A. H. Parker High School had over 20 vendors to participate in the Career Fair for the students. Students were extremely engaged and posed questions to the vendors that were important to them and their future careers. Vendors such as Alabama Power, Max, Regions Bank, Applebee’s, Alabama Forestry Commission, McDonalds and Walmart were partners in this important Career Day just to name some that were present.
Can a pastor build or destroy a church?
by Jesse J. Lewis, Sr.
I believe that it’s almost impossible for a pastor to build a church by him/herself. But on the other side of the coin, they can destroy a church by themselves. There’s an old saying which is very true, it’s easier to destroy than to build.
As a general rule, a church is destroyed for two basic reasons: (1) the officers in the church are aspiring to be the pastor; or (2) they dictate to the pastor on what he/she can say and how they must say it. One of the most important issues is money – whether it’s missing, how to spend it, etc. There should be transparency of all finances. In plain and simple terms, the pastor nor his relatives should have anything to do with collecting and spending the monies, or signing checks.
In the event the majority of the members of any congregation are not satisfied with the pastor of a church it is like being married to a person who doesn’t want you anymore. This means everything you do is wrong, regardless. If this is the scenario, the pastor decides that if you are attempting to fire him/her, they will do everything in their power to destroy church members before they destroy him/her. Whatever position the pastor takes he/she will have some members on their side. This is historically true with any issue.
For example, if you were to climb atop a 15-story building, and decide you want to jump, if you holler long and loud enough, some fool will climb up and jump with you. Evidently, when the pastor and members have done all the damage to each other, the ministers move on to another church or start a new church; its divides the membership. Not only does it divide the membership, it destroys relationships and friendships among the members. In many instances good friends can not resume their relationships.
How to build a church
In order to build a church it takes the entire membership with the pastor leading the charge. Building a church is like marketing a product or service. In other words, it’s a campaign about selling. The pastor of the church should have a marketing committee for growth and development. In this plan it should state where they should be three years, five years, 10 years, 15 years and 25 years. Every congregation should have a 25-year marketing plan.
Most people who join a church for the first time do so for several reasons – the church has an outstanding reputation within the community, the pastor is considered a motivational leader, the church is conveniently located and the church has a friendly reputation or they know someone who belongs to the church personally.
Many people base their choice of a church on relationships – family, people they know and trust who invites them, church members who extend genuine hospitality as they offer true concern for visitors and their needs and interests. When initiating a relationship, the goal should not be to get them in church as fast as you can. Rather, when the time is right, invite people to become part of a ministry of the church as a way to develop and strengthen affirming and life-enhancing relationships.
Christmas, Easter, baptism services and other special occasions are ideal times to invite personally people who are not Christians or not actively involved in a church. Printed personal invitations are excellent to encourage participation.
Get out and visit. Have your welcome teams, (three or four people), visit other churches with different styles of worship. Let them experience firsthand what it’s like to be a guest and to feel like an outsider. They can bring back ideas of what to do and what not to do that can improve your own welcoming program.
Welcome at worship
When visitors walk into your church doors, the welcoming effort is just beginning. You will gain other insight from your visiting church team, but some initial ideas include :
Create a hospitality team. Invite visitors to a member’s home for Sunday dinner.
Connect less mobile with more mobile. Pair a less mobile visitor with a physically active member who can assist in navigating the church building and perhaps assist the visitor during the rest of the week with grocery shopping or a trip to the doctor. Care for the caregiver is also necessary.
Distribute visitors’ packets and videos. These are different from general welcome kits. This information introduces newcomers to worship, missions and to the ministries. Be sure to include a welcome message from the pastor.
Print in your worship bulletin every Sunday a statement inviting newcomers to become members of your congregation and telling them how to do so.
Create a welcome kit or basket. Talk to local schools. While they will not be able to share contact information, they maybe wiling to give families your welcome kit at registration. Share need-to-know information about your community as well as details about your church. Congregation members may be willing to donate items. When someone moves into a new place, a welcome basket that first day with toilet tissue, paper towels, soap and other items would be a nice welcome.
Everything should be done with the marketing group, the pastor and the program out-reach committee. It’s imperative to keep your membership and finances on the upswing.
email:jjlewis@birminghamtimes.com
By Hollis Wormsby, Jr.
Two Things President Obama Got Right
President Obama made two announcements this past week that could have a major impact on unemployment rates in the African American community. On Tuesday he announced the creation of manufacturing hubs in Detroit and Chicago that would focus on a partnership between the federal government and corporate partners to use cutting edge technology to generate manufacturing jobs in urban communities.
