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  Letting Love--And Tears--Flow The Bible verse that Stan and Adina Hatch shared as a favorite when I interviewed them for the book was:  Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed--not only in my presence but now much more in my absence--continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling -- Philippians 2:12 Adina Hatch exemplified her faith in how she lived. She gave abundantly of herself to others. The Bible says:  Now you are Christ's body, and individually members of it. -- 1 Cor 12:27 We are taught that church members are part of Christ--we are his hands and feet. When Adina came to our church, despite having cancer, moving to a new place, and having a special-needs son, she jumped right into volunteering. When the congregation was made aware of the need for a Sunday School teacher. Even though she and Stan agreed to step back, she thought... Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here a...

Baptism at Grace Baptist Church Today, three young girls stepped down into the small baptismal pool at Grace Baptist Church. Pastor David Braneky said a few words, led a prayer, then gently guided each girl under the water and up again.  For those not familiar with Baptists, the basic tenets of our faith include the attainment of salvation through faith in God and Jesus Christ. We also believe in the Bible. We differ from many Protestants believing that the person being baptized needs to be wholly immersed in water.  The immersion represents the resurrection of Christ and also being born anew into a committed life of Christian faith.  I looked at our humble baptismal pool and thought of the church when it was in the city in the building that is now Temple Performing Arts Center. In the interviews for the book, so many have recalled it in such detail that I can envision it.  The entire design of the Baptist Temple was more like an auditorium than a normal church. Conw...

A Progress Update on the Book  Letting Love Flow--A History of 150-Year-Old Grace Baptist (Baptist Temple)--The Church That Founded Temple University Today I submitted proposals to five book publishers. I'd like to pop that bottle in celebration, but until one of them says, yes, we're interested, I think I'll wait. I'd hoped to have more blogs along the way, but I had pages to write. And pages to edit. And argh, pages to revise, edit some more. I included this photo to share what my reading has looked like lately. My undergraduate degree was in psychology, and my master's degree was in business, so in addition to book-related research, I thought I needed to fill in the gaps, if you will, with some books on writing. Celebrate this milestone with me--the proposal submissions! Until I get the book in your hands, I'll share a few quotes from the book: We're more, so much more, than a church that just gets together on Sunday mornings.--Natalie Glantz Missions are...

Discover Russell Conwell's Prized Possessions             Grace Baptist Church's fourth pastor, Russell H. Conwell, had been a captain in the Union army. During his lfetime, Conwell was also amazingly productive. He was a lawyer, real estate developer, newspaper man, prolific author, and well-known lecturer in the US. He actually traveled the globe giving his speeches. He gave his most famous speech, "Acres of Diamonds," more than 6000 times. It is estimated that Conwell earned an incredible sum over his lifetime for these lectures, but instead of keeping the funds for himself, he supported thousands in getting their college education. When asked what drove him to work so hard, he explained he worked for two. And shared the story of John Ring.      Before leaving for war, his beloved regiment honored him with a gold-sheathed sword, which Conwell promised to guard with his life. Many young men clamored to a part of the great effort of the...

 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.    

The Four Chaplains Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. – John 15:13 On a frigid February 3, 1943, the US troop ship Dorchester was sailing through rough seas in a convoy out of Newfoundland bound for Greenland.  They were about 150 miles off the coast.  Down in the old converted cruise ship’s stifling hold, 4 US chaplains circulated among the frightened young men, some lying wide-eyed in their bunks, others nervously playing cards or shooting dice.  Chatting with the troops, the chaplains eased tensions, calmed fears and passed out soda crackers to alleviate seasickness. The troops anxiously looked forward to reaching Greenland the next day.  They knew that U-boats prowled their ship’s course.  They did not know that by morning nearly 3/4s of them would be dead, and that the rest would have their lives changed forever.  Nor did they know the magnificent way in which these four chaplains would minister to them. ...

 Certainly one of the most memorable stories of Grace Baptist Church is that of Hattie May Wiatt.  According to Robert J. Burdette in his The Modern Templars--A Sketch of the Life and Work of Russell H. Conwell  it all began one day in 1883 with a little girl, 6 years old, Hattie May Wiatt. The following version is easy to read, but read on to see Conwell's sermon on Hattie May for a first-hand account, as well as other details of the little girl who lives on in our history. Additional Info Hattie May was the daughter of Joseph and Harriet (Hattie) J. Ball Wiatt and they lived at 1917 Mervine Street in Philadelphia.  She died of diphtheria at age 7, which her younger sister also contracted and died just 5 days later.  They were originally buried in Monument Cemetery but were moved within the cemetery on May 11, 1904.  Two years later, they grandmother, Abbie P. Ball was buried with them.  Monument was closed in 1956 and on June 22 of that year Annie an...

On May 16, 1870, a group of young men from the Young Men's Christian Association of the Tenth Baptist Church of Philadelphia decided to establish a mission in a rapidly developing section in the northern part of the city.  They secured a hall at Twelfth Street and Montgomery Avenue and began meetings to determine how to attract more souls to Christ.  The outpost was known as The Kennard Mission.   Among the young men were Alexander Reed and Henry C. Singly who went on to become deacons at Grace Baptist Church.  Frederick B. Greul, D.D., became a pastor at the Berean Baptist Church.  Another, John A. Stoddart, was the first superintendent of the Sabbath, or Sunday school at Grace Baptist. The mission was formally organized on February 12, 1872 with 47 members.   The Kennard Mission flourished and on August 25, 1872, they moved out of the hired hall and built a tent with a seating capacity of 500 at the corner of Berks and Mervine Streets.  In ...

On October 18,  2020 Grace Baptist Church celebrated its music ministry.  This year was difficult to imagine as most years during our Music Sunday each of our music ministry programs is part of the Sunday program.  However due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are not meeting as usual (mostly on Zoom, but a handful of limited, safely-spaced indoor and outdoor services).  Instead, members of each of the programs spoke, and a short video from the past was shown.  Although much different from our typical Music Sunday, many found this particular Music Sunday especially touching and a great praise to God for helping us use the gifts he's given us. Children's Ministry Gene Stremme "Music is an important part of worship at Grace Baptist.  And, kids are an important part so music and kids just kind of go together.  We accomplish this through singing, ringing tone chimes, dancing.  Yes, we have dance--the Dobrovolec girls are really good!  We also clap, we...

For today's blog about the book I'll share one of the interviews I've done over the past few months.  Dwight and Barbara Bolick came to our church when they came to this area for Dwight's training (see below) and joined our church then, and subsequently left for Chile and economic development for the Mapuche indigenous people.  Our church supported their mission work over the years, and here's what they had to say: Whatever  you did for the least of these  brothers and sisters of mine.  you did  for me. ~Matthew 25:40.

 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 det...

 It's nearing the end of August, and this project I began 6 months ago is plodding along.  It's been suggested that I create this blog to give a view. Years ago talking to Bob Foell, a cherished member of the church who lived to be 103, I had the original idea of writing about our church.  Bob was a joy to talk to, and knew so much about our history and building.  Unfortunately work and family took my attention away from this concept, until now.  Recently several of us were at Larry Davis' daughter's memorial, and the people at the table were reminiscing about memories of the old church.  And Pastor Steve mentioned the upcoming 150th anniversary coming up in 2022.  Voila, the long-ago-concept finally got off the ground. I am still in the process of contacting current and near-current members for phone interviews, speaking to them about how they started coming to GBCBB, memories of the church downtown, other favorite memories, and anything else they'd l...