New program aims to help Morristown 5th graders SOAR

Sebastian, a 5th-grader from the Sussex Avenue School, dreams of being a soccer player when he grows up.  But right now he has a more urgent goal: He wants to read at the 6th-grade level.

Luckily, Sebastian has his very own reading coach.

Her name is Sarah Bechtel, one of 17 students from the College of Saint Elizabeth who are volunteering as tutors in a new program called SOAR.

For the next 12 weeks, Sarah and her classmates will spend two afternoons a week giving one-to-one tutoring in math and literacy to Morristown 5th graders, to help prepare them for middle school next year.

Please click icon below for captions.

SOAR stands for Student Outreach and Academic Reinforcement Tutoring, a partnership between the Morris School District and the college that was forged by Pastor Sidney Williams Jr. of Morristown’s Bethel AME Church and his wife, Teresa Williams, executive director of a new nonprofit, the Spring Street Community Development Corp.

“He’s the initiator and I’m the completer,” Teresa said with a laugh.

The tutoring will occur next to the church in a building the corporation has leased from the town of Morristown. SOAR is part of a CDC operation called the Family Success Center. On Monday evenings, the 5th graders and their parents will be required to attend a dinner where relationships and family issues crucial to education will be discussed.

“You can do all the tutoring you want. But if the family’s not involved, that’s not a good thing,” said Teresa, who expects SOAR to be a “win-win for everyone.”

Morris Schools Superintendent Thomas Ficarra attended Monday’s program kickoff and invited the Saint Elizabeth students to pursue education careers in the district. Tutoring “shows you care, and have experience with children,” he said.

The superintendent also praised Pastor Williams for putting together a program “that harkens back to the phrase, ‘It takes a village’ . . .  If the kids receive the tutoring and homework help that’s planned, this can’t help but be a success.”

Fifth graders in SOAR are kids who “need a boost,” said Andy Williams, K-5 curriculum director for the Morris district. Along with textbooks, he dispensed some guidance to the Saint Elizabeth recruits: Speak like academics to the 5th graders. No buddy stuff. No Facebook friending. Keep it formal. And talk up the college experience. Let the kids know it’s within reach.

“That’s where you want them to be,” said Andy, a native of Liverpool, England, who was the first member of his family to attend college.

Teachers from the district will stop by on a regular basis to work with the tutors, he added. These 5th graders also receive tutoring at their schools. And SOAR will offer Saturday sessions for kids who miss their weekday tutoring.

The youngsters’ progress in school will be monitored to gauge SOAR’s impact, said Pastor Williams, who doubled as a van driver on Monday to transport the tutors from their Madison campus.  SOAR has a $2,800 grant from Family to Family, an organization that promotes better communication between parents and children, said the Pastor. The church will cover any additional costs, he said.

After a round of introductions, the 5th graders randomly chose their tutors by picking numbers.

For their efforts, some of the Saint Elizabeth students will be paid through the school’s work-study program. Others are volunteering for academic credit, said Nanette Spedden, director of the Center for Volunteerism and Service Learning at college.

The young ladies come from diverse backgrounds. For Nesha Hampton, a business major, tutoring will be a new experience. “It’s scary!” she said.

Zakiya Stewart, a sophomore studying food nutrition, already has spent time helping her younger brother with his homework. “He wasn’t easy to tutor,” she said. “It taught me the virtue of patience.”

Freshman Nkiruka Ogbozor agreed that patience is the key; she learned that lesson working in summer camps.

“You can’t do this for the money. You have to be here because you like to do this,” said Njeri Johnson, a freshman who plans to major in math with a  minor in education.  She has tutored 7th- and 8th graders.

“It’s hard at first. But it gets easier,” Njeri said. “You have to set a boundary when you meet them. We’re close to their age. But we’re the tutors and they’re the students.”

As for sophomore Sarah Bechtel, she looks forward to “trying something new” and tasting life as an English teacher.

She will be tested by her very first pupil.

