Podcasts about pleasant hope baptist church

Houses of faith are becoming powerful agents and actors of improving food security in their own community in ways that go beyond charity. It is organizing the hungry and not just feeding the needy.The largest institution in the Black community, the Black church, replete with offerings to fill multiple needs., from the physical grounds, to classrooms, kitchens, to church vans and buses, to the land, and the people. Pastor Heber Brown III,  launched the Black Church Food Security Network (BCFSN) in 2014 with a garden at his own church, Pleasant Hope Baptist Church in Baltimore,  now they have 250 in the network. BCFN was founded  after he noticed a pattern of hospitalizations related to diet and other issues and was determined to change health outcomes for his congregation. What began with encouraging churches to start gardens on church premises, has since grown to include encouraging congregations to make institutional purchases from Black farmers, host farmers markets, preferably on Sundays after church, and arrange tours of Black farms. www.BCFSN.org      

Tune in for Part 2 of our stimulating discussion with Rev. Dr. Heber Brown III, Senior Minister of Pleasant Hope Baptist Church, and founder of the Black Church Food Security Network.  We unpacked quite a bit during this episode, including:  - Understanding God stands on the side of the oppressed (through the lens Black liberation theology) and thinkers like  Rev. Dr. James Cone (The Cross and The Lynching Tree) and Howard Thurman, author of Jesus and the Disinherited (among other books).  - The essential work of believers in building bridges across generations and empowering ourselves. Check out his work with the Black Church Food Security Network, a partnership between black churches and black farmers around the country.  - Being unapologetic about the beauty of blackness, and seeing this way of moving through the world as linked deeply to a loving and affirming God.  - Why we must build beloved community (in the tradition of the Maroons, formerly enslaved people who set up their own communities), and understanding the unique finger print of God on not only individuals, but church bodies (each has a different calling).  Announcements: Thank you to all who have donated to the podcast! If you're able to send a donation to further our work (on Venmo). We are working on a Patreon page.  Our podcast store is opening soon. In the meantime, get your The Revolution Needs our Joy, Too mug now!  Stay in community with us on IG and Twitter.  Stay tuned for our NEW Instagram Live pop-up series, "Continually Awakening," starting in Feb. 2021, where we make space to keep the conversation going around social justice and faith in between PWF podcast episodes.  Credits: HUGE thank you to my husband, Kes, our podcast editor!  He is also a talented creative entrepreneur, videographer and photographer! You can work with him and explore his work here. 

Jesus came to extend radical love and compassion to "the least of these," (Matthew 25:40) - people pushed to the margins of society. We chat with Rev. Dr. Heber Brown III, Senior Minister at Pleasant Hope Baptist Church, social entrepreneur and activist,  about how he centers social justice in his ministry, the significance of the black church - its origins, roots, pioneering thinkers and theologians - and why we must come to understand Jesus as a community organizer, who came to "preach the good news to the poor." (Luke 4:18)  This is part 1 of our discussion, stay tuned for part 2, released next week, the first Friday of Black History Month.  More on Rev. Dr. Heber Brown, III: He is the Founding Director of Orita’s Cross Freedom School. Based on the Freedom Schools of the 1960's, Dr. Brown works to reconnect Black youth to their African heritage while providing them hands-on learning opportunities to spark their creative genius and build vocational skills.​ Additionally, in 2015 he launched the Black Church Food Security Network a multi-state alliance of congregations working together to inspire health, wealth and power in the Black Community.  The BCFSN accomplishes this by partnering with historically African American churches to establish gardens on church-owned land and cultivates partnerships with African American farmers to create a grassroots, community-led food system. Resources Mentioned During this Episode:  - Black  Baltimore: A New Theory of Community  - Dr. Frances Cress Welsing, author of The Isis Papers: The Keys to the Colors, among other books.  - Rev. Harvey Johnson, Union Baptist Church  Thank you to our Season 2 sponsor:  Earth is an Island Designs makes conscious apparel and household goods  affirming our commitment to a better world, sharing $20 per item purchased for the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic to help repair humanity + our beautiful, all-giving  island Earth. Use the code Invest20 for 20% off your purchase. Earth is an Island Designs has donated $10,560 to progressive causes to date!  Announcements: Our podcast store is opening soon. In the meantime, get your The Revolution Needs our Joy, Too mug now!  Stay in community with us on IG and Twitter.  Stay tuned for our NEW Instagram Live pop-up series, "Continually Awakening," starting in Feb. 2021, where we make space to keep the conversation going around social justice and faith in between PWF podcast episodes.  Credits: HUGE thank you to my husband, Kes, our podcast editor!  He is also a talented creative entrepreneur, videographer and photographer! You can work with him and explore his work here. 

After five years of growing food, The Black Church Food Security Network (BCFSN) found themselves launching a vital mission for the community during the Baltimore Uprising after the death of Freddie Gray. Founded by Pastor Heber Brown, BCFSN started with just a few seeds on the grounds of Pleasant Hope Baptist Church which then morphed into a model that would help black churches utilize their land to grow food, bringing markets and black farmers to the congregation. This episode dives into the relationship between the black church and agriculture, the land being a major asset, along with how churches might need to pivot given the current climate. Pastor Brown also speaks on their latest project: The Black Church Census which will be a gamechanger assess data on black church-owned land! Tune in! *Please note that this episode was pre-recorded.* Powered and distributed by Simplecast. Sponsored by Giant Food.

