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Message
From The President:
Greetings:
"Get the distaff ready and God will send the flax."
These are the words of an old story. It was said
not as a promise or admonition, but as a single statement of
fact about the way the world worked.
The distaff was a man made tool, shaped for a special
purpose, that of making thread. It was intended for no
other use. So the proverb, I decided, meant that we
must "Meet God Halfway, "doing our best to help others and
ourselves. But also, it meant we have to be
specifically ready for an opportunity. We have to know
exactly what we (BCLO) mean to do, and be fully prepared to
do it - with God's help.
As I write this greeting, Newscasts and Newspapers
extolling the events of Hurricane Katrina surround me.
I see the hurt in the eyes of my brothers and sisters, the
children. I feel helpless in their aid. So I
find myself continually in prayer for others.
The Baltimore Conference Lay Organization is a combined
unit of over Thirty One (31) African Methodist Episcopal
Churches of Sixty-One (61) total churches that make up the
Baltimore Annual Conference of the A.M.E. Church.
Historically, our Church has met crises after crises since
our Founder, Bishop Richard Allen and his followers who
dealt with the Scarlet Fever Plague in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania in 1786.
We join our Bishop, The Right Reverend Adam Jefferson
Richardson in his seven point vision: (1) Ministry to Youths
and Young Adults, (2) Ministry to Men, (3) Ministry to the
Incarcerated, (4) Ministry For Educational Support, (5)
Ministry for Missions Support, (6) Ministry for Health and
Personal Development, and (7) Nehemiah Ministry: Physical
and Monetary Support.
We stand on the shoulders of mighty men and women who
have served this Conference well as President, namely Sister
Clara F. Harris, Judge Josiah F. Henry, Dr. H. C. Perrin,
Brother Leonard Habersham, Brother Sanford Maddox, Sister
Hazel Scott and Brother Mack B. Simpson, Jr. They led
the BLCO in making plans, setting goals and supporting our
Brother and Sister Clergy/Pastors to do God's will.
In my second year of duty, we have succeeded in our
appreciation to our senior members; we are about to honor
our Youth. We have been to the Streets. We have
been in Retreat studying God's word and Organizational
Development. We are beginning to partner with other
denominations, foundations and government. We have had
seminars with our Annual Conference and recently held a
Financial Wellness Seminar with the Dean of our Conference
Institute.
When I was a teenager, oft times life was not always
kind to me. I remember the words of my father.
My Dad would tell me to remember always, "All things work
together for the good of them that love God." Later,
It came to mean something else to me, something very special
about the strength of American character, which has this
very combination of trust and enterprising effort.
We cannot bind the future by making rigid plans and
stubbornly sticking to them. But we can, instead,
get the distaff ready for the thread which is not yet spun
and for which there is as yet no flax.
God Bless,
J. Wayman Henry, Jr.
President
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