Is Black Leadership On the Eastern Shore Under Seige?

Recently Dr. Charlene Boston, Superintendent of Wicomico County School system, --- the first African American female in that position on the Eastern Shore ----- did not have her contract renewed after 1 four year period. Before her contract actually expired (6/30), the Baltimore School system offered her the acting CEO's position of the Baltimore School system. (The title of CEO is similar to the title of Superintendent).

A few years back the areas' first Black Superintendent of schools, Dr. DeWayne Whittington, Superintendent of Schools in Somerset County, did not have his contract renewed after his first term. He took his supervisors to court, (the Somerset County Board of Education) and won the case. It was not surprising to the African American community that he won the case. His case was based on the charges of racial discrimination.. In addition to being compensated a sizeable amount of cash, --- dinero in spanish ----- a school was named in his honor. Shortly after the this honorable gesture took place, students were relocated out of the school. The school is currently unoccupied.

What's going on? Is Black Leadership on Maryland's Eastern Shore Under seige? I discuss this with Dr. Dewayne Whittington and a special unannouced guest on this week's (7/8) show. If you know of similar instances, let me know by commenting in the response section of this e-mail. This stuff is amazing. Don't ya know.

Black Men Not Going To Church. Let's Talk Solutions.

Well, this week concluded our serious on why most African American men don't go to church. This past week Rev. Dr. John Kennedy, Presiding Elder of the Philadelphia Eastern Shore District (right) and Rev. Grant Johnson, (left),an Elder in the United Methodist Church addressed the concerns and solutions to get more African American Men into the church. What are the solutions? The church must address men's daily needs, it must present many avenues for ment to enter the church. Once men are into the church there should be mentoring program to help them understand the functions of the church. Men must assume some responsibility of seeking God and realizing the church is not a perfect institution. I shared/reminded our listeners of Dr. Kunjufu's examples of churches that are addressing men's needs, while also addressing their spiritual concerns. One such church have a number of men attacting activities on Saturday evening -- the time when most bad things happens in our communities. Men sleep in the church on Saturday evenings, they wake up on Sunday mornings, have breakfast in the church and then go into church service upon the conclusion of breadkfast.

We agreed the discussion started on Called2Action, must continue with Church leadership and men that are absent from church. Both pastors agreed they would be a part of these efforts, but would not lead the effort. Let's pray that our local church realize the importance of this serious problem and will strive to solve it in an unselfish manner.

I will keep the urgency of this problem in the forefront of our community. Let's all pray that we will hear God's word on this issue.

The Reasons Men Say They Don't Go To Church.

According to the Book, Adam Where Are You? Why Most Black Men Don’t Go To Church, by Dr. Jawanza Kunjufu, here are the 21 reasons most Black Men say they don’t go to church.

1. Hypocrisy – contradiction between what’s said in church and what’s done in the community. One young man said as a boy he could not understand why the preacher who was married was always over at his house making out with his mother.
2. Ego/Dictatorial – Brothers get upset when they constantly heard the pastor said this and the pastor said that. People’s definition of a real man was the pastor.
3. Faith-submission-trust forgiveness-angry at God.
4. Passivity – I don’t believe in turning the other cheek.
5. Tithing – concerns about taking money from people and how the money was disbursed.
6. Irrelevance
7. Eurocentric
8. Length Of Service
9. Too Emotional
10. Sports – conflict between sports on Sunday and church
11. Attire/Dress Code
12. Classism – You need money to go to church.
13. Education – Brothers that can’t read, and don’t feel comfortable in church.
14. Sexuality and Drugs
15. Spirituality/Worshipping Alone – Difference between being spiritual and being religious.
16. Heaven – I have to wait until I die to live the good life.
17. Evangelism – Christians are not sincere in their evangelizing.
18. Lack of Christian role model
19. Lack of Spiritual Role Models
20. Streets/Peer Pressure
21. Parental Double Standards Force When a Child.

On Why Black Men Don't Go To Church...

Discussing Why Most Black Men Don't Go To Church...Super Discussion on the radio show this past Saturday (6/10). Our guest were JR
Mitchell, "Gator", Richard Lee Hutt, Dr. Preston Whittington, and joining us from Chicago, Illinois, perhaps the foremost expert on the topic and author of a number of books, one of which is Adam! Where Are You? Why Most Black Men Don't Go to Church?, Dr Jawanza Kunjufu. (You may Learn More About Dr. Kunjufu by visit this website). It was interesting to note that many of the reasons black men don't go to church as cited in Dr. Kunjufu's Book, by the same name are the some of the same reasons our in studio guest mentioned. The notion of hypocracy, relevancy to everyday life, meeting the needs of men, pastors "pimping their parishioneers", pastor living the "high life", while the congregation struggles financially. Dr. Kunjufu, stated briefly 21 researched reasons ...men do not attend church and cited his book on Developing Strong Black Male Ministries model ministries around the country, i.e. in Indianapolis there is Hip Hop Haven and Salem Baptist Church in Chicago. You may order Dr. Kunjufu's Books by calling 800-552-1991 and mention my name for a 30% discount. Thanks fellows. All praises are owed to God.

Black Men Don't Go To Church Because....

This past week (6/2), we kicked off our special program on, Why Black Men Do Not Go To Church, in light of the many problems black men confront. Says guest, Dr. Brian Mitchell, "they see no value to be derived by going to church". Though hippocracy and the lack of social relevancy exist within the church, there is a personal responsiblity that men must assume if they are obedient to their creator. Donnie Waters and Dr. Mitchell got first tabs on addressing the question.
We continue the discussion this week, with several different guests. Our goal is to align brothers with the church.

Do you think if that were to happen, the problems that plague our Black male in society might diminish? I got a hunch that.... --- well join us on Saturday and I'll finish that statement.