July 18, 2019 | Black Theology & Leadership Institute: Food Justice Sermon: “Work With Me” Scripture passage: Genesis 2:7, 15-19 Preacher: Rev. Dr. Heber M. Brown, III, community organizer, social entrepreneur, and senior pastor of Pleasant Hope Baptist Church in Baltimore, Maryland

July 16, 2019 | Black Theology & Leadership Institute: Food Justice Sermon: “The Other Joseph Story” Scripture passage: Genesis 47:13-25 Preacher: Rev. Dr. Heber M. Brown, III, community organizer, social entrepreneur, and senior pastor of Pleasant Hope Baptist Church in Baltimore, Maryland

July 14, 2019 | Black Theology & Leadership Institute: Food Justice Sermon: “The Rules Don’t Work for Us” Scripture passage: Numbers 27:1-8 Preacher: Rev. Dr. Heber M. Brown, III, community organizer, social entrepreneur, and senior pastor of Pleasant Hope Baptist Church in Baltimore, Maryland

July 15, 2019 | Black Theology & Leadership Institute: Food Justice Sermon: “Redeeming Deserted Places” Scripture passage: Mark 6:30-42 Preacher: Rev. Dr. Heber M. Brown, III, community organizer, social entrepreneur, and senior pastor of Pleasant Hope Baptist Church in Baltimore, Maryland

Food insecurity refers to USDA’s measure of lack of access, at times, to enough food for an active, healthy life for all household members and limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate foods. Food-insecure households are not necessarily food insecure all the time. Food insecurity may reflect a household’s need to make trade-offs between important basic needs, such as housing or medical bills, and purchasing nutritionally adequate foods. According to Feeding America’s Map the Meal Map, 22.2% of Baltimore City residents and 12. 4% of Washington DC residents are food insecure. There are programmatic/retail and policy food insecurity solutions. Both programs and policies are needed to address food insecurity but for our ORIGINS discussion tonight, we will focus on a few of the innovative programmatic/retail solutions happening in both DC and Baltimore. Our panelists are: Holly Freishtat, the Baltimore City Food Policy Director, Casey Dunajick-DeKnight, the Chief Operating Officer for Good Food Markets and Reverend Heber Brown, III, the Pastor at the Pleasant Hope Baptist Church in Govans (Baltimore neighborhood) and founder of the Black Church Food Security Network. Holly uses a multi-sector perspective and engages with many agencies, nonprofits, community groups and stakeholders to dismantle policy barriers, facilitate new partnerships and leverage funding to implement innovative solutions to address food access issues in Baltimore. Casey joined the Good Food Market team in 2015 and now oversees all the day-to-day operations. Casey will also discuss Oasis Community Partners, the non-profit arm of Good Food Markets that was founded in 2016 with the mission to improve food access and community health in underserved urban food deserts. The inaugural board of directors came together around the opening of Good Food Markets pilot location in early 2015, recognizing the many opportunities to engage Woodridge/Langdon around diet, health and nutrition. Oasis Community Partners strives to improve the health of their community by working with a diverse group of individuals and organizations behind the shared goals of food sovereignty and security. Reverend Heber Brown, III, launched The Black Church Food Security Network in 2015— a grassroots initiative that empowers black churches to establish a sustainable food system to combat the systemic injustices and disparities that plague black Americans, who, according to data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, are sicker and poorer than non-black Americans. The network currently operates at more than 10 congregations in Baltimore, most of which are located in the city’s “food priority areas.” There are also participating churches and farms in D.C., Virginia and North Carolina—and the list is growing. It's HRN's annual summer fund drive, this is when we turn to our listeners and ask that you make a donation to help ensure a bright future for food radio. Help us keep broadcasting the most thought provoking, entertaining, and educational conversations happening in the world of food and beverage. Become a member today! To celebrate our 10th anniversary, we have brand new member gifts available. So snag your favorite new pizza - themed tee shirt or enamel pin today and show the world how much you love HRN, just go to heritageradionetwork.org/donate. ORIGINS is powered by Simplecast.

