10:45AM "Legacy Sunday" Honoring Dr. Charles Jenkins and The Evans Family, September 17, 2023-1

27:12 Isn't that one called First Lady? Y'all don't wear First Lady. Lord have mercy. I hope we find some around here because it's your little woman. Doesn't it feel good to be in church today? Y'all, can we just thank God for Jesus?

27:36 That's cute. That's cute. That's cute. But I'm talking about our Savior, the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, the first and the last, Alpha and Omega, healer friend provider savior rock of ages ancient of days bread of heaven light of the world died on friday got up on sunday we thank god for jesus if there are any first time guest visitors and friends that are part of the ship this morning we want to first just pause and thank you there are a lot of churches that you drove past to get here and we take it as an honor that you're worshiping with us today all first time guests or friends stand up we're not gonna call your name out we're not gonna embarrass you we just want to show you some love stand up god bless you god bless you god bless you god bless you if you're sitting around them give them some depth and say welcome to the ship welcome to the ship welcome to the ship welcome to the ship welcome to the ship we're so glad to see everybody this is the continuation of our church anniversary celebration 73 years if you our fellowship get loud get obnoxious come on ridiculous let's thank God for this place while we're clapping can we thank God for the memory of Dr. Clay Evans his wife Mrs. Luther May Holland shared Evans come on clap it up clap it up show some love to the Evans family still a part of this church all these years later we love y'all we love you and then to the man whose shoulders I stand on directly. What do you say about a living legend, a global icon, a musical genius, a masterful homiletician? Can we thank God for the labor and the leadership of the one and only Dr.

29:28 Charles Aloysius Jenkins? I just made up the middle name. Don't worry about our leg. Come on y'all, stand on your feet. Let him feel the love in the room today. He's at home. He's at home. In her own words, double crank it up for Dr. Tara Rawls, Jacob. We love y'all. We love you. Welcome home and you're home forever. And the Jenkins family is here on the second row. All of the children. Y'all make some noise for them. Charles and Princess and Paris and Grammy and Mama Gwen are in the house. Pastor Jenkins, mama's here today. Dr. Tara Ross Jenkins, mother's in the house today. Y'all get loud for them. Get loud. Let them know. We love y'all for real.

30:21 And love is an action word. If somebody says they love you and they don't show you, I don't know if they really love you. And what I'm saying is biblical. For God so love the world that he, there is no loving without giving. Yeah, that's why the Bible says, no greater love hath any man than to lay down his life for his friend. Jesus gave all he had. That's how we know he loves us. He gave it all. And so it's in order to honor the shoulders on which you stand, whoever you are. I don't care if you're in corporate. I don't care if you're an artist. If God brings you to a place, God has used some way makers that help you get to that place. and you ought to celebrate.

31:15 I'm going to say this grammatically. I'm about to strip all grammar, all of the, listen, all the redditicians, if that's a word, and the grammarians, you're going to be so upset with what I'm about to say. Ain't no sharp without Jenkins. so you can't celebrate me and not celebrate the man who God's told to send me here so can we thank him today come on help me thank God that's why we do it once a year and all through the year we let this family and these families No, they mean the world to us. It's such a sacrifice to do this. And when we pause to honor them, all we're saying really is thank you that your labor was not in vain. We know that it was a sacrifice.

32:11 You poured love, poured tears, poured sleepless nights into this place. And we're better because of Pastor Charles Jenkins and Dr. Tara Ross Jenkins passed this way. You are the epitome of what fellowship is. It's a kinship. It's a friendship. It's a relationship. My life changed on July the 5th, 2018. My wife and I was sitting at Papa Doe's in Atlanta on the north side. And I got to the restaurant before them. We agreed to meet up to have lunch. And he said, we on our way. We on our way. Running a little behind. I said, well, meet me at the bar. I'll be at the bar. it was a test i was not at the bar but your pastor meredith walked in papadose and went straight to the bar he said i was looking for you man he said i wanted to see were you really gonna be sitting at the bar we were all sitting in the cut i said no but from day one what i love i've been able to be myself and he's been able to be himself and man this thing is deeper than a succession plan. These are family members to us, y'all. They are family to us. And so I thank God for them. We have something for the Evans family. You know, Dr. Evans went home to be with the Lord November 2019, and it would be a shame and a travesty if he goes home to be with the Lord, and we forget his children who gave and sacrificed their lives too, right along with their parents.

33:46 and so that's why we pause to honor the Evans children and I want to call them up right now Deacon Michael Evans come on up brother Stevie come on up Auntie Claudette come on up come on up come on up come on up y'all clap like we're at the Grammys clap like we're at the Oscars thank you yep no stay right here stay right here on behalf of the church we just want to say thank you and brother Ralph had to go serve at a church. He's a masterful musician. We honored him at the eight o'clock service. I see Mama Lou, our last living founding member. We took care of her last week, but come on up here too. Come on up here too. Come on up here too. Come on up here too.

