Bishop Ming tells the audience that the church
 will make a difference at the ballot on Nov. 7th

The opening night of Fall Convocation 2000 was billed as a  Voter Awareness, Motivation and Empowerment Rally.  

Held at First District Plaza, at 3801 Market Street in Philadelphia, this was Bishop Donald G .K. Ming's first Fall Convocation as the Presiding Prelate of the First Episcopal District.  

At the conclusion of the session, Bishop Ming reminded all that he was glad God had given Him the vision to hold such a voter rally and thanked those who pulled it together, giving special thanks to Reverend Jeffrey Leath.

Rev. Jeffrey Leath extols the crowd to excitement 
during Thursday night's session of the Fall Convocation

"We will make a difference," Bishop Ming vowed to the gathering.  "We will show them we are not just content blacks.  We will make a difference on Nov. 7th."

"We will get to the ballot box  if we have to crawl.  We will get to the ballot box if we have to leap. We will get to the ballot box is we have to run,"   Bishop Ming pushed on, with the gathering of lay and clergy urging him on.

Fall Convocation will be held through Saturday. .Bishop William DeVeaux,  Presiding Prelate of the 16th  Episcopal District will preach the final service on Saturday morning.

This first night of Fall Convocation began with the mission statement to set forth to encourage all in attendance to get out to vote, but more importantly for the churches to help mobilize the vote.

Rev. Kenneth Saunders, worship leader, draws a 
laugh from Bishop Ming and Senate hopeful Jon Corzine

The Reverend Kenneth Saunders, was the versatile worship leader for the event,   He kept the program right on track and covered  smoothly for any minor bumps along the way.  He managed to integrate smoothly the spiritual with the secular, so although this was a political awareness program, it was not unusual for church to break out.

Due to the rigors of campaigning, with the election just around the corner, many of the candidates in the area encompassed by the First  Episcopal District were not in attendance.   The lone exception was Jon Corzine,  the Democrat who is running for New Jersey's seat in the United States Senate.

Corzine ingratiated himself to many just by his mere appearance.  He drew even closer to the gathering of clergy and lay when he said he grew up the son of a poor sharecropper and that he was Methodist.. "Maybe not Methodist exactly like you but we were Methodist."

Senate hopeful Jon Corzine, a New Jersey 
Democrat presents his platform Thursday night

Corzine was self-effacing and gracious.  His platform included establishing minority business initiatives, and a better educational system for urban environments.  Corzine's presence and message both were appreciated.

Other candidates sent representatives to the service to first express their regrets at not being able to attend and secondarily to extol their virtues as candidates.

Intermixed, were  speakers from the denomination, who clearly outlined the reasons it was so important to get out and vote this year.  They explained that the presidential election also would affect the makeup of the Supreme Court for the rest of our lives.

The Rev. Reginald Jackson did a superb job of numerically pointing out how influential the A.M.E. Church could be on the election and that there were several candidates whose election teetered on the African-American vote.

Reverend Vernal Sims lead the charge forward, at the conclusion of the program, reminding all in attendance to use all of the facilities at their avail, including church vans and buses, to help get the voters to the poll.  He urged the people not to disenfranchise themselves by not voting.

The Mt. Zion A.M.E. Church choir performs for the event

The night was all it was billed to be plus a healthy dose of the Holy Spirit stirred up by some spirited music from choirs from Mt. Zion A.M.E. Church in Trenton, N.J.  and Victory Temple A.M.E. from Philadelphia.  The music of Mt. Zion was punctuated by liturgical dance.

One of the liturgical dancers from Mt. Zion A.M.E. Church

Bishop Ming  closed strongly, vowing that  on November 7th, when it was time to vote, "We will make a  difference.  We will show them we are not contented blacks.  We will try to make a difference"