Season 3 Episode 10: A Prequel to Mother's Day - The Reverend Ada Slaton Bonds, the First Lady of the Louisiana Presbytery... the Fifth Woman Ordained in the United States

THE SIDNEY ST. JAMES SHOW

IF WOMEN HAD JUST KEPT SILENT IN THE CHURCH… THERE WOULDN'T BE A CHURCH. STRONG STATEMENT… BUT THAT'S THE FACT, JACK!!!

SEASON 3

EPISODE 10

PREQUEL TO MOTHER'S DAY PODCAST

THE TRUE STORY OF THE REVEREND MRS. ADA CASTON SLATON BONDS OF THE CUMBERLAND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
(A MOVIE ON THE SILVER SCREEN SCRIPT ALMOST COMPLETE... WATCH FOR IT IN THEATERS IN 2023)

In yellowed and dogeared Red Chief notebooks dating from 1914 to the 1960s, she told a part of her memoirs of the difficulties of being accepted as a woman in the church.

One Sunday, a man walked out of her church, the Progress Cumberland Presbyterian Church, outside the small town of Pleasant Hill, Louisiana. Having not researched the congregation before visiting, he was apparently appalled to discover the pastor of this tiny house of worship was a woman. Yep, that’s right… a woman preaching the Word of God. Can you imagine that? He wrote to her later to explain that if she would just go and STUDY THE BIBLE, then she would come to the understanding that women were not allowed to teach men about Christ. This was in 1918 when the Progress Cumberland Presbyterian Church was celebrating its 8th Birthday. This same woman applied for ordination with the Presbyterian Church in 1914 at this same church when it was only four years old. According to her writings, it didn't bother her as she had dealt with this kind of mentality for the last 6 years. In her own words, she said, "That's how long it took for the Cumberland Presbyterian Church to give me my ordination as a minister in the church after my first application. That's how long it took for me to pass every known obstacle they threw at me. How did the stranger put it, "GO AND STUDY MY BIBLE."

The full true story can be found in FAITH - SEVENTY TIMES SEVEN. Caution must be exercised because some of Ada's struggles are quite graphical and in some cases, violence will break your heart! This story is true! One that ends with the Ku Klux Klan No. 60 taking matters into their own hands to protect who they called the Mother of All Presbyteries... the woman they said reflected PURE WOMANHOOD!

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