By Dr. Jacquelyn Simmons
Scripture: When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven (Matthew 16:13-19).
My Friends,
My pastor, Rev. F.D. Nash was sincere when he said, “You are going to preach on Wednesday night”, April 26 1978. He gathered several pastors that he knew had no qualms about females preaching in God’s Baptist church pulpits. The rest is history. Namely: His dad, Rev. C.H. Nash, Rev. Ollie Jackson, Rev. Price, and Rev. Ellis. Oh! What a night in Monroe, Louisiana. People came from far and nigh to witness an awesome, but forbidden by many, event. Mrs. Erma DeTiege, owner of the Monroe Dispatch taped and printed the entire message and Rev. Roosevelt Wright of the Monroe Free Press printed major portions of the message.
Two of my former Carroll High School Majorities, Patricia Cherry Keyes and Zelia Logan Smith said that after they parked as close to the church as they possible could and tried to walk toward the building, it felt as if they were walking on cotton. People came from all walks of life to witness this phenomena and to cheer me on.
One of my friends, Dr. Billye Burns, purchased me a headpiece to wear while she was visiting New Orleans and Mr. Zeno Matthews father of Mrs. Shirley Matthews Conley, my dear friend’s father sent me an orchid to wear by a family friend, Howard Ellis. Oh, my friends, it was a “Night of nights”, which never will be forgotten by persons in attendance. I think I was frightened but I am not sure what my feelings were but they were indescribable.
I have never been comfortable as a public speaker or been described a “good one”. However, during my elementary school years, some of our teachers sponsored oratorical contests whereas we competed as Newtown Elementary School speakers against the same grade students attending Monroe Colored High School. I never won but gained loads of experiences in speaking. I also joined the speech club at Grambling College (University).
During my growing up years, we also had to memorize long speeches in order to participate in
Christmas, Easter and other seasonal presentations.
Sadly, those blessed instructions are lost now to our present generations, today…
