This Sunday, July 29, the Rev. Dr. James A. Forbes Jr. will be the guest preacher at the Union Chapel in Oak Bluffs.  Reverend Forbes, Senior Minister Emeritus of the Riverside Church, is founder and president of the Healing of the Nations Foundation. He is also the Harry Emerson Fosdick Distinguished Professor at Union Theological Seminary in New York city.

In national and international religious circles, Dr. Forbes is known as the preacher’s preacher because of his extensive preaching career and his charismatic style.  Newsweek magazine recognized Dr. Forbes as one of the 12 “most effective preachers” in the English-speaking world in 1996.  He has also been twice designated as one of America’s greatest black preachers by Ebony magazine. 

Born in 1935 in Burgaw, North Carolina, Dr. Forbes is married to Bettye Franks Forbes, formerly of San Antonio, TX.  They are the proud parents of one son, James A. Forbes III. 

The Union Chapel is a non-denominational church and is located at the intersection of Circuit, Kennebec and Narragansett avenues. The organ prelude by David Rhoderick begins at 9:40 a.m. and the service begins at 10a.m.  All are welcome.