"FEWEST OF ALL PEOPLE"

My church in Butler, Missouri, in 2008, had only 3 official members, a 300% increase over what it was in 1995, when I was sent there to pastor to but 1 member, "Mother" Helen Cooper, now deceased. We did have about 12 regular non-members who came to worship the 2 Sundays per month that I preached there, and who fully participated in giving and all related church labors. But the Spirit of the Lord moved on that tiny, Brooks Chapel A.M.E. Church in a very mighty way. That divine movement is best epitomized in a mounted, bronze, statuary model of a black, Civil War-era, soldier on the Bates County Courthouse grounds. We raised the money for the statue, hired the sculptor, secured the ground, and dedicated the statue in 2008, in a large public gathering featuring U,S. Congressmen, state Senators, bands, floats, prayers and praise, and 1st Kansas Colored re-enactors from Oklahoma. This was done through our church's Amen Society, to honor the six former slave soldiers and one Cherokee Indian, who all fell for freedom in battle. Their valorous memories were not only unconsecrated, locally, but were long forgotten,if ever known, by local residents. Those gallant pre-United States Colored Troops, (U..S.C.T) were members of the "1st Kansas Colored Volunteer Infantry". They died heroically October 29, 1862, in the Battle of Island Mound, in which they defeated a mounted unit of about 400 Confederate irregulars who were at least twice their number. The 1st Kansas Colored infantry whipped them on their feet! They were the first black unit to fight in the Civil War. Their widely publicized victory surely further encouraged President Abraham Lincoln to issue his "Emancipation Proclamation" on January 1, 1863, as a "military necessity," which enabled the general enrollment of black troops, and the liberation of slaves. in parts of Confederate states, but not in Missouri, a so-called "border state," like Kentucky, Maryland, Delaware. Henceforth, I shall equate always Deuteronomy 7:7 with Brooks Chapel A.M.E. Church, and the Amen Society, who, although small, were and are mighty in spirit, faith, and works, as stated in the scripture. Cudos to Rev. Harold Coleman for the scriptural reference, which inspired this holy post. Amen! Deuteronomy 7:7 King James Version (KJV) 7 The Lord did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people: King James Version (KJV)