Faithfully Followed Vision Led Pastor to Westerly
Reverend McClure, leading Pleasant Street Baptist for 20 years, writes book on resuscitating dying
churches Published on 11/22/2006
The Reverend Joshua McClure, a 75-year-old leader in the Westerly community, recently read from his newly
published book “Can These Bones Live? The Miraculous Story of What Can Happen to a Church that
Follows God's Vision” (Tate Publishing) at the Westerly Library.
Introducing his book, the Rev. McClure said, “My book is the story of a small, dying, non-descript church in
Westerly that is now a vital one,” speaking about the Pleasant Street Baptist Church, a church he has led as
pastor for the past 20 years. He was associate pastor from 1981-1986. “One of the themes in my book is about
my own personal journey.”
McClure's journey began as a little boy in Harlem who attended a storefront church, grew up, and eventually
made his way to Providence, where he owned a pair of retail kitchen showrooms and a manufacturing plant.
“All I ever wanted was my own business,” McClure said. “Then I had a vision.”
Recalling the past, the Rev. McClure said, “I can still see it now; it was in 1976 ... It was like an actual painting
on a living room wall. I saw faces, hands outstretched, tears, I could feel the pain. I knew at that moment what
God was calling me to do.”
Although McClure feels that God called him to Westerly, he did say he wanted to go to a larger congregation in
Woonsocket. “I argued with God, I said you've got the wrong guy, sending me here,” McClure said. “This place
is all wrong for me. I argued with him, but he didn't listen to me,” he told those gathered at the library.
“Somehow God touched my heart over that weekend in 1981, and I came around to saying 'I'm going to
Westerly.'”
His first years in Westerly, McClure remembered as difficult ones. “Being an African-American man, that created
an awful lot of heartache in itself. I encountered racism, and it made me feel vengeful and angry. But coming to
Westerly was also a culture shock. I came to a community that seemed to be 90 percent Italian Catholic from a
community (in Providence) of poor and working-class African- Americans. It was tough.”
McClure commuted from Providence to Westerly during his five-year tenure as associate pastor, and earned
“only enough for gas money, really.” As McClure grew in his leadership with the church, he also grew
emotionally. “I began to see people's needs before I saw their color,” he said. “I began putting aside my feelings
of anger and rejection.”
McClure also recalled noticing that when he talked with other church leaders, “they often began to lay out their
goals and objectives,” he said, “or say, 'Here are our goals for the church.' I'd say, 'But that's not vision. What is
your vision for your church?'”
McClure's words echo from the world of business where the term vision became a buzz word in the 1990s in
the context of the management theory that, at upper-management levels, the difference between functional
management and true leadership is a vision or, more specifically, a visionary. The corporate vision or mission
statement on many an organization wall these days is also an outgrowth of this popular theory. McClure
approached the principle of vision to the church realm in his book. Not yet officially released, it is already
available at the Other Tiger Bookstore. McClure described his book as “over-archingly about church,” pun
intended or not.
More specifically, “Can These Bones Live?” is about the necessity of vision for keeping a church alive.
McClure, discussing how to resuscitate a church, said, “It only works when God places the vision in people's
hearts. ... God's vision can change churches to vital, living organisms.” McClure said “75-95 percent of
churches are now dying, stagnant, or in decline.” He theorized that one of the major reasons for this is because
the religious educational process is formalized, with many benchmarks to be met, the same view held by some in
the general education field. “People come out of seminary, and they're wiped out by church,” McClure said.
“They don't understand how to help people, how to grow people. Church is a living organization birthed by the
spirit. It's not just an organization.”
Outreach and religious growth are two abiding interests of McClure's, who chairs the Pawcatuck Neighborhood
Center's development committee. McClure said the Pleasant Street Baptist Church has 300-400 people to which
it regularly ministers, “people that very much look to us for help.”
Asked about the size of the Pleasant Street's congregation, McClure said he does not put much measure in a
church's size, because of the people who regularly attend without becoming members.
“Pleasant Street has a category we call active non-members,” McClure said.
