BALTMORE, MD -- A coalition of African American Clergy recently announced the launch of a new voting initiative entitled "The Empowerment Movement." The faith-based voting initiative will bring together leaders of the faith based community of all denominations, designed to move the African American Community forward in politics, education and economics with the use of Christian principles.
The Rev. Dr. Jamal Bryant, pastor of the Empowerment Temple in Baltimore, has been named president of the organization. Their mission is a massive undertaking, with a goal to register one million voters on one day, Easter, April 8, making Guinness World Book history for democracy, by challenging every black church in the United States to register 20 people on that day.
There are an estimated 500,000 black churches in America, and more than 5 million unregistered voters within the black church. Recently, representatives of leading black Christian organizations held a closed door summit to strategize on a collective effort of the church preparing for the November elections. As a result, the Empowerment Movement was formed.
The Empowerment Movement, a non-partisan organization, was launched with the support of the AME Church, AME Zion, Cogic, Progressive, Bible Way Churches, Full Gospel, Gospel Music Workshop of America, CME, United Covenant Churches, Harvest Churches, Fellowship of international Word of Faith, Church of God, Rep. Elijah Cummings, members of the Congressional Black Caucus, the NAACP and the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, to name a few.
Bryant, 40, has broken the stereotype of yesterday's clergyman. He is the leader of a new breed of ministers who embrace the idea of capitalizing on the ever- increasing marketplace of Internet and technological innovations to spread the gospel.
With more than 8,000 members, Empowerment Temple in Baltimore, and approximately 35,000 followers on Twitter, Facebook and MySpace, Bryant believes that "God is not just in the church; He is also in technology."
As a result, Bryant's mission is to "empower people spiritually, develop them educationally, expose them culturally, activate them politically, and strengthen them economically."
