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.

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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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THE GATHERINGWITH DR. DEXTER EASLEY

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COMING TO YOUR CITYPRAYER GATHERING 2009In this, Gods’ Time the call hasgone forth for men and womenof God to rise upon theshoulders of those who havegone before us. Those mightymen and women of Prayer sawthe results of their labor.

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