Today was our annual Men’s Day at Brown Memorial Baptist Church. I have been Blessed to serve as chair for two years. This year, my final year, falls in the same year, that Brown Memorial Baptist Church celebrates our 100^th year anniversary. As you all are aware by now, I have been accepted into Columbia University. Six years ago, I was not even thinking about joining a church, let alone returning to school. Now, I am the outgoing chair of an influential church and I am a student in an Ivy League school. Who knew?

A TON of work went into making this day a success, and everyone was amazed at the job that the men of Brown did. Our theme this year was “Men Letting Their Light Shine” inspired by Matthew 5:16, “In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in Heaven”. The men all wore black suits, with white shirts, burgundy ties, and a burgundy scarf. We were looking SHARP! We had two services, the 8:00 AM service with our guest preacher, Rev Figueroa, and the 11:00 AM service, with guest preacher Rev Green, and they were both fantastic! We served breakfast in between services, and served dinner afterwards.

The music was festive. The men of Brown sang a rearranged version of “Walk in the Light” which was upbeat, hip, led by the boys of the church, backed up by the men in a funky chorus as our Pastor, Rev Miller, played harmonica. We then paused to remember the three members of our men’s day committee who were called home too soon for us. Two were very close friends of mine, the third the son of another close friend of mine. My co-chair Darryl Goodwin surprised everyone with a rendition of “Soon I will be done”; it was very spiritual and hauntingly fantastic. As he sang, three of our Men’s Day members held lit candles making the memorial one of beauty. My favorite professor from Medgar, Professor Ella Russell (the reason I became an English major), surprised me showing up unannounced in order to support me. Another Medgar friend of mine Sonia, also came to show her support.

I felt great after seeing the results of all the really HARD work. We had to put the entire program together. Then there was designing the program, securing the guest preachers, putting together the dinner, decorations, lots of typing, printing, meetings. I am thankful that anything I asked of anyone, was done and done to perfection! I can’t rest just yet, as I actually have over 1,000 plus pages of homework to read for this coming week. Yes, I started it the moment it was given to us. Columbia is no joke. I am on top of everything, and plan to stay there, as I am half way to law school and I am not stopping now.

This has been a very hectic week of moving forward for me, which means leaving some things behind. I am no longer a student at Medgar, and I am no longer the chair of men’s day, as you are only permitted to serve two years. The new things more that make up for the old. New school, new job (in the Medgar Evers College writing center), my brother and sister, Scott and Stephanie (yes, twins), celebrated a birthday, and I start prepping for the LSAT (the law school entrance exam) next Tuesday.

As always, I am thankful to God, and I am thankful and excited for the upcoming week. I am also a little sad to say goodbye to my position as chair of Men’s Day at Brown Memorial Baptist Church. However, I am happy to pass the torch on to whomever is elected to fill my position. Hopefully, it will be my co-chair Darryl Goodwin, as he will keep the same type of feel to the program that everyone has now come to expect of men.