How Long Shall I Cry: “Oh, Lord, How Long Shall I Cry, and Thou Will Not Hear! and Cry out Unto Them of Violence and Thou Will Not Save.” Habakkuk 1:2

By Vina B. McEachern

More than 150 years ago, a group of about twenty faithful people banded together in a farm building that housed animals and started what is now the Cedar Spring United Temple Church. With the help of the community, and faithful leaders, the church grew to become a megachurch. The church officials were determined that the church would grow by following the scriptures and being faithful to God; however, some of its pastors saw things differently.
Richard Swanson, a senior pastor lived a very shady life. He schemed and stole funds from the church for his own greed and even committed murder to save his own reputation. He was put out of the church and asked to seek counseling. After a few years, he returned to Cedar Springs very determined to again be the senior pastor, no matter what it took. He had murdered once and was not above doing it again. He soon found out that he could fool man, but he could not fool God.
David Frye, on the other hand, was a dedicated senior pastor who learned from his past mistakes. He has had his share of demons in his lifetime. Even though he was a minister, David almost lost his wife to a divorce. He had many nights of crying to God many times for help before he understood just how God was working in his life.
God heard Davids cry, but it took him a long time to answer. God was only holding out until David knew in his heart that God had truly forgiven him. David had a lot to repent for in his past, but he does eventually repent through spiritual growth. As David gained more and more knowledge of what God wanted him to do, he grew and he continued to be blessed. David had many regrets in his life and had done many wrong things, but he vowed not to look back.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Trafford Publishing
• Release date: Apr 4, 2013
• ISBN: 9781466982604

Vina B. McEachern

Vina Blanks McEachern is a born-again Christian from St. Pauls, North Carolina. She moved to Washington DC upon graduation from high school. She studied creative and technical writing at Prince George’s College in Largo, Maryland, and also studied at the Washington Bible College in Lanham, Maryland. Vina has served as an officer and a member of the National Black Heritage Observance Council in Washington DC. Vina is a published poet, having published with Black Times in Palto Alto, California, and has authored several Christian books. Vina has been an active participant in the National Baptist Convention USA and the National Capitol Baptist Sunday School Training Union Congress of Christian Education of Washington DC and Vicinity. Vina has conducted several seminars on How to Edit a Church Newsletter and has given assistance to various churches with their newsletter. She has received many honors and awards for dedicated service in her community, church, and on the job. In 1981, she was selected as one of the Outstanding Young Women of America in recognition of her voluntary services. She loves ministering through the written word, which is a high calling from God. She has been given a natural gift of gab and the spirit of love.

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© Copyright 2013 Vina B. McEachern.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written prior permission of the author.

This book is a work of fiction and does not depict any actual persons or events. Any likeness to any incidents, places, or persons living or dead, is merely coincidental.

Cover designed and created by Anthony Michael McEachern

Scriptures taken from the King James Version of the Holy Bible.

ISBN: 978-1-4669-8259-8 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4669-8261-1 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4669-8260-4 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2013904172

Trafford rev. 03/15/2013

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Contents

Dedication

Preface

Acknowledgements

History of the Church

The First Pastor

Coming out of Slavery

The Church Gets Its Name

Education of the Blacks

Church Growth

Under Different Pastors

Jeremiah’s Death and Funeral

Richard Swanson Reigns

Selecting Another Man of God

Richard Swanson Returns

The Appointment of David Frye

The Megachurch Continues to Grow

Don’t Keep Bad Memories Alive

The Betrayal

Spirituality, Maturity, Power and Growth

Dedication

T his book is dedicated to my precious Alvaro, Christian and Nina Nicole who have kept me up and alert during the writing of this book, and my other grandchildren who are always on my mind.

Preface

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How Long Shall I Cry

Summary

More than 150 years ago, a group of about 20 faithful people banned together in a farm building that housed animals and started what is now the Cedar Spring United Temple Church. With the help of the community, and faithful leaders, the church grew to become a megachurch. The church officials were determined that the church would grow by following the scriptures and being faithful to God; however, some of its pastors saw things differently.

Richard Swanson, a senior pastor lived a very shady life. He schemed, stoled funds from the church for his own greed and even committed murder to save his own reputation. He was put out of the church and asked to seek counseling. After a few years, he returned to Cedar Springs very determined to again be the senior pastor no matter what it took. He had murdered once and was not above doing it again. He soon found out that he could fool man but he could not fool God.

David Frye, on the other hand was a dedicated senior pastor who learned from his past mistakes. He has had his share of demons in his lifetime. Even though he was a minister, David almost lost his wife to a divorce. He had many nights of crying to God many times for help before he understood just how God was working in his life.

God heard David’s cry but it took him a long time to answer. God was only holding out until David knew in his heart that God had truly forgiven him. David had a lot to repent for in his past but he does eventually repent through spiritual growth. As David gain more and more knowledge of what God wanted him to do, he grew and he continued to be blessed. David had many regrets in his life and had done many wrong things, but he vowed not to look back.

# # #

Acknowledgements

T his book has been a long time coming and during its draft stage, certain people were very instrumental in helping to gather the material for the drafts and allowed me to use them as sounding boards. God has blessed me by putting strong, faithful and intelligent people in my path. These include Shirley Mack and Hilda Poole. Special acknowledgement goes to my son, Anthony McEachern, and Erica McEachern who were very encouraging and gave me that extra push to finish this book.

Book cover designed by Anthony M. McEachern

Printed in the United States of America

History of the Church

S hortly before the end of slavery at a time when slaves were allowed more freedom to worship, a small group of about 20 dedicated worshippers were given permission to hold service in a farm building previously used to house farm animals. This group was given permission to use this building by Jeremiah Quincey, who owned the building. Unfortunately, there is no official record of the exact year they started worshipping there but it is believed to be sometime around 1862. The land was owned and donated by Jeremiah and Abigail Quincey while they were yet slaves.

