When the ladies’ ministry of Berea Baptist Church began studying and praying the prayer of Jabez, they could not dream of how God would “enlarge their territory.”
Yvette Grant, the missions leader of the ministry of the Lake City, Fla., congregation, and women’s ministry leader Carolyn Norris suggested that they provide “In God We Trust” posters to every classroom of the Columbia City Elementary School. They received permission from the principal and ordered the posters and frames, at $3.30 per framed poster.
After seeing the posters, other school principals requested that the group provide 730 framed posters, enough for every classroom in Columbia County. Several school administrators also asked for posters for their offices.
The group of about 16 women agreed to the task and began raising the $2,500 needed. It was a big project for the ministry and its 85-member church of which Grant’s husband, Troy, is pastor. Several churches in the rural Beulah Baptist Association gave money to the project and rejoiced in the schools’ interest in the posters.
“The concerned parents spoke in our community,” Grant said.
Churches of several denominations, parent-teacher organizations and individuals collected the needed funds by Nov. 28, and the posters and frames were ordered. The women anticipate that the posters will be in the classrooms this month.
The 11-by-14-inch full-color posters, which feature the national motto printed over an American flag, originated with the American Family Association (AFA) based in Tupelo, Miss. The Mississippi legislature passed a law, which took effect July 1, requiring the national motto to be displayed in every schoolroom in the state. Proponents of the displays have won several battles in court with the ACLU.
The Mississippi U.S. district judge who threw out the ACLU suit called it “patently frivolous without any basis in law.”
“What is it that the ACLU finds offensive?” asked Donald Wildmon, AFA president.
“The national motto simply says ‘In God We Trust.’ It is printed on every piece of currency produced in this country. One wonders if the ACLU would threaten to sue should someone post a framed dollar bill in a classroom.”
Other states are considering passing a similar law requiring a posting of the national motto in classrooms in their states, according to Wildmon.
The Berea Baptist Church women actually raised more money than was needed for the project, but they anticipate hearing from other parents’ groups and churches that want to launch a similar project in their communities.
“We want to donate our leftover funds to another community that wants to start this in another county in Florida,” Grant told the Florida Baptist Witness.
(BP)
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