N.J. pastor: Faith can conquer 'Goliaths'

The keynote speaker was dispatched near the scene shortly after the World Trade Center attack.
By PETER H. MILLIKEN
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- America must stand firm and stay focused in the battle against the forces of evil, a prominent New Jersey pastor said here Monday evening.
"God wants America and the world to know: Don't give up in the face of Goliath," said the Rev. DeForest B. Soaries, senior pastor of the 5,000-member First Baptist Church of Lincoln Gardens, N.J., and New Jersey secretary of state.
The occasion was the four-day HOPE 2001 Crusade at Stambaugh Auditorium, which began Sunday and ends Wednesday and is designed to promote unity among churches.
Besides preaching, the event features singing by a 200-voice choir, which brought many in the energetic crowd of worshippers to their feet Monday night.
After the attacks: The Rev. Mr. Soaries, who is known by the nickname "Buster," told the crowd of about 1,500 that New Jersey's governor dispatched him immediately after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks to a park on the shores of the Hudson River, across from the World Trade Center. He left on a helicopter from state police headquarters with an F-15 fighter jet escort.
His mission was to help assess the needs of about 500 people injured in the attack who had come to New Jersey for medical treatment.
"The closer I got to those flames and smoke, the closer I was to those people, the more I knew my life and our nation would never be the same," he said. "Life as we know it can be completely transformed by one serious attack.
"We are living in tough times. We are living in challenging times. We are living in dark days. But, thank God for your willingness to take seriously Jesus' words: You are the light of the world," he told the crowd.
"Your problem may be corruption at city hall. Your problem may be racism downtown. Your problem may be fear. Your problem may be terrorism. But God has the power and God can whip your Goliath," he said, referring to the biblical story of David and Goliath.
Promoting unity: "The overall goal is to heal the community. In order for the community to be healed, we believed early on that the religious community needed to come together and work cohesively," said the Rev. Jack W. Pettis, pastor of Mount Zion Baptist Church in Youngstown, and president of the local Baptist Pastors' Council, which had been planning the Crusade since late last year. However, he added, the Crusade has become "a tremendous healing tool after the9/11 incident."
The Rev. Mr. Pettis also said the Crusade seeks to "foster relationships among denominations, and while we are doing that, we can begin to go out into the city as one church and communicate the healing of the community. One individual church can't do it alone," he explained.