FORUM A Good Pastor is Hard to Find Ernie Pitt rhis & That St. Paul United Methodist Church, of which I am a mem ber, is losing its pastor of 13 years. Pastor Donald Jenkins has been named the District Superintendent of a newly creat ed United Methodist District in the Lake Norman area. Sounds great on the surface. It consti tutes a serious promotion for him but it is devastating to the members, nearly 98 percent of whom -including the pastor himself - do not want him to leave. I thought long and hard, even prayed about whether 1 should write about this tragedy. It is a tragedy because the UMC, in reappointing our pastor, has vio lated its own protocol for such a serious action as this. I wouldn't be saying a word about it except that the whole situation has been on the UMC's website. In fact, they put the reappointment on the Web site before members of our congregation knew anything about it themselves. Therein lies the egregious and insensitive issue. 1 must admit that when 1 jomea tne ctiurcn. l had no depth of knowledge regarding the United Methodist Church. I joined because of the way the pastor taught the Word, lived the Word and trusted in the UMC. We have in our sect, a guide book called "The I InifpH w ????? of guessed it because I!d got ten a letter at my house saying my son needed to be checked Iris Venable's "Sunshine," Antonio Terry Jr. for HIV. Medical personnel also constantly called, asking him to be checked. So, I pled with him too. But, he just kept saying, "No, Mom I'm fine." I would say, "You're in denial." It took him at least two years before he got checked and the doctors finally con firmed it. He confessed that he thought it would just go away if he ignored it. They got him started on his medications and for a while he was happy - even relieved. But, then the side effects of the medicines seemed to have a worse effect on him than the disease itself. The constant diarrhea and nausea were unbearable. The medicines also gave him mood-swings. Then, he started having seizures. I watched as my son slow ly deteriorated, his legs weak ening, sometimes unable to walk. As he neared the age of 30, I would often recall him in his prime. He had a gift. The gift was that people hung on to his every word. They didn't have to know him and they still hung on to his every word. There were people on my front steps all the time. I would say, "Tony, why are those people on my front steps?" He would say, "I have no idea. I asked them to go home. But, they're waiting for me to come back out." Even when he attended church, those who ministered to him the prayer of salvation now chuckle that he did more talking than they did. The last seizure that he had was in August last year. That is when he also began to hallu cinate from the medication. He never came back home from that one. Ttifc doctors - diagnosed PML (progressive multifocal leuko.encephalopa thy)i which they described es a condition in which the HIV had attacked the brain, caus ing it to shrink. Ever since then, he lived between hospi tals and nursing homes. On Feb. 12, the Lord took Tony home. He would be turn ing 31 this year had he lived 'til Mother's Day. I would often talk heart to heart veith Tony when the medications were not causing him to be delirious. I can hear now the essence of the mes sage that he desired to bring to other young men and women. I hope they will hear it too: He'd say, "Mama, they need to know, if you have to have sex - even safe sex - don't just jump anything. Don't take sex causally because you don't want to be where I am. You don't want to know when your last day is. You don't want to take these medications for the rest of your life. You don't want peo ple looking at you funny. You can't get a shot for this. You don't want this. You don't want any parts of it." Iris Venable is one of mil lions of mothers who have personally been touched bv HIV/AIDS. The Chronicle, the Choice for African-American News, is located at <17 N. Liberty Street Winston-Salem, NC 27101 336-722-8624 Fax -336-723-9173 news@wschrvnicU.com www.wschrnnicle.com The Chronicle was established by Ernest Pitt and Ndubisi Egemonye In 1974, and is published every Thursday by Winston-Salem Chronicle Publishing Co., Inc. The Chronicle Is a proud member of : National Newspapers Publishers Association ? North Carolina Press Association ? North Carolina Black Publishers Association ? Inland Press Association .The ? '? \> - Home Delivery Subscription Order o YES, Please send me The Chronicle o 2 years: $40.95 o I year: $30.72 o 6 months: $20.48 t Advisor GAA is not affiliated with Dobh-is & Company Financial Secuntie 'nvolve risks including possible loss of principal Roland L. 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