Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Video from KCCS presentation to religious leaders
Kent County Religious Leaders Symposium on Vimeo.
November 10 was a great day. About 150 religious leaders from 72 diverse congregations in Kent County gathered with other civic, community and academic leaders at the Pinnacle Center in Hudsonville for the Kent County Religious Leaders Symposium. Many participants have suggested further meetings to keep energy high, and efforts to fulfill this wish are under way.
Thanks to Calvin student videographer Kyle Berkompas for recording the event and creating this short video synopsis.
Througout the event, participants gathered around tables in a "World Cafe" format to discuss issues related to congregations and service.
Doug DeVos, President of Amway Corporation, opened the event with an appeal to cooperate and "think big" about how congregations can work together with the wider community to serve, especially around the education and welfare of children. Doug and his wife Maria donated the study's budget through their family foundation and are eager to begin a philanthropic effort to put the findings to work.
Edwin Hernandez and I (Neil Carlson) presented the findings from Gatherings of Hope, our report on the Kent County Congregations Study.
Dr. Harold Dean Trulear from Howard University eloquently put the KCCS findings in the wider context of increasing academic and policymaker interest in congregations as interfaces with the urban poor.
Danny Cortes from Esperanza spoke stirringly of the value and importance of education and of opportunities to replace old conflictual modes with new cooperative modes.Dr. Charles Warfield of Western Michigan University (and recently elected president of the Kalamazoo NAACP) described the benefits to Kalamazoo of religious cooperation with the community provided by the Northside Ministerial Alliance.
Finally, Joyce Thomas, Regional Administrator for Region II of the Administration for Children and Families in the US Department of Health and Human Services, spoke of the value to society of putting children first.
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