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Winston-Salem Journal (Winston Salem, NC)

August 10, 2008 Sunday

Metro Edition

EX-WFU PROFESSOR MAY TAKE MESSAGE TO NATIONAL STAGE

SECTION: A; John Railey; Pg. 19

LENGTH: 643 words

The Rev. Brad Braxton is a short, unassuming guy who's exceedingly polite.

But when the man climbs into a pulpit, look out. Consider what he said at a King holiday celebration in Winston-Salem back in January 2002, just months after the terrorist attacks on America and the U.S. attack on Afghanistan and long before the Iraq invasion.

"Rev. King would have reminded the nation that there are multiple ways to define terrorism," Braxton said in his booming voice. "While America builds Super Wal-Marts with enough food to feed five cities, one of three people in the world is hungry."

Braxton was in no way excusing the terrorists who attacked our country. What he was trying to do was to remind us that King took literally Jesus' radical messages of peace and soul-searching. What he got was a lot of criticism, including numerous letters to the Journal. Here he was, a boyish-looking black guy in his early 30s, chiding his elders.

"I think this is Braxton's black, Democratic Party attitude coming through," one letter writer wrote.

Braxton shrugged it all off and kept up his work at Wake Forest University Divinity School, that of teaching New Testament studies and the art of preaching. He left Wake Forest for the divinity school at Vanderbilt. And now, a search committee at New York's famed Riverside Church has tapped him to become the next pastor of the church. If the congregation approves Braxton when it votes next month, he'll soon be speaking to the world from the same pulpit used by William Sloane Coffin when he stood up for social justice and against the Vietnam War.

Some of Braxton's critics here will just be glad he's somewhere far away. The Wake divinity school wll take pride in Braxton. "He has been very courageous about a variety of theological and racial issues and has not hesitated to speak up," said Bill Leonard, the dean of the divinity school.

Braxton, the son of a Baptist preacher, will just keep on preaching, just as he's been doing since he was a boy growing up in Salem, Va. He's one preacher who will never put anybody to sleep.

"The church is suffering from some anemic preaching," he told me in 2000, soon after he arrived at Wake Forest.

"The pulpit is an awesome place to be. What an audacious claim, to proclaim that you have a word from God. But the preacher must proclaim that."

By the time he arrived at Wake Forest, Braxton had already accomplished a lot. He began preaching at 12 and was licensed to preach at 15. He studied at the University of Virginia, at Emory University and as a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford. And most important, he had served as the senior pastor at the nondenominational Douglas Memorial Community Church in Baltimore. He began to develop his preaching reputation there.

He backed his words with action. He started a prison ministry, a service to provide food and supplies for the needy, and an outreach program for families affected by HIV and AIDS.

He'll likely continue that combination of preaching and social action at Riverside, an interdenominational congregation of blacks and whites that worships in a Gothic cathedral in Manhattan. "I certainly would hope to continue in that marvelous legacy of congregational care internally, and bold, courageous, prophetic action externally, for which the Riverside Church has been known now for so many years," he told The New York Times.

It's long been a liberal church. Let's hope being surrounded by a lot of like-minded folks doesn't cause Braxton to lose his edge, the creative anxiety that fuels his preaching.

"My hands still get cold and sweaty every time I stand up to preach," he said back in 2000. "That sense of anxiety . is part of the energy of preaching."

A much bigger audience may be about to experience the energy he honed in Winston-Salem.

- John Railey writes local editorials for the Journal. He can be reached at jrailey@wsjournal.com

LOAD-DATE: August 11, 2008

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

GRAPHIC: PHOTO

Brad Braxton gave the keynote address at the 22nd Annual MLK Noon Hour Commemoration in 2002.

PUBLICATION-TYPE: NEWSPAPER

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Columbia Daily Tribune (Missouri)

August 9, 2008 Saturday

SPIRITUAL LIFE IN BRIEF

LENGTH: 700 words

Jehovah's Witness convention returns

Jehovah's Witnesses expect some 5,000 participants in a three- day district convention that began yesterday at Mizzou Arena. With a "Guided by God's Spirit" theme, the convention, open to the public, will focus on providing attendees with guidance and advice in today's turbulent times through the teachings of the Bible and God's holy spirit, according to Jehovah's Witness officials.

Today's program will highlight how "individuals, whether young or old, can be empowered by holy spirit to resist temptation, cope with discouragement, withstand harmful peer pressure and endure adversity." There also will be a baptism ceremony and ordination of new ministers.