“At the end of this program I want to read at least a year ahead of my class,” said Sebastian.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Video: A Star-Spangled tribute to Dr. King in Morristown

Pastor Sidney Williams Jr. of the Bethel AME Church called his talk From Nightmares to Dreams, about the life journey of Martin Luther King Jr.

But the title of the pastor’s address to the 27th annual Morris Interfaith Breakfast on Monday also was a metaphor for events in his own Second Ward.

Extending Dr. King’s message of equality to economic issues, Pastor Sidney, who holds a degree from the Wharton School of Business, pressed for affordable housing. He reiterated his hopes that an engineering study will find ways to tame the Whippany River–which flooded his church after Tropical Storm Irene–so that affordable apartments can be built in the neighborhood.

A gifted speaker, the minister also manages to weave the Eagles and Giants into the oratorical mix.

MORE COVERAGE OF MLK DAY IN MORRISTOWN

Morristown interfaith speaker encourages listeners to embrace King’s dream

By Sharon Sheridan 

The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech was historic, but the dream is not just history, nor is it his dream alone, a Morristown pastor told those attending the 27^th annual Morris Interfaith Breakfast at the Hyatt on Monday. 

“Every year, we come to celebrate that dream of Martin Luther King as if it’s something different and special and apart from the American Dream. Martin Luther King was simply an American who dreamed, like everyone else dreamed,” said the Rev. Sidney Williams Jr., pastor of Bethel AME Church. “We should acknowledge it as an American dream.” 

Williams sees that dream resonate today in the streets of Morristown in the hope for affordable housing and better education for minorities. 

“What can we see by the dawn’s early light?” asked Williams, who began his speech on the theme “From Nightmares to Dreams” by asking the audience to sing “The Star-Spangled Banner” accompanied by Bethel’s new music minister, Brian Cunningham, on the saxophone. Quoting the Bible’s Proverbs, he said: “‘Joy comes in the morning.’ Every day I wake up is a chance for a new beginning.”

Williams greets each dawn believing the county can come together and do something to prevent flooding in the “Hollow” and create more affordable housing, he said. “I’m not convinced that grandchildren and children can no longer live in Morris County and be here to care for their parents because there’s insufficient affordable housing. I believe we can do better.” 

Photos by Bill Lescohier, Scott Schlosser and Kevin Coughlin. Please click icon below for captions.

“We should be having all of our children doing well on tests and academics,” said Williams, whose church has started a community development center  whose goals include helping students achieve proficiency on state tests. “I’m not convinced that black and Latino children should consistently score beneath the radar. I’m not convinced that community college is the only option.” 

Just acknowledging the dream isn’t enough, the pastor said, challenging his listeners to “accept Dr. King’s dream as our dream” – and as God’s dream. 

“Prophets are those who receive dreams from God and have the audacity to share that dream,” Williams said. “It’s a dangerous thing to accept a prophetic mantle, because we kill prophets. … I just imagine the struggle that Dr. King had when he talked about ‘longevity has its place.’ I’m sure there were some bedroom conversations between [him] and his wife asking, ‘Is this our fight?’” 

“Today we sit here and celebrate … as if we actually accepted Dr. King’s message when he was among us,” Williams said. He recalled the letter the civil rights leader, who was assassinated in 1968, wrote to other clergy while he was jailed in Birmingham, Ala., in 1963. 

“Clergy must be called into accountability,” Williams said, as the hotel lights suddenly dimmed.  

“Oh, the devil’s mad now, but I’m going to keep going,” he joked before urging listeners to study the letter. “It was clergy who told Dr. King he ought to retreat, and Dr. King simply wrote back: ‘How long? How long must I wait?’” 

“This morning, I want to challenge us to accept the dream as God’s dream,” he said. That doesn’t mean just coming to a breakfast, he said. “The only way you can make peace with God is to believe in God’s dream.” 

“The challenge is: Do we approve of the dream, or are we still rejecting it?” he said. “I’m convinced that when the best people get in the room and God shows up that the best is yet to come.” 

