The members of St. Luke African Methodist Episcopal Church and Rev. Anthony Thomas, Sr. will sponsor a Prayer Breakfast at First Baptist Church, 290 E Winchester Street in Gallatin, Tenn. on March 19 with special guest speaker, Rev. Jamal-Harrison Bryant.
The Prayer Breakfast will take place at 9 am.
Rev. Jamal Bryant is described as “truly a young warrior pastor, in the forefront for the battle against social injustice.” Bryant is a 44-year old pastor and the founder of Empowerment Temples AME Church in Baltimore, Maryland with a membership of 10,000. Noted as the “fastest growing church in AME church history,” the Empowerment Temple has over 30 active ministries with focus on community outreach that includes prison in-reach and re-entry homelessness and social justice. The empowerment academy is a public chafer school, pre K grade that opened in 2003. In 2012 this was one of only seven schools honored by Maryland ‘CAN’ because it is an “opportunity school.”
Bryant received a call from fellow pastors informing him of the shooting death of Trayvon Martin. He arrived within 24 hours following the incident. While there, he visited with other pastors, attorneys and social justice leaders which resulted in a six-week march demanding a full investigation and arrest of George Zimmerman, the shooter.
Bryant simultaneously launched a 2012 ‘Get Out and Vote’ presidential campaign and ‘The Squeeze Is On,’ a nationally organized rally against the Florida Stand Your Ground Law.
Rev. Bryant has made great stands in several other similar cases, such as the 2014 case of Michael Brown from Ferguson, Missouri; town hall meetings in Baltimore City to discuss the issues of police brutality; joblessness and the ‘school to prison pipeline’; the death of Eric Garner from a chokehold and others that are an ongoing plea for ‘change.’
In February of last year, Rev. Bryant was selected by Baltimore’s Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake to co-chair a group that implemented police officers to use body cameras and hosted ‘A Call to Action to end African American Homicides,’ where he served as the moderator; held meetings with clergy and gang leaders following the murder of Freddie Gray while in police custody; and much more.
Jamal Bryant has been interviewed by CNN, MSNBC, and the Today Show because of his influence in Baltimore, Maryland and other crusades of assistance to those in need of a voice.
The public is invited to this prayer breakfast to learn more of Bryant’s thoughts on justice as he will speak on the theme ‘Praying for Our Country.’
St. Luke AME Church is located at 355 Blythe Ave. in Gallatin, Tenn. under the leadership of Rev. Anthony Thomas, Sr.
