A search committee previously sued for gender discrimination over its hiring process has announced its pick for the next senior pastor of a prominent New York City congregation considered by some to be the flagship of the Black church in America.
Candidate Kevin R. Johnson, founding pastor of Dare to Imagine Church in Philadelphia, will be recommended for the congregation’s approval to lead the more than 200-year-old Abyssinian Baptist Church, according to an internal church memo obtained by The Associated Press. Church spokesperson LaToya Evans confirmed in a statement that the committee had made its selection.
“The Pulpit Search Committee is confident in Rev. Johnson’s ability to lead and uphold the history and legacy of our institution of faith,” said the memo, dated April 13. “We look forward to presenting the final candidate to you and will announce the date of the congregation vote in the coming days.”
No woman has ever been Abyssinian’s senior pastor; Johnson's selection would continue that streak.
Based in Harlem, Abyssinian became a famous megachurch with the political rise of the Rev. Adam Clayton Powell Jr. perhaps the most influential of the many men who have led the congregation. Powell, pastor from 1937 to 1972, served in Congress for 26 years. Over the years, Abyssinian also has been the spiritual home of many influential New Yorkers, including longtime member and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, the prosecutor bringing the historic hush money case against former President Donald Trump.
If hired, Johnson would fill the top job left vacant after longtime senior pastor Calvin O. Butts III died in 2022. Johnson, 50, had served as an intern and assistant pastor under Butts. He did not respond to the AP’s request for comment but became emotional, crying during one of the Sunday services at Dare to Imagine and making reference to a letter he sent to the congregation in another.
The Rev. Eboni Marshall Turman, a Yale Divinity School professor and Butts’ former assistant pastor, was among the candidates interviewed in the pulpit search, which was criticized for being too long and lacking transparency. After not being named a finalist, Marshall Turman sued the church and the search committee in federal court for gender discrimination, an assertion the church and the committee disputed.
“The blessing of Baptist polity is that we ascribe to the distinctive of the ‘priesthood of all believers,’” Marshall Turman told the AP after learning Johnson was selected. “With the help of God, the power to call a pastor ultimately rests with the congregation. The church still has to vote.”
Johnson is a 1996 graduate of Morehouse College in Atlanta, where he took part in the Martin Luther King, Jr. Chapel Assistants program. He holds a Master of Divinity degree from Union Theological Seminary and a Doctor of Education degree from Columbia University.
He founded Dare to Imagine after a contentious resignation and split with the historic Bright Hope Baptist Church in 2014.
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In this 2013 photo provided by Regina Fleming Photography, Kevin R. Johnson, founding pastor of Dare to Imagine Church in Philadelphia, poses for a portrait in Philadelphia. Johnson has been selected by a pulpit search committee to lead Abyssinian Baptist Church in New York, known by some as the flagship of the Black church in America. Before he can be hired, the congregation will need to approved his candidacy. (Regina Fleming Photography via AP)
The tip of Michigan's mitten struggled through another day without electricity Tuesday as restless residents tried to stay warm while utilities scrambled to restore power in a region waylaid by weekend freezing rain that brought down countless trees and poles.
Schools in several counties were closed again at the top of the Lower Peninsula. Sheriff's deputies armed with chain saws cleared roads and were even delivering oxygen for the homebound. Drivers idled their vehicles in gas station lines that were blocks long.
Northern Michigan lives with crazy weather — Gaylord got 199 inches (5 meters) of snow this winter — but this wave is much different.
“It's an ice situation. The trees and power lines are loaded, literally,” Charlevoix County Sheriff Chuck Vondra said. "Everything is caving in."
More than 170,000 power outages were reported statewide Tuesday night in Michigan, according to poweroutage.us, down from 300,000-plus earlier in the week. But in some areas, entire communities have been without electricity since Saturday.
The Cheboygan County sheriff said residents should consider leaving town if they have another place to stay. Running on generators, Petoskey City Hall and part of Odawa Casino were turned into 24-hour havens for people to warm up and charge phones. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said she was sending the Michigan National Guard to help with restoration efforts.
