{"id":2656,"date":"2021-09-23T13:45:20","date_gmt":"2021-09-23T13:45:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/?p=2656"},"modified":"2021-09-23T13:46:23","modified_gmt":"2021-09-23T13:46:23","slug":"st-pauls-annual-womens-day-celebration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/2021\/09\/23\/st-pauls-annual-womens-day-celebration\/","title":{"rendered":"St. Paul\u2019s Annual Women\u2019s Day Celebration"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Co-chairs Sister Winfield and Sister Sullivan, guest speaker Felica Clark, First Lady Willis, Rev. James Willis Sr, pastor of St. Paul and chair Sister Winfield.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

By Tricia Hall
\nSojourner\u2019s Truth Reporter<\/p>\n

The St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church welcomed men and women to celebrate their annual Women\u2019s Day service held on Sunday, September 19, 2021.<\/p>\n

The celebration theme was, \u201cWomen of God: Stand Still and Wait,\u201d that was inspired from biblical scripture Psalms 46:10. The women of the church wore various yellow and white accessories, which were the unified colors of the service. The church was able to combine COVID safety policies with Christian principles.<\/p>\n

Sunday\u2019s service began with praise and worship that was led by the Deaconess, followed by the procession of the choir and service dignitaries. The song selection during this portion of the service included \u2018Sweet Jesus,\u2019 and \u2018Lord, I know you\u2019ve been so good.\u2019<\/p>\n

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The Women’s Ensemble<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Vontyna Smith led the call to worship and alter call; Deborah Gardner sang \u2018The Lord\u2019s Prayer;\u2019 Ashley McKinley led the Women\u2019s Day Litany; guest soloist Arnetta Buford sang an a cappella selection; Debbie Mitchell presented announcements and welcomed church visitors; Celina Winfield read a scripture reading; Deborah McDougal led the alter prayer; then Yvonne Gayle led offertory prayer.<\/p>\n

The service continued with a candlelight vigil led by Opal Dunlap in memory of members Mother Flora Mack, Deaconess Dorothy Jones and Sister Mattie Rice and Sister Dorothy Taylor, the mother of First Lady Linnie Willis who attended Bible Study faithfully.<\/p>\n

First Lady Willis facilitated the emotional memorial service by reading each woman\u2019s name while the woman\u2019s daughter placed a white rose and lit a candle in her honor. \u201cIt\u2019s time to focus on these women who are no longer with us, but still here with us,\u201d shared First Lady Willis.<\/p>\n

The service continued with two selections by the Women\u2019s Day Ensemble, poem presented by Aufwiedersehen Winfield, the introduction of the guest speaker by First Lady Linnie Willis, a selection by Honorable Paula Hicks-Hudson and words spoken by featured speaker Pastor Felica Clark.<\/p>\n

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First Lady Linnie Willis<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Pastor Felica Clark is the co-founder of Harvest Christian Church in Toledo. She is a native of Toledo and earned a masters of business administration from the University of Toledo. She earned an associates in Interior Design from Wade\u2019s College in Dallas, Texas. She met her husband, Pastor Timothy Clark in Dallas, Texas at Concord Baptist Church and together they formed Clark Ministries. Professionally, she serves as Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at Metroparks Toledo and resides in Sylvania with her husband and family.<\/p>\n

Pastor Clark opened her sermon by challenging the men and women in the audience to physically wiggle their bodies, sit still, image and interact with others. \u201cWe have an assignment here today. Be still and stop wiggling. God has sent me here today to tell you to stop your wiggling away from him. Close your eyes and without motion, think about what the Lord has asked you to do this week. Think about if God didn\u2019t come through for you. It\u2019s hard to thank God or focus on God\u2019s ability if we\u2019re wiggling\u201d shared Pastor Clark.<\/p>\n

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Pastor Felica Clark<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Immediately following the spoken word, the Women\u2019s day chair J\u2019Vann Winfield delivered closing remarks and Rev. James H. Willis, Sr, pastor of St. Paul, invited guests to seek discipleship, delivered remarks and benediction. Winfield publicly thanked the co-chairs and entire committee. \u201cWhat a glorious day, this amazing day happened because of a great team of women,\u201d shared Winfield.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you give a young person an assignment, great things happen. I want to thank our chair and co-chairs. God will always give you someone who will lead. When you give a young person a chance, the young people blessed this program. I want to thank each of you,\u201d shared Rev. Willis during closing remarks.<\/p>\n

The service was viewed live on Facebook under the church\u2019s profile name, St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church. St. Paul is located on 1502 N. Detroit Street in Toledo, services are Sundays at 10:45am and Bible Study each Wednesday at noon and 6:00 p.m. Contact the church for virtual options.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Tricia Hall Sojourner\u2019s Truth Reporter The St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church welcomed men and women to celebrate their annual Women\u2019s Day service held on Sunday, September 19, 2021. The celebration theme was, \u201cWomen of God: Stand Still and Wait,\u201d that was inspired from biblical scripture Psalms 46:10. The women of the church wore various […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,17],"tags":[],"wf_post_folders":[75],"class_list":["post-2656","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-headline","category-local"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2656","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2656"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2656\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2661,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2656\/revisions\/2661"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2656"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2656"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2656"},{"taxonomy":"wf_post_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_post_folders?post=2656"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}