Olu Brown is founder and lead pastor of Impact Church in Atlanta, Georgia. | Impact Church
More than 14 years after launching Impact Church in Atlanta, Georgia, with just 25 volunteers, Olu Brown announced Sunday that he plans to retire as lead pastor of one of the United Methodist Churchâs fastest-growing congregations in June 2022.
The progressive, church which boasts a weekly attendance of 2,400 in-person and 1,600 online, was ranked among the top-five quickest-growing large United Methodist churches in 2019.Â
âWith any call that God gives us for our lives, there will always be a vision. And as we move toward realizing that vision, it becomes clear that the call is much greater than we can ever think or imagine,â Brown, 43, said in his announcement. âImpact is part of my call, and when God gave me the opportunity to partner with 25 launch team volunteers to start this ministry, I knew there would come a time where God would call me beyond Impact Church.
Image: Jessica McGowan / Getty Images
Raphael Warnock
Raphael Warnock has won one of Georgia’s two runoff elections for US Senate: Will he be both a pastor and a politician?
Yes, says, Michael Brewer, a spokesman for the minister’s campaign, “if elected he will remain senior pastor.”
Marla Frederick, professor of religion and culture at Emory University’s Candler School of Theology, told Religion News Service that an active pastor would not be unknown in the political life on Capitol Hill. “There are models for doing both/and,” she said.
“The pastorate is one of these careers, these callings, if you will, where you have to stay in such close contact with everyday people and their concerns,” said Frederick.
When I grew up, literally, the church was the only nonprofit my parents gave money to, said Ho, former executive director of the nonpartisan advocacy group in Georgia.
In American politics, the most prominent blocs of religious voters have historically been Christians: White evangelical voters, who have largely been a Republican stronghold, and Black Protestant voters, who primarily align with Democrats.
Religious Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, or AAPIs, in Georgia and across the country are not a monolith. Their faiths include Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism and other traditions. Yet amid a Black-White political and religious divide, Asian American Christian communities represent untapped voter networks for political parties.
(This story was produced in partnership with Just Media, a national hub for grassroots storytelling on the politics of policing and justice reform.)
The countdown is on for Georgia s runoff elections on Jan. 5, pitting incumbent Republicans David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler against their Democratic challengers, Jon Ossoff and Rev. Dr. Raphael Warnock. With mail-in and early voting in full swing, Georgians of faith are working around the clock to mobilize their communities to vote.
The Democratic Party hopes to draw on Warnock s pastoral background to mobilize Black Christian voters. Warnock is the senior pastor of the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church, the home congregation of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The linkage to King is core to Warnock s candidacy. For churches and many faith-based groups, on the other hand, the focus is nonpartisan. As Pastor Lee May from Transforming Faith Church in Decatur put it, If our people come out to vote, we win.
by Erin Dunigan for the Presbyterian Foundation | Special to Presbyterian News Service
The Rev. Kyle Nolan was ordained Nov. 1 as a ministry relations officer serving the Presbyterian Foundation. (Contributed photo)
JEFFERSONVILLE, Indiana â The Rev. Kyle Nolan is the Presbyterian Foundation’s newest ministry relations officer, serving the Upper Midwest Region, which includes North and South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska and Wisconsin.
He was ordained to the position by the Presbytery of Lake Michigan on November 1.
The Foundation’s team of ministry relations officers help congregations and ministries create a culture of generosity, offering seminars and workshops, developing gifts and fundraising plans for ministries, and providing coaching to finance, stewardship and endowment committees.