VOLUMN XIV, NO VI
C.O.G.I.C. HEADQUARTERS, MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE
JUNE, 1981
WOMEN'S CONVENTION DRAWS NEARLY 10,000
The. 3.1stsession of^the Annual
Women's International
Convention of the Church of
God in Christ, Inc. challenged its
delegation with the striking
theme: "Dedicated Women that
times like these demand.*' The
purpose of the convention was
to promote better homes, better
communities and a better world.
The support of missions was and
always has been a chief
objective.
This year the convention site
was the Tarrant County
Convention Center located at
1111 Houston Street in Fort
Worth, Texas. Approximately
10,000 delegates, both national
and international, convened
there from May 26-31. They
were hosted and welcomed by
the Bishop J. Neaul Haynes and
Mrs. Emma F. Barron along with
other participating jurisdictions.
Both men and women are in
attendance at this great
covention which was pioneered
by the late Mother Lizzie
Robinson and further organized
by the late Dr. Lillian Brooks
Coffey. Dr. Mattie McGlothen
keeps constantly before the
women the memory of these
past leaders, including her
predecessor, the late Dr. Annie
L. Bailey. As the women
remember from whence they
came, they are motivated to
enter into "new dimensions and
horizons in the spirit" today.
The Convention workshops
played a leading role in
conveying this year's theme:
"Dedicated Women That Times
Like These Demand." The
workshop committee,
chairwoman Dr. St. Carrie
Dinwiddie, Dr. Gwendolyn
Howard, Mrs. Odessa Newman
and Mrs. Geraldine Wright very
masterfully prepared outlines for
information, instruction and
enlightenment. While the
convention is focused towards
women, they have been
successful in attracting men to
its sessions. Bishop Neaul
Haynes and Elder E. Calloway
conducted workshops for the
brethren in attendance.
Highlights for the convention
included   the   keynote   address
delivered by Mrs. Freddie J. Bell,
State Supervisor of North
Carolina 2nd Jurisdiction. Dr.
Mattie McGlothen was the
principle speaker on Thursday,
May 28. The presiding bishop,
Bishop J. O. Patterson addressed
the convention on Friday, May
29, at the 7:30 p.m. service.
The session climaxed on Sunday,
May 31, with the closing
message delivered by Elder Carlis
Moody, President of the Home
& Foreign Mission Department.
All the delegates were challenged
to share in the concern for
missions around the world.
Those that went expecting
returned to their various homes
pleased that the Lord had met
them in a tremendous way.
When the two sisters began
searching for each other they
found that the orphans home in
Louisville had burned and that
all records had been destroyed.
The adoption records of Mrs.
Garrett were sealed, and she had
considered hiring a lawyer to try
to open them.
"I didn't have to pay no
lawyer," she said. "God was my
lawyer."
This was not the only highlight.
Continued on page 8
MOTHER
mattie McGlothen
WOMEN'S   CONVENTION UNITES   TWO
SISTERS AFTER 62 YEARS
Two sisters, who last saw each
other 62 years ago when one was
adopted out of an orphans
home, were reunited Friday
when they sat down together
during a women's international
church convention at the
Tarrant County Convention.
The stranger-than-fiction chance
meeting brought together
Martha Garett of Kansas City,
Mo., and Emma Jones of J^arrell,
Pa.
The two had been trying to find
each other throughout their
adult life. "Now when we die,
we can die happy," said Mrs.
Garrett, 65,
psy   m      ,   mm
<A ? *,X      - l-' A ■--/   s
The sisters were among about
10,000 attending the Women's
International Convention of the
Church of God in Christ at the
convention center.
They believe a miracle caused
them to sit together.
"I saw this woman down front
by herself and I sat down," Mrs.
Garrett said.
"We started talking and I told
her my name was Martha and I
mentioned that I was adopted."
"When I told her my maiden
name was Evans, big tears
started    rolling    down    her
WOMEN'S   CONVENTION UNITES
SISTERS AFTER 62 YEARS
TWO
cheeks," Mrs. Garrett said.
Mrs.  Garrett said her mother's
name was Lela, mentioned other
names on her family tree and the
dramatic     realization
simutaneously struck both-they
were sisters.
Mrs. Jones, 70, told her: "You
are my sister I've been looking
for all these years."
The two were separated in 1919
when Mrs. Garrett, then 3 years
old was adopted by a family in
Jackson, Tenn.
Their mother had died at age 28
and their father was not able to
take care of the family of six
children.
All the family ended up in a
Louisville,  Ky.,  orphans home.
Four members of the family,
including Mrs. Jones, got back
together when their father
remarried and took them out of
the orphans home.
Continued on page 6
WOMEN DOING ALTAR WORK AT I. W. C.
MOTHER FREDDIE BELL
KEYNOTES I.W.C
To the Presiding Bishop,
members of the General Board,
to all Bishops of the church; to
our beloved International
Supervisor, Mother Mattie
McGlothen, her assistant and to
my fellow supervisors, Saints,
delegates and friends; I stand
before you tonight with fear and
trembling. There comes a time in
life when you face more than
just a mere challenge, but you
face, as I do tonight, THE
challenge of your life. There are
great women of the Lord who
are far more able to fulfill the
momentous task of keynoting
this convention. Now, I am
supposed to say "Thank You"
Mother and members of the
committee for making choice of
me; but being so awed by the
honor, I think I would do best
to ask for your prayers and
support that the Lord would say
something thru me for edifying
of the Saints.
For a number of years now, the
Holy Women of God have been
gathering from all over these
United States of America. Yes,
and here we are again, alive to
see each other; and in the words
of the hymn writer "all praise
and glory to Jesus be for His
redeeming grace." It goes
without saying we have been
able to come this far only by
help and grace of God. Of all of
the years that we have been
meeting, I am sure we will all
agree that these are the most
critical, the most crucial and the
most crisis struck times that we
have ever faced. There is an
unrest throughout the land. I am
not saying that sin is unique to
our times, but it certainly seems
to have increased during our
times. Horn osexuality,
immorality^ and this thing they
call "the' new morality" is
running  unchecked  like   water
down rain-drenched gutters.
Disrespect for authority,
disobedience and disregard for
leadership seems to be the order
of the day. There are
frightening, turbulent and
rugged times. With Reaganism in
the White House, with God and
prayer expelled from the school
house, with the lack of discipline
af our house, and with the
bickering and backbiting at the
church house, what else can we
conclude but that "there's
trouble all over this land."
To stand here tonight, however,
and enumerate the bleakness of
our terrible times would only
serve to further frustrate an
already terribly frustrated world.
I have rehearsed the conditions
of our times as a springboard
from which I can share with you
the challenge that I believe God
would use Holy Women to face
as we go forth from this Annual
Women's Convention.
For you to spend hundreds and
thousands of dollars to gather
here only to be reminded of how
Continued on oage 2
MOTHER FREDDIE BELL