Faith in the Vaccine

Rev. Dr. Kendrick E. Curry, Rev. Thomas Bowen and Rev. Karen Curry help kick off The Pennsylvania Avenue Baptist Church’ s ‘Faith In The Vaccine’ event.

By Rev. Karen Curry

COVID-19 has been hitting black and brown communities in the United States particularly hard, and many people have been literally praying for relief. While the expedited production of vaccines has been unsettling for some, others view it as an answer to prayer.

District of Columbia (DC) residents who desired to take the vaccines eagerly anticipated being able to do so in their own communities. However, residents in underserved areas of the city found that appointments were immediately and repeatedly filled by persons outside of their communities who were better able to navigate online portals, physically able to wait in long lines in-person or simply were bold enough to strategize ways to get appointments despite residency or other eligibility requirements. DC residents did not take those interceptions lightly, and loudly voiced their displeasure to their local council members, to the mayor and their pastors.

Rev. Dr. Kendrick E. Curry, pastor of The Pennsylvania Avenue Baptist Church (PABC) in SE, Washington, D.C., had been serving on DC Health’s Scientific Advisory Committee and heard from his congregants and community members, loud and clear, that something needed to be done to remedy the injustice. In his discussions with the leadership of DC Health, Dr. Curry suggested that the city engage churches to serve as vaccine clinics to more effectively reach DC residents and seniors, especially those in the city’s underserved areas of Wards 5, 7 and 8. Other city officials also heard

from their local pastors who offered the same pastors who took the vaccines as means of solution. In response, Mayor Muriel Bowser and DC encouraging interested congregants to follow their Health Director Dr. LaQuandra Nesbitt launched lead, were vaccinated. Faith in the Vaccine has “Faith in the Vaccine,” a partnership featuring continued to build on this initial success, and clinics churches, trusted community leaders and are now being offered at churches throughout the messengers, to make the vaccine accessible to city — part of Dr. Curry’s original vision. the city’s most vulnerable Through Faith in the residents. Vaccine, DC seniors are

PABC was in a great contacted directly and position to hold vaccine offered appointments or clinics not only because of its directed to a special physical space and location, registration portal where but also because it had they can register themselves already been on the front or an eligible family lines throughout the member. Some seniors pandemic, conducting regular simply want to have online webinars with doctors someone on the phone with and researchers regarding them as they navigate the COVID-19 and other topics; online registration process. partnering with a neighboring Others need more assistance ministry, the DC Dream and receive one-on-one Center, to provide large-scale support with all aspects of food distributions of farm- registration. Faithful church fresh produce; and partnering volunteers and specially with medical providers, such trained members of as Howard University Rev. Dr. Curry receives his vaccination. LCHC’s Virtual Health Hospital, CORE Response and Ministry provide a level of personalized support that Five Medicine to provide COVID-19 testing at the is not feasible at traditional vaccine sites. In addition church. to vaccine registration, Virtual Health Ministry

The pilot clinic took place at PABC on February representatives are trained to provide seniors with 11, 2021, through the collective effort of several resources and support as other needs are revealed. partners: Five Medicine, the clinicians who The Faith in the Vaccine initiative has administer the vaccine and were already on-site helped turn the fight against COVID-19 into an conducting COVID-19 testing; Mary’s Center, a opportunity for DC seniors to have their voices federally qualified health center and vaccine heard and for vulnerable persons to be connected supplier; the Leadership Council for Healthy with the care and support that many had gone Communities (LCHC) which conducted outreach without for much of the pandemic. Isn’t that just and registration assistance; Rev. Thomas Bowen, like God to make ALL things work together for the mayor’s Director of Religious Affairs, who good!  assisted with site selection; and Learning Undefeated and PEI, two providers of mobile vaccine labs. Rev. Karen W. Curry, owner of " Say That!"

The PABC clinic exceeded the city’s goals: 321 Communications LLC, is a Consultant, Writer, eager and appreciative DC seniors, along with area Editor, Instructor and Poet.

COVER STORY

Members of the Myanmar community gather for a prayer vigil outside the Embassy of Myanmar in support of truth and democracy.