Earlier in the program, 13-year-old Alicia Jordan Jamison of Scottsdale, Ariz., spoke about what King’s dream meant to her. 

“We are so close to satisfaction. We are so close to ending racism. We are so close to gaining freedom economically … so close that we can taste it, and it’s just as sweet as chocolate,” said Alicia, granddaughter of local Martin Luther King Observance Committee Chair Felicia Jamison. 

What sets King apart, she said, is “that he did something about his dream. He gave up everything for that dream, and he succeeded.  

“I am living proof. The dream lives in me … and it’s in you, too. This day is now and ever shall be a day of freedom, a day of honor, a day of family, a day of brotherhood and a day of happiness.” 

Alicia, who received a standing ovation, ended by singing, “I can see clearly now the rain is gone.”  

“I feel like I have accomplished something,” her grandmother said as she took the microphone to encourage people to contribute to the day’s offering. The donations will benefit the fund for the new King memorial in Washington, D.C.; the Children’s Defense Fund; and the Martin Luther King Scholarship Fund. 

This was the first year that Donia and Michael Ewing of Mendham brought their children, 3-year-old Kayla and 6-year-old Michael, to the breakfast.  

“We figured they were just getting old enough to appreciate it,” said Donia, who said they discuss King and civil rights history at home. First-grader Michael is learning about them in school as well. 

“It’s nice to begin to have those discussions,” she said. “He’s asking questions.” He recently wondered when the King monument in Washington was finished and was surprised it happened so recently.  

The breakfast included comments and prayers from Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-11th Dist.) and representatives of area Christian, Jewish and Baha’i communities. A service of celebration followed at noon at Calvary Baptist Church. 

Rabbi Menashe East of the Mount Freedom Jewish Center delivered the morning’s benediction, quoting one of the psalms: “The heavens belong to God, but earth is man’s.” 

“We are given the earth,” he said. “We are given the choice: Do we want a world of love and beauty, or do we want a world of hate and evil? That is our choice, and that is our power. … It is up to all of us to make [the world] a place of love and beauty. Please, God, let’s make it so together.” 

The breakfast concluded with the audience standing, hand in hand, singing “We Shall Overcome.”

 

 

 

 

Study to seek flood remedies in Morristown’s Second Ward; pastor still hopes affordable housing can be built

Hydrologists have begun a study of the Whippany River, searching for ways to keep Morristown’s Bethel A.M.E. Church from flooding if there is a repeat of Tropical Storm Irene.

Bethel Pastor Sidney Williams Jr. hopes for more, however. He wants to resurrect plans for a 73-unit affordable housing complex on stilts at the corner of Coal Avenue and Center Street, abutting NJ Transit tracks on the site of a former junkyard and coal plant, near a stretch of river that flooded during Tropical Storm Irene.

“If the church is going to stay here, we’re going to have to address the issue” of flooding, said the pastor, whose church was heavily damaged by Irene. “The area has to be livable. And if it’s livable, why not build affordable housing?”

Proposed housing site, photographed last May. Please click icon below for captions.

The Whippany River Watershed Action Committee  this month received a $17,744 grant for the study from the Watershed Institute, an arm of the Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed Association funded by the state Department of Environmental Protection and the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation.

“They will create a plan to restore the eroded stream segment that runs through the church property,” said Alyse Greenberg, program coordinator for the Watershed Institute.

Princeton Hydro has been hired for the task. The study has started and probably will continue until next fall, said Art Vespignani, facilitator for the Whippany River Watershed Action Committee.

“We’re hoping to find out what’s causing the problem at that spot by the church,” Art said. “We’re planning to produce a plan that allows us to seek money to correct the problem.”

Pastor Sidney estimates Irene caused $150,000 worth of damage to the church, which lacked flood insurance because of an oversight.

Nobody who experienced Irene in Morristown’s Second Ward will forget it.