Jeremiah was an offspring of Elijah Quincey and one of the house slaves. His mother died from complications during childbirth so he never had a chance to know her. Jeremiah came into this world screaming and kicking, full of life. He was a very healthy baby with very light colored skin and hazel colored eyes of a brown green mixture and straight black hair. He looked nothing like his mother but a lot like Elijah, his biological father. It was obvious that there was a mixture of something other than black in his blood and his outward appearance. His last name was Quincey because slaves would take on the last name of their master’s family. Elijah and his family took in Jeremiah, who was raised by one of the other house servants because Elijah wanted Jeremiah to remain in his house. By the time Jeremiah was 16, he was shadowing Elijah almost every where he went. He had a special fondness for Elijah even though he did did not know at that time that Elijah was his biological father. Jeremiah worked as a servant to Elijah by doing chores around the house. When he was not busy with chores, Jeremiah had to stand in the presence of the master’s family all the day and part of the night, ready to do anything that the family needed or commanded him to do. Thus, he got little sleep but Jeremiah did not mind, as the family treated him quite well and he was willing to do anything that they wanted him to. The fact that he was Elijah’s biological son, made him special to Elijah; therefore, Elijah insisted that everyone treat him well. However, at this point, no one other than Elijah knew for sure that Jeremiah was his son, as that is something that was not talked about publicly even though everyone suspected it, as he looked to be more white than black and he looked a lot like Elijah, from the color of his eyes to the texture of his black hair.

House slaves often had easier lives than the field slaves, as they usually lived in the house with the master, either in the basement or the attic of the big house or in smaller one-room cottages near the plantation mansion, which they called the big house. The house slaves worked in the big house as cooks, maids, mammies, butlers or other servants. Their children were friends or playmates for the master’s children, as there were no other children close by other than the children of the slaves. The house slaves, for the most part, were better fed and they usually got the hand-me-downs; thus they were dressed better than the field slaves. They had to be neat and clean because they were always around the master and his family and their visitors. Mammies and their children usally stayed in the big house, mostly for convenience, but mostly to be nearby if the master’s family needed them. For this reason, house slaves thought they were better than the field slaves.

The field slaves worked in the fields planting, caring for and cultivating the crops. The cooks made all meals and ordered all the food and supplies they needed for the meals. The masters’ wives did not have chores to do and had little to say about what food was ordered or any say in the preparation of the meals, it was all left to the cook. In fact, the wives had little to say about anything that their husbands’ did.

Sarah Quincey, Elijah’s wife, and Ruth, his daughter, often thought of Jeremiah as part of their family. There was a bit of jealousy on Sarah’s part at first, as she knew that her husband was sleeping with his house servant, Jeremiah’s mother, but the jealousy did not last long. He was such a joyful child and she came to really love Jeremiah as if he were her own son. The house slaves would sometimes leave the plantations and go on delivery runs with their masters. The house slaves were exposed to more and knew more than the field slaves on Elijah’s plantation. Elijah would often take Jeremiah on runs into town with him as he conducted business and he was exposed to a lot as a child and became very business savvy. Jeremiah learned how to read because Sarah and Ruth taught him to read in the privacy of their home. During that time, it was against the law to teach a slave to read or write. No matter how much you were liked, no slave could possibly escape being punished no matter how hard they worked, as it was a way of keeping the slaves in line. But Elijah and Sarah were kind-hearted people and they treated all of their slaves well and kept the punishment to a minimum. If word got around to the other plantation owners that he never punished his slaves, the others would not have liked that. While working for Elijah, Jeremiah met and fell in love with Abigail, the daughter of the maid servant who also worked in the big house, whose last name was Quincey because they belonged to Elijah. Abigail was mostly responsible for raising Elijah’s daughter, Ruth, and being there for her. Abigail became very important to the family and had a lot of power around the plantation. Jeremiah married Abigail when he was 20 years old and she was 19 years old. They courted for a short period of time before he asked her to marry him. It did not take him long to realize that she was the apple of his eye and the one he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. Everyone was so happy for them, as both were well liked by the entire Quincey family. They were also well-liked by the other slaves on the plantation. Because Jeremiah was blood kin and Abigail was like kin, as a wedding gift, Elijah allowed them to live in a building normally used as his visitor quarters, an upgrade to the one-room living quarters where the slaves lived. Elijah did as much as he could for Jeremiah without calling attention to the fact that he was Jeremiah’s biological father. So basically, everyone just thought that he was a slave in which Elijah was partial to. Although they were married, Jeremiah continued to take care of Elijah’s immediate needs. He learned how to drive and drove Elijah everywhere he went. Abigail continued to care for Ruth as if she was her own daughter, who by this time was in her late teens.

A couple of years after Jeremiah and Abigail’s marriage, Abigail became pregnant with their first child. When they went to see Elijah to share their news, they found out that Elijah had become very sick and he knew that he was dying. But Elijah wanted his son, Jeremiah, to know that he was his father; but somehow, Jeremiah already sensed it, as he looked very much like Elijah.

Jeremiah knocked on the door to Elijah’s room. Elijah motioned for them to come into his room. Both entered the room and stood by Elijah’s bed.

Mr. Quincey, sir, Jeremiah said as he knelt down by Elijah’s bed. Abigail and I came by to tell you that we’re going to have a baby. Jeremiah repeated very excitedly, We’re going to have a baby."

Elijah’s eyes lit up and he tried to smile. Oh really now. That is good news. When will this child be born? Elijah asked with a large smile on his face.

Jeremiah looked at Abigail as if to ask her permission to tell Elijah. Then he said, I would say in about two months or so.

Smiling, Elijah looked at Jeremiah and