Peletah Academic Center for Excellence:

Students Thrive and Achieve Academic Success

Whether based on myth or statistical data, the widely held notion that a student’s prospect for future success can be determined by his or her third-grade reading score is disturbing. This perception labels some students as failures before their ninth birthday. Frequently, it is a view transferred by some to student groups such as minority students in general and particularly, African-American males.

Not willing to accept this perception as an inevitable reality, as Senior Pastor at Peletah Ministries in New Bern, NC, my wife, Pastor Dawn Baldwin Gibson, and I envisioned an academic environment where students could thrive and achieve academic success regardless of ethnicity, zip code, socio-economic condition, or any of the other societal “labels and barriers” used to predict a student’s future success or failure at an early age.

I recognized the daunting challenges this presented, having lived and overcome them myself. Against statistical odds, I earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Management from NC State University and a Master’s Degree in Administration, concentrating in Human Services from Audrey Cohen in New York. I came to realize God’s redemptive power overrides societal labels and barriers and allows not just spiritual growth but growth in other areas, including academic achievement.

Although we understand that public schools strive to meet the needs of students, there are students who yet fall through the proverbial cracks. To provide a safety net environment that many students need, we opened the doors to Peletah Academic Center for Excellence (PACE) on August 21, 2017.

Though a private church-sponsored school for kindergarten through eighth grade, PACE adheres to a rigorous, studentcentered curriculum much aligned to the North Carolina Standard Course of Study where possible. All faculty members are either certified educators or college graduates with bachelor and/or advanced degrees. During this past spring, PACE faculty and staff attended a two-day training at the world-renowned Ron Clark Academy in Atlanta, Georgia. PACE has adopted learning strategies used at the Academy.

In addition, we have been encouraged by the caliber of opportunities opening to our students by a growing list of community partners. These opportunities have allowed students to engage in many real-world learning experiences, while participating in a wide variety of extra-curricular activities from historical re-enactments to community service projects.

In preparation for PACE’s opening, one student attended an education forum in Washington D. C. in late July where she was interviewed by national media and personally met with congressional leaders from across the nation including the Speaker of the House of Representatives. Pastor Dawn Baldwin Gibson says that “this was just one of the many opportunities we hope to present our students with on their journey to becoming ethical, healthy, knowledgeable, well-rounded contributors to family, community, society, and the kingdom of God.”

We are always looking for new partners and donors to participate in this kingdom work. More can be learned about PACE at www.peletahministries.com.

Black Lives Matters: One Pastor’s Perspective

An interview with Elder Barry Squires, Sr. Pastor of St. Peter Baptist Church Ministries, Inc., Aurora, North Carolina.

What’s been your experience with Black Lives Matters (BLM)?

Elder Squires: The majority of my experience with BLM has been through the media. Definitely in its initial state, I was very pro-BLM. From what I understood, it was a very important topic and movement. Even though I supported the movement, it was from a hands-off standpoint. In other words, I’ve never participated in any of the marches or rallies. From the pulpit, I have supported the core, original message of BLM, which initially sought justice for African Americans, especially when it comes to the police and our justice system. From that vein, I was definitely pro-BLM. As with any movement, it can change. Things can branch off and have branched off, to some areas and messages I don’t support.

So it sounds like your opinions have shifted away from BLM?

ES:I have not supported the violence that has taken place in the movement…riots, looting, and violence against the police. I cannot support that. The leaders started the protest because they recognized the fact AA, especially males, were being harmed and killed by the hands of the police…more than any other race in our country. We have an epidemic of violence against black males by our police force. As you look into the history of our country, policing of our people has been an issue since freedom. Even before then, when you consider the Fugitive Slave Act. So, all things considered, BLM has been an important movement as it articulates that “Black Lives Matter.” I think there have been people with other intentions in mind and have used the movement as a cover to bring violence against others and against the police. That’s where the movement lost some of its direction.

Would you support church youth in a march?

ES: Sometimes these marches can be dangerous, I don’t know if I would support a church youth group marching for that reason. When these marches take place and they have no true leadership and no true agenda, it leaves too much room for chaos. There is no one accountable. There is no one leading the movement and saying to the participants “Hey, that’s not what we’re about.”

When I think about Martin Luther King Jr.’s March on Washington [in 1963] and the march on Pettus Bridge [“Bloody Sunday” on March 7, 1965], there was leadership there. When violence erupted, it was because of violence against the people who were being led in a peaceful march.

Do you think BLM movement still has legs? Is it still viable in America?

ES: It ebbs and flows with the anger. When emotions calm down, the marching calms down. In response, the media stops putting out information. For that reason, I think the movement is fizzling out and probably won’t come to light again until there’s some injustice that stirs the people up again to get behind the next name.

Would good leadership give the movement usefulness?

ES: There is value in the movement. Without good leadership, there is no way BLM can be sustained as a movement.

From a Christian point of view, how should we get more involved in BLM?

ES: The reason we continue to have movements like BLM is because of the failure of the church to address racial injustice in America. White Evangelicals say we should not do this. Yes, all lives matter, but they can easily sit back and watch when things happen to black youth and expect us to lay down our differences. Many of them have taken no responsibility in this issue. If the Body of Christ were unified and our white brothers and sisters would actively stand up in response to this type of brutality and say, “This is not right,” I don’t think we would have needed a Black Lives Matter movement.

There is a lot of racially charged rhetoric happening in this country that is truly against what God would have. The hate. The violence. But many [white Christians], say nothing. That’s what gives birth to this type of movement. Their silence. But you know what, they can be. It’s a form of “white privilege” that rears its head in the church.

They won’t take responsibly for the history of hurt and pain that came directly through the church, which they still stand on to this day. There have been some atrocities in this country but now we want to work together to make things right-Today. I just wish the Body of Christ would get involved, take its rightful place, and stand up against the injustices of America. Isn’t that what Christ expects of His disciples?