Posted on 06/15/2008 3:26:58 PM PDT by BloodOrFreedom
Obama headed to church this Father’s Day Sunday in his hometown of Chicago — the first time he’s been to church since he severed relations with his former pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright. The Obama family attended services at Chicago’s Apostolic Church of God, one of the city’s largest African American congregations and just six and a half miles from Obama’s former place of worship, Trinity Church of Christ.
Longtime church leader Bishop Arthur Brazier greeted his “good friend” warmly and touchingly noted, “[Obama] has done something [in] this country that I never thought I would live to see.” He continued, “I am filled with emotion because I have lived through some very tough times in America. But the America today is not the America of yesteryear. And I don’t think, I don’t think it behooves us well to keep talking about the past. The Apostle Paul said forgetting the things that are behind and reaching out to the things that are before.”
At the end of his speech, Obama thanked Apostolic for their hospitality and urged them to pray for him and for Michelle. The senator left the sanctuary before the actual sermon to be delivered by Bishop Brazier’s son Byron Brazier and didn’t get a chance to hear Apostolic’s prayer for him.
With his head bowed, the younger Brazier said as worshipers joined hands, “We ask that you give him great wisdom, knowledge, power and understanding. We pray that you give him the mind of Christ, so that when he speaks, demons will tremble, mountains will be removed, and when the firing guards of the enemy are flung his way, that the prayers of the saved protect him and let the world know that no weapon formed against him shall prosper.”
(Excerpt) Read more at embeds.blogs.foxnews.com ...
I’m amazed. This woman has frown wrinkles in her forehead even when she’s supposedly happy.
Probably Secret Service. However, if Obama keeps attending segregated functions, the SS will have to give him an all black detail, so that they can blend in.
He's one of those honky government agents sent to spread AIDs germs among blacks.
One big, happy family - Rezko, Rezmar, and Bishop Brazier’s organization, Woodlawn Preservation and Investment Corp. - all connected to Senator Obama.
http://hosted.ap.org/photos/2/2a1c1a7e-889f-4abf-9c76-c28f41d6a953-big.jpg
Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama D-Ill., right, talks with Pastor Dr. Byron Brazier during the Apostolic Church of God service in Chicago, Sunday, June 15, 2008
Dr. Byron Brazier, a minister at the Apostolic Church of God, ran as an Obama delegate from the seventh congressional district in Illinois.
Gov. Blagojevich has appointed Dr. Byron T. Brazier, Pastor, Apostolic Church, to lead an Implementation Task Force that will advise the Governor on rolling out other report recommendations. The Task Force will work with the Illinois Dept. of Human Services, the Illinois Dept. of Corrections and will consist of members of the Commission and the Working Group.
01 June 2008
Brazier, Activist Pastor, Stepping Down
CHICAGO — Bishop Arthur Brazier has long been a spiritual shepherd with political clout. His 20,000-member Apostolic Church of God at E. 63rd and Dorchester in Woodlawn is a center of power on the South Side.
Now, after 48 years in the pulpit, the 86-year-old civil rights activist, mayoral ally and founding president of The Woodlawn Organization will deliver his final sermons as pastor today. He plans to remain a visible presence.
Brazier’s church has been a key stop for politicians.
Its community redevelopment arm, the Woodlawn Preservation and Investment Co., also has acquired city property at little cost on which it has built low- and mixed-income housing.
“The African-American church is a very powerful institution,” said the bishop, who is a Sen. Barack Obama booster.
******
The Woodlawn Organization (T.W.O.) is a not-for-profit community-based organization that consists of an alliance of block clubs, churches, tenant councils and other civic and institutional entities organized for the sole purpose of building a viable and healthy community.
T.W.O. provides many social service programs that ensure that the citizens of Woodlawn receive a fair chance for better health care, illness prevention, fair housing and equal employment opportunities.
Founded in 1960, T.W.O.’s mission is to build community through advocacy, social service programs and community development initiatives.
Founded in 1972, the Woodlawn Community Development Corporation (WCDC) was created to serve as the umbrella for T.W.O.’s real estate development and management activities. Over the years, WCDC has developed more than 1,659 units of single family and senior housing in fourteen different developments. In so doing, WCDC has created site, phasing, and financial plans, determined unit mixes and worked extensively with government subsidy programs.
******
Voter Education:
Stay informed about campaign issues!
In the past, we have seriously rallied to get our community members registered to vote. Each election year, we recruit 200+ volunteers to go through the community on a door-by-door basis, making sure that people are registered to vote and that they are aware of their correct polling place.
******
Throughout the early 1960s, T.W.O. mobilized Woodlawn’s residents. They pressured merchants, landlords and city bureaucrats to respond to their demands for positive change.
By picketing and threatening boycotts against local stores, residents fought back against inflated prices and inferior products. By demonstrating in front of the suburban homes of their absentee landlords, they forced building homeowners to make basic repairs. These small victories were important because they proved that people with low incomes could gain power through collective action. The significance of this process became apparent years later when oppressed urban neighborhoods erupted into violent civil disorder during the summer of 1967.
The residents of Woodlawn did not feel compelled to express their frustrations through urban rebellion. As Reverend Dr. Leon Finney, Jr., T.W.O.’s second executive director and current chairman, observes, “We had no riots because we had already developed a legitimate means of redressing our grievances. The people trusted that vehicle and the idea of T.W.O.”
Yeah, until the truth comes out and they suddenly become "crazy uncles"!
Mom said, "Be a dentist." But no, I had to join the Secret Service. "God If I'm going to take a bullet, let it be now."
and when the firing guards of the enemy are flung his way, that the prayers of the saved protect him and let the world know that no weapon formed against him shall prosper.