DCBC Stands With The People of Myanmar

By Rev. Dr. Rollin Van Bik

I

mmigrants from Myanmar (formerly known as Burma) comprise about seven percent of the membership of the District of Columbia Baptist Convention (DCBC). They represent various ethnic groups, such as the

Chin, Kachin, and Karen, and offer a glimpse of an already diverse faith community that chose to become part of the most diverse Baptist Convention in the United States. They also have a long history of connection with the American Baptists through the American Baptist missionaries in their native land; a good reason for them to immediately feel at home with the DCBC as they settled in the Washington, D.C. metro region.

Rev. Dr. Robert D. Cochran initiated the Burma Work Group (BWG) while serving as the DCBC’s Executive Director/Minister. In 2016, BWG, which has served as a distinct extension of welcome to such diversity, was formed “to raise the awareness and interest of congregations in the DCBC about Baptist work among the varied ethnic peoples (specifically the Chins, the Kachins, and the Karens) within Myanmar (Burma), resulting in increasing spiritual and physical resources focused on that country and its people and the spiritual growth of congregations in the DCBC.”

Rev. Dr. Cochran continues to lead the BWG. Through a Palmer Grant from the American Baptist Foundation, BWG’s From left to right - Rev. Dr. Cochran (in black coat), a Myanmar supporter, Rev. Dr. Hernandez, Rev. Dr. Miller Manarin and Rev. Price mission work has extended to the area of participate in a February 12 prayer vigil at the Embassy of Myanmar. theological education, both in Kachin State and Chin State, and a water project Hakha Division, Chin State. The in the New theological illegitimately claimed voter fraud when the certified education project engaged several people from results gave a landslide victory to the National the DCBC. Rev. Stephen Price, Rev. Dr. Pat League for Democracy party, led by Aung San Suu Hernandez, Rev. Dr. Robert Cochran, his wife, Kyi. Because of the military coup, BWG's endeavors in Rev. Deborah Cochran, and I have been involved Burma may be halted for some time. Nevertheless, in teaching at Kachin Theological College in DCBC’s outreach to the most recent immigrant Kachin State and Chin Christian University groups through the BWG will always be remembered. in Hakha, Chin State. We made several trips to the Chin State and the Kachin State in late 2019 An Action Plan and January 2020 before COVID-19 hit. However, after the pandemic made travel Rev. Price sent me a text early in the morning of impossible, teaching at the Chin Christian February 1, expressing how sorry he was to hear about University in Hakha went virtual, and the current the military coup in Myanmar. After I shared my fears DCBC President, Rev. Dr. Donald Kelly, and and anxiety about Myanmar becoming a military the former president, now Vice President, Rev. dictatorship with him and other colleagues, several BWG Dr. Ella Redfield, were added to the teaching conversations followed, and a plan was put forward to be group. executed by the current DCBC Executive Director/

To an immigrant like me, the January 6, Minister, Rev. Dr. Miller Manarin. The former General 2021, Capitol riot was uniquely troubling Secretary of the ABCUSA, Rev. Dr. Roy Medley, because it showed a country like Myanmar, also shared his thoughts, “The best way is through where democracy is in its infancy, how our government. They will pay no attention to us democracy could create a chaotic situation, thus as moral discourse means little to them, and we are justifying the military's seizure of power and but another group in Chin State itself which has use of force to control the country. In fact, in growing restrictions placed on them.” So, a written less than a month's time, the military coup in resolution was favored to be sent to the White House, Myanmar started on February 1. The coup the Vice President's office, and members of Congress. April/May 2021 Capital Baptist Newsletter 11

Even before the letter was sent, I started sharing with Chin pastors in several states about BWG’s efforts, encouraging these pastors to incorporate with their regional associations or conventions. Like me, many of them were mortified and at a loss for words for their congregations, who were also deeply grieved by the military coup. “I felt like my heart stopped beating,” said one Chin pastor in Wisconsin. “But now that I heard from you that the DCBC is writing a letter to the president on behalf of their Chin brothers and sisters and for the whole Burma, I can feel my heartbeat again,” he continued.

