The Basement at the Historic Boutwell Auditorium kicks off in the heart of downtown Birmingham

Birmingham, AL – Whosoever Ministries –Whosoever Ministries today announced that it will be launching it’s first ever event at the Boutwell Auditorium.  Whosever Ministries is the largest youth movement in America.  The Basement is a popular ministry event in Birmingham, AL led by evangelist Matt Pitt that attracts thousands of people each service.

Pitt launched The Basement in 2004 after a shape-up-or-ship-out ultimatum from his parents and what he describes as “a dramatic encounter with God in his parent’s basement.” Described by some as part church service, concert, and club, The Basement attracts thousands of people from all walks of life to Birmingham’s Church of the Highlands on the last Tuesday of every month to hear messages from Pitt along with live Christian Hip Hop music performed by local artists and some of the biggest names in Christian music.

“A lot of teenagers and young adults are turned off by religion, and I know because I was one of them,” says Pitt. “I want to reach people who are struggling– just like I was – and who feel like they’ve been forsaken. My past should have led me straight to jail or the grave. If God can save me, He can save anyone. We’re going to bring young people the truth of the Gospel and at the same time, have fun while we’re doing it. “

The ministry also offers programs for, high school and college students in the Birmingham area and has gained widespread support throughout Birmingham for tackling tough issues such as teen violence and drug use, school drop out rates, and binge drinking among college students. Whosoever Ministries also works closely with local and national congregations and pastors to curb the tide of young people leaving the church. Whosoever Ministries is also taking The Basement on the road, first stops are Atlanta and Myrtle Beach, For more information visit http://www.thebasementonline.com .

47th Annual Greater Birmingham Mayors’ Prayer Breakfast

The 47th Annual Greater Birmingham Mayors’ Prayer Breakfast will be observed Thursday, May 5, 2011 at The Birmingham Jefferson Civic Center’s East Ball Room. This is an evangelical gathering that honors the service of the more than 90 Mayors that serve in the Greater Birmingham community. The Honorable William Bell is the host Mayor and Birmingham is the host city for this gathering.

For more information visit http://greaterbirminghammayorsprayerbreakfast.org

iRock Easter Weekend

This Easter The ROCK is Blessing the City with Gas and Grocery Giveaways and a Colossal worship experience!

4/22 – Gas Giveaways
The Rock Church will be shutting down a local gas station and letting the pump flow!

4/23 – Rock City Carnival and Picnic Easter Egg Drop: An Easter Blessing for the Grown Folks $$$ plus a traditional Easter Egg Hunt for the kids

4/24 – Easter Service at the Boutwell. 11am

For more information visit The Rock City online

BET reality show winner to perform at New Hope’s Cultural Arts event

Birmingham, AL–New Hope Baptist Church will be hosting its annual weekend of spirit-filled music, dancing, fellowship & with BET’s Sunday Best’s winner Leandria Johnson and the 2009 finalist, Maurice Griffin.

The 8th Annual Music & Cultural Arts Ministry (MACAM) weekend will take place September 17th-19th, 2010 at New Hope’s West End location at 1740 Cleburn Avenue SW Birmingham, AL 35211. This year’s theme is “We’ve Got Something to Shout About!”

On Friday, September 17th 7pm, New Hope’s Movement Ministries will perform with Danyale Taylor; Houston, TX, as guest clinician along with several other local dance, step and mime ministries from around the city.

Then, on Saturday September 18th at 10:00am there will be a business fair showcasing several local businesses. New Hope Male Chorus will be featured in concert at 1:30pm.

The weekend will culminate Sunday, September 19th at 5:00pm with the New Hope Mass Choir in concert with the Silent Voices and will feature church choirs from the west side of Birmingham and special guest artists Leandria Johnson and Maurice Griffin.

Rev. Prince E. Yelder is Asst. Pastor- MACAM and Rev. Dr. Gregory L. Clarke is Pastor. There is no admission cost.  For more information call 205-925-9393 or go to http://www.newhopemass.com.

Life Interrupted

Life can sometimes get in the way of what you have planned. We always plan our days, knowing in our minds that the day will turn out the way we planned it in our heads or on a scribbled piece of paper. We most times don’t consider God in our planning; we may pray and tell God what we are going to do, never considering what God has already planned for you Himself. We treat God as an actor in our play, when we should look to Him as the Executive Producer and Jesus Christ as the Director—in this thing called life.