“The challenge is the debris, impassable roads, and hundreds of downed poles. Each pole takes hours to replace,” said Presque Isle Electric & Gas Co-op, one of many utilities in the region
Petra Tank, 32, of Petoskey said she finally decided to drive 25 miles (40 kilometers) to a friend's home for warmth and a shower Monday.
“I realized, ‘Oh, this is a big deal. We’re not going to be back at work this week,’” said Tank, who has a tailor shop.
“We've been sitting ducks for three days without power, and the morale is officially starting to lower because our homes are only getting colder. … It's just kind of free-for-all,” she told The Associated Press.
The Alpena News in Alpena couldn't publish a newspaper Monday or Tuesday, but it planned to finally have a print edition Wednesday. Managing Editor Torianna Marasco said she posted stories online by traveling outside the area for internet access.
The Mackinac Bridge, a 5-mile (8-kilometer) span connecting Michigan’s two peninsulas, has been closed at times because of thick ice falling from towers and cables.
A relief agency, Convoy of Hope, was loading trucks with food and water for a trip to northern Michigan, said Mike Way, pastor of Center Point Assembly church in Charlevoix.
“Everybody right now is on pins and needles. It's my understanding that more snow and ice are coming," Way said. ”We're not out of the woods yet."
The staff at Tom's Family Market in Onaway used flashlights to help desperate customers find food in a pinch.
“Don’t tell the governor," owner Bryan Madison told The Detroit News, "but we ain’t collecting tax.”
Associated Press writer Tammy Webber contributed to this report.
Piper Kuzel, 5, watches her father, Jesse Kuzel of Charlevoix, Mich., fill gas containers at the Ellsworth Farmers Exchange Tuesday, April 1, 2025, in Ellsworth, Mich., as his family has been using heat from their home's natural gas stove to keep warm with power outages widespread following the ice storm. (Jan-Michael Stump/Traverse City Record-Eagle via AP)
Sgt. Mitch Wallin of the Emmet County Sheriff's Department walks past ice-coated trees as he and Sgt. Tyler Midyett, not pictured, clear branches from along Eppler Road in Petoskey, Mich, Tuesday, April 1, 2025, as cleanup from the weekend's ice storm continues. (Jan-Michael Stump/Traverse City Record-Eagle via AP)
A crew from 5H Irrigation and Maintenance clears downed limbs from yards in Petoskey, Mich., Tuesday, April 1, 2025, as clean up from the weekend's ice storms continues across northern lower Michigan. (Jan-Michael Stump/Traverse City Record-Eagle via AP)
An Antrim County Road Commission crew clears branches and trees hanging near Atwood Road from ice build up Tuesday, April 1, 2025, near Ellsworth, Mich., following weekend storms that deposited as much as one inch of ice over areas of northern lower Michigan. (Jan-Michael Stump/Traverse City Record-Eagle via AP)
Sgt. Tyler Midyett of the Emmet County Sheriff's Department works along with Sgt. Mitch Wallin, not pictured, to clear fallen trees from along Eppler Road in Petoskey, Mich., Tuesday, April 1, 2025, as cleanup from the weekend's ice storm continues. (Jan-Michael Stump/Traverse City Record-Eagle via AP)
Debris and ice-covered trees cover Curtisville Road that turns into Ausable Valley River Road in Oscoda County, Mich. on Tuesday, April 1, 2025. (Kaytie Boomer /The Bay City Times via AP)
This aerial view shows ice-covered trees off of Eggleston Road and Curtisville Road in Oscoda County, Mich. on Tuesday, April 1, 2025. (Kaytie Boomer /The Bay City Times via AP)
This aerial view shows ice-covered trees off of Eggleston Road and Curtisville Road in Oscoda County, Mich. on Tuesday, April 1, 2025. (Kaytie Boomer /The Bay City Times via AP)
Debris and ice-covered trees cover Curtisville Road that turns into Ausable Valley River Road in Oscoda County, Mich. on Tuesday, April 1, 2025. (Kaytie Boomer /The Bay City Times via AP)
