People find my blog in some of the strangest ways. I received a visitor today after he/she searched google for an answer to the question above. (How do you vote a pastor out of a church in DC anyway?)
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My brother, Dr. Delman Coates from the Mt. Ennon Baptist Church in Clinton, MD, just informed me about the wonderful success that the Enough is Enough Campaign is experiencing already in regard to their efforts to influence what is broadcast on Black Entertainment Television. The demeaning, disrespectful, and derogatory videos are well known. It’s time that African Americans do something substantive to address this issue.
Please visit the website of the Enough is Enough Campaign and consider how you can support their efforts. For those in the PG/DC/Baltimore Metro area, please consider attending the Saturday rallies there OR think about extending the campaign to where you live. We’ve got to put the pressure on multiple places in this pipe if we’re going to bust it up.
Published reports indicate that the presiding Bishop of the Church of God in Christ, Bishop G.E. Patterson, died Tuesday, March 20, 2007 of heart failure.Â
Bishop Patterson has served the Church for many years and he is the reason why I would rush home after my radio show at 8AM. I loved hearing his preaching on Sunday morning on BET. That quality of preaching is rare in a time when far too many sermons are decorated with empty religious cliches and pop culture quotes.
While I never had the opportunity to meet Bishop Patterson; there is no doubt that he will be sorely missed by thousands of people across the world.
Thank you Bishop for a life well lived and legacy worth aspiring to.
Enjoy this clip of the Bishop in action:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21z7ckDlPNQ]
I was blessed to be a participant in a powerful weekend of Faith and prayer for peace this past weekend in DC. The weekend’s events were organized by Christian Peace Witness - a coalition of Christian organizations calling for an end to the war, the redeployment of American soldiers, and the rebuilding of Iraq. Thousands of Christians and those of other Faiths participated in a peace service at the National Cathedral with the overflow watching from surrounding sanctuaries. I watched the service on the big screen at New York Ave. Presb. Church along with Pastor Andrew Foster Conners (Brown Memorial Park Ave. Presb. Church) and a few of my mentors: Dr. Arnold Howard (Enon Baptist), Dr. William Calhoun (Trinity Baptist Church), and Baltimore civil rights legend, Rev. Marion C. Bascom. It was a wonderful experience participating in that worship experience with thousands of Believers from across the nation.Â
It was even more gratifying and life changing to march forward with hundreds of prayerful people and be arrested at the gates of the White House for participating in an act of divine obedience (civil disobedience). I spent Friday night leading into Saturday morning in the custody of the DC Police Department. Being handcuffed, photographed, and fingerprinted for my beliefs was a liberating experience. Maybe that sounds like an oxymoron, but I found that carrying the cross of public arrest based on my convictions as a Christian, freed me to trust God in ways that I never had before. As I surrendered my physical freedom to those forces that secure the kingdom of this world, I secured my spiritual liberation to grow in faith to God. While family and friends were understandably concerned about my decision to go forward with being arrested, I knew that God required a higher level of sacrifice from me. I could not refuse the moment. I knew that that night was ordained by God and that my presence and participation there was divinely orchestrated.
Enjoy this video of a short speech I made at a peace rally organized by Baltimore United for Peace and Justice on Monday, March 19, 2007 - the 4 year anniversary of the invasion of Iraq.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmWsLNpXh9c]
From the Baltimore Sun
By Laura Smitherman
Sun reporter
March 14, 2007
With the two chambers of the General Assembly at an impasse over extending medical coverage to uninsured Marylanders, members of the clergy gathered in Annapolis yesterday to pressure state senators to approve legislation that the House of Delegates is expected to pass this week.
“Those who don’t see the urgency of this bill, we’ll make sure they’ll be serving someplace else,” said the Rev. A.C.D. Vaughn, pastor of Sharon Baptist Church in Baltimore.
He made that pledge at a news conference with more than 50 representatives of the clergy who said they were compelled to speak out for congregation members who go without health care because they lack insurance.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_knKUT586nQ]
I have always been a proponent of Faith leaders getting involved in political issues in such a way that holds elected officials accountable and encourages the wider community to get politically active.
