leggett
• General Superintendent, International Pentecostal Holiness Church
• Chairman, Pentecostal World Fellowship

Selection The C.H. Mason Memorial Choir
________________________________________
NATIONAL TRIBUTES

Department of Women Mother Willie Mae Rivers
• General Supervisor

Council of Pastors & Elders The Reverend Derrick Hutchins
• Chairman

Board of Bishops The Right Reverend John Henry Sheard
• Chairman

General Assembly The Right Reverend James Oglethorpe Patterson Jr. • Chairman

Selection The C.H. Mason Memorial Choir
________________________________________

NATIONAL RESOLUTIONS

General Church The Reverend J. Harley Lyles Jr.
• General Secretary (Interim)

General Board The Right Reverend Wilbur W. Hamilton
• Secretary, General Board

Introduction of Eulogist The Right Reverend Chandler D. Owens
• Former Presiding Bishop

Sermonic Hymn The Right Reverend Matthew Williams
• “Amazing Grace” Adjutant General
• The Choir and Congregation

Eulogy The Right Reverend Charles E. Blake
• First Assistant Presiding Bishop

Prayer of Comfort The Right Reverend George D. McKinney
• Member, General Board

Recessional

Thank You: My tribute to those who helped me become who I am today

Thank You: My tribute to those who helped me

My Tribute to Those who helped me!

“I remember and I thank you all
because you’ve helped me to become who I am”

Pastor Kenneth Sr. & Mrs. Cheryl Martin

Our Encounter: family

Gave Me: Spiritual inspiration, Guidance,
Personal development, Musical Inspiration…

Because:
They Love me
unconditionally, and support me in every way, they are great examples

Mrs. Maya Martin

Our
Encounter: family

Gave Me: Spiritual Inspiration/ Personal
Development

Because: She is the me that I never knew
there was and gives me unconditional love and support!

Mrs. Alfretta Huey

Our Encounter: family

Gave Me: Spiritual Guidance/
Personal Development

Because: She prays for me all the time, and
loves me quietly.

Gwendolyn Washington

Our
Encounter: family

Gave Me: Personal Development

Because:
She believes in and
unselfishly promotes the gifts in me and others

Eld. Frank B. Dayce

Our
Encounter: Elder
at First Church Macedonia COGIC/Choir & Organist

Gave Me:
Musical Influence /
Organ/ Spiritual Inspiration

Because: He shared his gift and helped and
served as an example to musicians

Mrs. Vickie Briscoe

Our
Encounter: family

Gave Me: Musical Influence/ Spiritual
inspiration/ Personal Development

Because: She spoke life and hope into my
future

Mrs. Florence Taylor

Our
Encounter: family

Gave Me: Musical Influence/ Spiritual
inspiration

Because:
She’s concerned
about my purpose & destiny

Mrs. Esther Martin

Our
Encounter: family

Gave Me:
Spiritual
inspiration/ Personal Development

Because: She encouraged me to do it myself

Eld. Keith J. Sr. & Missionary Vannette Williams

Our
Encounter: Youth
Leaders at First Church – Macedonia COGIC

Gave Me:
Musical Influence/
Spiritual inspiration / Personal Development

Because:
They challenged my
actions and demonstrated love in action

Supt. Arthur Sr. & Mo. Kathy Strong

Our
Encounter: Pastor
& First Lady while in College – Faith Tabernacle COGIC

Gave Me:
Spiritual Guidance/
Personal Development

Because:
They lived the life
before me and allowed me to be me

Evangelist Lasheia Simon

Our
Encounter: Revivals
at my First Church Macedonia

Gave Me:
Spiritual
Inspiration/ Guidance

Because:
She provoked me to
fast and pray and pointed me to Christ

Missionary Margaret Simpkins

Our
Encounter: Pastor’s
Wife/ Pianist/ Junior Choir

Gave Me:
Musical Influence/
Spiritual inspiration

Because:
She demonstrated
the what it meant to be sweetly saved

Supt. Henry Simpkins Sr.

Our
Encounter: First
Pastor at Macedonia COGIC

Gave Me:
Spiritual
Inspiration/ Guidance

Because:
He never changed
His message

Pastor Michael E. Jackson Sr.

Our
Encounter: Pastor

Gave
Me: Spiritual
Inspiration / Guidance

Because: He believed in my potential and
spoke life into dry bones

Pastor Winfred Williams Sr.

Our
Encounter:Pastor
in Richmond, CA – All Nations COGIC

Gave Me:
Musical Influence /
Spiritual inspiration/ Personal Development

Because:
He challenged me
spiritually and exemplifies integrity and spirituality

Mr. Samuel B. Martin Sr.

Our
Encounter:
family

Gave Me:
Musical Influence

Because:
He endured and
pushed the envelope inspite of

Bro. Samuel Murray

Our
Encounter:
Met while commuting to work in San Francisco

Gave Me: Spiritual inspiration/ Personal
Development

Because: He spoke into purpose into my life,
and prayed with me…….

Mr. Earl “Squirt” Grant – California

Our
Encounter:
family

Gave Me: Musical Influence

Because
he: Showed me what
it is to be a musician with class.

