I am sitting in the basement of Manor Church, Midtown Manhattan, drinking a cup of chai from the Punjab Deli six short-blocks from here. A lot has transpired in this past week, during which we have had thirty-one volunteers from three churches in the Midwest come to the city to help in the work. I conveniently took my bi-monthly decompression trip down to Virginia while the teams helped in the ministry, worked in the food pantry, engaged in additional ministries, and worked on building projects here at the church. One church’s team came with the goal of tiling the kitchen and helping Pastor Bill (a licensed contractor) with other building projects at the church. Two churches’ teams worked primarily in the food pantry and chapel ministry. Some from the groups set up a booth across from Penn Station/Madison Square Garden and preached, read Scripture, sang, and gave out Bibles. I hear that believers from the city were encouraged by hearing open-air preaching of the Gospel. Twice last week, two of the teams sponsored and passed out invitations to an evangelistic open house with dessert and conversation from 9 P.M. to midnight here at the church. I hear that a good number of people came out to those events Monday and Friday. Interestingly, Pastor Chris Asuncion from Manor Community Church received a sidewalk invitation to the events.
I preached at three churches in Virginia and North Carolina while I was gone and rejoice that the Gospel is going forth with the power of the Holy Spirit in our day and in our nation. Upon arriving back in New York this Monday, I was immediately informed of a death here.
Mrs. Betty Little went home to be with the Lord Monday at 1:05 in the afternoon at the age of ninety-five. Mrs. Betty had been involved with Manor Church since age seven, married a pastor of the church in middle age, founded clubs for the Gospel’s and Christian edification’s sake while helping people in the community learn useful life skills. She had helped with and hosted numerous church dinners, cooked for those in need, and helped in her husband’s cause of preserving this little piece of property and its antiquated building on 26th Street as a Gospel center. Mrs. Betty will be missed, especially by Pastor Chris Asuncion, the current pastor of the established Manor Community Church. Mrs. Betty had brought the Gospel to Pastor Chris in years gone by, resulting in his faith in Christ alone and his salvation.
When I arrived in New York to work with New York Gospel Mission in September of last year, Alzheimer’s disease had begun to take its toll on Mrs. Betty. She always appreciated the Joneses, Galen, Heather, me, and many other of the workers at New York Gospel Mission and the hospice service that cared for her in the closing months of her life. I talked to her like I would talk to any other human being, calling her Mrs. Betty and directing informative conversation to her. This she appreciated. Pastor Bill and she had a good rapport. Numerous times she thanked us all and expressed her appreciation.
We had a small, informal, unplanned wake Monday afternoon as friends and neighbors came and shared stories in Betty’s apartment before the funeral home arrived in the evening. Mrs. Betty was talking and eating Monday morning and died in the early afternoon peacefully in her sleep. I will miss giving her her “meds in ice cream,” which was one of the highlights of her day by this point in life. One song she related to and would sing with me was “When We All Get to Heaven.” One day she went on for half-an-hour making up lyrics and adding them onto the song. I read the Bible to her at times, and she appreciated hearing recorded hymns. She always enjoyed a live rendition of the theme song from the “Lawrence Welk Show” at night while going to bed, whenever I was around to sing it. Mrs. Betty will be missed. At age ninety-five, her tired body and mind have finally rested. Her funeral will be Friday at 10 A.M. here at Manor Church, and we look forward to the coming of friends and family.
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