The Whippany River surged over its banks, inundated the Cauldwell playground, roared across Martin Luther King Avenue and  Center Street and filled the basement of the Bethel A.M.E. Church with four feet of water. Apartment dwellers were rescued by rowboats. Tractor trailers sat half-submerged in a parking lot that became a brown lake.

“This is not an affluent congregation,” Art Vespignani said of Bethel A.M.E. The Whippany River committee “would like to do what we can to get the plans back on track” for affordable housing in the church neighborhood, if feasible. “To do that, we have to look at the entire flood plain there.”

While he welcomes the study, Mayor Tim Dougherty said he will await its findings before considering any development in the flood area.

“I applaud the pastor’s passion” in pursuing the grant, the Mayor said. “We both are on the same page and share the same passion for affordable housing.”

Even if the report concludes that the flooding can be tamed, officials may be hard-pressed to persuade residents who lived through Irene, said Phil Abramson of Jonathan Rose Companies, the town planner.

“It’s an engineering issue–and it’s also a question of public perception,” Phil said. “You need to be convinced beyond all reasonable doubt that people will be safe when you build.”

Residents heard a presentation at the church last spring about an affordable four-story apartment building that would be elevated above a parking level, sparing any flood damage to dwellings. In theory, anyway.

“If a hundred-year flood ever happened again, our engineers are saying it would only flood a foot or two,” said Larry Regan of Regan Development, which proposed funding the project via tax credits and a town housing trust that is supported by developer fees.

Based in Ardlsey, NY, Regan Development has constructed about 20 affordable projects in the tri-state area since the mid-1980s, Larry said. Whether Morristown joins the list depends largely on what the hydrologists recommend, he said.

“We’ve invested time and money and energy in this,” Larry said. “But we don’t want to build if it won’t produce a good quality of life for the residents. It’s up in the air right now.”

Volunteers mop up church after Irene.

After Irene, community members came together to clean up the church, shaving about $65,000 from the repair estimate, Pastor Sidney said. The congregation will rely on loans and grants for the rest of the work, he said.

Who is responsible for monitoring river conditions and clearing river-clogging debris are key questions for Princeton Hydro and the church. The pastor is bracing for opposition to the housing, regardless of the study’s outcome.

“People have written off the development project because of the flood,” Pastor Sidney said. “But there is still a great need for affordable housing.”

READ MORE ABOUT TROPICAL STORM IRENE

 

 

 

 

 

Morristown’s Bethel AME celebrates history, launches program for the future

 By Sharon Sheridan

Chances are, Mary Ann Cobb wasn’t the most popular lady in Morristown when she donated a building near the Green and had it moved to Spring Street so black residents could have a church.

Morris County was very pro-slavery back then, said the Rev. Sidney Williams Jr., current pastor of that church, today called Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church. Cobb’s husband, George, had been Morristown’s first mayor, a Democratic Congressman and a U.S. Senate hopeful. He also opposed slavery in the days when the Republican Party was the party of Abraham Lincoln.

“George Cobb switched over to the Republican  Party, which was a huge thing,” Williams said. “You can imagine that George Cobb was not very popular for his stance on being anti-slavery.”

On Saturday, Bethel will honor Morristown’s current first lady, Mary Dougherty, with an award in memory of the town’s original first lady, Mary Ann Cobb, as part of the church’s 168th-anniversary celebration at 3 p.m. at Frelinghuysen Arboretum.

A dinner dance will follow at 6 p.m. at the Westin Governor Morris Hotel to raise funds for the church’s new Spring Street Community Development Corporation. Donations are $200 per person or $2,000 for a table.

The anniversary celebration concludes with a 10:30 a.m. Sunday service at the church – at the same Spring Street location of Mary Ann Cobb’s first donated house of worship.

Morristown’s first African-American congregation had its roots in the Presbyterian Church on the Green, Williams recounted. In 1841, the church split over slavery, and First Presbyterian continued without African-American members, he said. The congregants who left started the South Street Presbyterian Church, site of First Presbyterian’s current parish house. (The congregations reunited fewer than 20 years after the split, Williams explained.)