Tomorrow's program is titled "Reap Blessings Through Jehovah's Spirit-Guided King!" A full-costume drama set in the days of early Christianity will be featured at the afternoon program.

Program sessions start at 9:20 a.m. today and tomorrow. Admission is free, and no collections will be taken. For more information, call Kevin Lancaster at (573) 219-0355.

Church gas subsidy means lines at pumps

MORRISTOWN, N.J. (AP) - Motorists in Morristown got some religion along with their regular.

Congregants at the Liquid Church of Morristown were at the pumps of an Exxon station, where the church was subsidizing gasoline sales on Sunday.

Instead of the full price of $4.15, about 300 people got their fuel for 99 cents a gallon.

For the congregation, it was a chance to do a good deed - and maybe a little recruiting.

Church members handed out water and doughnuts to the people who waited in line as long as three hours for the discounted fuel.

N.Y. church choosing new senior minister

NEW YORK (AP) - The Riverside Church in Manhattan, a bastion of liberal social justice causes, is a step closer to filling its vacant pulpit, one of the nation's most prominent.

A search committee has unanimously selected the Rev. Brad Braxton, 39, a Rhodes scholar and son of a Baptist pastor who led a congregation of his own in Baltimore. Braxton most recently has been an associate professor at the Vanderbilt University Divinity School in Nashville.

"All of us know that this young man has a vision much larger than ours," said Cheryle Wills, chairwoman of the search committee. "We want to be on the forefront of change. And not change for the sake of change. But change for the betterment and inclusion of all people."

If confirmed by the 2,400-member congregation next month, Braxton would replace the Rev. James Forbes, who retired last year at age 71 after 18 years leading the church.

Like Forbes, Braxton is black. Forbes, the church's first black senior minister, was criticized by some churchgoers who felt he didn't do enough to continue its advocacy for social justice positions and others who felt his preaching alienated some white church members.

The 2,400-member church, affiliated with the American Baptist Churches and the United Church of Christ, has opposed the Vietnam and Iraq wars and hosted world leaders such as Nelson Mandela.

Muslim teenager files complaint over scarf

TULSA, Okla. (AP) - A Muslim civil rights group has filed a federal complaint on behalf of a Muslim teenager who alleges she was denied a job at Abercrombie & Fitch because she wears a hijab, or head scarf.

The complaint, filed at the Oklahoma City office of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, claims a district manager for the clothing store at Woodland Hills Mall told the girl in late June that the head covering, worn by observant Muslim women, didn't fit the chain's image.

"Employers have a clear legal duty to accommodate the religious practices of their workers," said Razi Hashmi, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations-Oklahoma, which helped the girl file the complaint.

"To deny someone employment because of apparent religious bias goes against long-standing American traditions of tolerance and inclusion."

Under the Civil Rights Act of 1964, employers must reasonably accommodate the religious practices of an employee unless doing so would create an undue hardship for the employer.

A manager at the Tulsa store referred all questions to the corporate office. That office did not return calls.

LOAD-DATE: August 9, 2008

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

CORRECTION:

JOURNAL-CODE: CBTB

ProQuest SuperText

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Grand Rapid Press (Michigan)

August 9, 2008 Saturday

ALL S EDITION

N.Y. church proposes new pastor

SECTION: RELIGION; Pg. C3

LENGTH: 81 words

NEW YORK -- The Riverside Church in Manhattan, a bastion of liberal social justice causes, is a step closer to filling its vacant pulpit, one of the nation's most prominent.

A search committee has unanimously selected the Rev. Brad Braxton, 39, son of a Baptist pastor who led a church in Baltimore. Braxton is a former associate professor at the Vanderbilt University Divinity School in Nashville. If confirmed by the congregation next month, Braxton replaces the retired Rev. James Forbes.

LOAD-DATE: August 11, 2008

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

PUBLICATION-TYPE: Newspaper

JOURNAL-CODE: grp

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Richmond Times Dispatch (Virginia)

August 7, 2008 Thursday

Final Edition

Another Tie

SECTION: EDITORIAL; Pg. A-10

LENGTH: 214 words

Yesterday's editorial, "The Call," discussed Brad Braxton's probable appointment as the new senior minister at New York's legendary Riverside Church. A unanimous search committee has recommended him for the position. The congregation will vote next month.

Born into a church family in Salem, Braxton graduated from the University of Virginia. We noted that his ties to the commonwealth give Virginians traveling to New York an extra incentive to visit Riverside.

