Emma Pope Hebert

Mother Emma Pope Hebert was born September 18, 1919. She was saved at age 7, and baptized by age 12. She added the "Jean" to her name during her childhood. Mom doesn't remember from whence she got the name "Jean." Mom's given name on her birth certificate is Emmaline Pope. Emmaline was her grandpa Dan Addison's mother's name (her great, great grandmother). Mom used to write her name Emmalyn instead of Emmaline because some people would derisively call her "lyin" Emma or line Emma (as in Lying Emma, pronounced by citizens in the hood as "line Emma"). She eventually dropped the "line" from Emma. She was born in 1919, went to Blackshear Elementary School in 1925, graduated from Jack Yates High School in 1937, Married Dad in 1938, had her first child in 1940, moved to the Cuney Homes in 3rd Ward in 1949, graduated from Texas Southern University in 1952, moved to Carverdale in the Cypress Fairbanks School District in 1956 to take a teaching job in the school there, sent her husband to rest in December 1974, then in 1998 started meeting with the Church in Houston saints (she never moved her membership from New Zion or "joined" the Chrch in Houston. As a Christian she was welcomed as a sister in Christ without the procedure of "joining."). Mother Hebert was very "smart" in school. They did not have substitutes to work for absent teachers in those days. Also, High Schools only went tot he 11th grade at that time. Smart students in the 11th grade would fill in for absent seventh and eighth grade teachers and below. Mom taught many classes before graduating from High School as one of the "smart" students. Schools would use students who made good grades to substitute teach. They used didactic literature and poetry in the classes (writings designed to teach). They used literature that had meaning for life. One such didactic poem was: "Once a task is begun, never quit until it's done. Be the task great or small, do it well or not at all." Mother Hebert taught this poem to all of us her children. Mom's Bachelor's degree was in Foreign Languages (French and Spanish) from TSU. She studied the Liberal Arts - Humanities, from Texas State College [for Negroes](now Texas Southern University: TSU). She received a Masters degree from Prairie View A&M College in English and later another Masters degree in Special Education, which was the subject she taught for almost ten years at Carverdale school. People in the cafeteria at Prairie View would sometimes give her food for us at home when she would eat there. Because of God's sovereignty, we lived across the street from Texas State College (TSU) in the Cuney Homes. Mom only had to walk across the street to get to school. Prairie View was a different matter. It was 45 miles away from the Cuney Homes. Dad had a 2 ½ ton truck that he used to take her to school. It was a gas guzzler for sure. After graduating from TSU, Mother Hebert taught first as a substitute teacher in the Houston schools. I was disabused from becoming a thug in the second grade because one day my teacher got sick when I decided to skip school and go to the movies; and, unbeknownst to me, the school called my mother to work in my teacher's class. When I got home I was "home-schooled" into a lifelong committment to always attend classes and school as scheduled, and NEVER cut classes or miss school when sent. Mother Hebert had three siblings who preceded her in death. Emmet and his twin Frederick Pope, and sister Ethel preceded her in death. George Acie Pope and Barbara Addison Pope were her parents who also preceded her to the throne of grace. Her father moved from Houston to California in 1946. Mom was married and stayed in Texas. Mom was the earliest of her siblings to be saved and attend church regularly. As soon as she was saved, she started reading the Bible. Her Bible reading would become a habit that would continue throughout her life. And, rather than marriage and child bearing halting or altering her bible-reading habit, it was actually strengthened. She attended church regularly and was influenced mainly by her grand mother and grand father, Ma and Pa Pope. Around 1925 or 1926, our mother took a stand for Jesus by giving her life to Him. In 1938, she married our father, Reverend Aldaah Augustus Hebert. She had never known a man prior to marriage, and never gave consideration to another after Dad's death in 1974. Both Dad and Mom took an unusual stand for Jesus. He took a stand. He and mom and all of us took that same stand. That stand was to call on the name of Jesus. The cry "Jesus, Jesus, Jesus" could always be heard in our house, often in the wee hours of the morning. Calling the name of Jesus was company to another revolutionary idea on earth. We lived daily as the one Body of Christ as a family. This was not revolutionary, but uncommon at the time in the black community. Dad was a non-denominational holiness minister who became habituated to calling Jesus, Jesus, Jesus! Our father was involved in a devastating car accident in 1947. It left him in a coma for about six months and intensive care for over a year. He survived, with God's mercy, until December 1974. He never walked again without the aid of crutches or a walking cane. He went through intensive suffering for many years, especially 1947 to 1954. He stayed faithful to God, despite the suffering. He experienced His healing many times. He had a very intimate relationship with our Lord Jesus that surely included Mom. Both were faithful to the Lord, always, and we were too. Dad gained a high level of fellowship with Jesus through suffering; and Mom through many childbirths. Both had high-level experiences with our Lord Jesus and His written word. Both my parents were filled with the Holy Spirit. Dad, Mom, and us lived the Body (of Christ) life for many years and did not even know it. The Body of Christ (Ro. 12:5, 1 Cor. 12:12) is where all Christians are in one accord under a practical, earthly head, a Christian father and Christian mother. We all prayed together and individually centered on the reality in Jesus. We sang together as the Hebert Aires, we prayed together daily (family altar) in family prayer, we prayed individually, sometimes, comically, depending on who was most afraid of the dark or monsters under the bed. At our dinner table, each of us had to say a bible verse EVERY time we came together to eat. We also had family time together where dad would talk about the family or tell us scary stories. Sometimes he would crack up just seeing