THE VISIONARY

A gift from God was given to Dan and Mandy Wicker through HIS anointing and appointment. The Call of Ministry was evident and accepted at the early age of 16 in Greensburg, LA. Stafford Wicker was born baptized, holy ghost filled and fire baptized at the Turner Chapel AME church in Greensburg. As a Sunday School student and Choir member, his Christian learning took on formation. From his parents home to the football field he was affectionately called “the preacher.” Upon completion of high school, his parents shook their nests of protection and allowed him to leave home to matriculate at Wilberforce University in Wilberforce, Ohio. The AME church nurtured the decision and gave foundation to successful graduation.

After completing Wilberforce, Stafford received his first pastoral appointment through Bishop Donald Ming. Thirty months later a new church facility was constructed by Turner Chapel AME Church, in Rosaline, LA. Bishop Ming dedicated that new facility. Later, he transferred Stafford and his wife to Georgia under the direction of Bishop Talbot. At the initial meeting with Bishop Talbot, Stafford asked for and received an opportunity to do ministry in Georgia. He was appointed to the Toomsboro Circuit in the Augusta Annual Conference. God gave growth and community distinction to that work in Irwington and Toomsboro, GA. Bishop Talbot allowed him to serve at the Mt. Zion AME Church in Mansfield, GA. During his tenure there, the debt was liquidated, bank relationship was set for new renovations and the congregation for the first time in its history began to worship every Sunday instead of two Sundays a month. It came from a circuit church to a station church. Stafford entered Turner Theological Seminary in 1987. Receiving the Master of Divinity in 1991, he went on to receive the Doctorate of Ministry in 1997, with a dissertation entitled, “How Can the Black Church Respond to the AIDS/HIV Epidemic?”

Bishop Adams then moved him to the Mt. Carmel AME church in Atlanta where spiritual renewal, physical plant renovation, and congregational fellowship became energizing to the body of faith in that place.

Bishop Ming crossed his pathway again in 1992 in Georgia and moved him to the Antioch AME Church. Stafford proudly declared: “I come as a drum major to talk about an unfolding drama and to clarify what God has done and is doing in Decatur and Stone Mountain, GA, in the life of Stafford J Wicker and the Antioch African Methodist Episcopal Church”. God began the story in 1868 in a small house in Decatur, GA.

This ministry has remained intact under the banner of the AME Church for the past 138 years. God allowed Stafford Wicker to be a part of the story in 1992. “As the drum major, I come to clarify what God has done:” There was a church facility comprised of 8500 square feet of space on 1.8 acres of land on Atlanta Avenue in Decatur, GA. Its operating budget was 84,0000 dollars. Its ministry consisted of 12 effective component parts, which included its operations ministry. Its future was of great concern. Because of the impact renewal and gentrification and its lack of landownership, the church was landlocked. Its pastoral leadership had experienced a tenure of three to five years. Its status in the conference and on the Episcopal district level was that of a station church, but as proclaimed by Stafford, “I have observed God over the past 13 years unfold the miracle of a marvelous ministry. As the drum major, I come to clarify what God has done:”

35 months later on November 30, 1995, God allowed the Antioch AME Church to be the first church, at the time of purchase, to master over a million dollar acquisition.

“As the drum major, I come to clarify what God has done:” Three years later in 1998 a second million dollar acquisition was made, giving Antioch the distinction of being one church in two locations. Both sites together, brought its landownership to thirty-five Acres.

“As the drum major, I come to clarify what God has done”. Twenty-four months later, in the year 2000, 32 additional acres were purchased with an unknown purpose giving Antioch the distinction of owning and controlling 67 acres of land, making it the largest landowner of any other AME Church in the connection, as I know it today.

“As the drum major, I come to clarify what God has done:”