St. Paul recorder., 1944-03-17
JOttings

In the two days we spent at
Great Lakes Naval Training Sta
ton early this month we ran across
only two local boys.
One was Thaddeus James who
was on duty at the Barracks where
our party was quartered. "Thad"
was standing stiffly at attention at
the door as we entered. In our
pleasure at seeing him we violated
military (naval) regulations by
trying to shake hands with him!
He appeared little uncomfortable
as he stood at attention, but seemed
pleased to see US.
On a company street we passed
Luther Dennis as we were hurrying
to one of the events scheduled for
US.
Progress of Local Boy: Rev.
Carlyle Fielding Stewart, present
pastor of Ebenezer A.M.E. Church
in Evanston, Illinois, is considered
a local product by many Twin
Citians. We have an idea that Rev.
Stewart thinks of himself as a Min
nesota product. He is the only
A.M.E. minister that we know of
who has served three different
churches in the Twin Cities. Much
of his ministerial life has been
spent in st. Paul and Minneapolis.
We recall that his first charge was
pioneer st. James A.M.E. Church
in Minneapolis. Later, he served
St. James Church in St. Paul and
ended his Twin City pastorates at
st. Peter Church in Minneapolis. In
all he spent 16 years shepherding
Twin City f1ocks.
For that reason we thought it
might interest a large number of
his local friends to record his
progress in Illinois.
Ebenezer in Evanston is larger
than any previous church pastored
by Rev. Stewart. The church has
membership of slightly over 1900.
According to a church official, with
whom we talked during our brief
visit, the church was $4,000 in debt
when Stewart assumed the pastor
ate in October, 1941. After taking
an inventory of the congregations
needs he pulled up his sleeves and
went to work. The church member
ship soon found, as others had be-
fore, that Stewart is conscientious,
well prepared, informed, energetic
and industrious. Singularly FORUM
ate to him was the fact that his
father before him, the venerable
Rev. H. E. Stewart of Milwaukee,
had been pastor of Ebenezer. The
younger Stewart was ordained at
the church preaching his trial
sermon there.
At Ebenezer his first big effort
was a three months, Goth ami
versary, financial rally with a $5,-
600 goal to pay off the lingering
church mortgage. Under the leader
ship of DR.. Charles B. Scruggs, the
Ebenezer folk not only raised $5,-
600 but went over the quota by ST.
O78.
At present the congregation,
which had no funds in 1941, has
$4,000 in war bonds and $1,000 in
the current expense fund.
We toured the church which is
a roomy, large edifce. Its interior
was well decorated. The floors in
the basement were vanished and
the entire church was immaculate.
In fact the furnace room floor was
almost clean enough to eat off of!
The church has three assistant pas
tors, paid secretary and employs
janitor. Since Stewards assumption
of the pulpit there a public address
system has been installed. A
beautifully toned organ and four
pianos serve the four choirs. Choir
rehearsal rooms, prayer rooms, kit
chen, dining rooms and two of
fees are found in the church. What
impressed us most was the physical
cleanliness of the church and par
sonage indicating to US that Evan
ston church goers like to worship
in pleasant surroundings and want
to keep their property in tip-top
shape.
Church statistics indicate that 6S
persons have been converted under