Can you make sustainable changes in community or neighborhood health without tackling the issue of food and diet? Why is such work so difficult? What is the role of churches and other faith organizations? Our next guest on The Leading Voices in Food is Reverend Darriel Harris and he works on this problem in a variety of ways. About Darriel Harris Darriel Harris is on the cusp of earning his doctorate at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health in the Department of Health, behavior and society, and he has a deep history of engagement with education. He holds a bachelor in electrical engineering from Oregon State, an MBA in organizational management from George Washington University, a graduate certificate in financial management from the University of Maryland, and a master's degree of divinity at Duke University. He looks at issues from a broad range of perspectives. Right now, he is focused on faith-based health communications, neighborhood-related health factors, social determinants of health and community based participatory research. He previously worked as a missionary in South Sudan, is also a pastor at a church in Baltimore, Maryland, and is a founding member of the Black Church Food Security Network. Interview Summary A lot of our listeners might not be familiar with terms like faith-based health communications or social determinants of health. Can you explain? Okay. So those two things are very different. Faith-based health communication means that you're trying to do some type of health behavior change, or some type of health education, so that people can become aware of an issue. And you do that in a religious institution. Usually we call that faith-based. It's done in good ways and in bad ways. Usually when you just use the institution as the gathering place we call that faith-placed. When you institute some aspect of the religion into the messaging itself, then we call that really faith-based--because faith is playing a role and not just as a node where people gather. Let's hone in on that before we get to the social determinants of health because there's some great stuff right there. So you said some people do it well, some people do not so well. Could you give an example from your work and one you've seen that you feel is not executed as well? Sure. So I'm a critic. I'm a critic of the status quo. Essentially the status quo is that some scientists, well meaning, some medical doctor or a public health professional, wants to convey some sort of health messaging to an audience. And so therefore they go to churches or religious bodies because these are natural gathering spaces. But usually once they get there, the language that they use--it's really scientific language which is probably not most appropriate in that setting. Within a religious setting, there's a religious language that is used most often within those religious settings. The surrounding environment puts you in a certain mindset and that community has a language. We need to really, really start honing in on language. Anytime you do education that's meaningful and that's not oppressive, it does require some type of dialogue so people are on equal footing. And the way that science has engaged with faith-based institutions historically has been that they come to the faith based institution and they speak science. They lead with science. And then they leave and they are expecting people within the organization to adjust and to embrace their messaging. So I'm a critic of that. I think that there has to be more of an equal footing. And what I'm proposing is more or less a dialogue where the faith institution and the scientific institution are equal partners on equal footing. So instead of the scientists coming into the body and speaking scientific language, the scientist is going to the faith body and saying, faith body, teach me how to speak in your way. And then someone who's educated and trained to articulate the faith language within that body is going to work with the scientist to come up with the proper messaging. Could you give us an example of how you've been able to do that? So I got this idea while I was working with Professors Ellen Davis from the Duke Divinity School and Peter Morris. They sent me to South Sudan when I graduated from Divinity school. Ellen Davis is like the premier Old Testament scholar living today. Dr. Peter Morris is used to be a student of Ellen Davis. He was the leading health professional for Wake County and now he runs a nonprofit in Raleigh. Ellen Davis has been working in South Sudan for years. She invited Peter Morris to come join her. Peter Morris decided to do that and they've been going to South Sudan year after year after year. I come along and they invited me to join them as well. I went but they pushed this agenda that said go to South Sudan and try to teach people about health. And when I went to South Sudan everyone wants to hear about the Bible. They didn't care about health. I mean, it's not that they didn't care about it, but that wasn't what they were most interested in. So I was there trying to teach them about health and they wanted to hear about the Bible. Professor Ellen Davis with her biblical interpretation kind of lens and mindset--she was really pushing for kind of like a merging of the two. So I did that. And I talked to people about malaria and washing hands with soap through biblical messages. So if we apply that to the American context and we're saying, okay, if I'm a scientist the way it's done now, the worst scenario would be the scientist comes into the church and says people need to eat more fruits and vegetables. If you eat more fruits and vegetables, you'll be healthier. Which is a common message because every doctor says it to most patients every time they go in there. If the scientist is somewhat savvy and is trying to be sensitive to the religious audience that they're working with, maybe they'll give their science-based message and they'll quote, you know, people who eat more fruits and vegetables have a tendency to live longer. They're less likely to get this disease and that disease. But then they'll, they'll marry that with a verse and they'll say the body is a temple of God. Or they'll sing a spiritual him at the end of it. But it's kind of tacked on, it's like an addendum really. So what I'm proposing is to this: if you want to go into that faith institution and you want to teach people about fruits and vegetables, then open up Genesis and talk about how when God created the world. God created vegetation and when God created human beings, male and female, God created them and tells them that fruits and vegetables are to be your meat or the primary ingredient upon what you eat. And so then you can marry in some science. Say, okay, people who do this are live longer, they have healthier lives. But it's a theological basis for the behavior and not simply a scientific basis for the behavior. Has your experience been more successful? And also maybe riffing off your experience in south Sudan? So that's the test, right? My dissertation is to test the effectiveness of those three modes. Those are the three elements of my dissertation: science only, science only with some type of religious reference tacked onto it, which is the status quo, or what I am proposing, which is a true merging. So results pending, results pending. (laughs) But I can say anecdotally in South Sudan, I will go into villages and I would teach these messages to people about mosquito nets and I would talk about how Mary wrapped little baby Jesus in swaddling cloth. And what was the reason that she did that? That this is protective. The reason that she did that is protective. And then we would say if Mary was in South Sudan where the mosquitoes were killing everyone, would she allow her to son to be bitten by mosquitoes? She would put some type of protective cover over the child and people would say oh, Mary would cover the child. Mary will cover the child. And so this is how we would teach 10 health lessons. Somebody would go teach the lessons and the people would say, we've never heard this before. Now I would go into the health clinic and I would see on the wall chart stuff, mosquito vectors, etc. People are constantly talking about malaria and where malaria