Mr. Anthony Porter – Arizona

Our
Encounter: Deacon/
Friend while in College

Gave Me: Spiritual inspiration/ Guidance

Because
he: Took me in and
made me feel at home and pushed me forward…

Mrs. Kerry Vaughn – Arizona

Our
Encounter:
Friend/Spiritual Sister while in College

Gave Me: Musical Influence/Spiritual
inspiration

Because: She lived the life and used the
gift with integrity and perfection

Mrs. Nelda Mundy (In Loving Memory) – California

Our
Encounter:  My
Teacher in High School/ Advisor to Gospel Choir

Gave Me:
Spiritual
Inspiration/ Personal Development

Because: She recognized my potential
and stood in the gap for my dreams

Mrs. Karen DuFor – Arizona

Our
Encounter: Friend/Spiritual
Sister while in College

Gave Me:
Spiritual
inspiration/ Personal Development

Because: She demonstrated great fervency,
motivation to educate and spirituality

Mr. Lonnie Dufor  – Arizona

Our
Encounter: Deacon
at church in college – Faith Tabernacle

Gave Me:
Spiritual
Inspiration/ Personal development/ Guidance

Because: He spoke clear words and stood tall
in adversity

Pastor Nathan Simmons  (In Loving Memory) – Georgia

Our Encounter: Church revival & Nor  CAL 1^st
Jurisdiction Convocation

Gave Me:
Spiritual
Inspiration

Because: He was uniquely anointed for the
end times

Superintendent Harold Johnson Sr. – California

Our
Encounter: Pastor
in Vallejo, CA – Old Path Miracle Cathedral

Gave Me: Spiritual Inspiration

Because: He persevered and never changed

Missionary Robbie Wynn – Nichols

Our
Encounter:
Church revival at Macedonia COGIC

Gave Me: Spiritual inspiration

Because: She ministered in a real way!

Mr. Ulrich Hutcherson

Our
Encounter: He was a drummer at Corinthians
COGIC in Vallejo, CA

Gave Me:
Musical Influence

Because:
He let me play and
showed me how

Mr. Steve Hutcherson

Our
Encounter: Friend
and brother at Corinthians COGIC in Vallejo, CA

Gave Me: Musical Influence

Because: He Encouraged me to play when I
couldn’t

Mr. Berwin Hutcherson

Our
Encounter: Pianist in Vallejo, CA

Gave Me: Musical Influence

Because: He Is an awesome musician, and real
talking bro.

Supt.  Mo. Booker T . Turner

Our
Encounter:
Their church Corinthians COGIC in Vallejo, CA

Gave Me: Spiritual Inspiration/ Personal
Development

Because: They have been the same for years –
Humble and unselfish

Pastor
Jeremiah Richardson

Our
Encounter: My
District Superintendent and Barber in Vallejo, CA

Gave Me:
Spiritual
inspiration/ Guidance

Because: He spoke the truth in love, with
humility and power

Rev. Marvin
D. Slade

Our
Encounter:  Pastor&
First Lady at Good Samaritan MBC in Vallejo, Ca

Gave Me: Spiritual Inspiration / Guidance/
Personal Development/ Musical Influence

Because: He took a chance on me, and sowed
greatly into my life

Pastor
Freddie Sr. & Mrs. Evonne Simpkins

Our
Encounter: My first church – Macedonia COGIC

Gave Me:
Spiritual
inspiration

Because:
They were great
examples of Godly parents, and ministers of the gospel

Mr. Paul
Kelker Sr.

Our
Encounter: Prophet/Brother
I met when I moved to LV

Gave Me: Spiritual inspiration

Because: He Helped me to see what I couldn’t
see – destiny!

Mrs.
Carmen Huey

Our
Encounter:  family

Gave Me:
Spiritual
Inspiration

Because: She showed me another way to
worship

Mr.
James Huey II

Our
Encounter:  family

Gave Me:
Personal
Development

Because:
He had my back in
College and kept an open door for me

Mr.
Alton Huey

Our
Encounter:  family

Gave Me:
Personal
Development

Because: He shared words of advice and
wisdom when I needed them.

Ms. Gail
Butler

Our
Encounter:  Sister/Friend
at my First Church – Macedonia COGIC

Gave Me: Spiritual Influence

Because: She supported my art, music, and
interceded on my behalf…

St. Patrick’s Day: Another Christian Celebration turned Commercial

Did you know that the day we call St. Patrick’s day actually is a memorial of the life of a Christian man who went about Ireland setting up churches and converting men and women (pagans) to Christianity. The shamrock was used by Patrick, which is the name he took after he himself was converted to christianiy, to explain the trinity. It was a way of explaining how three different parts were contained in one whole piece. The day, March 17th was the day Patrick died, and was first celebrated in America in Boston. Now there is a tradition of wearing green and drinking beer that has spread all around the world. Some also believe that the celebration has remained popular because it also seemed to helped announce the coming days of spring. At any rate, there we are, yet another celebration of the life of a believer being ignored fo a more secular commerical and less Christ acknowledging expression. Yet the Lord reigneth and He’s still coming back……Note: watch the knees that bow when he arives!

Daily Soul Quotes: “Have Tears….Will Wipe!”

You are not alone, despite of what it may look like to you, and even though you feel so cold and misunderstood. Those tears you’re crying are not dropping to the floor unseen. Your hurt is being felt by someone else. Every pain that racks your body, the hole that seems to drain your heart, it is not forgotten and not overlooked. There is rest for your mind, your heart, your body, and your soul right around the corner. Jesus knows and he cares. He has been holding you up and rocking you through it all. The only thing missing from you is to release it all and let him take the pain away. He ever liveth to heal you. It is His good pleasure to rescue you from destruction and calamity. His hand is ready to dry the tears and take the burdens you share away. Leave it with him and let your soul be free today. There is nothing brand new to the eyes of our God. You have a refuge and strong tower in the Lord Most High. Take the time to daily leave your burdens before Him, and look and live!