Hi, as many of you know I'm working on a book about Grace Baptist Church. If I haven't yet interviewed you, and you'd like to share your thoughts and memories about the church, please contact me at gbcprayerwarriors@gmail.com. When I began my research for the book, I started by looking over the materials at the church. I found previous histories, the last being done about 30 years ago. These histories reviewed how we started in 1872 as a mission, grew into a tent, and then a building, and then a massive church--at one time the largest Protestant church in America. That building is today part of Temple University, its fine arts and performing center. The histories would talk about previous ministers, our locations, etc. What I was really curious about at times was the people of the church. What were those original few that started the mission like? What were they thinking? What were the times like? I've still not determined what the final output or outputs of my work will look like, but one thing I decided it I wanted to capture who we are today. What are the people who attend, or have attended, Grace Baptist, like? So I've begun interviewing many of you. If I haven't reached out to you yet, please contact me at the email above so we can set something up. This I know: We are God's people, imperfect but loving and working to bring a little heaven to earth. We are still on that mission started nearly 150 years ago.... Won't you join us?
February 18, 2021 As I sit in my home office here in the suburbs of Philadelphia, watching the snow plows clear the latest 6-9 inches of snow we got this morning, I'm mesmerized by the following letter. It has transported me to a hot, desolate empty field in North Carolina in 1914, and then back 50 years earlier to a Civil War battle. The letter was written my Russell H. Conwell, my church's pastor from 1882-1925. He wrote back to his congregation his thoughts since he'd just visited the battlefields and recounted his memories of those days, including a story of a young soldier, Johnny Ring, who died saving his captain's beloved sword. Conwell is best known for founding Temple University, and helping fund many students' educations through funds he earned through his lectures, including his most famous one, "Acres of Diamonds." Below is my typed version, but if you read on you can see Conwell's letter in his own handwriting.
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