comes from. But when we taught it, they say, we've never heard this before. Anecdotally, we sent another student after I was there for a year and a half after I came back. Another student went there for a few weeks and he went around and counted the pit latrines in some villages that were there. They had zero pit latrines when I was there. When he came there, there was 100 pit latrines in some of these villages. So just learning about the science was not enough to leverage behavior change? It's not enough. It's not enough. And behavior change is really, really hard. It's a hard thing to get someone to change their behavior because changing their opinion is hard. Right? Which is why we see that in the political sphere. But, it's also in our day-to-day interactions. And so you need every bit of leverage you can get. The biggest thing that they'll do differently is that they'll listen. So when when you present it as a faith argument, faith presentation, at the least, they're open. They're open to it a little longer before they shut their minds off. So it's not a panacea in such that if I come and I preached this message, then everyone's going to follow exactly what I suggest, right? It doesn't quite work like that. But what we're trying to do is what essentially what we learn in seminary. We talk about preaching being something that affects the hearing. And so that's what we're trying to do in speech in general. And so I'm using theology, using the biblical language, using something that somebody already cares about. It allows him to listen and consider it a little longer. And most likely if you're using some type of a biblical reference, then there's something that's going to come up again with even without effort. We know food culture is a very strong pull that's been there for years, but this is another kind of cultural power that could come to be leveraged. So we also talked about this a little while ago, but social determinants of health. I want to come back to that and talk about neighborhood-related health factors, social determinants of health. What are these terms and how does it fit into your work? Social determinants of health means what things are happening around the individual or group of individuals that leads them to exercise their behavior that they practice. So, in my Baltimore context, we have a thing called food deserts, or healthy food prioritization areas, or the newest term is food apartheid. And the reason why that term is has come to fore is because food availability largely falls along racial lines. And in the environments where healthy food is not available you can't expect people to make wise decisions around their food when the only thing that they see is bad food. It becomes normal. So when we talk about people eating better, the social determinant of health is what's available to them. What's the norm within that community? What are the barriers that they have to go through? And how hard is it to buy or purchase, eat healthy food if they want it to. How does your involvement with the Black Church Food Security Network address those things? That's one piece of a larger portfolio of your work, but we would love to hear more about that network and what it's trying to do. So the Black Church Food Security Network is trying to do several things. Baltimore has so many problems, it's really hard to specialize on any one. And so the network is trying to address the food problem. And we use black churches because black churches are in abundance everywhere healthy food is lacking--where healthy food is lacking, there's an abundance of black churches. The goal is to work with the black churches, partner with the black churches, so that they can be vehicles of change, right? We partnered with churches, qe planted gardens in several churches around Baltimore. We have market days, so it kinda like a farmer's market, but it's happening at the natural meeting times of the congregations. We started off with ARK Church in Baltimore city. They had a Wednesday Bible study--midday Bible study. So we started off selling fresh produce at midday Bible study. And then now we've moved on to Pleasant Hope Baptist Church, which is pastored by Reverend Dr. Heber Brown. He's a great, great friend. And he's kinda like the lead of the Black Church Food Security Network. So now at his church on Sundays there's a farmer's market that is set up at the church. So people come to worship service like they always have. And then after worship service, the market is set up and those who desire--and everyone is encouraged to participate--but those who desire can come in and purchase food that's available. You've got a lot of different pieces of work. So what solution or opportunity are you most excited about right now? I's hard to say. I'm excited. So we now have a farm. It's called Strength to Love 2 Farm in my church. My church started the farm before I was ever involved in it. But now it's there. We're trying to figure out how to mature it and see grow to its fullest potential. That farm is in the middle of a neighborhood called Sandtown. Sandtown was the neighborhood where Freddie Gray was from. He is the young man who died in police custody a few years ago. And in response to his death, there was what we like to call the uprising where CVS was burned and there was violence between police officers and high school children. The National Guard was called in. Children were called thugs by the Mayor, by the president. It was a good time in the city because people were awakening to the issues, but it was a very rough time in the city because there was a lot of destruction. Things happened not the way that we wanted them to happen and the city was characterized in the way that was not honest. And that is the ground work for this place-based intervention? Sorry, yes. So you're asking about what makes me excited? And so the farm is right in the middle of that neighborhood. It's 1.5 acres. We're growing food there. We're employing returning citizens, coming home from incarceration, returning home from incarceration. We're selling a large amount of that produce to high end farmer's markets because we're trying to create employment. But then a portion of that food is also going within the neighborhood. So we're solving problems. We sell a portion of that food through the Black Church Food Security Network and we sell some of that food at the farmer's market on Sundays. And it becomes also an educational space. People from all over the city come into one of the areas of the city that frankly is despised. It's a despised area by many people. Most people are afraid to come in there. They don't want anything to do with it. But people will come to learn about the farm and the see the farm to witness it. And so it gives everyone who works there a sense of pride, which is great. Which is one of our huge issues that people here are lacking dignity. And so, any type of positive attention helps build that up. There's a lot of layers to that project, the dignity, the inclusive economic growth, the food security elements, education. I can see why you're excited about that one. It's a lot of layers. So if you wanted to talk about like what social determinant is most impacting why we have some of these food issues? And I would say it's the clustering of poverty. And so whenever we're envisioning putting low income housing or federal housing someplace, they're envisioning putting it in a place that is already highly stressed. Which doesn't make any sense, right? So Heber really liked to say, oh, it's a food desert. But it's not just the food deserts it's an employment desert, all these other things. It's really a life desert. And so people in some of these neighborhoods are dying 20 years younger than the affluent neighborhoods within the same city. We're talking like two miles away. People living there with a 20-year life expectancy difference. So why did that neighborhood get that way? Why did they put all the people who are enduring the most stress in life all in one place? Even with all these different programs, even the farm, it is not enough to overcome all the issues that are associated with it. And so I believe the real issue is to disperse poverty.   Produced by Deborah Hill, Duke World Food Policy Center

