In this exuberant welcome address, Pastor Martha A. Lang shares her personal testimony of worship, rooted in African heritage and a passionate, shouting style of praise. She recounts the humble origins of her congregation, beginning as a 50‑person house church in 1983, and celebrates major milestones: burning the mortgage on the original sanctuary and later on a renovated basement, securing a $68,000 loan and raising $20,000 in four weeks to purchase a new church building, and leading a $14 million adjacent senior‑housing project. She describes the challenges of gaining support from church leaders and the broader community, emphasizing perseverance and faith in God’s provision. Pastor Lang highlights the ordination of Reverend Olive Barnum, noting her training in the African Methodist Episcopal tradition and her new role in marriage ministry. The core message is a call for cultural unity: she envisions an international church where diverse ethnic groups gather weekly to celebrate each other’s traditions, urging attendees to return, fellowship, and worship together. Throughout, she affirms her love for Africa, her family legacy, and the belief that God’s spirit unites all people.
Chapters
to have you all here. Praise God. You are my sisters and my brothers from my homeland. Yeah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Amen. I love that place, huh? Yes. Amen. South Africa. And this was maybe about 10, 15 years ago. And I tell you this, I never could understand why I was a shouting preacher. I was shouting, preaching. Every time I shout, my hat would fall. One time I was shouting, I was on the pulpit, and it fell into the minister's lap, and he just held it. He didn't know what to do with it. They say, oh, there go Reverend Lane, she done shouted her hat off. And they said, if nobody else shout, she gonna shout when she preach herself. Amen. So I'm one of those shouting people, right? When I get happy, I just give God the praise. I don't care where I am, you know I'm good. There is no shame when you're supposed to honor and praise the Lord. Amen. So I, I give God all the honor, all the praise, and all of the glory. Amen. Getting back to what I was saying about Africa, when I put my feet, my Lord, on the African shore, my God, I know who I is. I know why I shout like I do. I know why I praise God like I do, because it's in my DNA. It's in my bloodstream, and I can't help myself. And I don't make excuses for it. My congregation will tell you that I praise God. I give God all the glory, all the honor for what he's done for me. My life. You sit in a miracle church. Pastor Lang was sent to a house church in 1983. You could seat about 50 people in the house. I had 9 adults and 6 children, but look what the Lord has done. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! A few years ago, we burned the mortgage to this church. And on this morning, we burned the mortgage for the basement that we renovated. Praise God! To God be the glory! And just about 3 years ago, Reverend Dr. Mary Moore, along with a couple of other people and myself, embarked upon a vision to build a senior building. It was the hardest job that God ever gave me to do. The first hardest job was to get this church because there were men of God that I could not understand that voted against me not getting this church with our bishop. But the bishop said that I touched his heart and he believed that it was a vision from God. And so they loaned us $68,000— $58,000 to get this church. We had to raise $20,000 in 4 weeks to take it off the market. Then we had to raise the seller. By this time, I had about 50 people. We raised that money, and when I told the bishop we had, he said, "You did what?" He didn't believe I could do it, so that was one reason why he went along with me. He said, "My God, I didn't think she was gonna do it." But all of those preachers that voted against me even my own pastor, because they were looking at me, not looking at the Spirit of the Living God. And they said that I was a crazy little woman, but they don't sound crazy anymore. I know, that's right. Hallelujah! Because God has done great things. Yeah, in this congregation, the building that we put up next door when you pass it going out is a $14 million project. Reverend Dr. Mary Moore, myself, and 3 other persons, her husband, my husband whose picture is over there who's gone on to glory, another man who's gone on to glory, and my administrative assistant who's downstairs, we worked day and night to get this project. We went to Harrisburg, we went to the government, We went to city council, we went to everybody. And when they look out there and see the gray hair, they say, oh my God, here they come again. But when God gives you something to do, you don't give up, you don't give out. I didn't care what they called me, I didn't care how they talked about me. I believe God. I don't believe my circumstances. I don't believe people, but I believe God. And if God tells me to do something, you best I'm going to give it my best. And I have learned that when you give God your best, God will give his best back to you. Amen. God gave me a vision to start an international church. We live in an area of a lot of different cultures, and I said at least one Sunday a week, people ought to come together from other ethnic groups, celebrate their culture, their traditions, and all of that. But you know, it's a strange thing. People don't want to come together. Everybody basically want to do their own thing. But I applaud you today, each one of you who have come to celebrate the International Church. We are a beginning, and it's going to grow. God sent Reverend Olive Barnum. Yes. The Reverend Barney Lewis Sr. is the one who brought her here. Yeah. Introduced her to me and said she was a good worker. She has gone all of the way in our schooling in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, and now she is a local elder. Yes, ma'am. She was ordained last year. Yes. With great honor. She can do marriage and all those great things. And Reverend Warner didn't really know how high an honor that she had accomplished until she went to the ordination. She said, "Pastor, I didn't know it was like this." That was her first ordination, because we have two. A second ordination, Rambon was there. She was in flying colors. God gave her great honor. We love her. She's a Spirit-filled woman, and I gave her this job to help to build this international church because I, I know— it's not that I believe— that God wants us to be one people. You know, I mean, we're all from different cultures and different backgrounds and all of that, but we are one in the spirit of the living God. Amen. And so I'm a little short of breath and all of that, but I praise God for you who have come out to share with us in this wonderful celebration. Amen. And we invite you to come back We want you to know that we genuinely love you because you are our sisters and our brothers in Christ. We're delighted to have you come, and we're delighted to have you fellowship and worship the one true and only God. And I love Africa. Amen. I love Africa because that's my roots. Reverend She knows that. Yes. I love it. My grandmother and all of them. Yeah. When I look at them and the way they cook, the way they look, they from Africa. And it's just a part of who I am. When I put my feet on the African shores, I just had to fall down. Thank God. I said, "Now God, I really know." Who I is. May not make good English, but it makes good sense. There's nothing like knowing who you are. Amen. You know, I got a lot of other mixed blood in me, but who I is, is I was raised in the tradition of my grandmother, you see. And so I am very proud to be a part of all of you, for whatever background you come from. Because God is the Father of all mankind. God bless you. Please come back and worship with us and fellowship with us again. We love you.
