Virginia ministers' wives, widows come together

Staff

Published Thursday, April 29, 2004

Suffolk News-Herald

The Suffolk Chapter of Ministers' Wives and Ministers' Widows hosted the 54th Annual Virginia Association of Ministers' Wives and Ministers' Widows banquet last weekend in the Holiday Inn-Olde Town Waterfront Hotel. Over 350 people attended, and during that time many were recognized and the Rev. Dr. Earl L. Bledsoe, pastor of Great Hope Baptist Church in Richmond, served as guest speaker.

Carol B. Diggs, president of the local chapter of Ministers' Wives and Ministers' Widows (MWMW) and general chairperson of the program, presided.

Dr. Carolyn Bledsoe, state president of Ministers' Wives and Ministers' Widows, gave greetings and introduced her husband and guest speaker.

The theme of the program was "Called to Be" and Bledsoe took his sermon from Matthew 22:14.

He said that many are called and he struggles with the suggestion that everyone under the hand of God has some calling in his or her life.

"Therefore, being called requires each of us to make some rule in ourselves so that each of us would need to make some personal, spiritual and mental change," Bledsoe said. "Each of us must confess that we are not all of that in a bag of chips and God has somewhere he wants to take us when we are called to be."

He also said that when he thinks of what we are called to be, he hears Peter 2:9 telling him that we are called to be four possibilities: a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, and a peculiar people. Also, when we put all four of these possibilities together, we have one common objective, and Peter said that our objective is to be a praise to God.

"I think that one of the greatest blessings that has happened to the old traditional church is that finally we have moved into the understanding of praise and worship. All of a sudden we've gotten the message that God requires praise," he said.

"However, the call to be is of the assumption that the major objective is being and not doing; therefore many women of God are called to be and not called to do, yet in the divine dimension of God's eternal being as a dynamic doing, when we are called to be, we automatically do."

During the Special Citations & Awards portion of the program, the Virginia Association of Ministers Wives and Ministers' Widows presented the following awards:

nThe Pauline V. Gray Humanitarian Award to the Dr. Melvin Boone, pastor emeritus at Metropolitan Baptist Church, for his 34 years of service, including feeding the community at Thanksgiving, and for his involvement with the Virginia Seminary College of Lynchburg.

nThe First Family Recognition to Bishop John Kindred, pastor of Kings Grove Pentecostal Church & Elder Queenie Kindred for being a family that devotedly served the organization, showed family support as a strong Christian family while embracing and holding fast to family values.

nThe Bright Lights Award to Dr. Vaurice. T. and Dr. Naomi P. Chambers for civic-minded activities and their efforts to administer to the social problems of the community.

nA Queen Contest was also held whereby the 11 following women and the cities and counties they represented were represented: Helen L. Carter, Charlottesville; Shirley T. Roane, E.C. Bouey Alliance; Hazel B. Hill, E.C. Thompson Alliance; Mary Ruckers, Lynchburg Alliance; Sophia Redd, Martinsville Alliance; Bertha Woods, Northern Virginia Alliance; Loretta Dennis, Richmond Alliance; Joyce A. Bonds, Roanoke Alliance; Mary Johnson, Suffolk Alliance; Cynthia P. Doxey, Tidewater Alliance; and Evelyn D. Brown, Wayland Blueridge Alliance.

Loretta Dennis from the Richmond Alliance was crowned queen by the 2003 queen, Brenda Johnson, Hopkins Richmond Fellowship of MWMW. Dennis raised a little over $11,000.

Cynthia P. Doxey from the Tidewater Alliance was First Runner-up raising $5,587; and Evelyn D. Brown from the Wayland Blueridge Alliance was Second Runner-up raising $2,500. Funds raised from this activity go to the MWMW Ways & Means Fund, and is the only fundraiser for the state organization.

The Kindred Singers and Edgar M. Dotson, minister of music from Greater First Baptist Church, Orlando, provided music for the evening.

Others on the program were: Margaret Colander, co-chairperson; Minister Gloria P. Diggs; the Rev. Henry E. Diggs, pastor of Zoar Baptist Church, Boykins; Harriett Williams; the Dr. Naomi P. Chambers; associate minister from Pleasant Union Baptist Church; The Rev. Willie Lowell Diggs, pastor of Galilee Baptist Church, Branchville, Va.; Dr. Annie Hankins, chairperson of Special Service; The Rev. Vaurice Chambers; pastor of Pleasant Union Baptist Church and president of the Ministerial Alliance; Lillian Lindsey, president of Ministers' Widows & Ministers' Wives Alliance of Roanoke Valley & Vicinity; Quentina M. Kinney, second vice president and Way & Means chairperson of the Virginia MWMW; Edna Griffin, first vice president of the Virginia MWMW; and the Rev. Willie L. Williams, associate New Jones Grove Baptist Church, Windsor.

Addie Word founded the organization in 1968 with eight women. Of the original eight, Mary Ellis Daughtery Word and Ruth Boone are chartered members.

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