An alert reader - a self-described "church nerd" - reminded us of an additional connection between Virginia and the gothic church in Morningside Heights. James Forbes was the immediate past senior minister at the church (an interim senior minister will serve until the official elevation of a full-time successor). From 1965 until 1973, Forbes was pastor of Richmond's St. John's United Holy Church of America; he was campus minister at Virginia Union University from 1968 to 1970. He frequently has preached in the Richmond area. Our friend heard him preach while she was a student at Hollins.

People go to New York to take in shows, to see spectacular sights, to feast at great restaurants, to attend ball games, to shop, and to close deals. Many will find that a pilgrimage to the city's sacred places transcends tourism.

LOAD-DATE: August 9, 2008

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

PUBLICATION-TYPE: Newspaper

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The Roanoke Times (Virginia)

August 7, 2008 Thursday

Metro Edition

AWAITING THE CALL

BYLINE: By Rob Johnson rob.johnson@roanoke.com 981-3234

SECTION: VIRGINIA; Pg. A1

LENGTH: 911 words

Preachers who stir things up are popular at Riverside Church in New York City, and the Rev. Brad Braxton, a native of Salem, is the choice of the congregation's hiring committee as their new leader.

If the church's 2,500 members favor Braxton, 39, in a September vote, he will take the pulpit in a Manhattan landmark that has been visited by Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King Jr.

"The pastor of this church is expected to be a national leader on social issues. This will be something different for Brad," said Carter Turner, an assistant professor of religious studies at Radford University and a high school friend of Braxton, who was salutatorian of the 1987 graduating class at Salem High School and a co-captain of the football team in his senior year. Turner added, "He had a star quality about him. Everyone who knew Brad or encountered him knew he was destined to do something special."

Gerald McDermott, professor of religion at Roanoke College, called Riverside Church "the flagship congregation of liberal Protestantism in the world."

Braxton didn't return phone calls Wednesday, but earlier this week he told The New York Times that he hopes to "continue in that marvelous legacy of congregational care internally, and bold, courageous, prophetic action externally, for which the Riverside Church has been known now for so many years."

He would become the sixth pastor in the church's 75-year history.

Although Braxton was announced on Sunday as the unanimous choice by the Riverside Church search committee, which interviewed 65 candidates, he still needs a two-thirds vote by congregants who attend the service on Sept. 14. The vote is scheduled to be taken after he delivers what church officials describe as his "candidate sermon."

Braxton was ordained in 1991 at Salem's First Baptist Church, where his father, the late Rev. James Braxton, ministered for more than 30 years before his death in 2004 at 75.

Braxton's Salem roots were evident on Friday, when Cheryle Wills, chairwoman of Riverside's search committee, said she phoned him from Manhattan to discuss his candidacy. "He was in Salem visiting his mother, because she had assembled deacons and elders of his dad's church to come and pray for him," she said. "I think that says a lot about him."

Yet Braxton's career has taken him far from home at times. Currently an associate professor of religion at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn., he has studied as a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University in England, earned a Ph.D. in New Testament studies from Emory University in Atlanta and was senior pastor for five years at Douglas Memorial Community Church, an interdenominational congregation in Baltimore, with a reputation for social activism.

Riverside Church, affiliated with two denominations -- the American Baptist Churches and the United Church of Christ -- is a racially diverse congregation. Controversy is nothing new there. The previous minister, the Rev. James Forbes, who retired in 2007 at 71 after 18 years in the pulpit, welcomed gays and Buddhists through the doors of the tall Gothic church at 120th Street and Riverside Drive in Manhattan.

The senior pastor before Forbes, the Rev. William Sloane Coffin Jr., called for an end to the production of nuclear weapons and encouraged attendance by political refugees from Central America.

"Social justice is the anchor at Riverside Church," said Wills, a television and radio entrepreneur who has attended there regularly since moving to New York from Cleveland in 2000. Noting that Braxton is black, Wills said, "If you look at the leadership of black pastors in the U.S., you find that they have represented all of us who have needed a proponent for our individual rights: gays, women and children. All have been propelled by black leaders like Dr. King. A rising tide has lifted all boats."

Braxton's father had something of an activist bent. In the 1960s he successfully lobbied the Salem council to change some street names so they didn't become different when they crossed into historically black neighborhoods.

