Hi, everyone, I am getting more and more excited as it get's closer to my annual conference (Pacific Northwest). Our conference begins August 6th. God is so good, and powerful! A year ago I was traveling 300 miles to attend Wayman Chapel AME church on the greyhound bus. And because of this discussion board and all of you! And all mighty God, St. Paul Community Church was born. Yahoo! Thank you Jesus for bringing me from a might long way. Do you remember your first annual conference? What was it like? Bishop John Bryant is my Bishop and I cannot wait to meet him and Rev. Dr. Cecilia Bryant. P.S at annual conference St. Paul community church will officially come into the AME denomination.

-- Anonymous, July 08, 2001

Answers

Greeting Rev Rodgers, May God bless you as you prepare for your Annual conference. I wished that I could attend your conference. Bishop Bryant served as my bishop(10th) for 9 years. You will be in for a treat. He is a dynamic preacher and a compassionate leader. He has a heart for the people. I never will forget his kind words of encouragement after i recieved my 1st charge. Be prepared for a Holy Ghost filled conference. Please give me an update. Rev. Vickie Davis

-- Anonymous, July 20, 2001

As a life-long AME of 4 generations here in Texas and a lay member of the Southwest Texas Conference, most Texans can say that Bishop Bryant and his wife had one of the most corrupt, immoral, shallow, dishonest, and wicked administrations Texas has ever known. From his "headquarter" building project in Dallas wherein he bilked hundreds of thousands of dollars during its initial purchase through his lack of leadership throughout the District whereby congregations pulled out, left the buildings to the connection, and went and purchased their own building under an independent banner to the alienation of the District's most formidable leaders. We had more pastors of major congregations to leave the AME Church under Bryant than ever before in the history of the church. Bryant was a very manipulative leader as was his wife. He also placed ministers in churches that never should have been placed, including here in the Southwest Texas Annual Conference who are not productive nor have the leadership qualities to handle those congregations. It was so sickening to me that I began attending a United Methodist Church. Now that Bishop Young is here he is trying to straighten out the mess that Bryant and his wife left; both financially and as it relates to the leadership of the 10th District.

The way he treated Rev. Albert Dunn, who simply challenged his unChristian acts, is a disgrace. Even people in the secular world would not have done to Rev. Dunn what Bryant did knowing Dunn's wife was ill. And Rev. Dunn with 2 seminary degrees, who had served as Dean of the Chapel and Religion Instructor, was forced to leave the campus of Paul Quinn College with security forces sent by Bryant and left without a pastoral appointment during Bryant's entire administration.

15 of our most prominent Pastors in Texas left the AME Church under Bryant's leadership because Bryant does not like anyone that he knows is smarter than he is. He is a very shallow man and could be likened to a "cult leader." If he can't use you, he will drive you away.

I will not begin to discuss issues of impropriety and immorality, but I will say that the majority of Texas I speak with, especially here in teh Southwest Texas Conference, are very happy, very, very happy that he is GONE. Bishop Young is a breath of fresh air.

If Bryant was so great, why didn't the AME Church in Texas grow under his leadership while the Black population in Texas grew by more than 28 per cent during the time he was here? Why did some 12 congregations that I know about withdrew and established independent congregations? Why did Texas membership decline during a period when we should have been growing?? Why did he have his Presiding Elders levy an assessment on the congregations for his "appreciation" and then lie and stated that he did not know anything about it, only later to retract his statement when one of the Presiding Elders had stated that this request had come from the Bishop and Cabinet in private session? Why did his wife mistreat the elderly ladies in the WMS and establish her own brand of the WMS with only younger ladies under an assumed name? Why did Bryant not provide the leadership in repairing Paul Quinn College campus and recruit more students which is now being done under Bishop Young's administration? Why was Bryant referred to as "the most lying Bishop Texas has ever had?" Why did Bryant leave the 10th District in such a financial quandry,then tried to make himself look good in his report to the General Conference? Why were there so many allegations of immoral misconduct?

These and many more questions will be addressed soon by Texas and the AME Church; however, I am now attending my local AME congregation will full support and am glad, glad, glad that the likes of John Bryant are gone, gone, gone.

-- Anonymous, July 20, 2001

Rev. Davis thank you so much for your kind words!! Bishop Bryant has already shown his kindness to me. My church is new and in a remote area but he is excited about this church and the possibilities. I am sure everyone is proud of their conference and district. But I am so grateful I am in the Pacific Northwest Conference for there really is a pioneer spirit in our conference. Keep it simple, preach the gospel message of "Good News". One of the unexpected joys of going to annual conference is the excitement that we are receiving from the community that there will be an AME church in Bozeman, Montana. What I did not realize is that many of the people who moved here from other cities, share wonderful stories of the work of the AME church in their old towns. They talk about the AME churches partnering with white churches and taking leadership roles that no other denomination had done before. They talk about the warmth, of how they went to an AME church and felt welcomed, even though they were white, they talk about great preaching and singing. And they talk about community activism. It is wonderful to hear of their experiences. Our Dean of the Board of Examiners is coming to visit our church next week from Seattle. This is a wonderful gift to the congregation for the majority of them work two jobs and cannot come to annual conference. They will get to meet our Dean. And since our church is multi-ethnic we will have foods for him that represent our church. African-American, hawaiian, mexican, native american, and german food.

-- Anonymous, July 20, 2001

And according to my Cousin who lives in California where Bryant now presides, they are already seeing him for what he is; a wolf insheep clothing, a liar, and a money-grabbing sheister.

-- Anonymous, July 24, 2001

I have heard so many negative things about the Bryants since being here in the 5th Episcopal District which makes me wonder about his leadership abilities and character as well. We wanted someone to lead us in expanding the AME Church in the 5th District but seemingly he is too pre-occupied with too many other things such as making himself well-known among leaders of other denominations and money/finances take a prominent role in his administration. Also, most of us do not like howhe is attempting to convert the 5th District into a "Pentecostal-type Church." If we had wanted that kind and type of worship experience, we would have united with a Pentecostal Church but we are AMEs and neither he nor his wife can change or will change that.

-- Anonymous, July 25, 2001

St. Paul Community church will become an A.M.E church at annual conference in August (God willing). We are in the fifth district in Montana and will be the third A.M.E church in our state. One of our goals is to be an anchor for our young black athletes who are attending Montana state university, in my town. We have 70 black athletes. The majority are from california which is in the fifth district. Coming to a rural area is hard when you have come from the city. The kids do not have a lot of money and thank God our director of evangelism owns a restraunt and they can eat when things get tough! We also have latino workers at our rich resorts who have no church home. Our church has a spanish speaking ministerial staff member who is doing outreach. All of these things we are doing because of Bishop Bryant's encouragement his desire and the desire of the Pacific Northwest conference to plant churches. Our A.M.E church in alaska has grown three fold in this past year alone. I am new, but I plan to be a hard worker on the mission field in the fifth district. There would not be a St. Paul Community Church if it were not for the work of Bishop Bryant to get this church going where there is such a need. To my sisters and brothers in the fifth district, don't dispair God is doing great things through the "fantastically faithful fifth district. Let us pray for all of our Bishops.

-- Anonymous, July 25, 2001