The Sensational Salisbury District

We are excited about Conference Year 2018-2019 and our continued work here on the Sensational Salisbury District. Welcome to Rev. Dr. Karen Roberts Miller, new pastor of Sills Creek A.M.E. Zion Church and Rev. Martha Greene, new pastor of Ardis Chapel A.M.E. Zion Church.

The Sensational Salisbury District was well represented at Annual Conference. Congratulations to our Lay Council for receiving the Attendance Trophy for Conference Lay Council Meetings last conference year. Congratulations to the Kelley Mime Ministry (Jakayla and Re'Ana Kelley) of Moore's Chapel A.M.E. Zion Church for achieving first place in the Christian Education Department  Zion's Got Talent Competition. Congratulations to Sister Ernestine Cornelius and our wonderful Home Missions Workers for continuing our winning tradition at the Home Missions Banquet. The Salisbury District took first place in Category A (Sandy Ridge), 3rd Place in Category B (Sills Creek), and first place (Liberty) and third place (Ardis Chapel) in Category C. 

As we enter this conference year, let me share with you some thoughts from the book, "My Utmost for His Highest," by Oswald Chambers. The June 21st entry is entitled "The Ministry of the Interior."  Chambers quotes 1 Peter 2:9, "But ye are...a royal priesthood," and asks the question, "By what right do we become 'a royal priesthood?'" He answers , "By the right of the Atonement (the reconciliation of God and humankind through the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ)." He challenges us to stop thinking only of ourselves and about our personal rightness, for there is "only one place where we are right, and that is in Christ Jesus." This is another way of saying "It's not about you. It's about Jesus."  May this be a year that begins, for each of us, more of a focus on "the interior," the being "in Christ," rather than "the exterior," a continued time of elevating self.

Let us pray for others, more so than self. Let us pray for the other sixteen churches that makeup our district, more so than the one church we belong to. Let us visit and fellowship with the other sixteen churches, especially those you have never visited. Dr. Joanne and I pray for Bishop and Sister Battle, their administrative assistants, the other Presiding Elder Districts and their leadership, The Sensational Salisbury District (pastors, ministers, exhorters, local preachers, local, district, conference, general and connectional officers, the general membership), the Church Universal, our family and friends, the lost, and then ourselves. Don't place yourself at the beginning of the prayer list, but rather at the end. Don't worry. Somebody will be praying for you!

Yours in His Service,

Dr. Grant Harrison, Jr. 

Presiding Elder 

Sensational Salisbury District