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Edith Blackwell: An Amazing Life “The travel is a gift from God, and as an evangelist, the Lord has moved me around.” By Linda Roberts
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arm sunlight floods the living room of the comfortable Berryville townhouse that is home to Edith Blackwell and her daughter, Stephanie Bray. Blackwell invites a visitor in and then joins her on the sofa near a large album and stacks of colorful photographs, all taken in different parts of the world and various states across America. A devout Christian and a member of the prayer team of the Morris Cerullo World Evangelism ministry, Blackwell finds it difficult to remember all the countries she’s visited to aid the ministry’s outreach of Photo by Linda Roberts Christianity. Now 86, she’s supported this Edith Blackwell enjoys reminiscing international effort for 40 years. over photographs of her many “The travel is a gift from God, and as an prayer team trips. evangelist the Lord has moved me around,” Blackwell said. With deep roots in Clarke County, Blackwell is the great-grandchild of a slave and the daughter of Annie Mae McKinley Marshall and Chandler Henry Bray, who lived near Millwood when she was born. Although her father was mostly blind, he had the talent to build beautiful stone fences, some still standing today. Her mother worked for a number of Clarke County families. Blackwell went to school in Berryville and recalled when she was six or seven walking with her father to Boyce to get new shoes. When they got home they discovered the shoes were boots. “We walked back the next day and exchanged them,” she said, a twinkle in her eye. Blackwell worked as a nurse’s aide in Clarke County before financial matters created the need for her and her five children to make a hard decision. Leaving the area was difficult, but Blackwell moved to Connecticut where she worked for a newspaper and later in the welfare department. “I had to go where I could get money to raise my children,” she said. In Connecticut, her pathway made a turn that would affect her life. She was invited to attend a prayer meeting where Rev. Cerullo was preaching to a large audience about the gospel. Blackwell said she felt as if he was speaking directly to her. From that day on she became involved in the work of the ministry’s international prayer team. She was elected to the ministry’s board of elders this year. Blackwell’s involvement with the ministry kept her flying to various countries for years as large crusades were scheduled around the globe. Her first trip took the prayer team to Moscow. She also went on prayer missions across the U.S. She once was asked to “preach the gospel” while on a mission trip to Canada. Her message obviously was well received because she was asked to return and speak again. Asked if the ministry provided the funding for her trips, Blackwell said no. “We had to raise our own money,” she said, adding that it never became a problem. “God always provided for us.” These days, her daughter Stephanie is there daily and her other children live in the area and check on her. Longtime friends from Clarke County, Sharon and Ben Harrison, frequently take her with them to church. “I have had an amazing life,” Blackwell said. “In a dream, I was going back to California with the prayer team to spread God’s word.” Although Blackwell had to miss the last prayer team trip due to health reasons, she said she’ll be ready for the next one. She’s hoping it will be to California.
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