Crisis and Emergency Management and Preparedness for the African-American Church Community

Biblical Application from a Theological Perspective

George O'Neil Urquhart

• Publisher: Wipf and Stock
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN:
  9781625642400
• eBook ISBN:
  9781630873998
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Church

In these challenging times, the resident population served by the predominantly African-American church demands and deserves specific attention in order to preserve the uniquely cohesive nature of the African-American community. While this work is specifically focused on one local church community, there is a shared hope among church members, clergy, civic and lay professionals, and the Samuel DeWitt Proctor School of Theology that this project will serve as a model for success beyond its local audience. This work was conceived to help mitigate growing environmental and social concerns beyond traditional emergencies--such as floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, severe weather, and power outages--imposed upon communities already strained by economic and social inequities. This book is designed to provide guidance on crisis and emergency preparedness by offering an example of how a church or similar institution may undertake the task of setting up an appropriate emergency planning structure for its congregation and community.

1

Ministry Focus

Consider the Warning

Plato observed that it is the thymoeidés (that area of one’s being that is related to the soul of man, called the spirited, courageous element, that lies between the intellectual and the sensual element in man, and the area that harbors and contemplates the unreflective striving toward what is noble) of human beings that, as an essential function of one’s being, is the ethical value and sociological quality.6 In this chapter my focus will be to present an overview of my background and motivation for the project.

An individual’s life journey is characterized and represented by a series of milestones consisting metaphorically of sprints, bounds and leaps, stops and detours, reversals or turnarounds, stumbles and accidental collisions, disappointments and engagements, falls, bruises and bumps, breakdowns, patches and repairs, and, curiously, intersections with other travelers. To make sense out of this collage of demographic and geological adventures and incidents, these happenings must first be tactfully recorded, then bridged or connected to see the tapestry that is being created or inspired.

Autobiographical Statement

Introspection and retrospection inform my story. The influence of God-fearing parents and their love of God taught me by example and instruction within the context of loving discipline to trust in the Lord for all things. Their uncompromising dependence on God and their ultimate regard for community, demonstrated by generosity and a courageously intense love for family and church, provided a diverse environment that continues to illumine, nourish, and reverberate within the pulse of my temporal existence. My mother and father, both of whom are deceased, loved and practiced Christian doctrine.

Being born in Sussex County, Virginia, in the early 1940s, a product of that county’s segregated primary and elementary school system, has given me the greatest admiration and respect for the parents, teachers, and pastors who were courageous in their leadership and teachings and who sacrificed talents and time for those under their care and tutelage. I remember and recognize now just how much dedication and unselfish devotion these persons shared in community with others in spite of outright intimidation, opposition, and threats to livelihood. Growing up too in a farming community, some eight miles outside of Waverly, the nearest town, instilled in me both materially and mentally the discipline and rewards of character, conservation, humility, and responsibility.

Christ-centered parental training was reinforced and enhanced through extended Christian education and worship experiences. At an early age I was introduced and came to a personal faith and knowledge of the guidance and providence of God. I now understand that these experiences were the beginning moments of truth and the initial phase in the development of statement of faith formations.I received my elementary and secondary education from Sussex County Public Schools and earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Virginia Commonwealth University in 1975, in urban studies and regional planning. In 1980 I received a Master of Arts degree in public administration from the University of Virginia.

My employment and professional history spans a career that includes a wide variety of engagements and tenures, ranging from the educational arena to corporate and public-sector management. Currently employed with the Commonwealth of Virginia, I have served for almost forty years in executive- and senior-level civil service positions, including both corporate and public service. I have been blessed to receive gubernatorial appointments by Governors Charles Robb (1984), Douglas Wilder (1992), George Allen (1995), and James Gilmore (2000).

Civic duties and involvement in social functions have been tremendously helpful and instrumental in the formation of professional development skills. Such open-door privileges have been two-sided: I have come to observe and appreciate the great strides and triumphs of many who were once denied equal access to excellent opportunities; yet, on the other hand—and this is one of the major issues that contributed to my call to the ministry—I have been exposed to the agonizing cries of God’s people as they have struggled with trauma and tragedy as a result of institutional inequities and circumstances not of their own choosing. These are distressing tensions on society at large, and I have on more than one occasion confronted and engaged the political and social system to bring attention to and correct such glaring inequalities and injustices.