the bug-eyed look on our faces when telling stories, especially the scary ones. Thing is, we did not know that we were living the church life as a family and the Body life with Jesus Christ as the center. Dad was a preacher/pastor and Mom a strong, written word-based Christian wife/mother. We stayed in church and knew no other life, until we became educated. The fissures in our family emerged in relation to the level of education we attained. Rather than enhance the one accord and love we had for one another, we responded to a secular and humanistic world and drifted apart for many reasons, none related to Christ and the Church. While Dad did not notice the spiritual reality unfolding among us, Mom did. She wanted desperately for all of us to be one Body in Christ and members one of another. Dad and Mom wanted us to have the vertical fellowship with the Father (1 John 1:3) and the horizontal fellowship with one another (1 John 1:7). After Dad's death, Mom knew what she wanted as a Christian, but did not find it until twenty years later when she found the Watchman Nee and Witness Lee books in about 1993. These books led her to the reality of her vision and dream: her family in one accord! She had found the ministry she had been seeking all her life: one that was centered on Christ Jesus and His church, the organic Body of Christ. Now her constant prayer for household salvation could be realized. She had found a ministry that could put us where we once were when we were too young to rebel against her authority. She knew that if we all could come into the Lord's Recovery together spiritually and practically that God would bless the resulting "one accord" among us. The Lord's recovery was the vehicle or ministry with the capacity to unite us all, all ten of us (9+1). At age 78, mom embraced the Lord's recovery. She had labored, sought, toiled, prayed, fasted, stayed in prayer vigils, some as long as one-week nonstop, to gain the pure truth of God's written word and for her family to "get along together" and be members one of another in love. This remained her vision because it was from God and His Word. God gave Dad and her the vision many decades ago. Now it can become a reality. The grandest reality for Mom is that ALL her family still lives. She is the first of her immediate family to go to her eternal rest in Christ Jesus. What a blessing!! The greatest legacy any human can leave on earth is a rich deposit of God's living (rhema), and written word. In that regard, Dad and Mom were very devoted daily bible readers. They loved the bible. Dad was ahead of his time in his bible knowledge, although that knowledge was gained through intense sufferings. Dad's knowledge centered on Jesus. During his lifetime the main Christian mantra of many was "God is good." Dad's mantra instead was "Jesus, Jesus, Jesus!" Dad saw in the 1950s the centrality of Jesus Christ in the church and was as a result, an early non-denominational pastor. He focused on Christ in His ministry and this focus continued and intensified in Mom after his passing. Mom continued laboring in the word for forty (40) more years after Dad went to be with the Lord. They set the bar very, very high for all of us who follow her. Mom lived the Bible. She ate the bible. She breathed the Bible. She spoke the bible. She loved the Bible! She was the word made flesh dwelling among us. She read the bible from cover to cover dozens of times. She wrote the entire bible, word for word, in tablets after she retired from teaching. She wrote every word from Genesis chapter one, to Revelation Chapter 22. Also, she and the bible were in one accord decades before I understood John 1:14 that says "the word became flesh." This meant that the daily human living was a reproduction of the bible and the contents of the bible were to be lived in union with Christ Jesus. Mom's life, her daily living, her faith and her church life practice are her greatest legacy. They are one of a many faceted entity. She leaves us a pattern that is almost impossible to match. What she has done in 94 years has been accomplished by only a few saints since 37 A.D. If I had a choice of $10 million dollars or to become a duplicate of Mother Hebert's pattern that included much suffering, I would gladly endure and suffering or trial to be an imitator of her and Jesus Christ and His church unto eternity. Money is earthly. It is for toys in this life. Jesus Christ is eternal. Mom's legacy is eternal and will echo in this family and in the Church unto a thousand generations. Mother Hebert has given the stand, the vision, and the legacy to us; We are to commit ourselves to the stand, vision, and legacy. Our stand is in Christ Jesus. Our vision is the Body of Christ. Our legacy is the written and rhema Word of God. Because all three are out from God and His eternal purpose, they must be passed down to all our generations of offspring. If we drop the ball, who will pick it up for us? Mother Hebert was a practical and spiritual Christian. This is why she bequeathed us the practical matter of reading the bible, fellowship in the Body, and unceasing prayer. We then, together as one, with no divisions between us in our families, will come together as one for all our children, grand children even to the farthest generation of those yet unborn. We shall engage in prayer, praise, fellowship, and the word together to generate a bequest to our children and grand children just as Dad and Mom did for us. We will not teach them division. We will teach, preach, and live in the one accord of Acts 1:14. May God in Christ Jesus as the all-inclusive compound Spirit be merciful to us all. Surviving Mother Emma Hebert Mother Emma Hebert was preceded in death by her parents and all her siblings. Surviving her are all her nine children: Andrea Hebert, Victor Hebert, Rosalind Byrd-Knott, Patricia Anderson, Marilyn Adams, John Michael Hebert, Barbara Dearman, Martha Hebert, and Regina Banks (Ivory); 25 grand children: Gwendolyn Todd, Vernell Carter, Jr., Johnella Sam, Johnyce Adams, Tamara Powell (Marcus), Victor Hebert, II, Tammy Reynolds (John), Janee Hebert, Tamika Hebert, Andrea Byrd, Reginald Hebert (Lisa), Renee Webb (Raymond), Adolphus Anderson, III (Trina), Ruthalyn Anderson, Albert Anderson (Marcelia), Victor Anderson, Michael Anderson (Victoria), Miriam Anderson, Sam A. Adams (Erika), Jeremy Adams (Kathryn), Candace Hebert, Corey Hebert,Gerald Dearman, Daric Dearman, Breanna Banks; 44 great grand children and 18 great, great grand children.