Look at Job, his life was just wonderful until things started to go south and his life was no longer simple, but complicated. Job lost everybody and everything—his life had been interrupted. Never in a million years would I thought or imagined that at the age of 35 I would be so dependent on others—I had it all planned out, until things in my life began to go south. Sickle Cell Disease or any disease for that matter that completely consumes your life is what I call a life interruption. These interruptions come at the most inopportune times. This funny thing called life has it peaks and valleys, highs and lows, and it is your decision to stay in the valley with your head in your hands crying or look to God for your help.

Life interruptions can cause one to become angry, depressed, left in disbelief, or even at the verge of giving up. During these times take an account of what is important to you, what battles are really worth fighting, or if it is worth the energy to be negative. Just start over! Come up with a new plan and this time include God, ask Him what does He think—be ready for the answers and move on. Don’t remain in that valley, crying your eyes out, but hold your head up high and wait for God this time. Don’t be surprised if there are more life interruptions; just know that God is there for you at each interruption in this thing called life.

By TKay (www.tinakay.net), the author of “Walking In Your Season”

14th Annual Back-To-School Rally ’09 (R.E.S.P.E.C.T)

The 14th Annual R.E.S.P.E.C.T Rally will take place August 1, 2009 from 5:00 pm – 8:00 pm on the More Than Conquerors Faith Church Campus.  This back to school rally has become a cornerstone event in the City of Birmingham offering families and young people a chance to start the school year off right with a family-fun event that focuses on respect for one another.

The R.E.S.P.E.C.T. Rally is free to all that wish to attend and will offer food, games, rides, entertainment, a fashion show and giveaways.  The first 1,500 elementary and high school students to attend will receive free back-packs and school supplies.

For more information call (205) 322-2644

New Hope Baptist Church presents Annual Black History Month Concert

The New Hope Baptist Church Mass Choir will also be performing, under the direction of Rev. Prince E. Yelder who serves as Assistant to the Pastor for Music & Cultural Arts. There is no admission cost.  For more information call 205-925-9393 or go to http://www.newhopemass.com.

The Role Of The Church In Community and Economic Revitalization

The Role Of The Church In Community and Economic Revitalization

by The Rev. Gerald Austin Sr. BSET, ThM, DMin

Founder and CEO, The Center for Urban Missions, The New City Church,

Mega International & Associates, LLC

E X E C U T I V E  S U M M A RY

In today’s society, an institution tends to be viewed as an accumulation of the individuals who compose it. The Church, for example, is seen as a group of like-minded individuals who gather together to have their religious needs met. But the Church also represents the most powerful institution in the world, with a vast and untapped potential for restoring the broader community and revitalizing urban landscapes.

This White Paper focuses on the role of the Church in addressing the societal and economic ills facing our city, particularly in the African American community. My basic argument is that the Church must take serious its theology of place, the role of our Black academies, and responsible individual empowerment if it is to continue its relevance in the 21st Century.

This White Paper is designed to address at least two audiences:

Government and business leaders

I want to challenge you to understand the invaluable role the church plays in addressing our City’s social and economic issues. Political leaders can still adhere to our constitutional obligation of separation of church and state. But in the social, economic and community development, there must be freedom to broaden our thinking and realize the strength of the partnership between the government, business and church communities.

Leaders in Faith communities

I want to challenge you to embrace the theology of place, the need for informed scholarship from our community’s Black academies of substance and the cultivation of indigenous giftedness, all of which are outlined in this paper.

Church leaders catch God’s corporate vision by resisting the contemporary trends of radical individualism and personal peace. The church must engage in vibrant community and economic development with business savvy, while influencing government and society with the values of God’s Kingdom.

My mission is to glorify God, edify those who honor Him, reach out to those who are trying to find their way to Him, and to provoke conversation and discussion that develops solutions to the problems our community faces. I am confident that you will take seriously the basic philosophies espoused in this document, be inspired to hope, and turn that hope into action that helps renew our city.

My desire is for this White Paper to spur further interest, discussion and research into the relationship between the Church and its role in Urban Community and Economic Revitalization. I hope that you enjoy and find value in this white paper, and we welcome your feedback.

I N T R O D U C T I O N

Oliver Cromwell, nicknamed “Old Ironsides” from his prowess as a brilliant soldier and commander of the British army in the late 1600s, was going through a difficult economic crisis. The British government lacked silver to mint coins, so Cromwell sent officials throughout the country to find this resource.