One partnership will take place in Detroit and be led by the manufacturing giant EWI, and this partnership will focus on technology related to heavy metal manufacturing. Another partnership will take place in Chicago where the focus will be developing digital software and digital capabilities to enhance manufacturing capacity. A total of over $280 million has been committed to the initiatives with half coming from the federal government and half coming from the private sector. The key thing is these investments are taking place in two urban areas with high concentrations of unemployed African American youth.
In addition to these manufacturing initiatives the President also announced a new partnership to invest in improving educational opportunities for young men of color facing tough odds to stay on track and reach full potential. The program is called I Am My Brother’s Keeper and its goal is to partner with foundations, businesses and faith and community leaders to make sure that every young man of color who is willing to work hard and lift himself up has the opportunity to do so.
Taken together these two initiatives represent a tremendous step forward in our approach to poverty programming. The approach is the difference between giving a man a fish and teaching a man to fish. You give a man a fish and he will be back the next day looking for more free fish, you teach a man to fish, and he may be in business tomorrow.
While these are certainly good steps and ones that should be emulated locally they do not go near far enough. At some point we also need to take the money from the current broken system and reinvest it in systems that actually help teach people to provide for themselves. We have contracts with countries in South America that guarantee them certain markets in the country. Under our drug reduction efforts we gave the country of Ecuador a major slice of the fresh flower market in this country in an effort to curb heroin production. Farmers there are assured a fixed market for the flowers they grow that are sold by florists all over America. Why can’t we do the same thing in Chicago, Detroit, Atlanta, or even Birmingham?
Why not put a uniform plant in North Birmingham and guarantee that every uniform they can produce will be bought by the Army? Why not put a vegetable plant in West End and guarantee that the school system will buy all they produce for their lunch program. And it won’t necessarily take new money or at least not all new money, because we spend so much and so inefficiently providing free fish, if we redirected this money we already have the money to shift to teaching people to fish and to ensuring a market for what they produce. Or at least that’s the way I see it.
Much to their dismay, shoppers have observed rising food prices in recent years. And they should get ready for still higher prices in the future.
Consumer prices have risen 6.4 percent since 2011. But some food items have outstripped inflation during the period. Bacon is up 22.8 percent, chicken 18.4 percent, and ground beef 16.8 percent.
The increases can be explained through the immutable laws of supply and demand. Increased demand for corn – an essential ingredient in the production of beef, pork, and poultry – for making ethanol caused corn prices to rise. This raised the cost of producing meat and poultry products, resulting in higher prices on grocery shelves.
Another factor also comes into play regarding beef. Supply has declined because the size of the nation’s beef cattle herd is at a 63-year low.
Another supply-demand imbalance will inevitably cause spikes in prices of certain crops grown in California. The state, possessing the world’s 10th largest economy, is currently experiencing the driest year on record.
The drought will cause the supply of artichokes, celery, broccoli, and cauliflower to decrease. And as this takes place, prices of these items in grocery stores will rise 10 percent or more. Significantly, California accounts for more than 80 percent of the nation’s supply of these crops.
Adding to the escalating prices of some food items is the projection for record milk prices. Analysts warn that prices could reach unprecedented levels this month.
Global demand for milk products has jumped substantially. The surge comes primarily from rising consumption in China.
Dairy farmers in the United States have not been able to increase production enough to meet the rising demand. Higher feed costs, particularly corn, have dampened their ability to do so. And this could lead to a 10 to 20 percent increase in retail milk prices.
Rising food costs underscore the important role economics plays in our everyday lives. In an often-quoted passage, British economist John Maynard Keynes succinctly summarized the crucial role of economics.
Keynes, founder of the Keynesian school of economics currently embraced by the Obama administration, wrote, “Practical men, who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influences, are usually the slaves of some defunct economist.”
Wayne Curtis, Ph.D., is a former superintendent of Alabama banks and Troy University business school dean. He is retired from the board of directors of First United Security Bank. Email him at wccurtis39@gmail.com.
Four ways to grow your alumni association
(Part two of a two part series on alumni fundraising)
Alumni associations offer memberships and raise funds for the colleges and universities they are associated with. Many are independent nonprofit organizations, others operate as part of the institution’s alumni relations department. Some colleges have both an alumni relations department and an independent alumni association. Sometimes alumni fundraising efforts are coordinated, sometimes they are haphazard, and other times there is overt conflict between alumni and their alma mater. In our work with colleges and alumni we witness the good, the bad and the ugly. Here are four suggestions for how to grow your alumni association’s fundraising program.
First, open communication between alumni and college leadership is a must. If you are an alumni leader we recommend regularly scheduled meetings with the president or chancellor. Develop a relationship. Learn his or her vision for the institution. Ask questions. Explore ways in which alumni can partner to advance the vision. Most importantly learn the president’s fundraising priorities and expectations of alumni as donors. Share the concerns and interests of alumni. Most importantly find common ground. Differences of opinion will always exist. Move beyond those to create a shared vision that strengthens the relationship between alumni, their alma mater and current and future students.
