Just when the president and the
new Obama administration was
beginning to feel that it had
successfully survived the toxic
press coverage of President
Obama’s former pastor, Dr.
Jeremiah Wright, who had old
videotaped sermons surface that
contained remarks, taken for the
most part out of context, that
threatened to derail the
presidential campaign of the then
hopeful Barack Obama.
Last week, the name and words of
Jeremiah Wright appeared on news
outlets as a results of radio comments
made concerning whether or not he
has had any recent contact with the
new president. According to Sirius
Radio, Dr. Wright called into Mark
Thompson’s daily radio program while
attending the Hampton Minister’s
Conference in Hampton, VA and
responded to questions by saying
“Them Jews aren’t going to let him talk
to me. I told my baby daughter, that
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he’ll talk to me in five years when he’s a lame duck, or in eight
years when he is out of office.”
Immediately, news outlets published the comment and the
whole matter of the president’s relationship with a Black
Preacher became front page news all over again. On Thursday
of this past week, Dr. Wright issued a statement.
“I apologize for the way I framed my comments. I misspoke
and I sincerely meant no harm or ill-will to the American
Jewish community or the Obama administration,” Wright
said. “I have great respect for the Jewish faith and the
foundational (and central) part of our Judeo-Christian
tradition.” said Dr. Wright.
Dr. Wright explained that while leaving one of the worship
�By Bishop Andy C. Lewter, D. Min.
Jeremiah Wrightin the news again...
cont. on p. 8
In a report published
by Black Christian News
Network, membership in
African American
congregations are up.
However, while numbers
are rising in the pews,
numbers are decreasing
in the offering plate. The
article goes on to cite
Bishop Noel Jones of the
City of Refuge, a 17,000
member congregation in
Los Angeles, CA, who
identifies several reasons
that could explain the rise
and fall of church
statistics.
According to
Bishop Jones,
“unbalanced
teachings in the
church are partially to
blame for the crisis.
We have endured 25
years of health, wealth
and prosperity
preaching and the
prophet should have
told us that we were
going to be in this
kind of situation and
circumstance since
Weaknesses of “Prosperity Gospel”
they have such prophetic words. What happens is the church has
compromised the gospel and we have preached Americanism for gospel and
ultimately we ended up crashing because there is no credulity and
authenticity in the whole presentation.”
He continues, “The only people who were making any real money were those who
were expostulating the theology that left a psychology that debilitated the minds of
those who were involved. The debilitation is that everybody expected to bring an
offering in church and just get rich though nobody participated and partnered with
God. Because at the end of the day, nobody receives a check in an envelope
postmarked from heaven. It’s your participation that makes it happen.... The ministry
and the preachers have taken so much money from the church and lived lavish
lifestyles. We need to put something back. We need to equip our people. As James puts
it, very explicitly, ‘Faith without works is dead.’ We co-create, we perpetuate God’s
creation by functioning responsibly.”3
By Bishop Andy C. Lewter, D. Min.
cont. on p. 7
Bishop Noel Jones
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read this first!by Bishop Andy C. Lewter, D. Min.
While the idea of starting a Christian business is an awesome task
that requires more ink and space than is available here. However,
we would like to share with you just a few tips that might help you in
your approach to starting a new business.
1. Begin your enterprise with prayer. The Apostle Paul
tells us that we can do all things through Christ. With that in
mind, you will want to spend some critical time of preparation in
earnest prayer. No Christian Business can be successful if it does
not place God at the top of the effort. A business that makes God
its partner is a business with success in its future.
2. Be Sure to Plan. While this may appear to be a simple or
an assumed exercise, one can not spend too much time planning.
Your planning should not include the things that you can
reasonably expect to face, but you should spend time trying to
identify the unexpected and develop strategies on how to deal
with them as well.
3. Seek Advice and Counsel From Everywhere. While
you surely will want to consult lawyers and accountants, don’t
overlook the insights and wisdom that you can glean from family,
friends and even business acquaintances that you have met in
your life before the start of your business. It is always better to
talk to several people in advance of starting your Christian
business than to have to seek out and pay to talk to people after
you have started your business and have run into trouble.
With the economy being what it is, a number of people will
be searching for answers to pink slips and layoffs, a Christian
business just may be what you are looking for.
Last week the percentage
of unemployed Americans
pushed just past 9%. With
6 million people out of
work many are turning to
personal entrepreneurship
as a possible remedy and
solution to the economic
woes that they are
currently facing.
ph
oto
cre
dit
: Fr
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igit
alP
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net
Launching a Business?
