IRVINGTON, NJ — Christian Love Baptist Church on Lyons Avenue rang in the New Year the same way it has in the past: with a prayer service and vigil at the church. But for the first time ever, Pastor Ronald B. Christian, known more familiarly as Rev. Ron, was not there to preside over the New Year’s Eve prayer service and vigil. Christian died Friday, Oct. 30, and is still being mourned by the congregation.
“He was a great son, a great man, a great person,” Christian’s mother, Willie Mae Christian, said Thursday, Dec. 31, during the service. “I love him so much. And I still have not accepted the fact he’s not with us in the flesh anymore. He’s still with me physically. I just ask for your prayers.”
Derrick Edmundson, the pastor’s cousin, was also at the service and said Christian’s legacy is alive and well, because the church and congregation would carry on his many good works.
“If there’s anything you remember about the person that I knew for 51 years of my life, he was always tried to bring people to God,” Edmundson said Thursday, Dec. 31. “Let us be and do like he did. If there’s anything we can do to honor my cousin, do what Christian Love stands for.”
Admitting they could never replace him, Christian’s surviving junior pastors and reverends promised to carry on his dedication and spirit.
“Rev. Ron had a vision of doing a platform service of not the last seven words that Jesus said before he was crucified, but the first seven words he said after he rose from the grave,” Minister Tara Cunningham, said Dec. 31.
Rev. Alfreddy Fletcher said the Bible allows believers know that on the “first day, Sunday,” they should “come together in fellowship, stewardship and worship.” He also said he wanted “to give honor to God and then to our late great pastor, Ronald B. Christian.”
“We come to you on this last day of 2015 and we say, ‘Thank You,’ ” Fletcher said. “Even as we’re excited to get into 2016, we want to let you know that we’re grateful for 2015. I want to let you know, even in your darkest hours and everything that happened in 2015, it’s time to rise up and go into 2016 with high expectations. Your testimony is what’s going to get someone else to rise up out of their bad situation. It’s not about where you go, it’s about will you bring somebody back with you?”
Rev. Sharlene Ferrel said the goal for the congregation is to be the same as the 12 disciples, who were sent out to preach the words of God. … I’m so glad that I have a church family that knows how to lift up the name of Jesus.”
Rev. Reggie Harris said, “Don’t miss you getting in 2016 to be closer to (God). All God desires is for you to have a relationship with his son. Don’t let anything get in the way of that. Don’t miss your opportunity.”
“In keeping with the theme of a new season, I would like to say: It’s time to move on,” Rev. Curtis Morris said Dec. 31. “It’s time to let go, because we can’t carry the stress and strife of 2015 into 2016 with us.”
The clock struck midnight as Morris spoke, and the words of the final two speakers were spoken on new year’s day.
“Happy new year; we made it,” Rev. Kara Lynn Whigham said to the sound of applause and voices of the congregation that were raised in prayer and expressions of gratitude. “Rise to your feet and give God the glory for making it into a New Year.”
Rev. Nyle Forte closed out the New Year’s Day service by reminding the congregation not to let the bad in 2015, such as Rev. Ron’s untimely death, get them down or prevent them from going forward into the new year.
“Our late, great pastor, Rev. Ron, had to go. Don’t go into 2016 walking in the wrong direction. It’s all about a relationship with God. I dare you to try God. I don’t even like religion. It’s all about a relationship with God,” Forte said.
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