Eighth Episcopal District African Methodist Episcopal Church
February 12-13, 2021
The Right Reverend Julius Harrison McAllister, Sr., Presiding Prelate Mother Joan Marla McAllister, Episcopal Supervisor
Our Episcopal Leaders
The Right Reverend Julius H. McAllister, Sr.
Mother Joan M. McAllister
God our Father Christ our Redeemer The Holy Spirit our Comforter Humankind our Family
Founder’s Day Celebration
Schedule
Friday, February 12, 2021
1:00 P.M. Presiding Elders Meet with Bishop
7:00 P.M. Worship Celebration The Right Reverend Stafford J. N. Wicker, Preaching Presiding Prelate, Eighteenth Episcopal District African Methodist Episcopal Church
Saturday, February 13, 2021
8:45 A.M. Devotion North Mississippi Conference
9:00 A.M. Greetings Bishop & Supervisor McAllister
9:10 A.M. – 10:10 A.M. Plenary Session I Moderator: Reverend Glenell Lee Pruitt, Ph.D. Topic: “Transition Points in AME Church” Presenter: The Reverend Dennis C. Dickerson, Ph.D. Respondent: Reverend Earl Robinson
10:10 A.M. – 10:15 A. M. Break
10:15 A.M. – 11:15 A.M. Plenary Session II Moderator: Reverend Earl Robinson Topic: “History & Transition Platforms for the AME Church Future” Presenter: The Reverend Dennis C. Dickerson, Ph.D. Respondent: Reverend Glenell Lee Pruitt, Ph.D.
God our Father Christ our Redeemer The Holy Spirit our Comforter Humankind our Family
11:20 – 12:00 P.M. Plenary Session III Moderator: Reverend Glenell Lee Pruitt, Ph.D. Topic: “Staying Healthy in the Age of Coronavirus and COVID-19 Vaccine” Presenter: The Reverend Stephanie Taylor, MD Respondent: Reverend Earl Robinson
12:00 – 12:05 P.M. Offering
12:05 – 12:30 P.M. Commissioning Service Reading of Appointments
Benediction
God our Father Christ our Redeemer The Holy Spirit our Comforter Humankind our Family
Founder’s Day Weekend Celebration
The Opening Worship Celebration Friday, February 12, 2021 7:00 p.m. The Reverend Michele R. Goodloe, Worship Leader
The Doxology “Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow” Praise God from whom all blessings flow; Praise Him, all creatures here below; Praise Him above, ye heavenly host; Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.
The Call to Worship The Reverend Michele R. Goodloe Brother Melvin Davis
The Worship through Music The Choir
The Prayer of Invocation and Intercessory The Reverend Charles Cotton
The Scripture Lessons: The Old Testament The Reverend William Hardiman, Jr. The Epistle The Reverend Bland Washington The Gospel The Reverend Richard Starks, Sr.
The Worship Through Music The Choir
The Founder’s Day Litany The Reverend Archie R. Smith Sister Brenda G. Hurst
The Presentation of the Bishop The Reverend Ray Jackson
The Presentation of the Preacher The Right Reverend Julius H. McAllister, Sr.
The Worship Through Music The Choir
God our Father Christ our Redeemer The Holy Spirit our Comforter Humankind our Family
The Founder’s Day Message The Right Reverend Stafford J. N. Wicker Presiding Prelate, Eighteenth Episcopal District African Methodist Episcopal Church
The Invitation to Christian Discipleship The Reverend Otis S. Lewis, Sr.
The Worship Through Music The Choir
The Offering Appeal The Reverend Gwendolyn Snearl
The Offering Prayer The Reverend Gwendolyn Snearl
The Remarks/Announcements The Right Reverend Julius H. McAllister, Sr.
The Closing Prayer & The Benediction The Reverend Dianne J. Banks
God our Father Christ our Redeemer The Holy Spirit our Comforter Humankind our Family
The Commissioning Service Bishop Julius H. McAllister, Sr.