In the US food system, communities of color suffer disproportionately from lack of access to affordable, nutritious food. But what happens when you connect growers with their communities? Or when communities grow their own food on Church owned land? In Baltimore, Maryland, and along the I-95 corridor in the southeast United States, you can see this happening through the Black Church Food Security Network. Our next guest on The Leading Voices in Food is Reverend Dr. Heber Brown, who founded this network with the goal of helping churches to grow their own food on church-owned land, and to partner black farmers and urban growers with historically African American congregations to create pipelines for fresh produce. About Heber Brown Reverend Dr. Heber Brown, III, calls himself a community organizer and a social entrepreneur. In 2018 Baltimore Magazine named him a Visionary of the City. He is the senior pastor of Pleasant Hope Baptist Church and holds a doctor of ministry from Wesley Theological Seminary. Interview Summary You advocate for systematic changes to systematic problems, is that right? Absolutely, and the Black Church Food Security Network is very much about a community-controlled alternative food system based on self-sufficiency, and black food and land sovereignty. Help our listeners understand this concept even of self-sufficiency, black food, land sovereignty, what do these things mean and why is it so important today? Absolutely. So in the context of my community and my context of ministry and in the city of Baltimore, I have been exposed to many food-related initiatives that have tried to address the issue of food insecurity, particularly in communities of color. The African American community in the context of Baltimore city. And I've seen a lot of great work be done through these organizations. And I've worked for organizations that also had some relationship to providing direct service to communities as well. And so from the inside, I've been able to see not only the high side and the benefits of those kinds of approaches, but also the limitations on shortcomings. And one of the shortcomings I saw was that when there was not an active desire and intent to invest in local communities' agency, then it furthered a dependency on charity. Charity is great for immediate emergency needs. Charity is not a long term sustainable solution. And so that's where I saw the big gaping holes when it comes to food because food access is all the craze right now. Food security is a buzzword in a lot of big important circles. And while food access and food security and nutrition are all wonderful things to be concerned about, how are we staying equally sensitive to investing in communities, their desire to create their own solutions, right? So I know that you know, many people will say those closest to the problem are also closest to the solution. The question is, are we listening to the solutions that bubble up? And are we privileging those solutions over solutions that are kind of lobbed into a community from the outside? So the Black Church Food Security Network seeks to really honor and listen deeply to what local communities are creating for themselves and what they already have in hand. So much of looking at communities that are challenged by food insecurity focuses on deficiencies, right? The community doesn't have this and they don't have that and we become expert and fluent in speaking, articulating those deficiencies--oftentimes based out of a need to get a grant or to get some type of support. You've got to paint the terrible picture. But when we just paint terrible pictures, we can overlook what these communities already have. So in the context of my community, we had the black church. And some of the listeners may not be as familiar with the black church community. Well I'll just say since the late 1700s with the founding of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, African American denominations and churches have been around in this country. You're talking about from the late 1700s to present day. You don't get much more sustainable than that in my eyes when it comes to an institution created by a historically marginalized community. And so it was important for us to have our work spring from the base of an institution that black folk created for themselves. And have found a way to sustain in the midst of ridiculous odds, right? From from racism, terrorism, racist violence, from the burning of crosses on our land, to fire, arson and fires being started at black churches, from our pastors like my classmate Clementa Pinckney being murdered in Bible study. All of those types of tragedies--the four little girls who were bombed, killed in Sunday school--the Black Church has shown a deep resiliency. It bounces back, no matter what is thrown at it. That's the kind of place I wanted to anchor myself in terms of creating what we organized as a systemic solution to a systemic problem. So African American church communities provide a base of that kind of support and have been a base of support for black people in this country since the late 1700s. That's such a different narrative than we hear in this food space--that incredible strength of platform and the ability of a community to solve its own problems. And so what does it look like for community to have that agency? It looks like heaven! I've never been there, but it's got to look something like that because it's beautiful and intergenerational. I mean, in my church at Pleasant Hope Baptist Church, I had people in my congregation born in every decade from 1920 to the present time. And we all are together every weekend for a few hours together, eating together, laughing, crying together, praying, praising and dancing. The full gamut of the human experience finds a home in the sanctuary is a black church spaces. And so it's powerful to see that kind of connectedness, especially in a time when we are accessable to one another, but not necessarily connected to one another. Right? You want to text me, you want to facebook me, inbox me, DM me, IM me, you can get at me. But it doesn't mean we're connected. I think church spaces where the black church or non-black church spaces and faith communities more broadly concerned, are sacred spaces that still nurtured that connectiveness between communities. And so that's one thing. The other thing that makes it special in the context of the Black Church Food Security Network is you're talking about local institutions and a macro level kind of network and community that owns material assets, right? So you're talking about churches that own commercial or close to commercial kitchens, 15 passenger vans, big spacious parking lots that can be used as staging grounds for farmer's markets and the like, classrooms. And a lot of this goes under used or underutilized from Monday through Saturday. And so it is a part of my great joy to go travel the country, meet with bishops and Pastors and African American church spaces and to tabulate, you know, what are we really talking about? Like if we were to talk about all the land in the country owned by black churches, what is that number? Because that number will change our narratives around how we engage food insecurity and black communities. A lot of that land is sitting there and a lot of churches, all they do is cut the grass every week, make it look pretty and holy. But I talked to bishops and religious leaders and say, listen, that land looks nice, but what if you can see that land as a partner in ministry in your community? To meet a very real need and also serve as a launching pad for the entrepreneurs in your church? For those who are social innovators in your community? This is raw material that if we just organize a little bit better and aligned it, it can be a transformative factor in our neighborhoods. That's so exciting that you've seen the asset in those communities, but then also the greater asset of amplifying that into a network. Could you tell us about the genesis of that network. How did you get started and what does it mean to have a network? Yeah, so this is--the genesis of it for us really sprung from our churches experience at Pleasant Hope Baptist Church in Baltimore. I wanted to do something to positively impact the health of my congregants. I was tired of going to visit with them in the hospital and they had diet-related issues. And seminary just taught me to give a prayer and scripture and leave. I was like, nah, there's something I got to do. Something more than that. I mean I love prayer and I love scripture, but what else can we do? And that's where the idea came for us to develop a connection with controlling our food sources. Initially I was going to partner with this fresh food market across the street from our church. But the prices were crazy. And I did not want to lead my congregation in another partnership that saw us subservient to another community' desire or lack of desire to help like that is dehumanizing and toxic. That's a toxic charity that I didn't want to lead my church into. So instead of doing that, I said, listen, I came back to the church, God gave me this epiphany. And I was walking at the front door of my congregation, this little piece of our front yard--I have walked past it hundreds of times. But that one time I saw a vision for a garden on that land. And so we started growing eight years ago. It is a 1,500 square-foot plot of land and because of the leadership of some beautiful people in our church, we grow about 11 or 1,200 pounds of produce on a 1,500 square foot garden in the front yard. So I saw that. And I saw, and this is the first time I'm sharing an interview forum since the passing of sister Maxine Nicholas, who was the patron saint of our garden, the mother of our garden. God gave me this vision for a garden, but I was born in Baltimore city. My roots are here in North Carolina, but I was born in West Baltimore. I don't have a green thumb. I spoke to a vision and a woman, a dynamic woman by the name of Maxine Nicholas, stepped forward, said pastor, let me help you with that. You all don't know what you're doing. She grew up in Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina on a farm with 11 brothers and sisters and moved up north during the great migration. But that knowledge and that history and that background experience stayed with her. She transformed that garden. And just last Friday, just last week, we celebrated her life. She passed away at 87 years old. She was a member of Pleasant Hope for 64 years and she is a major part as to why and how I dreamed of something bigger. So I saw what she was able to do without one church. And then I realized all these African Americans