Some of the African-American Presbyterians, meanwhile, left to form their own congregation, the African Methodist Episcopal Church. They met in a blacksmith shop on the other side of the street from the current Bethel church. They worshiped there from 1843 to 1870, Williams said.

Meanwhile, George and Mary Ann Cobb attended Morristown’s Methodist Church, located in a wooden building at the site of today’s post office.  The mayor was instrumental in getting the stone ediface that replaced it built.

“He wanted them to have a church that rivaled the Presbyterian Church,” Williams said. “That wooden building was subsequently given to us. That’s our connection to Mary Cobb.”

George Cobb died in a train crash in 1870. Four years later, his widow donated the wooden building to the African-American congregation. Their original site was too small and sloped, so they purchased the current Bethel site and relocated the building there. It served as the church’s worship space until a new building was erected in 1971.

Dougherty is being honored as someone very active in the community who exemplifies the spirit of Mary Ann Cobb. “Mary is one who is as comfortable in the Second Ward as she is in the Third,” Williams said. “She visits all the churches. She makes an effort to cross economic and social and racial and ethnic barriers in a very similar way to Mary Cobb.”

Looking to the future, the Spring Street Community Development Corporation, located in the former New Beginnings building beside the church, will offer a variety of resources to the community, Williams said. His wife, Teresa, is executive director of the new nonprofit, which is leasing the building from the town for $1,000 per month.

Thanks to donations of items such as carpeting and furniture and congregants’ time and talents, the building is gradually taking shape with office and classroom spaces. “We want to have a lot of different workshops … for families,” Teresa Williams said.

The building also temporarily is housing the church’s finance office and some storage as Bethel recovers from flooding caused by August’s Hurricane  Irene.

The CDC will be the umbrella for various programs, Teresa Williams said. This includes the church’s HIV/AIDS ministry of education, awareness and financial assistance to affected families, which will be renamed Angels in Action, the pastor said.

Bethel is partnering with Prevention is Key in applying for a $200,000 Family Success Center grant. As a Family Success Center, they would help families set goals and provide resources to achieve them, Pastor Williams said. One target area is helping children scoring partially proficient on state tests. They hope to partner with the school district in this work, he noted.

Another focus area for the Spring Street center will be general advocacy on issues such as creating jobs and affordable housing, he said.

The center welcomes volunteers and donations of educational toys, children’s books, parenting books and child-size furniture. Anyone interested can contact Teresa Williams at teresa.williams@springstreetcdc.org.

For details of this weekend’s events, call 973-267-8912.

Video: A day at the bleach for Morristown church hammered by Irene

Liquid Church is a successful evangelical congregation in Morristown. But Tropical Storm Irene turned the Bethel A.M.E. Church into a real liquid church–with four feet of swampy water that devastated its basement hall.

Compounding the misery was an oversight that left Bethel A.M.E. without flood insurance.

Bethel Pastor Sidney Williams sent an S.O.S. to the community.

The response for Saturday’s cleanup was a beautiful thing. Members of area churches rolled up their sleeves on a Labor Day Weekend for a labor of love.

They came from the Presbyterian Church in Morristown, which shares roots with Bethel. They came from the Episcopal Church of the Redeemer. They came from St. Mark’s Lutheran Church. They came from the United Methodist Church. They came from the Church of Jesus Christ of Later-day Saints.

Calvary Baptist Church sent food.

Morristown First Lady Mary Dougherty waved the flag for Assumption Church. Her husband, Mayor Tim Dougherty, lent moral support. The Red Cross dropped off more food. (Sorry if we have left out anyone!)

“We’re blessed,” said Bethel member Gwyn Burnett.

Amen, Sister.

READ MORE ABOUT TROPICAL STORM IRENE

Please click icon below for captions.

A post-Irene appeal for help: Morristown’s Bethel AME Church needs you this Saturday, Sept. 3

The Bethel AME Church in Morristown needs your help.