I've never heard the expression "firing guards of the enemy are flung." I've read the Bible several times but I don't recall ever seeing that in Scripture. Is that Biblical, or is that more of the black church doctrine? Until that video surficed of Rev Wright, I never knew there was a separate black church doctrine.
“Obama cultivated clients like Bishop Arthur M. Brazier, the influential pastor of an 18,000-member black church and founding president of the Woodlawn Organization.”
The Woodlawn Organization was founded by radical Saul Alinsky
******
Mr. Obama further expanded his list of allies by joining the boards of two well-known charities: the Woods Fund and the Joyce Foundation.
These memberships have allowed him to help direct tens of millions of dollars in grants over the years to groups that championed the environment, campaign finance reform, gun control and other causes supported by the liberal network he was cultivating. Mr. Brazier’s group, the Woodlawn Organization, received money, for instance, as did antipoverty groups with ties to organized labor like Chicago Acorn, whose endorsement Mr. Obama sought and won in his State Senate race.
******
Some proponents were bused in by The Woodlawn Organization—founded by Leon Finney Jr., who sits on the Plan Commission.
Woodlawn Organization (T.W.O., later to become The Woodlawn Organization) began to lead a unified movement for self-determination in the community. Dr. Brazier was founding president of the organization.
******
Georgette Greenlee-Finney, executive director of the Woodlawn Organization.
Greenlee-Finney’s the wife of the organization’s CEO and president, Leon Finney Jr. Finney, a big Daley ally, is a member of the Chicago Plan Commission
******
Brazier’s group, the Woodlawn Organization, received money, for instance, as did antipoverty groups with ties to organized labor like Chicago Acorn, whose endorsement Obama sought and won in his State Senate race.
On the campaign trail, Obama hewed closely to liberal orthodoxy, positions that have become controversial in the presidential race. A candidate questionnaire from one liberal group, for instance, detailed his views on hot-button issues like the death penalty (opposed) and a ban on handguns (in favor).
**Surprise, surprise.
That way he can deny having heard whatever was said from the pulpit.**
My thoughts, exactly. Probably went out for a cigarette.
Obama did legal work for ventures that included Rezmar Corp. The case of City of Chicago vs. Central Woodlawn Limited Partnership is one example. In 1992, that community group partnered with Rezmar Corp. to rehab the former slum apartment building at 6107-6115 S. Ellis Ave. As work was ongoing, city officials sued the developers, alleging 16 serious code violations at the property, including a dangerously dilapidated porch. Obama and a co-counsel filed appearances in February 1994, but the court records show they appeared on behalf of Central Woodlawn, Rezko’s non-profit partner
Obama Filed Incorporation Papers For The Non-Profits. The AP reported, “Attorneys there say Obama never represented Rezko directly. The future senator did represent community organizations that were Rezko partners in rehabilitating buildings to provide apartments for the poor…Judson Miner, a partner in the firm, said that Obama’s role was small. He said Obama did perhaps six or seven hours of work on such projects, mainly filing incorporation papers for the nonprofit groups.”
Dr. Arthur M. Brazier
Pastor
Apostolic Church of God
Bishop
Apostolic Church of God
Founding Chairman
Woodlawn Preservation and Investment Corp.
Headquarters Address:
6101 S. Evans
Chicago, IL 60637
USA
Founding Chairman
Fund for Community Redevelopment and Revitalization
Founder and President
The Woodlawn Organization
******
Bishop Arthur Brazier, pastor of the Apostolic Church of God, said the pastors felt they needed to let the public know that the black church supports Obama. “The black church was unfortunately brought into this, but the black church has nothing to do with this,” he said.
Brazier said many church members had expressed concern about the political effect of the Obama-Wright dispute. “Every African American I know is concerned. . . . We are concerned that this controversy arose at a most crucial time,” he said.
******
Bishop Arthur Brazier, described as “a powerful ally of the mayor” by the Sun-Times, founded the Woodlawn Preservation Corp and the Fund for Community Redevelopment.
He is also the founding Chairman of The Fund for Community Redevelopment and Revitalization which pools the resources of community and institutional leaders to rebuild both human infrastructure opportunities and physical conditions of residents in two communities — East Woodlawn and North Kenwood. In 1999, Bishop Brazier established educational program providing $100,000 in annual scholarships to African-American youth.
One of the firm’s not-for-profit clients — the Woodlawn Preservation and Investment Corp., co-founded by Obama’s then-boss Allison Davis — was partners with Rezko’s company in a 1995 deal to convert an abandoned nursing home at 61st and Drexel into low-income apartments.
Mr. Obama cultivated clients like Bishop Arthur M. Brazier, the influential pastor of an 18,000-member black church and founding president of the Woodlawn Organization, which focuses on improving conditions for blacks in a neighborhood adjacent to Hyde Park. The two men began talking politics over tennis games at Chicago’s elite East Bank Club, Mr. Brazier recalled.
Mr. Obama also worked on housing redevelopment projects involving Antoin Rezko, who became one of Mr. Obama’s most generous donors. Mr. Rezko is currently on trial for corruption charges
"Momma, that preacher isn't blaming whitey for all the problems in the world. What is wrong with him?"
"Why don't you ask your daddy that one. He is the one who threw my good friend Jeremiah Wright under the bus."
"What do you mean by 'under the bus?"
"It's where daddy will throw people in order to win the election, so you better be careful about what you say also. Remember what happened to your great grandma?"
Does that mean Obama will finally get baptized and be a real Christian?
I'll be watching.
http://www.acog-chicago.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=38&Itemid=43
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