Services for Mr. Bobby Cross Fields
Funeral services for Mr. Bobby Cross Fields the brother of Rev. Maggie C. Banks have been set following release next week from the Detroit, Michigan Coroner's Office, services will be as follows.

Services will be held on Saturday, September 1, 2012, at 11 a.m. at the Jackson Memorial Funeral Home Chapel, 922 Woodrow Wilson in Jackson, MS  39213; phone (601) 969-9457.  Florals may
be sent to the Funeral Home.

Cards and condolonces may be sent to Rev.  Maggie C. Banks, 615 West 4th Street, Crowley, Louisiana  70526.  Email: mcbcme@yahoo.com Ph. (337)785-1883 or (337) 581-0885 or to her daughter, Tracy B. Weathersby, 2028 Southland Ct., Baton Rouge, Louisiana  70818. Ph. (337) 739-1870.

Please keep the family in prayer as they go through this trying time.

Fire Destroys First CME Church in Anchorage, Alaska
Dear Connectional Members and Friends,

We are saddened to report that the First Christian Methodist Episcopal Church in Anchorage, Alaska, under the leadership of Pastor Jerry Webb, was destroyed by fire the morning of Friday, August 17, 2012.

The local newspaper Anchorage Daily News reported that, “A fire that authorities say started early Friday morning ripped the roof off of the church, in its third location since its founding in 1959, leaving the sanctuary a charred and gutted mess of soggy insulation, overturned pews and ash.”

First Christian Methodist Episcopal Church has faced catastrophe on many occasions.  Its original location was destroyed by the 1964 Good Friday earthquake.  The church’s later location was purchased by the City of Alaska to build the Alaska Center for the Performing Arts.

In August 1985, under the leadership of then pastor Rev. Claude Johnson, First CME Church broke ground on its current location.  The building and land cost approximately $1.2 million.  The church was built from the ground up and was a beautiful architectural structure, the first of its kind in Anchorage.

First CME Church, a diverse congregation, has been a blessing to its members and the local Anchorage community, providing key ministries and services.  Once a quadrennium, First CME Church hosts the Annual Conference of the Alaska-Pacific Region and it is a tradition to invite our connectional leaders, members and friends to visit us in the Land of the Midnight Sun.  This past May, the Alaska-Pacific Region's Annual Conference was held and attended by many of our connectional leaders.

In the days ahead, First CME Church will begin to develop a planning strategy to relocate and rebuild the sanctuary.

You can help us rebuild by keeping the First CME Church family in your prayers and making a contribution to the rebuilding effort. You can make donations at any Wells Fargo branch in the country to the First Christian Methodist Episcopal Church Fire Donation Account. For additional information, please contact Pastor Webb at 1-907-563-7044 or e-mail jamm42@msn.com.

In His Service,

Bishop James B. Walker
Presiding Prelate, 9th Episcopal District