About the Author: H. Beecher Hicks Jr. is the senior minister of Metropolitan Baptist Church in Washington, D.C., with a membership of over 6,000. He holds a D.Min from Colgate Rochester Seminary and has done post-doctoral study at Harvard Divinity School. Designated one of the fifteen greatest African-American preachers by Ebony Magazine in 1993, he is a member of numerous civic and professional organizations, including the Washington Urban League and the United Negro College Fund. He is the author of Preaching Through a Storm and Correspondence with a Cripple from Tarsus.
From the Back Cover: H. Beecher Hicks Jr. knows that great preaching and great storytelling go hand in hand. He believes in the power of imagination to teach us about God and about life, and he knows that nothing can spark the imagination like a story well told. In My Soul’s Been Anchored, he presents vivid portrayals of the biblical truth shining through people he has known and experiences he has had.
Family, friends, church members, neighbors . . . well-loved faces peer from these pages. In their warm humanity they illustrate simple, profound lessons that touch us all. You’ll meet “Uncle Mugga,” a woman poor in money but rich in love for neighborhood children. Reverend Jones, whose dentures flew out over the pulpit in mid-prayer. Mother Jackson, everybody’s mother at Second Baptist Church. Wilson McCray, who ran his shoes off praising God. Each person is a unique, creative snapshot—sometimes funny, sometimes poignant—of a living faith that helps us overcome obstacles, love God and each other more effectively, and make this world a better place.
Dr. Hicks’ stories read the way his sermons preach—full of life, feeling, and beauty. My Soul’s Been Anchored captures in print the oral tradition of the great African-American preachers—the cadences, the rhythms, the passion, the urgency.
And the vision. Dr. Hicks says, “This is a time to rise above our limitations and set our sights on those things that the world believes are beyond us.” Weaving his stories around the broad topics of beginnings, the faith, the church, and death and life, he encourages us to reach for purpose. Put your faith in motion, he urges. Never give up on your potential or God’s promises.
“I wonder if God wonders,” says Dr. Hicks. “I wonder if God dreams. . . . I wonder what the imagination of God must be!” My Soul’s Been Anchored will help you explore God’s imagination and your own. Here is storytelling at it finest from a gifted African-American writer and preacher, with universal truths that speak to every culture. Read, enjoy . . . and grow from the wisdom of these gentle and passionate narratives by H. Beecher Hicks Jr.