Bishop Carter makes his first triumphant Missionary entry into the 10th Episcopal District By Rev. Adlai Lawson (This article appears in the October 2006 issue of The Christian Index.) It was joy, happiness and high hopes written in the faces of Ghanaians and Liberians when His Excellency, Bishop Kenneth Wayne Carter made his first entry to Africa through Ghana on the 24th August, 2006.
In Ghana he was met on arrival by Rev. J.A.A Solomon, the mission supervisor and Rev. Adjei K. Lawson, the presiding elder of the North- west district in Ghana region annual conference. He was driven with His entourage to the hotel arranged for his stay while in Ghana. Among the Bishop’s entourage from USA were, Rev. Mary McKinney and Rev. Leon Moore. As young as Bishop Carter is, he was full of energy and not showing any sign of tiredness after the long flight but rather went straight into meeting with his cabinet in connection with the accounting convocation scheduled the next day.
The Ghana Region Annual Conference Accounting Convocation was held at Beulah Temple CME on the 25th August, 2006. In attendance were Pastors, Lay, Missionary, Youth and CYF leaders. A short devotional service was led by the Presiding Elder of South-East district Rev. Albert K. Boateng. The devotional sermon was delivered by Rev. Adjei K. Lawson. The message rooted from Gen. 11:1-10, the theme was "United We Stand, Divided We Fall". Two principles were drawn from the text and these include:
1. Having common goals.
2. Having Effective communication
The Presiding Prelate at this juncture took over affairs and brought greetings to the delegates from the USA on behalf of himself, family, College of Bishops and his entourage. Bishop Carter expressed his profound joy of being elected and appointed to the 10th. He looked very poised and constructive about his resolves for the tenth Episcopal district, while asking them to bear him up in prayer. One of his highlight and prayer for each region in the tenth is to plant 10 new churches in a year. The quadrennial theme "From Good to Great, the Jesus Challenge" was emphasized.
The Presiding Elders of the two districts in Ghana region that is South-East and North-West district were called upon to give the financial stewards of their respective district. Rev. Mary McKinney also gave a very good paper on principles of church planting.
The accounting convocation was adjourned while the Bishop gave the closing prayer and Benediction. The Bishop and his entourage, now including this writer, were driven straight to the Airport in order to catch a flight to Liberia. Indeed we were given a rousing welcome at the Robertson International Airport in Liberia. The Bishop and his team were driven straight from the airport to Mary Sharp CME Church for an evening praise and worship program. The next day, which was the 26th of August, Bishop Carter spent sometime with his Liberian Cabinet and visits to churches around Monrovia and Kakata districts. It was another experience for the Bishop as he was exposed to the form, shape and physical structure of the churches in Liberia. On the contrary, it was an inspirational and spiritual upliftment for the pastors as the Bishop spent sometime in prayer and encouraged them to be firmed and resolute while performing their ministerial duties.
The third day which was Sunday, Bishop Carter after a short fellowship with Mary Sharp CME flew back to Ghana. On arrival he and his entourage went straight to visiting some of the churches and schools in Accra, the capital city of Ghana. Two other days of August 28th and 29th, were used to visit the churches outside Accra.
Lastly, the Bishop and his entourage were seen off at the airport on the 30th of August to continue their fact finding mission to Nigeria.