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Mount Zion Baptist Church of Seattle114 Years of Spirit Led TraditionWebster says that “tradition” as the knowledge, doctrines, customs, practices, etc., transmitted from generation to generation . . . “Culture” is defined as the sum total of the attainments and learned behavior patterns of any specific period, race, or people, regarded as expressing a traditional way of life subject to gradual but continuous modification by succeeding generations. What Webster does not express in either definition, subtlety or explicitly, are the struggles and survival, healthy tension, contentions, conflicts, and compromises, that come with the building and growth of tradition and culture through gradual but continuous modification by succeeding generations. Further, what is not stated or implied is that if people do not know their history, they have no inkling of their greatness and power. Whether written or unwritten, the Mount Zion Baptist Church of Central Area, Seattle, Washington, has 114 years of a history blended with written, tacit, and oral tradition. This represents 114 years of members who love God and walk by faith. A history of members who share wisdom, knowledge, education, struggle, building, growing, confrontation, compromise, contention, dialogue and Christian debate that cannot and should not be ignored, negated, forgotten or simply “laid to rest.” In like manner, we dare not ignore that more than 2,000 years ago that Christ, as shared with us in the last chapter of Matthew, issued this mandate . . . Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.Mount Zion Baptist Church’s invisible cornerstone is made up of 114 years of tradition and a 2,000 year-old biblical mandate. Within that unseeable cornerstone rests the vision of Rev. Anderson who in 1890 organized Mount Zion Baptist Church of Seattle and the 26 other pastors who have since lead its flock. In that inconspicuous cornerstone rests the year 1918, when $6,000 of hard-earned money was paid for the lot on 19th and Madison Streets. Also, in that untouchable cornerstone quietly resides the 40-year visionary leadership of the Reverend Dr. Samuel B. McKinney who to date has been the longest tenured pastor in the history of Mount Zion. If chips of that invisible cornerstone could shout out, they would tell us of the struggles of a dedicated Diaconate, a trustee ministry, finance ministry, women’s ministries, a scholarship ministry, all the annual picnics, the “Oracle of Truth” articulated through a stone resting in the cul-de-sac of the church, meaningfully chipped and chiseled away by the hands of a now-deceased Mount Zion member, a history magnificently woven into every fiber of the church, educational excellence, economic development, political power, social justice, all under-girded by spiritual empowerment, and up to the year 2,000, a viable and active vision.For African Americans, our church history is intimately intertwined with our black history. The umbilical cord between the two has never been cut. Unfortunately, however, far too many African Americans do not know enough about black history, our church history, and specifically, the history of Mount Zion Baptist Church.Because there is a lack of traditional knowledge, African Americans and Mount Zion members in particular can be led astray by any and everyone who comes along and purports to be a “knowledgeable, (educated) (spiritual) leader.” When more than a century of success can be measured, what then drives the urgency, determination and doggedness to drastically change and/or cripple the will of the people.Perhaps the Mount Zion Baptist Church congregation needs to be reminded of that which is stated in its current Constitution as well as that part of the history that is tacit and accepted by 114 years of application in the Baptist tradition. One should pay particular attention to the current Constitution, taking care to juxtapose the responsibilities of the Pastor with those of the Deacon Board, the Advisory Council, the Trustee Ministry, and most of all the Spirit of the living God. Any long-term member of Mount Zion knows that the goals and desires contextualized in this vision plan are not the common goals and desires in the hearts of the people throughout the congregation and that these collective visions for the future of the congregation have not begun to cohere (stick). The articles in the Seattle Post Intelligencer, the Seattle Times, the unsigned article in the black newspapers, the pastor’s subsequent retaliatory newspaper and radio spots for which he said from the pulpit cost the church some $6,000 (the same as the original 1894 purchase price of the 19th & Madison lot), the results of the close vote on Sunday, August 22nd, and the continuing unrest in the church serve as adequate rebuttal. Something must have been working well at Mount Zion for this young pastor to want to come to such a place as this; a place that was not built in a day; a place with a well-established cornerstone in the community and the nation, a place that is often referred to as the conscience of Seattle, a place with a rich and rare history, a meaningful vision and mission, that has grown and developed to this stage under the leadership of the Holy Spirit, excellent stewardship and leadership. A pastor has a powerful call when he or she can recognize that human reasoning and logic cannot be the backbone of their ministry. His or her ministry will stay buried in a field of dry bones full of stress and failure if he or she relies on human reasoning and logic alone. One cannot do kingdom work with world practices and procedures, methods and techniques.Mount Zion had a great beginning by humble and Christ-centered individuals. Now is the time for the people of Mount Zion to get to the truth and the heart of the matter! Do not skimp, skim, skip over, or scan our history. Rather, diligently search and seek the Truth while it may be found. Members, friends and neighbors, the invisible cornerstone of Mount Zion Baptist Church of Central Area Seattle is under attack and the threat of destruction. People of Mount Zion, today your cornerstone is still intact and it’s not too late to return your faith to the right place . . . In closing, here are some excerpts from “The Power of the Call” by Henry T. Blackaby and Henry Brandt:* “God has been working in His people long before He called you there. . . . seek clearly to see and understand what God has been doing, so that you can be a spiritual catalyst in enabling them to fulfill all God has been placing on their hearts. Do not give the impression, “Now that I have come, God has come!” * “God was working with these people under the former pastor before you arrived. Be careful to remember that what went on before you got there, was not just “the former pastor’s work”: it was God’s work through His people, under the shepherd whom God place over His people before He called you. If you try to remove what the former pastor did, you may be saying, “God was not doing anything before I came; I must clean house to do my work.” But it is God’s work you may be removing.”* “Listen to the people as they express what they honestly believe God has been doing and saying to them.”* “Affirm everything you possibly can.”* “Honor the Lord Himself who has been doing it all.”May GOD bless the members of Mount Zion Baptist Church during your time of need! May your prayers for guidance strengthen and maintain the cornerstone that has been your mainstay.– Paid for by the Friends of Mount Zion Baptist Church –2 3