After much research, they reported back to the commander that there was one source for this precious commodity – the statues of the saints adorning the churches throughout the cities and townships, were overlaid with gold and silver.

Cromwell said, “Good, we’ll melt down the saints and put them into circulation.” As we face the ever-increasing challenges in Birmingham, we too must tap into the resources in our churches and put the saints back into circulation. The church has historically played a major role in helping African-Americans overcome challenges, from slavery to unjust Jim Crow laws and the Civil Rights Movement in Birmingham during the 1960s.

As our nation prepares on April 4, 2008 to remember the legacy of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. on the 40th anniversary of his assassination, the black community faces a new struggle just as daunting as the Civil Rights struggle he championed- community and economic revitalization. It appears that “melting down the saints and putting them into circulation” spoken by General Oliver Cromwell over four centuries ago is just as real today.

Throughout history, faith-based institutions have played a leadership role in confronting social injustice, developing a sense of community, and addressing a broad range of human needs. Recognizing the importance of this role, private funders, locally and nationally, have begun to partner with faith-based institutions to meet common goals, such as creating affordable housing and job opportunities, educating youth, reducing crime and addressing health needs.

Problem Statement

Over the past 40 years, the federal government has spent trillions of dollars to solve the ever-increasing social and economic challenges in our communities with little return on investment. While Blacks have made tremendous progress in the areas of politics, job advancements and growth of the middle class, the economic disparities continue to widen as many in the Black Church failed to tackle the issue of community and economic development.

Like most American cities these days, Birmingham is a deeply troubled place. At the root of its problems is the massive economic shifts that have marked the last two decades. Hundreds of industrial jobs that boosted its residents have either disappeared or moved overseas. Many of the new jobs created in the U.S. economy are either highly professionalized, and require elaborate education and credentials for entry, or they are routine, low-paying service jobs without much of a future. In effect, these shifts in the economy, and particularly the disappearance of decent employment possibilities from low-income neighborhoods, have removed the bottom rung from the fabled American “ladder of opportunity.”

As a result, our urban community is in crisis – a moral and societal breakdown of families, substandard and underperforming schools, a decline in Black-owned businesses, and deteriorating neighborhoods plagued by high crime and soaring poverty. If you drive through the majority of Birmingham’s 99 neighborhoods, you will see communities struggling to survive.

According to John Hopkins University’s October 2007 list on “Dropout Factories,” half of the City of Birmingham’s high schools made the list of schools with alarmingly high drop-out rates. The high school graduation percentages ranged from 57 percent at Jackson-Olin, 56 percent at Ensley, 47 percent at Huffman, 43 percent at West End and 41 percent at Woodlawn.

Black boys are especially at risk. According to a recent NBC News special series on the plight of African-American females, many teachers are giving up on Black males as early as the fourth grade due to their bad grades and behavioral problems that stem from lack of positive Black male role models in the home. Numbers detailing the breakdown of the Black family are staggering. The NBC News series found that two-thirds of Black households are led by women, largely due to the growth of unwed mothers and the alarming number of Black men who are incarcerated.

Ebony Magazine recently reported there are more Black men in jail or on probation than in college. The magazine also stated that Black women outnumber Black men by 7 to 1 at historically Black colleges and 4 to 1 at traditional colleges.

The NBC News series found women to comprise nearly 67 percent of new businesses owned by Blacks and generated two-thirds of new Black wealth over the last five years. ” Empowering Black males to reach their full potential is the most serious economic and civil rights challenge we face today,” said National Urban League CEO Marc H. Morial last year when releasing the 2007 State of Black America Report, which focused for the first time on the plight of the Black male.

The U.S. Census Bureau statistics show that despite the growth of the Black middle class, the salary gap between Blacks and Whites is wider than it was in 1968. Blacks also failed to capitalize on a strong economic market in 2007, and now we are faced with a major concern as the job market has slowed, and housing and credit challenges continue to escalate in 2008. The Black unemployment rate was 8.3 percent in 2007 vs. 4.7 percent for Whites, the Labor Department found. It was even more dire for those most at risk: Black males aged 16 to 19 have a 29.4 percent unemployment rate, more than twice the rate of 13.9 percent for White males aged 16 to 19.

