The Afternoons with Amos PODCAST For Friday, June 5, 2015. (Story Begins At 16:59 On PODCAST Media Player)
Indy 10 Point Coalition Prayer Breakfast
Gov. Pence Awards Sagamore of Wabash to Rev. Chas Harrison
Friday was the 3rd annual Ten Point Coalition’s Prayer Breakfast held at Bankers Life Fieldhouse downtown. Nearly 300 attended the event as Mayor Greg Ballard, who’s supported the Coalition fervently for eight years spoke in warm and emotional words about the Coalition’s work in Indianapolis. Gov. Mike Pence awarded Indianapolis Ten Point Coalition’s leader Rev. Charles Harrison a Sagamore of the Wabash honor. But most important was the breakfast’s guest speaker, the Rev. Eugene Rivers III. A Pentecostal preacher, Pastor of the Asuza Christian Community in Boston, Rev. Rivers created the “Ten Point” Concept in 1992. Rev. Rivers became nationally known because of his Boston efforts to have pastors get out of their pulpits and into the mean streets of their communities to reach out to troubled young Black men and try and deter them from destructive behaviors and a life of crime. Faced with rising violence several years later in Indianapolis, then Mayor Steve Goldsmith, whose Front Porch Alliance was working with pastors in some troubled Indy neighborhoods, invited Rev. Rivers to Indy to speak to them. That collaboration led those Indy pastors to form an Indianapolis Ten Point Coalition. Today, other than Boston, Indianapolis is the next oldest Ten Point Coalition effort in the country.
Rev. Eugene Rivers
Rev. Rivers, who’s no longer actively involved in Boston’s Ten Point Coalition is very proud of the efforts Indianapolis has made. In an EXCLUSIVE Afternoons with Amos Interview, Rev. Rivers talked about the pride he has in what the Indianapolis Ten Point Coalition has accomplished. Rivers also challenged our community to demand that Indiana’s Governor and Indianapolis’ Mayor involve and engage the business community of the city and state in working seriously on job creation, not just for summer jobs but permanent jobs in the Black community. Like Jeremiah, Rev. Rivers also warned in the Afternoons with Amos interview about the threat to Black communities by ISIS Terrorists preying on the alienation and anger of young Black men, trying to convert them to their terrorist cause. Something that Rev. Rivers saw up close in Boston just last week. In the interview also, Rev. Rivers praises Boston authorities who now have a policy of if video exists of fatal police action shootings, that video is made available for the public to see. You have to hear Rev. Rivers concise and insightful Afternoons with Amos interview. (Story At 04:23 On PODCAST Media Player) Friday’s program also featured a preview of an example of the church reaching out into the community as New Directions Church Saturday hosts a community event they call Saving an Endangered Species, an outdoor event in Wes Montgomery Park with fun, food, basketball tourney and seminars on serious topics. Pastor Kenneth Sullivan explained the example of this unique church outreach. (Starts At 28:55 On The PODCAST Media Player) In Open Lines, all sorts of views from those sagging pants young Black men wear, to the controversy over three people charged with crimes for celebrating out of order at a high school graduation in Mississippi and a lot more. The Afternoons with Amos PODCAST For Friday, June 5th Runs 94 Minutes ©2015 WTLC/Radio One. PODCAST Begins after a Brief Video Ad.