The Hymn, No. 242 “A Charge to Keep I Have”
1. A charge to keep I have, A God to glorify, A never dying soul to save and fit it for the sky.
2. To serve the present age, my calling to fulfill; O may it all my powers engage to do my Master’s will.
The Prayer for Guidance
The Reading of the Scripture Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, watching over them – not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not pursuing dishonest gain, but eager to serve; not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. (1 Peter 5:2-3)
Go you, therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you, and, lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world.”
The Hymn, No. 220
“Go, Preach My Gospel”
1. “Go, preach my gospel,” saith the Lord. “Bid the whole earth my grace Receive. Explain to them my sacred words; Bid them believe, obey and live.
2. “I’ll make my great commission known, and ye shall prove my gospel true. By all the works that I have done, and all the wonders ye shall do.
3. “Go, heal the sick, go, raise the dead; Go, cast out devils in My name; Nor let my prophets be afraid, Tho’ some reproach and some blaspheme
4. “While thus ye follow my commands, I’m with you till the world shall end; all power is trusted in my hand; I can destroy and can defend.”
5. He spake, and light shone round His head, on a bright cloud to heaven He rose. They to the farthest nation spread the grace of their ascended God.
The Reading of Appointments
The Benediction The Right Reverend Julius H. McAllister, Sr. About Our Preacher … The Rt. Reverend Dr. Stafford J.N. Wicker
The Right Reverend Stafford Joe Nathan Wicker is the 137th elected and consecrated Bishop in the African Methodist Episcopal Church. Bishop Wicker’s was assigned to the 18th Episcopal District which consists of the following countries: Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique, and Swaziland at the 50th Q uadrennial Session of the General Conference. He is an advocate for social justice, economic empowerment and professional development.
He earned a Bachelor of Arts from Wilberforce University in Wilberforce, Ohio. After graduation in 1982 from Wilberforce University, he received his first pastoral appointment from Bishop Donald George Kenneth Ming where a new church was constructed at Turner Chapel AME Church in Roseland, LA. He earned the Masters of Divinity and Doctorate of Ministry from Turner Theological Seminary. His doctoral dissertation was on “How the Local A.M.E. Church Congregations Can Engage Community with HIV/AIDS Education and Prevention”.
In 1987, he was appointed to the Toomsboro Circuit in the Augusta Annual Conference by Bishop Frederick Hilborn Talbot. In 1988, he served as Pastor of the Mt. Zion AME Church in Mansfield, GA. During his tenure there, the debt was liquidated and a bank relationship was set for new renovations. The congregation for the first time in its history began to worship every Sunday instead of two Sundays a month. In 1990, he was appointed by Bishop John Hurst Adams to the Mt. Carmel AME Church in Atlanta, GA. The membership was 80 upon arrival with annual giving of $65,000. Upon departure, the membership was 135 with annual giving of $103,000. We set in motion and completed installation of a new 50-car parking lot. The HVAC systems were installed throughout the church.
In 1992, Bishop Wicker was moved to the Antioch AME Church in Decatur, GA. There were 155 members with an $84,000 operational budget and a 1.8 acre lot where there was a beautiful church building. In 1995, the late Bishop Ming led the way to accomplish the largest AME church acquisition in the amount of $1.1 million at the time of purchase. Today, the operating budget stands at $1.6 million with a membership of 2200 and 84 acres of landholdings. In 1998, the Antioch Community Development Corporation was developed for the purpose of economic and community development in the state of Georgia. In year 2000, 32 acres was purchased for this vision. In 2005, the Antioch Manor Estates was developed at a cost of $14.3 million. In 2010, the Antioch Gardens and Villas were developed at a cost of $13.7 million. The Antioch Summits is being developed at a cost of $16 million. In 2007 a third church campus was acquired in Conyers, GA. giving Antioch the distinction of owning and controlling 84 acres of land. This project has a total value of $48 million.
Bishop Stafford Wicker and Episcopal Supervisor, the Rev. Dr. Constance Wicker are the proud parents of two daughters, Valencia M. Wicker and Lauren M. Wicker.
