Despite multiple obstacles – family illnesses and deaths, difficult church assignments – he remained true to his calling.
Houston (PRWEB) August 21, 2013
Elaine Parker Adams immortalizes the life of her great-grandfather, the Rev. Peter W. Clark, filling vital gaps in Methodist, La., and black history with the details of her new biography, “The Reverend Peter W. Clark: Sweet Preacher and Steadfast Reformer” (published by WestBow Press).
Rev. Clark served the Methodist Episcopal Church during the latter 19th century and early 20th century. During the critical post-Reconstruction period, he built churches in rural Louisiana, established missions in New Orleans and served as founding presiding elder of the Lake Charles district of the Louisiana conference. The book details his achievements as a religious and community leader dealing with crises ranging from Mississippi River flooding to axe murders. The book also focuses on the personal sacrifices Clark and his family made for what is now the United Methodist Church.
“Peter Clark was a committed clergyman,” Adams writes. “Despite multiple obstacles – family illnesses and deaths, difficult church assignments – he remained true to his calling. A generation divided him from his grandchildren, but they also displayed his dedicated service to humanity and willingness to take on exceptional challenges.” The lives of educator Grace Clark Parker and sports broadcaster Peter “Champ” Clark are described in the “Legacy” section of the book.
Praise for “The Reverend Peter W. Clark”:
“Peter Clark’s ministerial journey provides an in-depth understanding of the sacrifices and hardships faced by black Methodist preachers as they spread the gospel and expanded Methodism in the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century. It provides deep insight into the racial attitudes and economic conditions that prevailed in post-Reconstruction Louisiana.”
—Angella Current-Felder, author, “Breaking Barriers: An African American Family & the Methodist Story”
“The Reverend Peter W. Clark”
By Elaine Parker Adams
Hardcover | 6 x 9 in | 172 pages | ISBN 9781449797843
Softcover | 6 x 9 in | 172 pages | ISBN 9781449797836
E-Book | ISBN 9781449797829
Available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble
About the Author
Elaine Parker Adams is the great-granddaughter of the Rev. Peter W. Clark and shares his esteem for education and social justice. In 1991, Adams was the founding president of Houston Community College – Northeast. Earlier, she served the State of Texas as assistant commissioner for educational opportunity planning, coordinating statewide efforts to diversify enrollment in higher education. The New Orleans native, now a family elder, strives to record and share her family’s rich history. Retired, she resides with her family in Houston.
WestBow Press is a strategic self-publishing alliance of Thomas Nelson, Inc., the world’s largest Christian publisher, and Author Solutions, Inc. (ASI) — the world leader in the popular self-publishing industry segment. Through this partnership, authors benefit from the rich publishing heritage of Thomas Nelson and the speed-to-market advantages of the ASI self-publishing model. Titles published through WestBow Press are evaluated for sales potential and considered for publication under the Thomas Nelson imprint. Thomas Nelson, Inc. continues to “inspire the world” with distribution of products in more than 100 countries worldwide. For more information, or to start publishing today, visit http://www.westbowpress.com or call (866)-928-1240. Follow us @westbowpress on Twitter for the latest news.
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