Tropical Storm Irene deposited 20,000 gallons of the Whippany River into the church basement on Sunday. (See video below for flood footage.)

The water is gone–and so are church computers, kitchen appliances, rugs, carpeting, floor tiles, children’s back-to-school supplies, choir robes, office equipment, organs and a piano.

Ruined.

And the church has no flood insurance.

It expired soon after Pastor Alfonso Sherald did in 2010.  In the congregation’s grief and transition period, the insurance renewal fell through the cracks, said the new pastor, the Rev. Sidney Williams Jr.

“This caught us all by surprise,” said Pastor Sidney.

That’s literally water under the bridge right now.

Pastor Sidney’s 200-member flock is holding a cleanup day this Saturday, Sept. 3, from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the church on 59 Spring St.

If you can spare a few hours of volunteer labor over this Labor Day weekend, you can improve your score with the Heavenly Credit Bureau and win the hearts of neighbors in the here and now.

please click icon below for captions

“This is shocking…we’ve got to pull together and do whatever we’ve got to do,” said church trustee Karen Duncan, as members surveyed the basement that was pumped dry by the Morristown Fire Department.

Lifelong parishioner Sandra Knight, who wore a bandana across her face to filter moldy fumes and a cap inscribed with the word “Believe,” said she cried when she saw the flood damage to the church children’s room. Then her faith kicked in.

“I said okay, Lord, I’m not coming to you crying. I’m coming to you on faith, knowing that you’re going to restore,” Sandra said. “It’s now time to get to work.”

Volunteers are asked to wear old clothes and bring rubber gloves, mops, buckets and disinfectant if possible.

Pastor Sidney said the church also can use help from carpenters, electricians, plumbers, carpet- and tiling pros and anyone else with construction skills.

Some things–like handwritten Sunday school letters and church photos dating to the 19th century–cannot be replaced. But the church needs a refrigerator, kitchen fixtures, computers and copy machines, and building supplies, if you have any to spare.

José Grajales pitched in early, at the request of a friend, congregation member Shannon Simon.

“This is a family. This place is a family place,” said José, who helped Pastor Sidney haul the ruined refrigerator from the dank basement. “I’m from Colombia, and it makes me happy to be here to give a hand.”

The church, which is predominantly composed of older African Americans, has survived its share of trials and tribulations. Members are determined that Tropical Storm Irene won’t go down as a flood of Biblical proportions.

“God works in mysterious ways,” said Karen, the church trustee. “We can’t take this as a negative. We have to take it as a positive.”

“Brighter days are ahead,” insisted Pastor Sidney, a former bond trader.

Still, he never expected this assignment would prove more challenging than his last one– preaching to the poor in Capetown, South Africa.

“The last outpost was a little easier,” he said with a smile.

READ MORE ABOUT IRENE

Youths from Bethel AME Church of Morristown completing week in Dominican Republic

This week a youth group from Bethel AME Church of Morristown embarked on a Global Missions Trip to the Dominican Republic. The trip is the first of its kind for many of the young travelers, who range in age from 11 to 22.

The group is accompanied by the Rev. Sidney Williams, who “wants every child to have the same experience that my own children have had by living and being in another country, and for them to be changed by the experience.”  The Pastor’s wife, First Lady Teresa Williams, is also traveling with the youths.

One of the key objectives of this mission is to build relationships and life-long friendships within the Dominican Republic. The group’s itinerary, which begins and ends in Santo Domingo and includes stops in Borahana, Puerto Plata, and Samana, provides tremendous opportunities for fellowship and immersion in the diverse cultures of the country.

Please click icon below for captions.

While in Borahana, the group is working hand-in-hand with Dominican residents on a local community project. For this portion of the mission, the group partnered with the Foundation for Peace, a nonprofit organization dedicated to working in materially impoverished areas of the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and Kenya.

In the months leading up to the trip, the young people prepared for the mission by absorbing as much as they could about Dominican history, culture, and language.