Second, don’t confuse membership and fundraising. Purchasing an alumni association membership is the first step – not the only one. In general, membership provides networking opportunities with other alumni and benefits such as discounts and access to events. Giving to your alumni association – or to your alma mater through the alumni association – is how you provide financial support for the institution and current/future students. When giving to your alumni association ask what your gift will support. If you are responsible for soliciting alumni, make sure your solicitations clearly communicate the use of funds. Let your members know when they are supporting the work of the association and when they are supporting their alma mater. Be transparent.
Third, before launching a meaningful alumni giving program conduct a feasibility study to learn how alumni want to be engaged, what they want to give to, what is important to them in their relationship with their alma mater, and why they don’t give. Just because you think something is a good idea doesn’t mean alumni will give.
Finally, when engaging recent college graduates encourage giving that is appropriate for early career salaries. Be aware of the financial impact of student loan payments. Remember that alumni who are the first in their family to obtain a college degree may be supporting other family members. Offer opportunities for engagement such as assisting with student recruitment, serving as a mentor for a potential or current student, hosting an event, or volunteering at an on-campus or local college event.
Copyright 2014 – Mel and Pearl Shaw
Mel and Pearl Shaw position nonprofits, colleges and universities for fundraising success. For help with your campaign visit www.saadandshaw.com or call (901) 522-8727.
By Sandria Washington
Black Americaweb.com
March 31, 2014, is the deadline to enroll in health insurance through the Affordable Care Act (also known as Obamacare), which expands the options for affordable coverage and provides financial assistance for those who qualify. For African Americans, this date is critical.
“March 31 could be the most important deadline of your life if you are African American,” says Dr. Robert Winn, associate vice president for community based practice at the University of Illinois Hospital & Health Sciences System.
“African Americans carry a disproportionate burden of disease,” says Winn. “They have some of the highest rates of diabetes and hypertension and carry the heaviest burden of cancer compared to other racial groups. If you are African American, there’s an overwhelming chance that you’ll be affected by disease. Enrolling in health insurance through the Affordable Care Act is an opportunity that just cannot be missed.”
Under the ACA, Americans that don’t sign up for health insurance by the March 31 deadline will pay a penalty on their 2014 income taxes.
Beyond the tax penalty, here are eight reasons why getting health insurance is an important, life-changing decision.
1. African American women are more than twice as likely to die of cervical cancer, and are more likely to die of breast cancer than are women of any other racial group.
2. African American women are twice as likely to have cardiovascular disease than women of other ethnic groups.
3. African Americans have a death rate for all cancers that is almost 25 percent higher than rate for whites.
4. Prostate cancer affects African American men more severely than other racial groups.
5. African American men have the highest incidence of prostate cancer in the U.S. and are twice as likely to die from it compared to white men.
6. Being African American is a risk factor for asthma.
7. Rates of hospitalizations and deaths due to asthma are both three times higher among African Americans than among whites.
8. African Americans are twice as likely to have diabetes compared to non-Hispanic whites, and are more likely to suffer from diabetes-associated blindness and kidney disease.
For more information about the Affordable Care Act and resources, visit the BlackDoctor.org Health Insurance Marketplace.
Selma-to-D.C. Caravan leads call to restore the 1965 Voting Rights Act
The Annual Bridge Crossing Jubilee, commemorating the 49th anniversary of Bloody Sunday and the Selma-to-Montgomery marches in 1965, kicks off a yearlong voter education and registration campaign in response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2013 decision that dismantled a key provision of the 1965 Voting Rights Act.
The Saving OurSelves (S.O.S.) Movement for Justice and Democracy, a regional association of 40 organizations and activists, organized the Marching to the 50th: 50 Cities/ 50 Cars/ 50 Voters At A Time campaign that begins on Monday, March 10 with “The Caravan for Democracy: From the State Capitols to the Nation’s Capitol ” following culminating activities on Sunday, March 9, after the annual pilgrimage across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma.
The Caravan for Democracy will stop for rallies at state capitols in Montgomery Ala., Atlanta Ga., Columbia S.C., Raleigh N.C. and Richmond Va. Participants can join the caravan from these cities along the way, as well as those who travel from other cities and states, to converge in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday, March 12, at the U.S. Supreme Court and then march to the U.S. Capitol. The march will culminate in a rally that protests the Supreme Court’s adverse decision on voting rights and urges Congress to fully restore the Voting Rights Act.
By NewsOne Staff
James C. Brown, 25, was convicted of first-degree murder Friday afternoon in the killings of four Detroit women he met through Backpage.com, reports USA Today.
