NEW YORK — On Dec. 1, churches across the country will observe World AIDS Day by remembering those infected and affected by AIDS.
But in the mid-1980s, AIDS had yet to take center stage in the American consciousness. That's when Ronnie Adams first attended an educational training session about the disease.
At the time, Adams served as the minister for single adults at First Baptist Church of Plano, Texas, and decided it would be important for a minister to learn more about the epidemic. But he wasn't prepared for the reaction he received when he introduced himself at the training session.
“When I introduced myself as a Baptist minister, the two people beside me actually moved their chairs away from me,” Adams said. “I realized they feared that I would judge them, so I just said, ‘I'm here today because I feel like if Jesus were walking the earth that he would want people living with AIDS to know that God loves and cares for them.' There was a sigh of relief, and people began to have tears in their eyes as they told me how they had been kicked out of their churches because they were infected with AIDS.”
Two decades later, Adams is still carrying that message to people living with HIV/AIDS. Since 1995, he has worked for the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship in New York City, where someone with AIDS dies every 18 minutes.
“My passion and what I love the most is providing pastoral care to that community,” Adams said. “It's been a difficult journey, but an incredible journey. I've ushered many people into the kingdom in their last days. So many of the people I work with have had a faith connection, but they've been condemned or judged out of it. They come to realize it was not God but a religion that did that. So as I begin to share with them God's love, God's compassion and God's mercy, they get reconnected.”
Adams works with several groups that serve the HIV/AIDS community, including Housing Works, the nation's largest provider of housing for people living with the virus. Each week, he travels to three New York neighborhoods to lead Bible studies, provide pastoral care and simply build relationships.
“The Bible studies give me the opportunity to meet people and develop relationships, and usually that leads to counseling and hospital visitation, educational opportunities and, unfortunately, memorial services,” said Adams, a native of Dallas. “To me it's the most open community to the gospel that I work with. They are so open for the love of God. I've probably seen more people come to know Christ through that ministry than all the other ones combined. It's really been incredible.”
Adams regularly meets people like Frank, a former resident of Housing Works, who learned in his late fifties that he was infected with HIV. Frank had attended a weekly Bible study and rarely spoke, but something changed after he participated in a retreat and was encouraged to tell his story.
“There was something about that pathos of sharing his story,” Adams said. “Frank opened up, and he became this whole new person. He realized that God was not against him, but that God was for him. And through accepting that belief that God was with him, he became more outgoing. It just shows what the love of Christ and other people can do for someone — it radically changed this man. He was still a very humble, quiet man, but he became a leader in the group.”
Last September, Adams sat by Frank's bedside at 2 a.m. as he ended his fight with AIDS.
“I said to him, ‘Frank, you've lived great the last year and done well. God loves you and cares for you. You tried hard to beat this, but it's time to rest, and God is going to be there with you,'” Adams said. “I prayed for him, prayed with him and kissed him on the forehead. Two minutes later he was gone. It was one of those sweet moments, and I'll never forget it as long as I live — to watch this man go into eternity, when just a year before he didn't think he had a chance of being with God.”
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