In 1992, the United State Congress passed into law “Charitable Choice Legislation,” which gave rise to the establishment of the federal Office of Faith-based and Community Initiatives. This legislative act was an admission that there’s “silver and gold in the pews” and the work of faith-based organizations can get a better return on investment when the “saints are put into circulation” in the market place. This growing interest at the federal level in providing public funding for the secular activities of faith-based institutions, while controversial, raises numerous possibilities for increased public and private sector funding.

In essence, the government recognizes that the Church represents a vast, untapped resource that can more effectively address some social and economic aspects of Urban Community and Economic Revitalization better than it can.

Therefore, our City must seize the moment for business and government to work together to revitalize our communities, not relegating the Church to a culturally-defined existence, but one of influencing culture in ways that positively reshape urban landscapes.

I work from the premise that “right thinking always precedes right behavior.” What people think and believe ultimately influences how they live their lives, how they invest their money, etc. If the Church is to define its role in the 21st Century marketplace, it must understand its place in history as an institution, and how its existence also affects non-members, i.e., the broader community.

T H E  PA S T  I N F O R M S  T H E  P R E S E N T  A N D  F U T U R E

Birmingham, a city that gained the moniker the Magic City for its rapid growth in the late 1800s and early 1900s, had hit its prime as a central city in the Southeast when the volcanic eruption of the mid-1960s Civil Rights struggle shook the world. The lens of global media focused on Birmingham and what had been magic had become the madness of the human condition as fire hoses and police dogs were turned on Blacks seeking basic civil rights that others took for granted.

It was the Black Church that took the central role in the fight for freedom. I submit to you that by God’s grace, 40 years later the God of our dreary years and not so silent tears, is once again calling to that age-old institution of the Church to rise up and “seek the welfare of the city”!

Dr. Wilson Fallin, professor, pastor and author, eloquently analyzed the role and place of the African-American church in his book, “Birmingham, Alabama 1815-1963: A Shelter in the Storm.” Fallin’s well-researched book, which traces the African American Church in Jones Valley from 1815 to the Civil Rights movement and the Birmingham protests of 1963, also sheds light on the social context in which these churches operated. Blue-collar working conditions and the long history of segregation and black subjugation in Birmingham are important elements in unpacking the disparity that exist in understanding then and now.

Convinced that these churches were central to the development of the community, he argues that at times the Church focused primarily on helping “Blacks cope with their oppression by being a refuge in a hostile environment” (p. 64).

Fallin identifies several key pastors who served congregations in Birmingham over several years, comparing and contrasting their roles according to the socio-economic situations they faced, showing how versatile the churches and their leaders were.

For example, William R. Pettiford, a late-19th and early-20th-century Baptist minister, engaged in a wide range of religious and secular activities – entrepreneur, banker, and churchman – while maintaining an accommodationist position on issues of Black self-help and self-determination. He was convinced that Blacks could earn the respect of Whites through responsible living. Years later, Fred Shuttlesworth became a pastor and leading civil rights advocate. He left entrepreneurial activities to lay leaders and concentrated on identifying a God who sided with the weak, the marginalized, and the downtrodden. He was convinced that the system of segregation would not change without active African-American protest and litigation.

Fallin’s book clearly connects the emergence of the Civil Rights Movement in Birmingham to the religious community.

Likewise, today’s economic rights dilemma can only be solved with the church playing a leading role in transforming the communities they serve.

S O L U T I O N

So what does this history lesson have to do with the Black Church in Birmingham, Alabama today? With the decline in Black businesses and communities in general, the escape to suburbia of higher-income Black families who’ve left behind the poor to their fate, the Black Church has become the only viable source of economic vitality in many inner-city communities.

This means the Black Church must step up its role to empower its members and the surrounding neighborhoods it serves.

Four decades after the Black Church in Birmingham played a major role in securing civil rights for all, the Church again can take the lead in tackling today’s issue of community and economic revitalization. Our challenges are immense and I argue that the Church will need to take a serious look at three underlying principles and critically apply them if it is to continue to be relevant in the 21st Century.

1. Spiritual Capital, A Theological of Place

Spiritual Capital is defined as “resources that are created or that people have access to when people invest in religion as religion.” Churches raise significant revenue, a great deal of which is funneled into its mission, which typically means using it to help society’s weakest members. Its people invest according to their values, and those values are often defined religiously.