34:53 Come on up here too. Look at her. Look at her. Look at her. Look at her. Look at her. Y'all show Mama Lou some love. what you drink before you come to church all this energy every week we want to get a good picture pastor and dr tara would you come on this side lady brie would you come on this side let's get this picture and y'all reverend evans grandchildren are in the room y'all stand up and wave at us come on and jump in this picture come on up here come on up here Come on up here. Any of Reverend Evans' grandchildren. I see Minister Tanya in the back. Come on. Niece, nephew. Y'all come on up here. Come on up here. Come on up here. Jump on the steps back there to get on the second row. Walk slowly. Walk slowly. Walk slowly. Take your time. Take your time.

35:45 One of Reverend Evans' great grandbabies. Uh-huh. Come on. Come on. Great. You say great, great. Great, great. Great, great grandbaby. Miss Walterine and Miss Patty Dixon and Miss Tanya and Miss Odessa. Come on. If you can, step up or you can stay down on this level. Y'all give them a big hand. It's a family reunion. Let the church say amen. y'all show some love to the Evans family thank you all so so much Auntie Claudette Stevie Deacon Mike y'all want to say anything You want to say anything?

37:05 I want to thank you. I want to thank you for being the man of God that you are. Reverend Jenkins, being the man of God that he is. And my father, who started it all. I just thank God for you all and you all's kindness.

37:29 Thank you so much. You're welcome. We love you. You want to say something? Thank you. Ta-ta. Much obliged. Y'all give them a hand. It's a classy family. and it is my desire to thank god for the mothers it's our desire it's not a me thing it's a we thing we can't say it's a kinship friendship and relationship and a companionship and a partnership and all the ships and we not sell like it and so we wouldn't have a mama tara dr tara without a Grammy and we wouldn't have a Pastor Jenkins without a Mama Gwen so I want the mamas to come on up here too so we can show them some love as well and some of you haven't seen them so turn up for mamas everywhere come on if nobody else is clapping let's thank God for mamas come on we love you and we thank God for you come on Bree jump in this picture Thank you so much.

38:58 Y'all give it up for Grammy. Y'all ain't met no mamas like this. Mama Gwen look like a sainted mother today, doesn't she? Mama Gwen got a whole boyfriend. A whole entire boyfriend. And if he did it before, he could do it again. Same God right now. mama gwen just celebrated a major birthday major milestone happy birthday mama gwen we love you preacher's kids give up so much my wife is a preacher's kid her father pastored many many years and unfortunately in 2006 died of a massive heart attack at the age of 50 you give so much in it's profession it's not a profession it's a vocation it's a calling because if it was just an occupation all of us would have quit a long time ago but while the pastor and the first lady are carrying the load and blessing the world it's often their children that sacrifice the most and so for the rest of the time that I'm the pastor I will always honor Reverend Evans children and I will always honor Pastor Jenkins' children because they deserve that. Paris is going into her third.

40:23 Paris is at Xavier University in New Orleans. Come on up here, Paris. Charles III is now a freshman in high school, major basketball player, and Princess, aka PJ, is going into her third year at Clemson University Fellowship. Stand up on your feet and help me thank God for the Jenkins babies. Y'all gonna get a picture with me. Come on, Bree. Come on, Dr. Tara and Dr. Charles. We only do it once a year. We got to do it right. We love y'all. Give it up for them. Give it up for them.

41:31 Bree, come on up the steps with me. We thank God. Go that way. Y'all give it up for Lady Bree. My, my, my, my, my. Listen, we are blessed that we have a pastor emeritus. And all that means is somebody has served well. It's a distinction and title of honor and reverence to be given an emeritus status. The masculine word is emeritus. the feminine word is emeriti or emerita and so when we call them their names i want you to understand what you're saying it's not a way to scoot them over it's a way to lift them up and we say no no you are pastor emeritus you've served this place for 23 years you gave your heart you took hits just so the gospel could go forward you took the mantle from reverend clay evans in a way that no joshua has ever succeeded a moses in the history of this world and we're still here because of your sacrifices we're better i'm better and this church is still standing not just because reverend evans but there was a young 25 year old that showed up in 2021 and broke the ceiling, shattered any imagination of what the definition of black church looked like.

43:17 Look where we are. We're here because this was your vision. We were fine to go in the pandemic because we had all the media resources already in-house. So while I was preaching on the virtual ship, you hooked us up and got us ready for the virtual ship. The pandemic was easier for us because of what you did before you left here. we're better because of you we're breathing some of us because of your sermons we are here because god sent dr charles jenkins to chicago in 1997 and your boo ain't nobody on earth can smile and charge a room with energy like dr tara ross jenkins our children's ministry is better because of you our women's ministry is better because of you we literally stand on the shoulders of giants dr charles jenkins dr tar ross jenkins come on up to the stage and receive some love today fellowship on your feet show some respect we don't stand for joe biden and not stand for the man and woman of god we love y'all it's a little something something in here hold on to it and on behalf of our anniversary committee we have some gifts for you all we have some gifts for you can't open it now but you can open it later miss yvette minister deborah earl y'all they have been running this church anniversary this month can you all show some love to our co-coordinators of church anniversary we love you we love you we love you it's just a little something but the heart behind it is huge and we love you so every year we look forward to just taking a sunday just one sunday to spread the sacred spotlight of heaven on you all in your family just to say thank you there is no gift large enough there is no check great enough that

45:25 we could write to really encapsulate all that you mean and all that you've done, but just fill our hearts. And Chicago says, thank you. Fellowship says, thank you. We love you. Would you say something to us?