New Birth for Old Bones
Rev. Dr. Everette W. Frye, Sr.
President, Council of Churches of Greater Springfield
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”
(1 Peter 1:3)
Because Christ lives, and He is the Head of the Church, then there is hope for us, the Body of Christ. In this our seventieth year as the Council of Churches of Greater Springfield, we are proclaiming that there can be a “New Birth for Old Bones.” In the spirit and sentiment of our sixteenth president, Abraham Lincoln, we are coming together to test whether this [Council], or any [Council], so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure.
I came onto the Board of Directors a little over a year ago. I have been a part of some very difficult decisions made and some very painful actions taken. Through all of our trials we are still alive. There have been those who have predicted our demise.
Now in the words of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., we ask, “Where do we go from here: chaos or community.” I contend that there is hope for new life.
In the past year we have cut our Budget in half in order to keep the Council afloat. There are persons like Elliott Stratton (Emergency Fuel Fund) and Dr. Nancy Marshall (Faith in Action), who have worked pro bono to keep those programs going. Our gratitude is extended to the Reverend Dr. David Hunter, the past Executive Director, who worked to hold together a very difficult organization through some very difficult times.
We have many new members on the Board, and we thank those who were on the Board when I became president (Bethel Arnold, Katie Glasgow, and Bettye Anderson-Frederic). We are also thankful for those members who remained on the Board and for others who have come on with new ideas, energy and Christian dedication and commitment.
Now the question is, “Where do we go from here?” I believe with the help of God and the churches of greater Springfield there is the possibility of “New Birth for Old Bones.”
In Ezekiel chapter 37, the prophet Ezekiel—(“God Strengthens”) was asked if there was hope for Israel. God gave a formula for new birth and new life. As we move ahead in the Council, we will follow God’s design for a resurrection of our Council.
ORGANIZATION: Our first task is to get the scattered bones together. There are some seventy churches that make up our Council. For a variety of reasons those Churches (both delegates and pastors) have become cut off from being a viable part of the Council. We will develop a broad-based Membership Committee to contact past and potential members of the Council.
ADMINISTRATION: We are not only going to get the “bones” back together, but we are going to put sinews, flesh and skin on the “bones.” We are going to review and revise our Organization in a way that is in keeping with the will and work that God desires for His Church. We will, with the financial help of our member churches, look forward in the near future to employ an Executive Director, Business Manager (Betty Johnson has been doing this work on a voluntary basis), and a Director of Community Ministries (Elliott Stratton has been Interim Director for approximately three years).
Organization will entail not only STRUCTURE but also STRATEGY. With the help of the Massachusetts Council of Churches, and the help of our member churches, we will engage in serious Strategic Planning that will give “New Birth to Old Bones.” We cannot continue doing the same things in the same way and expect different results.
Finally the prophet, Ezekiel, gives us the solution to new birth and a new beginning. We not only need structure and strategy, but we also need the Spirit. We are going to discover, determine and develop ways, new and old, that we can make the Council of Churches of Greater Springfield be all that our Creator desires and our Community demands. We look forward to a Pentecostal outpouring of God’s Spirit.
While other Councils are closing their doors, let us take heart and have hope that with the God of the Resurrection, there can be a “New Birth for Old Bones.”
Thanks to all of the churches, pastors and delegates, past and present, which have helped to make this Council what it is today. Thanks to all of those persons who will join in and help to make the Council what it will be tomorrow.
Thanks to Archbishop Timothy Paul for donating the use of this beautiful function hall; to the Putnam Technical High School Culinary Department and the Massachusetts Career Development Institute, Inc., for preparing food and assisting in serving; to James Seibles (organist), Ron Harrell (trumpeter), and Willie Spradley (soloist); to the Reverend Jack Johnson and Lise Hildebrandt from the Massachusetts Council of Churches. Also thanks to Amy Porter and Sheila Viktorchik and Springfield College for preparing and printing our Annual Reports.
Thanks to all of you for your concern, prayers and support, and thanks to God for the past, present and future of the Council of Churches. God bless you all.
Yours in His Service,
Rev. Dr. Everette Frye, Sr., President
Board of Directors
The CROP Walk
October 15, 2006
in Cooperation with Church World Services
The Public Relations Committee at Work
July 18, 2006
Our Executive Director and the Public Relations Committee discuss a revised newsletter format.