How I came to enter ministry and become a gospel preacher, however, is the story of a lifetime. My early and young adult years were strongly influenced by the community. The local church and public elementary and high schools helped reinforce home discipline and enlightenment. That extended community would eventually include institutions of higher learning and a workplace that provided opportunities that ultimately challenged childhood presuppositions.

It was, however, the providence of God that led me to become an ordained deacon in July 1978 at Wilborne Baptist Church, Waverly, Virginia. Before my ordination and since, I have endeavored to serve the faith community in a number of lay capacities, from church Sunday school teacher, to school superintendent, to president of the Sussex County Sunday School Union (1991–92), where I afterward served six years as its director of youth ministry.

I am a servant of the church of God and am called by God to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ. I used to struggle with the question, “Where shall I proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ?” The Word of God came and told me to preach the gospel in whatsoever capacity or place I may be found. Seldom has a day gone by without the opportunity to minister to someone in need, either through a word of wisdom or a helping hand of support through some difficult circumstance.

As noted previously, my theological pilgrimage has been adventuresome by no less than the majesty and mystery of the divine call. This duty of divine discipleship has been characterized by a series of experiences and perspectives that continues to illumine the essence of this pilgrimage and gives light to the actuality of a destination only revealed “little by little” by God. To better understand my theology and Christian pilgrimage, permit me to share a few specific experiences that will help shed light on my educational development and perhaps make this autobiographical statement somewhat more intuitive in the final analysis.

It was no less than a theophanic appearance in the form of a command to “study to show thyself approved unto God” (2 Tim 2:15) that eventually lead me to the School of Theology at Virginia Union University. That was the first clear voice I heard from the Divine Eternal (through the lips of my wife) upon seeking God’s guidance relative to the call to the ministry. However, in retrospect, years before my acceptance and public announcement of the call to the ministry of the gospel, many colleagues occasionally referred to me as minister or pastor. In addition to becoming tired of telling them, “No, not me,” I was nevertheless often surprised and taken aback when a complete stranger would comment to me or to someone close or near me, “He’s [or ‘you are’] a preacher.” Even as time went on members of the clergy would comment privately to me or publicly state that the Lord has called me/him to preach.

I came to the call after a period in which I came to recognize the precious gift of ministry, a gift that others recognized, confirmed, and affirmed for me. It was through this chain of events that in the summer of 2002 I came to be enrolled in the Master of Divinity program at the Samuel DeWitt Proctor School of Theology, Virginia Union University, to further my growth in the wisdom of God. As part of the continuing affirmation of the call to the gospel ministry, I graduated in May 2005 with a Master of Divinity degree.

As if on dual tracks propelled by prayerful support of others, studying under the likes of the late Miles Jerome Jones (STVU professor of homiletics), and the teaching and urging of the Spirit, I came to preach my inaugural message on March 2, 2003. Called to my first pastorate in February 2010, I was later publicly set apart and ordained to the work of the gospel ministry on April 18, 2010, at Providence Park Baptist Church, Richmond, under the leadership of its pastor, Reverend Jerome C. Ross, PhD. Through patience and the grace of God, I was installed as pastor of Plank Road Baptist Church, Waverly, on May 2, 2010. Wayne Muller sums up the context and essence of our ministerial call with these words: “The opportune moment for kindness and generosity seems to present itself clearly, if only we are able to hear and are prepared to respond.”7

I soon learned that we cannot ever get to a point and say learning and studying are complete, whatever the field or profession. As faith and time would have it, I made application to the Samuel DeWitt School of Theology, Virginia Union University, in April 2008 to the Doctor of Ministry program. Later, in May 2008, I received an acceptance letter congratulating me and granting me admission to the program beginning September 2008. This project was part of the culmination of the requirements of the Doctor of...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Acknowledgments
• Preface
• Glossary
• Introduction—"The Word is Out: It Is No Secret"
• 1. Ministry Focus: Consider the Warning
• 2. The State of the Art of This Model for Ministry: A Preparedness Posture
• 3. Theoretical Foundations for the Model: Methodology for Finding Safety in the Sanctuary
• 4. Engaging the Task and Assigning Responsibilities: Field Experience
• 5. Summary, Reflections, and Conclusions
• Bibliography
• Appendix: Model Emergency Management and Preparedness Planning