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by Bishop Andy C. Lewter, D. Min.
Stained Glass CeilingShattering the
Dr. Leslie Callahan is one of themost talented and gifted scholars inthe church community today.
For the last several years she hastaught African American Religion atthe University of Pennsylvania. Morerecently, she transferred to the NewYork Theological Seminary where shecontinues to teach African AmericanChurch History. However, Dr.Callahan making a different kind ofhistory as she assumes the pastorateof the historic St. Paul Baptist Churchin Philadelphia, PA.
Her formal education includes theBachelor of Arts in Religion fromHarvard/Radcliffe, the Master ofDivinity from Union TheologicalSeminary in the City of New York andthe Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)degree in Religion from PrincetonUniversity.
Before coming to New YorkSeminary, she was a member of thefaculty of the University ofPennsylvania as assistant professor of
religious studies. Her research interests include religioushistory in the United States, particularly independent AfricanAmerican Christianity and Pentecostal studies.
The crowd swelled and murmurs of anticipation rolled upand down the pews Sunday morning as the congregationawaited something never seen in the 119-year history of St.Paul's Baptist Church in Philadelphia. A woman pastor wasabout to take the pulpit and deliver her first sermon.
While women aren't officially barred from leading Baptistchurches, tradition and expectations have made femalepastors a rarity. Many members of the congregation said theythought St. Paul's, at 10th and Wallace, was leading the way forothers to break down old barriers.” reported the PhiladelphiaInquirer Newspaper.
As Leslie Callahan makes the transition of moving from“Dr.” to “Pastor” she does so while simultaneously shattering along standing stain-glass ceiling. For years the ministerialcommunity of Philadelphia has struggled with the issue ofWomen in Ministry in general and women pastors inparticular.
The church had been without a pastor for three years as itunderwent a complex search and selection process. Onemember of the selection committee was Constance Clayton,the first African American woman to become superintendentof schools in Philadelphia. Clayton said there were more than80 applicants for the job. Eventually the pool was narrowed totwo finalists on which the whole congregation voted.
"Another glass ceiling has been broken," said Clayton, whohas attended St. Paul's since she was 7. "It is time, and, as amatter of fact, it's overdue," noted the Philadelphia Inquirer.
St. Paul's Baptist Church (Philadelphia) appoints first female pastor
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Bishop Jones said many Christians
have basically lived on credit and
owned nothing.
“So, what everybody was talking
about as God’s blessing was people
living on credit. And the Bible says
that the borrower is subject to the
lender. So, Christian America simply
joined the capitalistic bandwagon—
and in the name of God—articulated
a theology that has no credulity.”
To counteract the new pattern
and reality that is taking place in the
marketplace of ministry, one strategy
is to position the church as a
resource that people can use to battle
their financial woes. In the case of
Bishop Jones, he is doing business
incubation— a marketplace at which
his congregation gathers every
Sunday. There are 80 to 100 booths
in which people present goods and
services to the church and to the
community. He says he finances
some of the stronger business ideas
and teaches management and budget
skills to the owners, thereby recycling
the money within the parameter of
the church. He also holds “Urban
Seminars” around the country,
teaching fundraising/grant writing,
financial reporting and compliance
for organizations; prudent investing,
corporate structuring and growth
management.
Prosperity Gospel...cont. from p.3
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services at the Hampton Conference he was stopped
by one of his students who introduced a reporter who
wanted to ask some questions. Dr. Wright further
explained that his comments were only a small part of an
interview that lasted over twenty minutes that primarily
addressed the historic role and value of the Hampton
Conference to the African American pulpit.
Despite the apology, Lonnie Nasatir of the Anti-
Defamation League’s Chicago office accused Dr. Wright
of classic anti-semitism. “Reverend Wright’s comments
claiming that ‘them Jews’ are preventing him from
communicating with President Obama are
inflammatory and false. The notions of Jewish control
of the White House in Reverend Wright’s statement
express classic anti-Semitism in its most vile form. In a
short succinct sentence, Reverend Wright manages to
both label some of the president’s closest advisers solely
by their religious beliefs and give them powers superior
to the president himself.”
Only time will tell if the current windstorm circling
Dr. Wright will blow over or continue to feed the frenzy
of those wanting ammunition to criticize the new
president.
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