Nine Martyrs Remembered

Associate Professor of New Testament Lisa Bowens was a key participant in a memorial service for the nine people who were killed seven years ago at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, SC, while participating in a Bible study. She also met with survivors as well as some of the family members of the nine killed in that tragic event.

“I am in awe of the family members’ strength, love, and faith,” Bowens said upon her return. “It was a powerful and sad event.”

The memorial service kicked off a national year-long campaign by Mother Emanuel, Dr. James Forbes, Senior Pastor Emeritus of Riverside Church, the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference, and churches around the country to focus on Mark 4 in Bible studies and sermons throughout the upcoming year. Mark 4, The Parable of the Sower, is the passage the Emanuel 9 -- Rev. Clementa Pinckney, Rev. DePayne Middleton-Doctor, Rev. Sharonda Coleman-Singleton, Cynthia Hurd, Ethel Lance, Tywanza Sanders, Susie Jackson, Rev. Daniel Simmons, Sr., and Myra Thompson -- were studying that fateful night.

To follow the year-long National Bible Study, entitled “What Kind of Soil Are We? What Kind of Soil is God Calling Us to Become?” please visit: http://sdpconference.info/national-bible-study/