“We are coming together in St. Louis to not only enhance, enable and empower the gifts people possess for their Christ, but we’re coming to brighten the light of this city,” Dr. Elliott Cuff, dean of the National Baptist Congress of Christian Education, said Friday morning.
“Not only will St. Louis be the Gateway to the West, but it will also be a greater Gateway to God’s Kingdom.”
Three days before an estimated 30,000 Baptist educators would converge on St. Louis, Cuff proclaimed the change that would be experienced during the National Baptist Convention’s 107th Annual Session of the Congress of Christian Education. They talked about saving souls – and bodies.
“When you put a spin on it that says, ‘God sees everything that you put in your mouth,’ there’s kind of a different attitude,” a guest of the Hope Health Forum said as members discussed using Sunday school to advocate healthy eating habits. “Unfortunately, at Sunday School in terms of incentives they are giving the children things like cookies.”
Health advocates from churches across the nation and globe talked through action plans rooted in Scripture.
“Using the existing platform of Sunday School, published material will give us the framework to introduce concepts that the community may hear somewhere else but they may not resonate because it doesn’t fall within that African-American Christian framework,” another guest said.
As the largest African-American domination, Baptists are eager to leverage their power to incite positive change.
“We are making new inroads in the lives of citizens of America,” said Congress of Christian Education President Rev. Dr. George W. Waddles.
By Tuesday afternoon, St. Louis was already feeling the impact – and it extended far beyond the $16 million being pumped into the area, according to St. Louis Convention and Visitors Center Director Kitty Radcliffe.
“What is more important than the money that you bring is the strong spirit that you bring,” said East St. Louis Mayor Alvin Parks Jr. during the Dean’s Address Tuesday afternoon.
Politics in the church
“I want to greet you in a different way because of an issue that is on my mind and on my heart,” the Rev. Dr. Julius Scruggs, president of the National Baptist Convention, said during the Dean’s Address.
The issue on Scruggs’ mind and heart was the importance of going to the polls.
“I want us to be mindful that we are not only called to praise God and to shout on his behalf and to love one another, but we are also called to practice our Christianity in society every day wherever we are,” Scruggs said.
“And one of the areas is in Christian citizenship. So that means when November comes, as Christians and as members of the National Baptist Convention, we ought to be found at the polls voting.”
Scruggs also addressed a major campaign issue.
“I’ve heard people say, ‘I’m going to sit it out because I disagree with our President because he endorsed same-sex marriage,’” Scruggs said.
“President Obama is indeed our President, but he is not our pastor. And we can disagree with him if we want to. It doesn’t mean that I’m going to sit this election out – because there are many things I agree with him as a president.”
Scruggs listed some of those things.
“I agree with the President when it comes to affordable healthcare for everybody, and seeking to end the war in Iraq,” Scruggs said. “And I agree with the President that taxes should be shared.”
The Rev. Nelson Rivers, vice president of stakeholder relations for the NAACP, announced a voting registration partnership between the National Baptist Convention and the NAACP.
“For the first time in our collective history we have agreed to do a partnership for voter registration all over the land for this year,” said Rivers, who is pastor of Charity Missionary Baptist Church in Charleston, S.C.
“The potential is beyond your imagination. Right now in America there are 6,067,361 African Americans of voting age that are unregistered. What does that mean? That means if that many were registered, they would represent 290 electoral votes. It only takes 270 to elect a President. They would represent 19 Governors and 15 U.S. Senators.”
Rivers gave a history lesson.
“We were not given the right to vote on July 4, 1776. We got the right to vote on the Edmund Pettus Bridge – when blood was shed in the streets,” Rivers said.
“How in the devil can you tell me you’re too busy, too afraid, too tied up in your religion to get out there and get registered to vote?”
Rivers excused the diversion into politics.
“Somebody told me that somebody said, ‘We don’t want politics in the church,’” Rivers said. “I told them, ‘Well, they must not be Baptist, because in my Baptist church all we’ve got is politics. They elect the usher, they elect the pastor, they elect the superintendent.’”
Events continue for two more days, including a youth rally, the donation of a home thanks to a partnership with Habitat for Humanity, and the President’s address.
“The impact is going to be great,” said the Rev. Sammie E. Jones, local host committee co-chair. “We are going to share with the city a great week of study and learning.”
For a full line up of remaining activities, visit www.nationalbaptist.com.