that moved north during the great migration. Grew up on farms or grew up in an agrarian society. And while they may have come to Baltimore and came up north to work in factories, that knowledge was still in them. And they were sitting in our pews and our churches--being good ushers, being good choir members, good musicians, you know, all that kinda good stuff. But there was something more in them that the church wasn't seeing. So I am again excited about ways to take our one church's experience and replicate it, scale it, scale it up and scale it deep. But other churches, knowing that many of the people who fit the profile of a Ms. Maxine, they are also there at many of these other churches, looking for and hungry for opportunities to show that they still got something to contribute to all of this. So we come to these nice conferences around food security and the light, and you see a lot of younger people and young professionals and advocates and that's cool. But the people that I see on the front lines of changing the material conditions of their community around food at these local black churches are older, African American women in particular. African American women ages 55 and older are the ones who are on the front lines of these churches. Growing food, leading the food initiatives and the like. What was Ms. Maxine able to accomplish? It's important for people to know there's a garden, but it sounds like it's so much more. Yeah. Oh, I'm going to cry. I miss my friend. I never knew that, you know, when God called me to pastor at church, I had this idea you go in and you preach and you're teaching and go home. But no, I've learned you really fall in love with people and I never knew that I would have close friends who are in the AARP Club, right? Seventy-five, 80 years old. And they're my buddies. Maxine was my buddy. She was the one who had the strength. I would say she had the strength of 10 teenagers. She'd be in our church garden early 6:00 AM. She's in the garden already. And by the time I pull up to start my day at the church, she's leaving out. All right, pastor have a good day! She had that work ethic, that tenacity around the garden. She had a no nonsense way of like, she knew what you wanted in that garden and you are going to do it the way Sister Maxine said you should do it. And we learned to follow and trust her leadership and it's yielded so many benefits for us, but she brought that real tenacity to really grow our garden. Her life experience. And just the work ethic to really move it forward. And here's the thing. She is not unique, at least in that she's not unique in that in that. There's a profile of these kinds of people and particularly these women, black women who were at all these churches. And I know the nation is just mesmerized by charismatic black male leaders, right? Dr. King and the Rev. Jesse Jackson much respect--just in case they're listening. Much respect to you, Reverend Jackson. And all the rest. But there's another part of that story that without an Ella Baker, without a Fannie Lou Hamer, without a Maxine Nicholas, these historic moments in our history where the black church communities were concerned or connected would not have happened. Charismatic male leaders and personalities and programmatic ideas just don't do it alone. And so I really think that, you know, a lot of people talking about black women when it comes to the body politic. Well, it comes to politics right now, right? And so look into the way black women vote and how that makes a difference in different elections. Watching and studying and seeing and honoring black women, how they move in black church spaces. So it might be a majority men at the mic, but be clear without the women that don't work. And so that holds across different churches. And I'm just so honored to go and sit at the feet of many of these dynamic women and hear their stories because just like I could tell you about Maxine Nicholas at our church. I can tell you about Patsy Appleberry in Ohio. At her church I can tell you about sister Murray Edwards at her church in Richmond, Virginia. These are dynamic women who I think we need to do much more in the way of listening to and hearing. And hearing while they're here because they have some ingredients and insight to the topic of food equality and food equity that we need to be sensitive to. You talk about food apartheid and I think that might be a pretty new term for a lot of folks. So could you define that for our audience and how that manifests in Baltimore? Yeah. Really it is just the challenge to the term food deserts, food deserts, you know, a desert for the most part is a naturally occurring phenomena. It's something that's a part of our lived, you know, experience. Right? And if you're not careful, you can conclude that "food deserts," just happen. Like all of a sudden it just happened out of the blue and that's really just not the case. Food apartheid points to the policies, points to the specific behavior of local municipalities to create neighborhoods that don't have access to resources, or control over their resources. It didn't just happen. So what I see with the word food apartheid is one--an attempt to rightly name and target the dynamics that created the outcome, and then two, to really give it the weightiness that it needs, right? The word apartheid strikes. It hits a certain lands a certain way in our hearing. And apartheid has that weightiness and that heaviness that really describes for me the severity and urgency of this issue. It has not only health ramifications, but economic, environmental--going down the line. There's something we need to figure out and we need to honor the weightiness of the issue and a food apartheid for me does more right now and to honor that. Is that a conversation that you have within your own congregation? Well, we speak to this. It's a term that I use. I've actually had a sermon Redeeming the Deserts--where I talk about a challenge to the term food desert and using scripture. And Jesus performed a miracle one time in the desert and life was there. It just was not recognized easily and in these "food desert" communities--we run the risk of labeling them and saying there's nothing of value there and it's just not true. And so it is a term that we utilize. It's one that I preach about and teach about in my congregation as well. There's such momentum here and it seems like you've been able to do so much in growing the network, but what's next? What are you most excited about and what are some next steps? Oh, well, what's next is I'm working with my congregation to help groom up young adults in our church to really grab this and see this black food and land sovereignty as an aspect and dimension of their spirituality and faith formation. Not just as an aside, or just something that's purely about my professional career. I'm really working with them to see the ministry applications of all of this and at least put it on their radar that they can be a different kind of minister. So they're going to see me preaching every Sunday and say, well, no, I have not been called to that. And I said, listen, every minister doesn't preach on Sunday. We need ministers of information. Ministers of research. Ministers of public policy. Ministers who have, I don't know if I created this term or not, but we need more congregational organizers as opposed to just community organizers. Those who are sensitive to the nuances of congregational life and can bring community organizing principles and a congregational mobilization principals together, and move congregations toward grabbing hold of and securing different objectives and aims. And so I'm really investing in our young adults. I'm going big next year with our church budget to invest in and to create employment opportunities for our young adults. Our Church owns a house as well. We want to get into intentional community and give the young adults a house. We want to put all the supports in place so that they don't have to worry about, so they can bend their genius in the direction--and their creativity in the direction--of figuring out the problem of food inequity and have a church support that. So this is a gamble. I'm not seeing churches create cold storage units on their land and giving young adults houses and steering the budget towards employing them. But I'm trying to do everything I can to inspire young adults to really grab hold of this while we have the elders still with us. I need the elders and these young adults to be together and I see that the investment financially that we're making, the young adults can help that, make that more possible. And so we'll see how it goes. But that's the big thing I'm excited about. If it doesn't go well, I come back next time and tell you it failed. Don't do this. We often hear of the youth engagement, but it's never tied to try and engage them with the elders. I think as far as the dialogues I'm familiar with. What is the difference between community organizing principles and congregational organizing? It's a sensitivity to just the mores and the characteristics of congregational life. So if you work in corporate America, if you work at a university even, there's a certain way that the university or the corporation moves. A certain, you know--behave this certain way. All of that is a part of it. The church has that too. And so, you know, while I have a lot of friends of mine who will come to church and call me Heber and I'm cool. That's my, that's my name. I'm Heber. But that will rile the nerves of the mothers of my church because you do not call the pastor by the pastor's first name. At least in a lot of black church tradition. You don't do that. Somebody sensitive to that kind of stuff. And it might seem small, but that might be the difference between whether or not a mother works with you on your project or not. Or whether they return your call. Or they do your survey. And so I see there's some work to be done there to grow up congregational organizers who know about that kind of stuff. Know where the land mines in churches are, where you want to stay away from. What language do you want to use. Even if you prefer to use a different language, how do you bend your tongue to speak the language that's most familiar to the people in front of you so that you can get to where you're trying to go. Right? As opposed to trying to make 70 year old Maxine do it your way or make them line up with your understanding. Good luck with that. You know, it's better in my view, to be more sensitive to where that community is. And it's those kinds of sensitivities that I love to help inspire in our young people today. Produced by Duke World Food Policy Center