Cities have always been important to God because it’s where people tend to live. So His concern for cities is even greater, now that the world today is urbanizing faster than it ever has in its history; this trend appears irreversible. In the U.S., 51% of its citizens live in 39 cities with a million or more in population. Just a few years ago, Birmingham for the first time became a world-class city, with more than a million people in the metro area.

Because Christian identity cuts across every other dividing line found in urban neighborhoods, it has the unique authority to use its spiritual capital to reverse the mindset of radical individualism and personal peace that is endemic to American society, a society that feels free to ignore the needs of the city, and therefore, its people.

If we are to recover an earthy Christianity, one that connects profoundly to community and economic revitalization, we must develop and embrace an abiding “theology of place” that says cities can honor God. I believe that nothing promotes the peace and health of the city like the spread of faith in the Gospel, of understanding the Word of God. It renews both individual lives and reweaves the fabric of whole neighborhoods.

This verse of Scripture seems to best describe the Church’s prophetic role in the place where human beings are most concentrated and they are most capable of building and sustaining a God-glorifying community: “But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.” (Jeremiah 29:7)

Just imagine that you were forced to leave your home in suburbia that had been destroyed by gang-bangers from Birmingham.

You pack up what you can salvage and become a refugee. Leaving behind destruction, fatalities, and a life that was, you reluctantly move to the City of Birmingham. Fully intending to return home to suburbia, you don’t fully unpack your bags. Instead, you patiently wait for justice to be served, or in today’s language, for Jesus to come again.

But in Jeremiah 29, God does not tell the refugees to lead a passive, patient life in the city. No, God tells them to settle down, make the city their new home, work and grow their families, and – now get this – pray for the city’s prosperity.

Today, God is actually calling us to do the same, to actively work for the shalom of the city – its peace, justice, mercy, compassion and prosperity.

Some would ask, Why should I care about these people that I am afraid of? They break into cars, they vote differently that I do. Why should I have any interest in their messed-up lives? Why, for goodness sake, should I pray for the people that don’t even speak or look like me? Maybe you have asked a form of that question at some point in your life. But remember the message and its promise: “Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.”

If the “dropout factories” impact my welfare, would I engage in the lives of its academically-failing students any differently? If the actions and behavior of millions of children of incarcerated parents impacts my little comfort zone, would I do anything to intersect their lives? If we truly believed Jeremiah 29, Birmingham would be different, and we would all realize that poverty and crime in the inner-city affects the suburbs as well. We are one city, one region united and the church is the best vehicle to address those urban ills of society.

Tim Keller, pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church (PCA) in New York City, in “A New Kind of Urban Christian” (Christianity Today, May 2006) writes, “We need Christians and churches everywhere there are people.” Today’s urban renewal requires the kind of vision and action that churches and people of faith possess.

Churches must help the broader community realize the personal and corporate implications of the Scriptural truth and the words leaders have spoken: Seek the prosperity of Birmingham, because “as Birmingham goes, so goes the Region.”

2. Social Scholarship, An Academy of Substance

No community has ever reached the shores of liberation and equality and empowerment without maintaining and increasing the capacity of their own educational institutions. The role of higher education institutions in the economic development of society has been well documented. Some of the monetary benefits of higher education include increased tax revenue, greater productivity, and greater consumption. Its societal benefits includes reduced crime rates, increased charitable giving or community service, improved ability to adapt to and use technology, and greater involvement in political process as informed advocates.

Therefore, the call for urban and community revitalizations means the church must specifically call upon social scholarship from academies of substance. In the African American community, that means embracing and affirming the role of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs).

Founded for the sole purpose of providing higher learning to Black Americans when others would not, HBCUs must be celebrated and supported because they, like the Black Church, are vital to the empowerment of the Black community.

No other institutional type has the historical, cultural and economic heritage to be greater producers of knowledge on African Americans. Empowerment means individuals developing a historical and systematic knowledge base about themselves and individuals with similar cultural heritage. It’s incumbent upon HBCUs, therefore, to have curriculums that are infused with knowledge about the accomplishments of African Americans and Blacks globally. We must find ways to encourage HBCU faculty to be engaged in academic research and practices related to discoveries and contributions made by Black people in the world, across time.

I will cover the linkage between HBCUs, the Black Church and economic success in the African American community in greater detail in a book I am currently writing. For now, I will say that we must create a forum and continue the necessary conversations regarding the vitally important challenges that HBCUs face in the new millennium as they continue trying to bridge the gap between economic development and cultural empowerment.