Article published by the Westerly Times,11/22/2006
Reverend McClure, leading Pleasant Street Baptist for 20 years, writes book on resuscitating dying
churches Published on 11/22/2006
The Reverend Joshua McClure, a 75-year-old leader in the Westerly community, recently read from his newly
published book “Can These Bones Live? The Miraculous Story of What Can Happen to a Church that
Follows God's Vision” (Tate Publishing) at the Westerly Library.
Introducing his book, the Rev. McClure said, “My book is the story of a small, dying, non-descript church in
Westerly that is now a vital one,” speaking about the Pleasant Street Baptist Church, a church he has led as
pastor for the past 20 years. He was associate pastor from 1981-1986. “One of the themes in my book is about
my own personal journey.”
McClure's journey began as a little boy in Harlem who attended a storefront church, grew up, and eventually
made his way to Providence, where he owned a pair of retail kitchen showrooms and a manufacturing plant.
“All I ever wanted was my own business,” McClure said. “Then I had a vision.”
Recalling the past, the Rev. McClure said, “I can still see it now; it was in 1976 ... It was like an actual painting
on a living room wall. I saw faces, hands outstretched, tears, I could feel the pain. I knew at that moment what
God was calling me to do.”
Although McClure feels that God called him to Westerly, he did say he wanted to go to a larger congregation in
Woonsocket. “I argued with God, I said you've got the wrong guy, sending me here,” McClure said. “This place
is all wrong for me. I argued with him, but he didn't listen to me,” he told those gathered at the library.
“Somehow God touched my heart over that weekend in 1981, and I came around to saying 'I'm going to
Westerly.'”
His first years in Westerly, McClure remembered as difficult ones. “Being an African-American man, that created
an awful lot of heartache in itself. I encountered racism, and it made me feel vengeful and angry. But coming to
Westerly was also a culture shock. I came to a community that seemed to be 90 percent Italian Catholic from a
community (in Providence) of poor and working-class African- Americans. It was tough.”
McClure commuted from Providence to Westerly during his five-year tenure as associate pastor, and earned
“only enough for gas money, really.” As McClure grew in his leadership with the church, he also grew
emotionally. “I began to see people's needs before I saw their color,” he said. “I began putting aside my feelings
of anger and rejection.”
McClure also recalled noticing that when he talked with other church leaders, “they often began to lay out their
goals and objectives,” he said, “or say, 'Here are our goals for the church.' I'd say, 'But that's not vision. What is
your vision for your church?'”
McClure's words echo from the world of business where the term vision became a buzz word in the 1990s in
the context of the management theory that, at upper-management levels, the difference between functional
management and true leadership is a vision or, more specifically, a visionary. The corporate vision or mission
statement on many an organization wall these days is also an outgrowth of this popular theory. McClure
approached the principle of vision to the church realm in his book. Not yet officially released, it is already
available at the Other Tiger Bookstore. McClure described his book as “over-archingly about church,” pun
intended or not.
More specifically, “Can These Bones Live?” is about the necessity of vision for keeping a church alive.
McClure, discussing how to resuscitate a church, said, “It only works when God places the vision in people's
hearts. ... God's vision can change churches to vital, living organisms.” McClure said “75-95 percent of
churches are now dying, stagnant, or in decline.” He theorized that one of the major reasons for this is because
the religious educational process is formalized, with many benchmarks to be met, the same view held by some in
the general education field. “People come out of seminary, and they're wiped out by church,” McClure said.
“They don't understand how to help people, how to grow people. Church is a living organization birthed by the
spirit. It's not just an organization.”
Outreach and religious growth are two abiding interests of McClure's, who chairs the Pawcatuck Neighborhood
Center's development committee. McClure said the Pleasant Street Baptist Church has 300-400 people to which
it regularly ministers, “people that very much look to us for help.”
Asked about the size of the Pleasant Street's congregation, McClure said he does not put much measure in a
church's size, because of the people who regularly attend without becoming members.
“Pleasant Street has a category we call active non-members,” McClure said.
Article published by the Westerly Times,11/22/2006
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