Do churches have a responsibility for the physical health of their members? Rev. Dr. Heber Brown, III a community organizer, social entrepreneur and Senior Pastor of Pleasant Hope Baptist Church joined The Rural Health Voice to discuss how churches and other members of the faith based community can address health on a very local level. Links: Black Church Food Security Network Coalition for Healthier Eating Farming While Black

On this special edition of Midday observing Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, 2019, three conversations around three areas that defined Dr. King’s work: economic justice; non-violent resistance and dreaming of a future where hard work and talent are rewarded, without regard to race. Later in the broadcast (and posted sequentially on our Webpage and podcast stream), we’ll hear an interview I conducted with the peace activist Elizabeth McAlister, to whom Tom spoke earlier this month from her jail in Georgia, where she is awaiting trial after an anti-nuclear protest at a US naval base, where she and six others were arrested last April. We’ll also meet a gifted and compelling 10 year-old girl named Charlie Martin, who is this year’s winner in the Dream Big Essay Contest for Baltimore City public school children. We’ll hear about her dreams of becoming a writer. We begin today with a conversation about the American Dream, and how access to that dream has evolved for African Americans since King’s movement in the 1960s. President Donald Trump often asserts that Black unemployment is at an historic low. We’ll examine that claim, and talk about a report released last year by the Associated Black Charities that analyzed employment rates in Baltimore City through the lens of race. Tom's guests are Anirban Basu, the chairman and CEO of the Sage Policy Group, and the chair of the Maryland Economic Development Commission. He also hosts the Morning Economic Report here on WYPR…And the Rev. Dr. Heber Brown III is pastor at the Pleasant Hope Baptist Church in Baltimore, and the founder and executive director of Orita’s Cross Freedom School, and the Black Church Food Security Network.

