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A Message From Our Pastor

83rd CHURCH ANNIVERSARY

MATTHEW 16:18

"And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it".

Recently, we the Mt Calvary Baptist Church Family celebrated eighty-three glorious and consecrated years of service to God as a beacon light for Christ in the community at Rome. We pause to reflect on our past and to consider how far we have come. The church has come a long ways from its humble beginning in the fall of 1927. From that small house-gathering on Dominick Street to our current location.

We acknowledge the tireless efforts of that small band of believers to whom God gave the vision to establish a place of worship. To them we owe a sincere debt of gratitude. "God will surely help us", must have been the motto of those earlier chartered members.

Thanks be to God for your faithfulness the legacy continues. Today we enjoy the blessings of a most elegant and spacious sanctuary with class rooms and offices constructed in '2000'. During the same year the old sanctuary was converted into the fellowship hall. In '2004' the second floor offices and storage were converted into the pastor's living quarters. This is clear evidence God has brought us from a mighty long ways. He is indeed worthy of our praise.

And as we continue to build upon our legacy I issue this challenge - Remain United in Christ and "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth".

Since the world in which we live is politically, culturally and spiritually sick and divided. The church has merely stood back and cast stones. What is behind the division? It is caused by different worldviews. Worldviews are the assumptions we make concerning truth. Actions follow assumptions. Wrong assumption - wrong conclusion - behavior is down stream.

A worldview must answer the question - Who or what is God? We can know God through His son the Lord Jesus Christ. However, to the secular humanist, God is not God - man is god. To the materialist and to the naturalist, God is not God - nature and the cosmos is god.

We must remain united because not only is the world sick but also the 21st Century church is ailing. Only 9% of Christians have a purely biblical perspective. During our parents generation - 65% espoused values that were biblically based; our generation - 35% and; our children generation - only 4% have biblically based values.

The reason for the rapid decline in biblical based values - we replaced Biblical based preaching - preaching that demanded sacrifice and service, with Pop Psychology - we have become Narcissistic, self-centered.

Our view has been obscured as a result of what we have absorbed through the media, through education, and through the political process. This has taken us away from a purely biblical worldview. Therefore, we need to throw out these worldviews that have tainted our perspective on what thus says the Lord.

The TRIPOD of Purely Biblical World View is as follows:

1. God is the creator of heaven and earth
2. Fall of man
3. God has a plan

The redemptive plan of God. It is the Crimson Thread that runs through 1,166 pages of the Bible. It gets us back to where we started before we separated ourselves from God.

If the church is going to restore a nation, rescue a generation, and revitalize civilization we must have a purely biblical worldview as stated by the Hebrew writer in Hebrews 11:6:

"But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is..."

However, the shout of the text is

"...he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him".

The significance of every Christian believer: is to be seasoned in the Faith and well enough read in the scripture. So, we can take the message of our Christ into the market place to heal and deliver a dying world. This is not a battle of guns and missiles - but it is a battle of truth and principle.

In Christ I Remain,

Rev. Tommy Ray Jackson, Sr.
Pastor

Pastor Rev. Tommy Ray Jackson, Sr.

First Licensed

12/18/1988

Ordained

10/27/1989

Educational Background

· 1959 - 1964: M. F. Nichols H.S. - Diploma
1964 - 1966: Mary Holmes College - Associate Degree - Math
1966 - 1969: Southern University - B.A. Math
1970 - Union College/Grad School Math
1971 - 1972: University College MBA
1987 - 1990: Rochester-Colgate Divinity School Certificate - 'Black Church Studies Program'

Family Information

Comments

Pastor - Mt. Calvary Baptist Church since 3/90
Past Moderator - Northeastern District Baptist Association (10/1997 - 10/2006)
Trustee: 63-65 LLC Empire Baptist Missionary Convention of New York, Inc. since 05/03
Chaplain: Historical Black Ministerial Alliance - 2004 until present
Area Vice President - Empire Baptist Missionary Convention of New York, Inc. since 05/03