In The Wilderness e-bog

Fresh out of seminary, armed with confidence, qualifications, and what I thought was experience, I was ready for ministry opportunities. After all, I had just graduated from the oldest Catholic Seminary in the nation, the Saint Mary's Seminary in Baltimore, Maryland....as a Baptist. I had received my baptism, in water and in urban ministry, from the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia - where the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. shared leadership with his dad. I was currently under the leadership and tutelage of Dr. Harold A. Carter, Sr., of the New Shiloh Baptist Church in Baltimore, a great evangelist in his own right. Inner-city ministry. - bring it on!God said, "e;I certainly will!"e; He then planted me in the number one drug trafficking block in the nation's capital. The task: start a church, clean up the block, and face all the challenges of surviving "e;in a wilderness."e;This wilderness was complete with one of the largest public housing facilities in the city, located directly across the street from the church, where over 90% of the residents were single mothers. Where men gathered in droves at the first of the month to confiscate the mother's checks. Where there was a thriving liquor store literally steps from the housing complex. Where unemployment was off the charts, drug dealing and addiction was visible and active, and where hopelessness abounded. A wilderness indeed!Initially, my comfort rested in the knowledge that many of God's greatest servants, including Jesus, spent some time in the wilderness - but only a short while. Little did I know that God had some "e;unusual episodes"e; prepared for me "e;in the wilderness"e; and that my stay would not be for "e;a short while."e; Unfortunately, they did not teach me how to handle these episodes in seminary!