In Manhattan, Riverside's congregation will require that Braxton live on the Upper West Side, a upscale neighborhood between Central Park and the Hudson River above 59th Street, according to Leah Watkins, a spokeswoman for the church. "Some people who work in Manhattan live in Connecticut, but he's supposed to live close by," she said.

The contract agreement about his salary is still in negotiation, Wills said. She predicted that Braxton's experiences in England and Baltimore, along with his personal skills and intelligence, will help him adapt quickly to life and work in Manhattan: "I think the question will be if New York can keep up with him."

Brad Braxton

Hometown: Salem

Current residence: Nashville, Tenn.

Age: 39

Family: Married to the former Lazetta Rainey; daughter, Karis, 2

Education: Bachelor of Arts, University of Virginia, where he was a Jefferson Scholar; Master of Philosophy in New Testament studies, University of Oxford; Ph.D. in New Testament studies, Emory University

Employment: Currently associate professor of homiletics and New Testament at Vanderbilt University Divinity School

Books authored: "Preaching Paul," Abingdon Press, 2004; "No Longer Slaves: Galatians and African American Experience," The Liturgical Press, 2002; "The Tyranny of Resolution," Society of Biblical Literature, 2000

Lecturing highlights: Has spoken in such diverse settings as Ghana and Westminster Abbey in London

LOAD-DATE: August 8, 2008

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

GRAPHIC: Photo courtesy of Vanderbilt University 1 The Rev. Brad Braxton, a Salem native, has been nominated to lead New York's Riverside Church, famous for its social activism. Photo courtesy of Timothy Jacobsen 2 The Rev. Brad Braxton once served as senior pastor at Douglas Memorial Community Church in Baltimore.Photo courtesy of Timothy Jacobsen 3 The Rev. Brad Braxton greets worshippers at Douglas Memorial Community Church in Baltimore. New York's Riverside Church will vote in September on his candidacy as pastor. Chart Brad Braxton.

PUBLICATION-TYPE: Newspaper

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Richmond Times Dispatch (Virginia)

August 6, 2008 Wednesday

Final Edition

The Call

SECTION: EDITORIAL; Pg. A-8

LENGTH: 454 words

New York's Riverside Church projects a message simultaneously comforting and controversial. Its Gothic edifice imparts timelessness and is a wonder to behold. Affiliated with the United Church of Christ and the American Baptist Church, the interdenominational congregation takes the social gospel seriously.

Riverside benefited from the largess of John D. Rockefeller Jr., yet its pastors have not hesitated to question not only aspects of the American political and economic systems but also the fundamentals. If their answers have not always proved correct, then their challenges have been essential. Riverside has stood for justice, which is not a bad stand - it is a place, moreover, that churches have not always occupied. Critiques of activist communions such as Riverside do not always come from sources whose practices have reflected the Beatitudes or whose sentiments have followed the way of Galilee. History recommends atonement. Faith compels it.

Riverside's roster of preachers includes Henry Emerson Fosdick and William Sloane Coffin; each ranked among the most loved and most reviled clergy of his respective day. Coffin gained national attention for his opposition to the Vietnam War. Once upon a time the secular left welcomed religious-based politics. Coffin also conveyed insights that transcended partisanship, such as: "One trouble with guilt is that it often seeks punishment in order to avoid judgment; for while judgment demands a new way of life, punishment, by assuaging a bit the guilt, makes the old bearable anew."

The Times-Dispatch's Robin Farmer reported yesterday that a search committee has called Brad Braxton to be Riverside's new senior minister. The congregation will vote on the nomination next month. Born into a church family in Salem, Braxton graduated from the University of Virginia. His appointment gladdens the commonwealth.

New York is replete with sacred places. Tourists need not limit themselves to temples of entertainment and commerce, to sites historic and infamous. Sanctuaries of all faiths beckon. An incomplete list features St. Patrick's Cathedral, the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, Fifth Avenue Presbyterian, Temple Emanu-El, Marble Collegiate Church, Trinity Church Wall Street (and St. Paul's Chapel), Abyssinian Baptist Church, Eldridge Street Synagogue, St. Mary the Virgin (a jewel in Times Square - yes, not far indeed from Jimmy's Corner Bar), and Brooklyn's Plymouth Church of the Pilgrims. Neighborhood congregations abound.

When Braxton ascends to Riverside's pulpit, Virginians visiting Gotham will have an extra incentive to attend services on Morningside Heights - and to open themselves to the richness of New York City's religious past and present.

LOAD-DATE: August 7, 2008

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

PUBLICATION-TYPE: Newspaper