The letter, signed by both Rev. Dr. Kelly and Rev. Dr. Miller Manarin, was sent to the White House on February 2, 2021, and its receipt was acknowledged a few days later. I sent copies of the letter to the Chin pastors, and some of them indeed followed suit, sending similar letters to their senators and representatives in Congress. DCBC’s willingness to walk with us in times of trials and tribulations is so uplifting and comforting to those of us who have families and friends in Myanmar. As part of the action plan, and in the follow up of the letter, DCBC participated with members of BWG and of the Myanmar/Burma clergy and community on February 12, 2021, in a prayer vigil in front of the Embassy of Myanmar, located at 2300 S Street NW in DC. As the Chinese saying goes, “A picture is worth a thousand words,” and the presence in this valley of white faces — Rev. Dr. Manarin, Rev. Dr. Cochran, Rev. Stephen Price and Rev. Dr. Pat Hernandez, representing the ABCUSA — walking with us means a lot more than several million words. To reinforce the need for stronger measures to be taken against the military coup, DCBC sent a second letter, also signed by Rev. Dr. Kelly and Rev. Dr. Miller Manarin, to the White House and members of Congress on February 24, 2021. In a March 13, 2021, Zoom meeting with some community leaders of Hakha, Chin State, one of the leaders said, “Your voice in the U.S. is our safety. No matter what we do, we are not safe here until this military coup is ended.” I have cried several times watching how the Burmese military has escalated the brutal crackdown on the protesters. As of April 11, 2021, more than 700 people, most of them young men and women under the age of 25, have been killed by the police who are under the military's rule. This could get worse: During the 1988 uprising in Myanmar, thousands of young people, most of

Faculty and students at Chin Christian University, Hakha, Chin State, Myanmar, in January 2020.

A screen shot of some of the participants in the March 13 Myanmar Prayer Vigil and Communion service held online via the Zoom platform.

them college students, were killed in their attempt to fight for justice and democracy. If the Biden administration does not take stronger actions than just economic sanctions against the military coup. I fear many more people will perish in the name of freedom and democracy that the USA holds so dear.

DCBC, walking in solidarity with the people of Myanmar, strengthens the bond among its ethnic brothers and sisters here in the United States and carries out the promise to spread the good news to the oppressed and poor across the globe.

A water project in Hakha, Chin State, engineered by Calvin Van Bik; rainwater harvesting through the roof of a house.

Rev. Dr. Rollin Van Bik, pastor of Lai Baptist Church in Howard County, Md., is a leader among Chin Baptists in the USA and Myanmar (Burma), a key member of the DCBC Burma Workgroup and a leader in the partnership with our sisters and brothers in Chin State. He served as a member of the DCBC Board from 2018 to 2020.

D C B C F O U N D A T I O N

SCHOLARSHIP APPLICATION DUE MAY 1 GRANT APPLICATION DUE JULY 15 www.dcbcfoundation.org

DCBC’s Grant Writing Workshop

By Dianne McNary

Since 2004, I’ve served as a Cooperative Baptist field personnel among the Roma people of Slovakia and Czechia. I led a weekly English-language discussion club through American Spaces (an extension of the U.S. embassy) at the State Scientific Library in Kosice, SK, and assisted with English classes in local schools and other venues. However, like many of you, how I work and minister has significantly changed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. As my colleagues and I scrambled to get what would be our last short-term mission team onto a flight home to the United States last March, we had no idea we would now be marking the one-year anniversary of the first lockdown. As the pandemic continued, I realized I should use this time for professional development. If you are going to be stuck at home, you should be productive, right? So, I kept my eyes open for training or workshops that would complement my current work/ministry activities. I have never written a grant proposal. However, I have often been asked to proof them for several of our local partners. When I saw the DC Baptist Convention’s announcement of a grant writing workshop, it was the perfect opportunity to increase my skills. I quickly signed up, even though it meant I would be joining each Zoom call at midnight my time. If I don’t write my own grant proposals, I can use my new knowledge to assist other groups as they write theirs.

DCBC’s grant writing workshop did not disappoint. Stephen Broyles, the instructor, is a dynamic presenter who engages the participants and encourages interaction. He demonstrated his mastery of the subject and shared his knowledge and experience in a step-by-step approach that broke down the process into understandable portions. Broyles provided practical examples to illustrate his points, and the handouts and course materials were useful and current. When he promised further information, it arrived in a timely fashion. An additional benefit of this workshop was hearing how participants are serving their communities and how personal stories have shaped their ministries. Sending a big thank you to DCBC for sponsoring this workshop. Be on the lookout, on the DCBC website and in Capital Baptist, for future offerings of this grant writing workshop starting this September. 

Dianne McNary uses community health evangelism (CHE), a community development strategy, in her work among the Roma. She has been a CHE trainer in several European countries and serves as a board member with a Serbian CHE group.