While there are those that disagree with pastors being politically involved, the reality is that in the African American community the Black Pastor still wields considerable influence and often times is one of the few community leaders that is free to speak. African American elected officials have by and large been in too many people’s pockets and therefore have too many outside influences controlling their voices and votes.
We need Black Pastors involved in responsible ways that ensure a greater quality of life for the majority of our communities.
In light of that, I celebrate the creation of a new alliance in Baltimore. Bishop Walter S. Thomas, pastor of New Psalmist Baptist Church, Senator Verna Jones (Chairwoman of the MD Legislative Black Caucus) and Mr.Raymond Haysbert (President of Forum Caterers) have helped to form an alliance of Faith, government, and business leaders in an effort to influence the policies that govern African American communities. (AFRO, Oct.12) While we have groups in place already like the Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance, BUILD, and Young Clergy for Social Change; I am of the opinion that the more African American clergy organized for social reform the better. Without organization we are no match for the major systems and backstage powerbrokers that intentionally divest from our communities, economically exploit our families by snatching their valuable real estate in the name of urban revitilization and perenially underfund Baltimore City Public Schools leaving many of our youth ill equipped to be the leaders we need them to be. Let’s be clear ghettos are not coincidental; they are created. The agenda of both major political parties have failed our communities. It’s time for us to organize and take our agenda to them.
We need pastors involved - and not just involved, but responsibly involved. This point was reinforced in my mind when I read an article in the Baltimore Sun (Sun, Oct. 23) 2006) which described a visit by Governor Robert Ehrlich to an historic Baltimore church. The Sun reports that the pastor of that church made a plea from the pulpit for parishioners to give $100 dollars to the Ehrlich campaign. The article quotes the pastor as saying: “We cannot write a church check to a politician, but when people come to speak, you should sow into their lives I want 10 people to write me a check for $100 to Friends of Ehrlich. When someone rushed a $100 bill to the pastor’s hand he was quoted to say, Let’s give God a hand for $100 cash!”
In the spirit of political fairplay, the Pastor said that he will do the same for the Democratic candidate for Governor when he speaks to the congregation, but yet the political fundraising sanctioned by the pulpit does too much to disrespect the sacredness of the sanctuary and the intimacy of the relationship between undershepherd and flock. When congregants view one person (rightly or wrongly) as the spiritual representation of Divine presence among them; one would do well not to invite parishoners to haphazardly engage in a charged political arena.
The strategy is obvious - equally dividing support to both candidates is a smart move especially in a closely contested race, but if Judas taught us anything he taught us that when money is exchanged between the Church and the State; someone is bound to be crucified.
Furthermore, it doesn’t appear as if anything of substance came out of the event. According to the article, Ehrlich didn’t talk about issues - he talked about leadership.
Afterward, one of the congregants is quoted as saying, “He just got my vote. I believe in his words and I respect him. For some reason he just talks to my heart.
And that precisely is the problem. For far too long African American voters have been swayed by historic loyalties or carefully crafted emotional messaging. This elementary approach of political engagement is appropriate for high school elections where you vote for who is most popular, but it’s poisonous when participating in real world elections where people create the rules and regulations that govern your life.
We must stop allowing ourselves to be wooed by the charisma of silver tongued politicians who come only at election time to speak to our hearts. We must run the marathon of tracking the policies of those elected with our brains to ensure that they are doing what we need them to do in office. Churches must join with community leaders to create public policy agendas for their neighborhoods and then demand that political candidates endorse their agenda - not the other way around. We must expose our youth to political education classes, advocacy trainings, and visits with elected officials in an effort to groom them to represent us honorably in offices of public service. If election after election we struggle to find candidates that represent our values and champion our issues it would make sense for us to train up a child in the way they should go so that when they are older and electable they won’t depart from us.
It will take innovative pastors to recognize these needs and put initiatives in place at their church that will educate, train, and equip Black Believers on how to responsibly engage the political process in ways that will bring about concrete results for our people. With the legacy of clergy activism in the city represented by groups like the Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance and the emergence of exciting new alliances spearheaded by the likes of Bishop Walter S. Thomas, we just may have taken another step toward the promised land for Black Baltimore.