Black Churches Preach Finance
More than 20 years ago, an Indiana snowstorm shut down Rossetta Santokie's takeout restaurant, a local joint with only one chair and table, famous for deep-fried green tomatoes and her specialty: shrimp-fried chicken. After raising 10 kids, burying a husband, marrying another, Santokie, now a Tamarac resident, wants to start two new businesses in Broward County. One would sell car-wash products.
The other would teach the Bible through rap music and the blues. "I have an entrepreneurial spirit," said Santokie, 61, who is attending a business seminar at Mount Bethel Baptist Church in Fort Lauderdale. "It's in my bones."
Historically, black churches have always done more than minister to and marry its members. Sanctuaries spawned community leaders. Movements sprang up in churches in the segregated South, and pulpits became platforms. Today, black churches continue to preach more than just the gospel.
Leaders of churches on the corners of even the most distressed communities are teaching people how to start businesses, purchase homes and repair credit. "The church absolutely has to be involved in economic empowerment," said the Rev. Rosalind Osgood, CEO of Mount Olive Development Corp., the missionary arm of New Mount Olive Baptist Church in Fort Lauderdale.
"We see it to be part of our faith." One of its programs, "Homeless to Homeowners," works with Bank of America and the Coalition To End Homelessness to help its 100 members improve their credit. Black churches were once the first and last resort to address social and economic needs, said R. Drew Smith, scholar-in-residence at the Leadership Center at Morehouse College in Atlanta.
That has changed today, but the focus on economic empowerment has been constant, said Smith, director of the Public Influences of African-American Churches Project. "We are probably seeing now a larger number of African-American churches who emphasize economic empowerment as the new front of social development," said Smith, a Baptist clergyman.
Santokie's late husband, Charles McGrone, ran the restaurant with her in Gary, Ind. It closed after a year. Now, Santokie has had trouble with her business plan. One of the ventures with new husband, Winston, is performing her Christian rap and Christian blues songs such as Adam Had the Blues and The Creation at churches and events.
"I use the same beat that the rappers use, a sound that they are familiar with, and that grabs them," she said. "I am a rapper, straight up." Leaders at Broward churches that provide credit counseling and other services have recently added more resources.
New Life Worship Center Ministries International in Hollywood started quarterly financial seminars this year after noticing some parishioners struggled to pay bills. "When people don't know how to manage their finances, they are destroyed," said Bishop Darrylle Hood, who founded the 5-year-old church with his wife Angela, a pastor. Mount Bethel, which has a business development corporation that has helped more than 1,000 people buy homes, started the eight-week business seminar this summer.
"We have always been a citadel of hope," the Rev. C.E. Glover, the church's pastor, said. "It's been the black church that kept black people from committing suicide before we knew anything about going to psychologists and psychiatrists."
Last year, Mount Hermon AME Church in Fort Lauderdale started a development corporation. The nonprofit, which is in its infancy, is looking into helping with affordable housing, said the Rev. John F. White, the church's pastor. They have planned a workshop on Aug. 20 on tapping into the real estate boom. "Jesus said I came to save that which was lost," White said. "He didn't say your souls only." (The Miami Herald)
The other would teach the Bible through rap music and the blues. "I have an entrepreneurial spirit," said Santokie, 61, who is attending a business seminar at Mount Bethel Baptist Church in Fort Lauderdale. "It's in my bones."
Historically, black churches have always done more than minister to and marry its members. Sanctuaries spawned community leaders. Movements sprang up in churches in the segregated South, and pulpits became platforms. Today, black churches continue to preach more than just the gospel.
Leaders of churches on the corners of even the most distressed communities are teaching people how to start businesses, purchase homes and repair credit. "The church absolutely has to be involved in economic empowerment," said the Rev. Rosalind Osgood, CEO of Mount Olive Development Corp., the missionary arm of New Mount Olive Baptist Church in Fort Lauderdale.
"We see it to be part of our faith." One of its programs, "Homeless to Homeowners," works with Bank of America and the Coalition To End Homelessness to help its 100 members improve their credit. Black churches were once the first and last resort to address social and economic needs, said R. Drew Smith, scholar-in-residence at the Leadership Center at Morehouse College in Atlanta.
That has changed today, but the focus on economic empowerment has been constant, said Smith, director of the Public Influences of African-American Churches Project. "We are probably seeing now a larger number of African-American churches who emphasize economic empowerment as the new front of social development," said Smith, a Baptist clergyman.
Santokie's late husband, Charles McGrone, ran the restaurant with her in Gary, Ind. It closed after a year. Now, Santokie has had trouble with her business plan. One of the ventures with new husband, Winston, is performing her Christian rap and Christian blues songs such as Adam Had the Blues and The Creation at churches and events.
"I use the same beat that the rappers use, a sound that they are familiar with, and that grabs them," she said. "I am a rapper, straight up." Leaders at Broward churches that provide credit counseling and other services have recently added more resources.
New Life Worship Center Ministries International in Hollywood started quarterly financial seminars this year after noticing some parishioners struggled to pay bills. "When people don't know how to manage their finances, they are destroyed," said Bishop Darrylle Hood, who founded the 5-year-old church with his wife Angela, a pastor. Mount Bethel, which has a business development corporation that has helped more than 1,000 people buy homes, started the eight-week business seminar this summer.
"We have always been a citadel of hope," the Rev. C.E. Glover, the church's pastor, said. "It's been the black church that kept black people from committing suicide before we knew anything about going to psychologists and psychiatrists."
Last year, Mount Hermon AME Church in Fort Lauderdale started a development corporation. The nonprofit, which is in its infancy, is looking into helping with affordable housing, said the Rev. John F. White, the church's pastor. They have planned a workshop on Aug. 20 on tapping into the real estate boom. "Jesus said I came to save that which was lost," White said. "He didn't say your souls only." (The Miami Herald)
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