Today, we mark the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., with a reflection on his work, legacy, and a discussion about the state of Civil Rights in America today. Fifty years later, what has changed for people of color and economically underserved populations in our country?Tom is joined in Studio A by, Rev. Dr. Heber Brown, Senior Pastor of Pleasant Hope Baptist Church and founder of Orita's Cross Freedom School; and Rev. Dr. C Anthony Hunt, Senior Pastor of Epworth United Methodist Chapel and King scholar.Joining us from NPR studios in DC is Myesha Braden, Director for the Criminal Justice Project at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.

Baltimore restaurateur John Shields joins Dan for a conversation with the Rev. Heber Brown III, pastor at Pleasant Hope Baptist Church, about the Black Church Food Security Network. This is an effort to use churches to influence their members to not only eat healthier foods, but to eat what they grow or what African-American farmers grow. The network, with eight churches, is having its second annual launch event on Saturday, March 17 at New Creation Christian Church. The program hopes to double the number of church gardens in the network this season and to connect neighborhoods that need fresh produce with black farmers in Virginia and North Carolina.Links:http://www.baltimoresun.com/features/bs-hs-faith-communities-health-programs-20170508-story.htmlhttp://www.blackchurchfoodsecurity.net/home.htmlhttp://www.blackchurchfoodsecurity.net/events.html

February 26, 2018 - Russian Meddling in Baltimore - We begin a new series, "Different Takes: Russia and the New Election." Our conversation starts right here in Baltimore with the Rev. Dr. Heber Brown, Pastor of Pleasant Hope Baptist Church, who talks about his encounter with Russian interference during the Freddie Gray uprising, through discovering the Russian-created Facebook page called The Blacktivist.

Listen to a Special Broadcast of The Michael Imhotep Show, Sat. April 30th., 11am-1pm EST with host Michael Imhotep founder of The African History Network on Blog Talk Radio. We will also broadcast on Facebook LIVE. Visit our Facebook FanPage "The African History Network" to watch LIVE at https://www.facebook.com/The-African-History-Network-186625219983/.  1) Hip Hop Artist Lil Kim recently posted Instagram photos that were unrecognizable.  We dealt with Colorism, Self Hatred and the Effects of White Supremacy. Lil Kim is suffering from low self esteem. We have to protect our daughters from this type of behavior. 2) Harriet Tubman is going to be the new face of the $20 Bill. Is this a good thing since African American Women are devalued in this society?  We'll discuss why this is a slap in the face to African American Women. 3) Since Prince passed on April 21st, 2016 a lot of information has come out about his humanitarianism, philanthropy and knowledge of history. We discuss Prince being Unapologetically Black, studying Dr. John Henrik Clarke and more.  4) This date in African American History - Muhammad Ali refuses the draft. http://theafricanhistorynetwork.net/Events BALTIMORE: FREE EVENT - Sat. April 30th, 2016, 6:00pm-10:00pm Reality Speaks Of Solviaz Nation presents a presentation by Michael Imhotep founder of The African History Network, "Redistributing The Pain: How African Americans Historically Fought Back With Economic Boycotts & Cooperative Economics".  Pleasant Hope Baptist Church, 430 East Belvedere Ave., Baltimore, MD 21212

Listen to the podcast “Lil Kim, Colorism, Self Hatred and White Supremacy/Did Prince Have A Will” from “The Michael Imhotep Show”, Wednesday, April 27th, 2016 Listen online at http://tunein.com/radio/Empowerment-Radio-Network-s199313/ or by downloading the "TuneIn Radio" app to your smartphone and search for "Empowerment Radio Network" or at www.AfricanHistoryNetwork.com and for the podcasts. 1) We did a recap of the Tuesday primaries in 5 States. What's next for Sen. Bernie Sanders?  2) Hip Hop Artist Lil Kim recently posted Instagram photos that were unrecognizable.  We dealt with Colorism, Self Hatred and the Effects of White Supremacy.  3) Tyka Nelson, Prince's Sister said to her knowledge, he did not have a will.  What does this mean for his $300 million empire?  4. Detroit you win a National Chess Title. 5) This date in African American History. Visit www.AfricanHistoryNetwork.com for DVDs by Michael Imhotep and documentaries like "Hidden Colors", "Out of Darkness" and "Resurrecting Black Wallstreet The Blueprint". https://www.facebook.com/events/1085860484803893/ BALTIMORE: FREE EVENT - Sat. April 30th, 2016, 6:00pm-10:00pm Reality Speaks Of Solviaz Nation Event presents a presentation by Michael Imhotep founder of The African History Network, "Redistributing The Pain: How African Americans Historically Fought Back With Economic Boycotts & Cooperative Economics".  Pleasant Hope Baptist Church, 430 East Belvedere Ave., Baltimore, MD 21212

Listen to The Michael Imhotep Show, Tuesday, April, 26th, 10pm-12midnight EST with host Michael Imhotep of The African History Network.   CALL IN WITH Questions/Comments at 1-888-669-2281.  POST YOUR COMMENTS.  WE MAY READ THEM ON AIR.  Listen online at http://tunein.com/radio/Empowerment-Radio-Network-s199313/ or by downloading the "TuneIn Radio" app to your smartphone and search for "Empowerment Radio Network" or at www.AfricanHistoryNetwork.com for more info and podcasts. 1) Dashcam Footage Shows Fla. Deputies Discussing Whether to Rescue Drowning Girls in Stolen Car. 2) Prince the humanitarian and student of African History. A lot more information about Prince, what he studied and his philanthropy have been revealed and it's fantastic. 3) R&B singer Bill Paul has died at age 81. https://www.facebook.com/events/1085860484803893/ BALTIMORE: FREE EVENT - Sat. April 30th, 2016, 6:00pm-10:00pm Reality Speaks Of Solviaz Nation Event presents a presentation by Michael Imhotep founder of The African History Network, "Redistributing The Pain: How African Americans Historically Fought Back With Economic Boycotts & Cooperative Economics".  Pleasant Hope Baptist Church, 430 East Belvedere Ave., Baltimore, MD 21212