WS Chronicle

Dr. Felecia Piggott-Anderson, pastor, and Minister Joseph Anderson celebrated the first pastoral anniversary with the congregation, family members, community leaders, ministers, and friends of the Alpha and Omega Church of Faith, Inc. located at 1445 Gray Avenue on Sunday, June 26. Minister Joseph Anderson preached a sermon on the value of obedience during the morning service. 

Following the morning service, the congregation enjoyed a special soul food dinner in the fellowship hall prepared by Counselor Glinda Moses Johnson and Evangelist Eugenia Smith. It included baked chicken, peppered salmon, and barbecue. 

During the 3 p.m. service, the keynote speaker was Dr. Edna West, an associate minister of Union Baptist Church, under the leadership of Bishop Dr. Sir Walter Mack Jr. and First Lady Kim Mack. The Community Prayer Band of Winston-Salem were special guests, along with local ministers.

Pastor Felecia Piggott-Anderson served as the interim pastor of Alpha and Omega Church from 2019 -2021, and she was installed as the pastor on June 27, 2021. She is grateful for God’s power to order her steps in the ministry and in life.

“To God be the glory for the great things He has done! I am grateful today because God is Jehovah Jireh, the God who sees ahead and makes a provision,” said Pastor Piggott-Anderson. “God knew that on this day, I would be serving Him by fulfilling my calling as a pastor in this place. He prepared the way for my education, for my helpmate Baba Joseph, for the members of the congregation who have been so supportive and loving like family. I loved them at first sight, and I look to God to continue to bless us as a body fitly joined together in love.”

The Community Prayer Band #2 led the singing during the devotional service. Mattie Young, 95, president and founding member of the prayer band, joined with Rev. James Wright, the coaster/leader of the prayer band, and Ardeal Roseboro, the vice president, to sing songs that the ancestors crooned down by the river. Two of the songs that rose to a great crescendo were “I’m So Glad” and “Let Us Crown The Lord.” 

Mother Young stepped out of her seat wearing high heeled shoes as she sang and waved her arms in praise. “I looked down the road, and I saw the train a-comin’ and I stepped on board, and the train kept on rolling, and I was so glad,” they sang with robust vigor. 

Rev. Wright, 74, led the song “Let Us Crown The Lord.” He strutted across the front of the church as he sang, “Come on, my brother, let us crown the Lord.  Let us crown the Lord! Let us crown the Lord. Come on my Sister, let us crown the Lord. Amen! Amen! Ameeeen!” Wright has been singing in the prayer band for more than 50 years. 

“I have been a minister since 1971, and singing in the prayer band is part of my ministry to the Lord. I pastored at Bible Way Gospel Ministry and preached at other churches, but singing the Lord’s songs is another way of serving God,” Wright said.

Hearing the singing of Rev. Wright resonates with Pastor Piggott-Anderson and her sister, Marcia Piggott. As a child growing up in Bowen Park, Rev. Wright was very noticeable in the community. “Rev. Wright did more than just empty trash when he came through our community. He would sing and preach and pray as he walked. He could roll those cans in a way that looked effortlessly graceful, but when he sang, his voice sounded like silk thunder,” Pastor Piggott-Anderson said. 

“When he came to preach at the Zodiac Room, a local party spot in Bowen Park during the 1970s, Rev. Wright prayed with any of the young people who wanted prayer. I came forward to receive prayer for salvation one night, along with my sister Marcia. When we returned home that night, my mother was surprised to know that a man had prayed with us at a party.”

The connection did not stop there. The following week, Wright stopped at the Piggott home and talked with Mae Clarida Piggott, Pastor Piggott-Long’s mother. He let her know that he was the man that her daughters were talking about. Mother Piggott was glad to meet him, and they visited Wright’s church called Bible Way Gospel Ministry from time to time.

“I love the way Rev. Wright spoke to people in the community in a loving, caring way. That is the type of pastor I want to be. I believe in a holistic approach to ministry,” Pastor Piggott-Long said. 

“This morning, I received a message from Minister Anderson that “Obedience is better than sacrifice,” out of I Samuel 1:1-12; I Samuel 2:12-26 and 31-34. I do not want to dishonor God in the manner that the priests Hopni and Phinehas did. Their father Eli, the priest, warned his sons about laying with the women who came to the tabernacle, but they refused to listen. They were cursed so that ‘there shall not be an old man in thine house.’  It is an honor to have elders among us.

“I heard another outstanding message from Dr. West called “The Deciding Factor.”  It came from Mark 5:24-34, 27 and 28. Dr. West focused on the woman with the issue of blood for 12 years and the daughter of Jairus, who was 12 years old and was raised from the dead at the age of 12. Both of these women were healed by the power of God. The woman with the issue of blood did not try to touch Jesus’ person. She decided that if she just touched His garment, His power would transform her. Her faith made her whole,” said Piggott-Anderson.

“In that same spirit, Jairus and his wife made the decision to seek for their daughter’s life, even though she had already taken her last breath. The deciding factor was their faith. In the midst of their weeping, Jesus excuses all of the visitors and takes the young girl by the hand and commands her to arise. Jesus cautions them to keep all of the details of her being raised from the dead to themselves, but to give their child something to eat. Faith is the deciding factor.”