TELL US ABOUT YOUR HEALING SERVICES--DISSERTATION RESEARCH

[Herman Fountain]

What is it like to experience your worship and healing services? What do you experience as you lead worship and healing services? Do you prepare yourself to lead a worship and healing service? Do you contribute to moving your congregation into a worshipful and healing mood? What role does music contribute to your worship and healing services?

I am the pastor of Lovingkindness Christian Worship Center in Jacksonville, Florida, and a Doctoral Candidate in Pastoral Community Counseling at Argosy University. I am writing a dissertation entitled “Understanding the Lived Experience of Ritual Healing by Protestant African American Shamans (Ministers) in the United States.” I solicit your stories and comments related to your healing service experiences.

I want to interview you about your healing ministry. I am looking for ministers and evangelists from the four regions of the United States (North, South, East, and West). I invite twenty interviewees (10 women and 10 men) to participate in an in-depth interview using Skype, lasting approximately one hour. We will schedule interviews any day or night at your convenience. A requirement is that you subscribe to Skype, which is free. Add your voice to the discussion and tell us how God uses you to heal God's people.

Interviews will be video-taped and audio-taped, and you will receive a copy of your interview transcript to check it for accuracy. Additionally, you will receive a copy of the findings of the dissertation study. Your identity will remain confidential. You will be identified by a numerical code (001, 024), and any identifying characteristics will be changed; such as, gender, age, or region of the country. Research material will be destroyed when the study is finished. Interviews will begin in late February 2013.

If you would like to tell your story, please contact me on my Black Preacher Network Page, or email me at ([e-mail]). You may also call me at [phone]. Your contribution will add to the literature concerning African American Faith Healing Rituals, and give voice to an under-researched group. There is no insight like your insight!

In Christ,

Pastor Herman Fountain