I have discussed with local educators, business leaders and municipal communities about the possibility of endowing a professorship or fellowship in the area of community and economic development. I am convinced that HBCUs, such as Miles College in Fairfield and Lawson State in Birmingham, must pay particular attention to ways that they can be more closely aligned with their urban neighborhoods.

HBCUs tend to be intricately linked to these neighborhoods, primarily because many of their students come from them. One of the biggest challenges facing HBCUs today is the recruitment and retention of quality Black students who, because of the civil rights gained in the 60s, can go to virtually any college or university in the country. The cream of our academically- and athletically-gifted students are skimmed away by more “prestigious,” predominately

White institutions, many of which actively recruit Blacks and people of color. This leaves HBCUs to pick up students who are often less prepared and not as motivated as their more talented peers.

Because HBCUs often do not have the financial resources to compete with the scholarship packages that elite institutions can offer, HBCU leaders who are creative and have vision will increasingly be needed to both recruit and create environments for a range of student types. For instance, high-achieving students who choose to attend HBCUs say their reason for enrollment is that they were pursued by personal contact via telephone or in person with the president or other administrative leaders. At the same time, HBCU leaders must also honor their historic legacy to help the least of these by providing opportunities that uplift those African American students who will not be welcomed at any other institution. This is not an easy task, and it is why the church must play a role in helping HBCUs meet such challenges.

3. Community Engagement, Responsible Individual Empowerment

Typically, well-meaning folks from Churches and benevolent institutions have approached the problems of inner-city ills paternalistically. They first focus on the community’s needs, deficiencies and problems and spend millions of dollars and hours of human capital trying to address them. But I believe in a capacity-focused model that insists on building up a community’s strength from within by empowering its individual members.

What I propose to the Black Churches is that instead of documenting the problems, we map the solutions by creating an asset inventory of the people we want to serve in order to mine the silver and gold that sits under our very noses.

I propose that Churches go household by household, building by building, block by block and thoroughly inventory the gifts, skills and capacities of the community’s residents. We would be pleasantly shocked to discover a vast and often surprising array of individual talents and productive skills, few of which are being mobilized for community-building purposes.

More than any institution, the Church understands the principle of the “spiritual giftedness” of every individual. This is particularly important to persons who often find themselves marginalized by society. It is essential to recognize the capacities, for example, of those who have been labeled mentally handicapped or disabled, or of those who are marginalized because they are too old, or too young, or too poor. In a community whose assets are being fully recognized and mobilized, these people too will play a vital role in the redevelopment of their own communities, not as clients or recipients of aid, but as full contributors to the community-building process. They add to the asset base of every community and can often provide the framework for effective community engagement in their own neighborhoods.

Once these combinations of local assets and capacities – individual residents, citizens’ associations, and the resources of local institutions – have been mapped and mobilized, a community is well on its way to regenerating itself.

Such a community may still, of course, require help from the outside. But it is now in a position to control and define that help, to focus and direct outside resources to the locally generated agenda and plans. Rather than existing as an object of charity, such a community will say to the outside world: we are mobilized and powerful; we are a sure-fire investment.

A .G .  G A S T O N  C O N F E R E N C E , A  P R O P H E T I C  VO I C E

The A.G. Gaston Conference’s past white papers have been a prophetic voice in addressing the economic challenges Birmingham faces, especially its African-American communities. These papers have outlined the crises in Black Birmingham that are due, in part, to the disturbingly low number of Black-owned businesses and its implications.

Birmingham News reporter Roy L. Williams has written that the number of Black businesses is falling in Birmingham due to a combination of lack of access to capital and Black flight to the suburbs. The ramifications of the demise of the Black entrepreneur base, as retail shops, restaurants and grocery stores that once were Blacked-owned on the decline, are enormous. Their demise only adds to the deteriorating neighborhoods, rising poverty and skyrocketing crime rates in the inner city.

So what does this have to do with the church? With the decline in Black businesses, the Black Church has become the only viable source of economic vitality in many inner-city communities. This means the Black Church must step up its role to empower its members and the surrounding neighborhoods it serves.

There is now a growing recognition and interest from both public-private and corporate sectors in providing funding for the activities of faith and community-based institutions to more effectively combat these negative city trends. For example, over $665 billion are awarded to charitable and faith-based organizations each year from corporations, foundations, private individuals, federal, local and state governments.

