Dare To Live: Understanding Terminal Illness

We live in a world often marked by insensitivity and wide-spread avoidance of life’s most poignant subjects. Dr. J. L. Carter, in his book "Dare To Live: Understanding Terminal Illness," has courageously and sensitively brought us face to face with one that escapes none of us either directly or indirectly. As he reminds us, we are all born with a date with destiny called death. Though our journey to that destiny may be navigated along differing paths, there are issues associated with this journey that are common to us all. Dr. Carter meticulously companions us through the social, psychological and spiritual trauma that often accompanies being confronted with the conscious realization of a terminal illness. "Dare To Live" is a tremendously helpful guide for anyone who is personally grappling or being a support person/caregiver or someone seeking “to live out fully all the days of their life to the best of their God given potential.” As hospice institutions and other means of addressing end of life care are increasingly availing themselves to public access, Dr. Carter’s voice is destined to be a help to them all. —Dr. Arnold Howard Pastor, Enon Baptist Church, Baltimore, MD

J.L. Carter has been the devoted and committed Senior Pastor to Ark Church for more than 27 years. Under his leadership Ark Church has experienced many successes in ministry. Ark Church continues to grow and is recognized as an anchor in the East Baltimore, Maryland community where crime, blight, urban flight and substance abuse are significant. Dr. Carter continues to serve the people with excitement that never runs low. He is a graduate of the Samuel Dewitt Proctor School of Theology, Virginia Union University, Richmond, Virginia. He holds a Masters of Divinity Degree and has received his Doctor of Divinity Degree, United Theological Seminary, Dayton, Ohio. He successfully completed three year Certificate Program, Boston University, Honoring and Exploring the Sabbath. He is the recipient of an Honorary Doctor of Divinity Degree from Morris College, Sumter, South Carolina and proudly serves on the Board of Trustees at that institution. In 2011, Dr. Carter was inducted into the Martin Luther King Board of Preachers, Morehouse College, in Atlanta, Georgia. Dr. Carter loves to travel internationally and continues to take at least two international trips a year. He has extended his ministry to Haiti and has devoted time and resources to helping to rebuild that country and its people. A great joy for Dr. Carter is going where he has never been before and getting the opportunity to experience other cultures, other languages and other types of people. He is married to Cora and they are the parents of four adult children and the proud grandparents to Jabarite, Chad and Bradley.