When asked what he hopes to gain from the experience, one traveler responded, “I am looking forward to being completely immersed in the Dominican culture and experiencing what life is truly like in another country. I want to come back with a greater appreciation for life both inside and outside of the United States.”

To learn more about Bethel AME Church of Morristown’s Global Missions and/or to lend financial support for future trips, please contact Rev. Williams or visit  www.bethelamechurchmorristown.org.

Members of youth ministry from Bethel AME Church of Morristown work on community project in the Dominican Republic. Photo courtesy of Bethel AME Church.

Sidney Williams Jr. preaches color-blindness in welcome as new pastor of Morristown’s Bethel AME Church

Sidney Williams Jr. was living the dream. Wharton business school degree. Goldman Sachs bond trader. Big house and a Mercedes.

Then a preacher’s sermon opened his eyes.

Called to the ministry, Sidney told his wife to give everything away.

“I meant to sell it!” he recounted Sunday, to roars of laughter in Morristown’s packed Bethel AME Church, where Sidney officially was welcomed as new pastor.

Pastor Williams described moving his family to a gang-ridden section of Capetown, South Africa. He preached there in precarious circumstances until getting another call–from Bethel AME, which invited him to replace the late Rev. Alfonso Sherald.

Morristown Mayor Tim Dougherty, the Rev. Neill Tolboom of the Morristown United Methodist Church, and the Rev. Jerry Carter of Calvary Baptist Church all related stories about Pastor Williams hitting the ground running in Morristown.

Since arriving in November, the minister has reached out to the Latino community and to other local churches to worship together and share services.

“I don’t want to be a black church. I don’t want to be a black Christian. I want to be a Christian,” Pastor Williams declared.

He tells his story much more eloquently than we can. The video above shows why members of the Bethel AME Church are excited–and why the rest of Morristown should be, too.

New Morristown Pastor Sidney Williams Jr. said he has an easy act to follow

The sudden death of Pastor Alfonso Sherald in September stunned members of Morristown’s Bethel AME Church.

But following in the popular minister’s footsteps shouldn’t be too hard, said his successor, the Rev. Sidney Williams Jr., because he blazed a familiar trail.

“Rev. Sherald was an awesome pastor. His focus was trying to be meaningful, and crossing boundaries. That makes it somewhat easier to step into his shoes,” said Pastor Williams , 42, who spent the last 18 months trying to bridge cultural divides in Capetown, South Africa.

“There was a lot of economic and racial disparity…I learned a lot there. My experience in South Africa will help me promote diversity in Morristown,” said the pastor.

Pastor Williams was introduced at Tuesday’s council meeting and welcomed by town officials. Councilwoman Raline Smith-Reid invited everyone to a Jan. 23 service that will celebrate the pastor’s arrival.

The minister started at Bethel AME Church in November and his family joined him in Morristown last month.

He and his wife Theresa have four children–Nicole, 10; Sarah, 9; Hannah, 6; and Sidney III, 4.

The adjustment has gone well, the pastor said.

“I like it so far. It’s a great town, a very well knit community. The folks at the Walmart remember you,” he said.

Alfonso Sherald, who was 60, died of a heart attack, according to church members. He was a substitute teacher at Morristown High School who took a special interest in helping teens stay out of trouble.

Sidney Williams said he will shift the focus to kids between ages four and 12, and partner with the Teen Pride organization in programs for older youths. He also aims to ramp up collaborations with other Morristown houses of worship.

“Being intentional, being part of the community, crossing racial and economic lines” are his goals for the congregation in 2011.

A New Year’s Eve service was conducted in Spanish and English. This weekend, the pastor said, Bethel AME Church will team with the Episcopal Church of the Redeemer to worship on the Morristown Green. He said he intends to celebrate Passover with Temple B’Nai Or, work closely with the Morristown Unitarian Fellowship and partner with the local Methodist and Presbyterian churches in a vacation Bible school.

“Rev. Sherald made the path possible for a lot of this stuff to happen,” Pastor Williams said.