About Our Presenter …
REVEREND DENNIS C. DICKERSON, Ph.D. is a Retired General Officer in the African Methodist Episcopal Church and is the Reverend James M. Lawson Chair in History at Vanderbilt University. He is a native of Duquesne, Pennsylvania where he was nurtured at Payne Chapel AME Church. He is the fourth and youngest son of Carl and Oswanna Dickerson, both deceased. He earned the B. A. from Lincoln University in Pennsylvania, the M.A. and Ph.D. from Washington University in St. Louis, and the M.Div. from Vanderbilt University. Also, he studied at Hartford Seminary and Memphis Theological Seminary. Previously, he taught as Stanfield Professor of History at Williams College, First Tennessee Professor of History at Rhodes College, and as a Visiting Professor both at Yale Divinity School and at Payne Theological Seminary. In Spring 2014 he was a Siemens Fellow at the American Academy in Berlin.
He was ordained an itinerant elder in the New York Annual Conference and served as pastor to three congregations including Second Congregational Church in Pittsfield, Massachusetts (on loan from the AME Church), Payne AME Church in Chatham, New York, and St. Mark AME Church in Munford, Tennessee. He was elected and reelected as a General Officer between 1988 and 2012 serving as Historiographer/Executive Director of the Department of Research & Scholarship and Editor of the AME CHURCH REVIEW. He was President of the American Society of Church History and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the American Bible Society. He served between 2014 and 2019 as a member of the evaluation Committee to Visit the Harvard Divinity School. He has written OUT OF THE CRUCIBLE: BLACK STEELWORKERS IN WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA, 1875-1980 (1986), MILITANT MEDIATOR: WHITNEY M. YOUNG JR. (1998) and AFRICAN AMERICAN PREACHERS AND POLITICS: THE CAREYS OF CHICAGO (2010). As the AME Historiographer he wrote RELIGION, RACE AND REGION: RESEARCH NOTES ON AME CHURCH HISTORY (1995), A LIBERATED PAST: EXPLORATIONS IN AME CHURCH HISTORY (2003), and AFRICAN METHODISM AND ITS WESLEYAN HERITAGE: REFLECTIONS ON AME CHURCH HISTORY (2009). His new book, THE AFRICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH: A HISTORY is being published in 2019 by Cambridge University Press.
He is married to Mrs. Mary A. E. Dickerson, B.B.A., a graduate of the University of Memphis, and they are the parents to four married children: Nicole, M.B.A. (Houston Thomas Kinnard, Jr.), Valerie, Ph.D. (Yosvany Cordero), Christina, Ph.D. (Reverend Steven A. Cousin, Jr.), and Dennis, Jr., M.T.S., M.A. (Reverend Dianna Watkins Dickerson), and seven grandchildren: Melanie, Morgan, Yordany, Steven III, Dennis III, Samuel, and Yocelin. Their bonus grandchildren are Devin, Tavian, and Yoandra.
About Our Presenter …
Reverend Stephanie Taylor, MD is Administrative Pastor of Bethel AME Church in New Orleans, LA and is married to Rev. Douglas Taylor, Bethel’s Senior Pastor. They are the blessed parents of three beautiful daughters, Courtney T. Welch, Ashley and Candace, a son-in-law Dedrick Welch, Sr. and grandparents of two precious grandsons, Dedrick, Jr. and Dorian.
Dr. Taylor is a native of New Orleans, LA, received a B.S. in Medical Technology from the University of New Orleans, and M.D. from Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center. She was the first African-American Chief resident and the first African-American Full Professor of Infectious Diseases at LSUHSC. In 2018, Dr. Taylor was also awarded a Distinguished Career Achievement Award from the Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention (CDC).
Dr. Taylor has also completed course work toward a Master of Divinity Degree from the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, served as the 8th Episcopal District Medical Commissioner, and assists Pastor Taylor in his ministerial and secretarial duties on the Local Church, Conference and District levels. She loves her role as educator and she loves to teach and preach God’s Word whenever blessed with the opportunity.