Brown—who was convicted of murdering Vernithea McCrary, Natasha Curtis, Demesha Hunt and Renisha Landers—faced 10 charges, including first-degree murder, disinterment and mutilation of a dead body and arson.
It took a jury less than four hours of deliberation before finding him guilty of all charges.
Brown is accused of killing the women in two separate incidents at his mother’s Sterling Heights home, loading their bodies into cars and leaving them in a blighted area in his old neighborhood in Detroit. Prosecutors said he caught rides home after dumping the women, who were found in pairs. The bodies of one pair of women were set on fire.
Prosecutors said blood, DNA evidence and cell phone records will help prove Brown killed the women. Brown told police that he smoked marijuana with the women, had sex with some of them and passed out. When he awoke, they were dead.
Brown admitted to putting their bodies in cars and driving them to Detroit and pouring gasoline on two of the bodies in the trunk and setting it on fire.
Judge James Biernat Jr. instructed the court not to display emotions when the verdict was read, but the victims’ families still erupted with relief.
Though they received some measure of justice, there are still unanswered questions and voids that no verdict can fill.
“I wish they had the electrocutin’ chair. I want a life for a life. He needs to die,” said Chikita Madison, the mother of one victim and the aunt of another.
Denise Higgins, the mother of another victim, said: “Why God has put us through this, I don’t understand.”
Brown, who faces life without the possibility of parole, will be sentenced on April 15.
FRANKLIN, Va. – Prominent attorney and humanitarian Willie E. Gary recently served as the keynote speaker for Franklin County’s 15th Annual Community Leaders Breakfast in Franklin, Virginia. The breakfast was held in celebration of Black History Month, and was co-sponsored by the Franklin Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., Paul D. Camp Community College, and the Franklin Department of Parks and Recreation.
Gary addressed an audience of over 300 business leaders, educators, legal professionals and clergy on the topic of “The Best is Yet to Come.”
Audience members listened attentively as Gary spoke about the importance of making a positive impact in our respective communities, and reaching back to assist the underserved and downtrodden. Gary also enthusiastically encouraged the adults assembled to provide job and internship opportunities for young boys and girls. He challenged everyone to play a small role in the success of future generations by equipping them with necessary resources and tools to succeed in life. Gary motivated the students that were in attendance to succeed against insurmountable odds and to never give up on their dreams.
“Many great men and women have sacrificed and fought hard for our civil rights,” said Gary. “Today, we celebrate those leaders and legends who have paved the way. Thanks to their foresight and perseverance, we have been afforded opportunities our grandparents only dreamed of having. While I am pleased that we have made substantial strides; I am also reminded of the fact that we have a long way to go,” continued Gary.
Gary, who is best known in legal circles as “The Giant Killer,” is noted for taking on some of America’s most powerful companies–winning billions of dollars in verdicts and settlements on behalf of his clients. Also known for his philanthropic endeavors, he and his wife, Gloria Gary, founded The Gary Foundation, which provides scholarships to at-risk students who wish to attend college. The Garys have donated millions of dollars to help Historically Black Colleges and Universities – including $10 million to their alma mater Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina.
By Aaisha Muhammad
As promised we would gain friendship from all walks of life were demonstrated on Sunday, February 10, 2014 at CROE’s Headquarters in Chicago, Illinois. They came from all over bearing gifts and good wishes to the Founders, Shahid Muslim, Director, Munir Muhammad, Business Manager, Halif Muhammad, Secretary and to all the members of the Coalition for the Remembrance of Elijah Muhammad (CROE). Governor Pat Quinn of the State of Illinois sent a proclamation and Secretary of State of Illinois, Jessie White also brought with him a proclamation which he presented and read aloud to Munir Muhammad and the Founders of CROE. Congressman, Danny Davis, Dr. & Professor Tyrone Powers, Dr. Urologist Terry Mason, Prince Arsiel of the Hebrew Israelites, a room full of Judges, Attorneys, TV News Reporters, Actors, Politicians, Business men and women, just plain old good people from all walks of life and from various ethnic groups gathered and gave to each other mutual respect. Yours truly felt a sense of peace, love and mutual respect for each other, which showed the power in the teachings of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. A coalition of people from different faiths and beliefs who actually love and respect the teachings of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad and what it does to uplift Black people and people in general were pleasantly there.
The CROE Family, thank each one of you from all over who contributed to another year of success. Thanks again to the Founders for your dedication, hard work and your longevity which you have given to CROE. If you are grateful, He will give you more.
Muhammad and Friends stream live via internet all over the entire world every Sunday at 2:30 p.m. To watch the show, go to: croetv.org, Munir Muhammad is host. For more information call 773-925-1600.
