This book represents not only the storms of life which the authors have experienced but also their unquenchable hope for a better tomorrow. For each, the Black church has been not only a source of personal valuation; but it has also been the foundation upon which each has been sustained, renewed, and revived.

The authors hope that the reader of this book will also find something of personal, communal, and spiritual value which will assist them in maintaining hope in a world gone mad.

Readers will find the various roles the Black church has provided over the years, along with some examples which can be replicated in twenty-first-century America.

The authors believe in the immortal words of Dr. Benjamin E. Mays, former president of Morehouse College who said, "It must be borne in the mind that the tragedy in life doesn't lie in not reaching your goal. The tragedy lies in having no goal to reach. It isn't a calamity to die with dreams unfulfilled, but it is a calamity not to dream. It is not a disaster to be unable to capture your ideal, but it is a disaster to have no ideal to capture. It is not a disgrace not to reach the stars, but it is a disgrace to have no stars to reach for. Not failure, but low aim is a sin."

God bless.

Creigs C. Beverly, PhD

Olivia D. Beverly, PhD