Lee County religious leaders form alliance to help the community

History is being made in Lee County. For the first time, more than a dozen congregations have come together to represent the community as a whole with, as religious leaders come together to form an alliance.

The group is called The Greater Community Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance.

Certain communities, whether because of language barriers or economic status, don’t get the help or resources they need.

This alliance, made up of local pastors, aims to be the voice for those underserved communities and serve as their leadership body.

“I have been preaching going on 49 years. I’ve been in this community since 1987, and I have never, ever seen this many pastors and churches coming together for the greater good of our community,” said Rev. Rickey Anderson, a senior pastor for Followers of Christ Fellowship Ministries.

“There are 15 churches in the Lee County area that are a part of this, that make up this ministerial alliance,” said Leon Williams, a pastor for St. John First Missionary Baptist church.

The alliance has two primary goals.

“First thing that the alliance presents is a shift from the idea of when you talk about communities of color, that there is a leader … they come, they wonder who the leader is, when, truth is, there are many leaders that represent many concerns,” said William Glover, a senior pastor for Mt. Hermon Church. “We’re saying, ‘Hey, if there’s something touching these communities represent, this is the body you interface with.'”

“As everybody knows, children and people of color and the poor are falling behind in STEM studies, and there’s a need to address that to see how we can overcome that. Also, in health care, we understand that the poor are underserved in terms of their health needs,” said Glover. “We want to interface with educational officials. We want to interface with healthcare officials, and of course, with leaders of our municipalities, be they county commissioners or city council people, their infrastructure needs, their housing needs, all sorts of needs that go unaddressed because there is no voice.”

The alliance will be having an installation ceremony at St. John First Missionary Baptist Church on Sunday, Jan. 14, beginning at 6 p.m.