The tall man in the tailored suit paced the floor, his long arms waving like distress flags.
The Rev. R.B. Holmes of Tallahassee, Fla., recently met with pastors at Antioch Baptist Church in Canton to discuss ways in which churches could help black families. An alumnus of Malone University, Holmes has launched Save the Black Family Now, and hopes Canton will be one of 25 chapter cities.
As far as the Rev. R.B. Holmes is concerned, Canton has an emergency situation. The pastor from Tallahassee, Fla., was urging the dozen pastors who convened at Antioch Baptist Church to take up the cause of saving the black family.
The pastor of Bethel Missionary Baptist Church in Tallahassee is founder of Save the Black Family Now, a movement, he said, to restore the structure that enabled black Americans to endure so many challenges.
“I am who I am because I had a strong mama and a strong daddy who were married 62 years,” Holmes said. “They raised eight kids, and none of us went to jail. We all did well because of family principles like faith and prayer.”
He added that the family structure is what enabled black Americans to withstand such injustices as Jim Crow.
“Why were we able to hang in, in spite of? Strong families,” he said.
Holmes said the goal of Save the Black Family Now is to reduce the rates of divorce, HIV, high-school dropouts and teen pregnancy by 25 percent by the year 2020.
He said Canton likely will be one of 25 chapter cities in which he hopes to plant programs designed to foster and nurture black families.
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SOURCE: CantonRep.com
Charita Goshay
