Reply #4: I hope people recognize how important this is.

[merh]

These church leaders have never come together before.

(snip)

Shaw said an effort to galvanize other African-American denominations is under way. Leaders of other black churches, including the African Methodist Episcopal Church, attended this week's gathering.

Rev. Lewis Baldwin, a Baptist minister and professor of theology and church history at Vanderbilt University, said the joint meeting was the most promising sign of active engagement since the death of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

"Since King passed away, the black church has retreated into reactionary traditions," he said. "Many see a need to reawaken the church to its prophetic mission."

"The history of the civil rights movement shows how potent the black church is," Jemison said. "If we take the time to do what our mothers and fathers have done, we can get things done."