Four decades after the Black Church in Birmingham played a major role in securing civil rights for all, it again can take the lead in tackling today’s leading civil rights issue – economics. We can do this by building schools, credit unions, developing affordable housing in low-income areas and other direct forms of community investment and revitalization.

We can undertake these activities ourselves using money awarded to faith-based organizations, or in collaboration with other churches, faith-based organizations, educators, government and businesses to generate effective change.

C O N C L U S I O N

I have made the clarion call for the faith community to step up to the 21st Century challenge of Community and Economic Revitalization by looking through three concentric lens; A Theology of Place, An Academy of Substance and Responsible Individual Empowerment.

All around the world, in times past and present, people have expressed their God-given creativity and imagination in art, folklore, drama, music and food. I see God at work, taking the patchwork of this fallen creation, here in Birmingham and molding it into a community of people who would reflect His glory.

I have a vision that God will turn Birmingham, the Magic City, into the “Miracle City.” It will be more communityoriented, where we not only support each other in our city as individual families, but also come together as a metro-city government. My hope is that God will make out of us a credible witness of beautiful diversity, where needs, resources, cultures, celebrations, and relationships are shared.

May God make us a community in which people are committed to living out the values of His Kingdom – values that are without class or any other kind of alienating distinctions. May we make a commitment to live together and support one another as a unified community that will spread out geographically throughout the 99 neighborhoods across various sectors of our city.

I have a vision that Birmingham will be a city about service to the poor, the helpless, the seeking, and the fearful. May our city strive to embody God’s “perfect love that casts out fear.” May we be a city where the empowered and the powerless can learn to trust each other – not playing the parts of paternalistic, distancing “charity givers,” nor long-faced poor with manipulative receiving, but being true citizens and pilgrims who recognize that all men are created equal, because we are created in the image of God.

Our Lord, in teaching His disciples to pray, said, “Thy Kingdom come.” Let us as a city in the same spirit, irrespective of our faith orientation, echo the clarion call in a misguided world which shouts out, “Thy Kingdom come and peace on earth and good will to all men! Thou will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” We, as God’s children, can be a model to a desperately needy world – reflective of the perfect love, redemption, reconciliation, and transformation He offers to all people.

Therefore my beloved “Birminghamians” let us roll up your sleeves and share in this opportunity to influence culture with the values of God’s Kingdom!!

A B O U T  T H E  AU T H O R

Rev. Gerald Austin Sr. knows from personal experience that there is hope for our urban communities. One of nine children raised by a single parent in Birmingham, Austin emerged from a life of potential entrapment and now holds a B.S. from DeVry University in Electronics Engineering, Th.M from Grace Theological Seminary, and a DMin. Degree from Bakke Graduate University in Transformational Leadership for the Global City. He is also a Graduate of Harvard Divinity School Center for Religion, Values and Public Life, where his project was recognized as a model for 21st Century Community Transformation.

In 1986, Rev. Austin founded The Center for Urban Missions, a Community Development Corporation whose vision is to demonstrate God’s love by bringing positive change in urban communities and equipping individuals, churches and strategic organizations to address its holistic needs.

Rev. Austin also served 5 years as the Coordinator of African American Church Planting for Missions to North America, the home mission board of the PCA.

He is the founder and Pastor Emeritus of The New City Church, begun in 1990 in his home. After serving 15 years as founder and Senior Pastor, he brought the Church into the Evangelical Covenant Church in America Denomination and successfully completed a succession plan for pastoral leadership for New City Church in April 2006. The church is strategically located in the heart of Birmingham’s downtown business district and continues to serves as a beacon of light in a city that is being transformed.

The Center for Urban Missions has received numerous awards through the years, including a $1 million matching grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce Technology Opportunities Program, the first award of its kind in the Southeast. An adjunct professor at Samford University and member of several strategic boards, Rev. Austin is well known as a strong voice in the area of Urban Economic Development, Church Planting, Justice and Compassion Issues, Marriage and Family and Racial Reconciliation.

He has written several white papers and numerous articles on the subject of Racial Reconciliation, Community and Economic Development and Urban Family Life that have been published in books and other publications across the country. A multiple award recipient, Rev. Austin is in high demand as a teacher and mentor of pastors and community service leaders called to transform their congregations and communities. He and his wife of 30 years, Minister Gwen Austin, are the proud parents of 6 children and 12 grand children.

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