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Date: Mar 22, 2008 6:11 AM
Obama's pastor has Tampa ties
By Sharon Tubbs, Times Staff Writer
Published Wednesday, March 19, 2008 10:15 PM
TAMPA - Times - Angela Judge listens to talk show hosts and TV
pundits who dismiss the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. as an angry
black man, spewing hatred in America.
She has cried and prayed for it all to end.
The man in the TV clips, portrayed as Sen. Barack Obama's "controversial
pastor," is not the same man she came to know watching him
preach in Tampa, where he has long-standing ties.
For years, Wright has made an annual pilgrimage here, packing
sanctuaries at two large, predominantly African-American churches:
Bible-Based Fellowship Church in Carrollwood and Bible-Based
Fellowship Church of Temple Terrace, which draw members from
throughout the Tampa Bay area. Even those who aren't members
have flocked to his local revivals.
Indeed, Wright, 66, is the featured speaker at a revival Tuesday
through Thursday of next week, in celebration of the Temple Terrace
church's 10th anniversary.
The Democratic presidential candidate has come under fire for
his association with Wright and in a speech Tuesday he disavowed
inflammatory statements Wright has made.
But the Rev. Earl B. Mason Sr., who lovingly refers to Wright
as "Daddy J.," said Wednesday that Wright was still
expected to come and would be welcomed, as always.
"Tampa, Florida, is not hostile to Jeremiah Wright, not
based on an article or not based on somebody else's opinion,"
Mason said. "Tampa, Florida, has been blessed by Jeremiah
for well over 15 consecutive years."
Wright's link to the area started 25 years ago when Mason and
the Rev. Arthur T. Jones took part in a religious conference
in Orlando as part of the Florida Mass Choir. Wright, slight
in stature but bold and dynamic in his delivery, took to the
pulpit at the conference. Mason, who had never heard the name
before, would never forget it.
After that, Wright was asked to speak at the choir's retreats
and, in years to come, at the two churches.
Before establishing the Temple Terrace church, Mason was co-pastor
with Jones at the Carrollwood church. Today, the congregations
are independent of each other and among the larger predominantly
black churches in the area. Jones and Mason said they don't keep
official membership tallies, but the Carrollwood church's cathedral
seats 1,700 and the Temple Terrace church seats several hundred
and has two services each Sunday.
Wright gained a loyal following among local Christians like Judge,
a member of the Carrollwood church. People would often arrive
early, expecting a packed house. His affable personality and
intellectual, yet thunderous, approach to Scripture are signature
to his style. He is known to sprinkle his messages with some
points on social justice.
'Like an uncle'
Once when she traveled to Chicago, Judge visited Wright's Trinity
United Church of Christ. He remarked from the pulpit that there
was a visitor from Tampa. After service, they chatted and joked
for 2½ hours.
"I understand what Obama meant when he said he's like an
uncle," said Judge, 45.
Deborah Austin, now a member of a New Tampa church, said she
was first exposed to Wright in Carrollwood. Eventually, he became
her mentor, helping and challenging her as she worked toward
a doctorate in interpersonal-family communications. He often
talked about the need to help oppressed people worldwide.
"I have been praying for him, thinking good thoughts of
him," Austin said.
The excerpts from Wright's sermons aired on television have been
called unpatriotic at best. In one, he appears to blame the United
States for the Sept. 11 attacks. In another he says the government
is responsible for the spread of HIV.
The comments didn't shock many black people who say Wright's
critics are essentially attacking the black church, where African-Americans
for years have always felt safe in voicing concerns about social
issues, said Gwendolyn Simmons, assistant professor of religion
at the University of Florida.
"It is a place where black people have been able to say
what they felt," Simmons said.
Judge said she has heard Wright's controversial statements before.
What about context?
"I have been in services when Dr. Wright has gotten to that
fiery point," Judge said. She wasn't bothered because she
heard his words in context and many times agreed. Sometimes,
she didn't. But, Judge said, who agrees with everything someone
else says?
"Jeremiah is my friend and my mentor and he's my daddy,"
said Mason, 56. "I was angry to see someone take snippets
of a 2003 sermon and use it in 2008, and use it to discredit
a man like Wright, a church like Trinity and a campaign like
Obama's."
Jones said his Carrollwood church and Wright's church have both
engaged in outreach in Africa. Bible-Based has built schools
and churches in the continent, Jones said.
While the "black liberation theology" Wright preaches
is not at the forefront of sermons at Bible-Based, black values
are taught and upheld there, Jones said. Wright, he said, will
"stand in the pulpit and say it just like I'll stand in
the pulpit and say it."
If people want to know what Wright is all about, Jones said,
"buy his books, read his sermons. He is a speaker of truth."
Extract from Shepherd or Despot? By Walter Kambulow
Bible Based Fellowship Church in Carrollwood was one of the largest
and wealthiest black congregations in Tampa, Florida and to
some the most racist black church in the South. White folks were
not welcomed in the church. The $3 million church was built
on 10 1/2 acres, has 26 ministries and funded three West African
churches and was run almost by military rule by Rev. Earl Mason
and Art Jones.
Brother Jones boasted of obtaining a doctorate from Ohio's United
Theological Seminary which turned out to be a lie. He also had
been criticized for operating Bible-Based like a corporation
rather than a church. The church had no deacon board and was
run like an autocracy.
Jones and Mason solely controlled the money and were very tight
lip about finances, their own and that of the church' but they
both drove fancy luxury cars. They had labeled members who spoke
up against them as ``Satan'' and reminded others who didn't
like the way they did things that ``this is my church.'' Mason
told members questioning his authority to ``go to hell.''
Assistant ministers have gone through a revolving door in the
Bible- Based Fellowship Church. Ruth Hunter, the chief financial
officer of the church was convicted of embezzling more than
$35,000 from a Clearwater bank. Mason and Jones refused to fire
her even though she had been proven to be a thief. Members complained
that the pastors checked to see if people pay their tithes every
Sunday. Those who didn't pay their tithes didn't get support
from the church. Yet this was a Bible Believing Bible Based Christian
Fellowship that did things which Jesus Christ would never do?
In theory Apostle Paul told all those who are called themselves
Christians, including pastors and preachers, "in lowliness
of mind let each esteem others better than himself? Let each
of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for
the interests of others?" In other words doctrinal emphasis
were not to overrule the best interests of others! For the bible
also states:
"Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock,
among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd
the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. Acts
20:28
The elders who are among you I exhort, I who am a fellow elder
and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker
of the glory that will be revealed: Shepherd the flock of God
which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion but
willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly; nor as being
lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the
flock; and when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive
the crown of glory that does not fade away. 1 Peter 5:1-4
The bible says that overseers are to shepherd the church of God
which He purchased with His own blood by being examples to the
flock and not by being Lords over those entrusted to them nor
for dishonest gain. However, the size of the church or its theology
does not determine whether its pastor or priest will be a gentle
shepherd or an autocratic tyrant. There are still those pastors
and priests who have not realized that their days of "do
what I say or else God will strike you down" are numbered.
Their words of "touch not God's anointed" are falling
on deaf ears. God's true anointed ones do not rob, rape or
use the sheep. Sheep today prefer to be led by example rather
than to be driven by brute force or beaten into submission by
use of bible verses.
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