An ordination service of special interest was held at Atlanta, Ga., in July, when Mr. H.H.  Proctor was ordained to the gospel ministry as pastor of the First Church.  He is twenty-five years old, one of “Uncle Tom’s” sons, and is a graduate of Fisk University and Yale Divinity School.  This was the first ordination held in this church, and the first Negro pastor to serve it, as all the former pastors were Northern men.  Already all departments of the church have taken on new life, and the future is full of hope.  This is one of our largest and most influential churches of the South, and starts out auspiciously with Pastor Proctor, as a self-supporting church.

The Second Church of Memphis, Tenn., which has been self-supporting for a number of years, reports a year of prosperity under its new pastor, Rev. George V. Clark.  The building has been renovated, and over fifty persons added to the church.  The church at Chattanooga, Tenn., with Rev. Jos.  E. Smith as pastor, has made heroic struggles during these hard times as a self-supporting plant.  At times the struggle has seemed greater than they could bear, but in the midst of all they have been cheered and sustained by the Lord.  The new parsonage at Marietta, Ga., gives Pastor Lane a pleasant home.  Our church at this point is near the Kenesaw Mountains, where Sherman shouted to his soldiers, “Hold the fort, for I am coming.”

The people at Louisville were glad to have the field missionary expound our New Testament polity to them at the second anniversary of the dedication of their chapel.  Pastor Harris has some earnest workers in his church.  Dr. Whedbee, the superintendent of the Sunday-school and the president of the Christian Endeavor, is a graduate from Howard University.  He has an excellent practice, and is a devoted Christian worker.

I must close these notes with an example of church work that shows what can be done in our Southern field when pastors and people have a wise direction and a mind to work.  I find the following record in the minutes of the Tennessee Association for 1893.  “Nashville, Howard Chapel.  The church is not prosperous.  Services have been discontinued.  An effort, however, is to be made to revive and develop the life and power of the church.”  This effort took form in the appointment by the Association of Rev. J.E.  Moorland, of Washington, D.C., as pastor last October.  The appointment was made for ten months, with a view of continuance if the work proved fruitful.  What has been the result of these ten months just ended?  The church has been revived, its membership increased to seventy-five, congregations large and growing, a nourishing Sunday-school and mission school, two preaching services on the Lord’s day, and a vigorous Y.P.S.C.E.; a wide-awake mid-week service, a woman’s missionary society, and a sewing-school for girls.  The church edifice has been renovated at a cost of three hundred dollars, and a parsonage is being erected.  For intelligence, Christian character and progressive work, this church is considered the best among colored people in the city.