Contact: Shakira Brown, Joy Tabernacle Christian Ministries, 877-JOY CHURCH, shakira@pradviser.net; Dena Hawkins, Administrator, 877-JOY CHURCH, www.pradviser.net
NEWARK, Nov. 15 /Christian Newswire/ -- Joy Tabernacle Christian Ministries, a 56 year-old Newark-based ministry, has announced it will welcome De'Andre M. Salter as its new pastor in winter 2007. Pastor De'Andre will succeed his mother, Reverend Emma Salter, who has pastored the Ministry for the last thirteen years. Rev. Emma is proud to make the unprecedented move to transition the Ministry to her son while the church is still vital and growing.
"I am extremely excited about this transitional period. Pastor De'Andre's vision will be a blessing not only to this ministry but the entire body of Christ," said Reverend Emma Salter. Pastor De'Andre will launch new community initiatives with the goal to reach more people in impoverished communities in New Jersey by building diverse partners across racial and socio-economic lines in order to help families prosper spiritually and socially, creating legacies for future generations.
Pastor "D", as young people affectionately call him, is a 35 year-old Newark native that has followed his calling to spread God's word as an elder at Joy Tabernacle while building the largest black-owned specialty insurance brokerage firm, with offices in New Jersey, Delaware and Florida. As a successful entrepreneur, he has been featured on television programs as well as quoted in business publications such as Black Enterprise, Fortune Small Business, NJBIZ and The Newark Star-Ledger, among others. In 2005, he was recognized as one of the top 40 Black executives under 40 by The Network Journal. Pastor D credits his success to the entrepreneurial spirit and strong faith of his family, which boasts five entrepreneurs and three pastors. He believes that God has sent him to set an example and to teach believers how to live a balanced life that is true to scripture. He believes the Ministry's recent wealth is for the sole purpose of accumulating wealth to finance the final expansion of the Gospel before Christ returns and not for the sake of personal gain or self-grandiosity. Leveraging his leadership skills, Pastor D will develop programs that will focus on eliminating poverty via career and educational initiatives. In addition, the Ministry will work to improve the faith, health, and marriages of its members and people in surrounding communities. Most notably, Pastor D will serve as a volunteer pastor to demonstrate to his members that he is committed to utilizing all church funds to support programs that will help his congregation reach new heights.
"Jesus' ideology is concerned with the poor more than any other group and we will be revolutionary in our approach to responding to this critical issue," said Pastor D. "It is time that church members start prospering more than their leaders, isn't that the example Jesus showed us? We will create a model where people will prosper from our vision to uplift and enable those who have been unable to help themselves." The Ministry is currently seeking financial partners who share the same vision.
The revitalized ministry promises to be a progressive, real ministry for people who want something beyond "the show" that has become synonymous with modern ministry. Pastor D added, "I believe the Body of Christ is suffering from a focus on materialism and celebrity, which has caused many faith seekers to enter a church looking for the Word of God, but instead find a show. More transparency and accountability is needed in ministry. In our ministry we are looking to build a church with real worship, real fellowship, real Word and real people. In other words, we think its time for a real ministry revival. If our ministry evolves into a mega church, our primary goal will be to keep it real." Pastor D is also seeking to add strong men of faith to his presbytery to serve as his personal accountability group.
Pastor D is in the process of researching areas in Central New Jersey to expand its reach to the underserved and underdeveloped areas of the State. He has been married to his childhood sweetheart, Christian novelist Terri Jones Salter, author of "Sins of My Mother," for eleven years. They have three children. Pastor D hosts a blog called, "Get Right Church" found at http://pastordeandre.blogspot.com, where he discusses current issues facing the church and potential solutions. He welcomes dialogue with anyone that has suggestion for how to help improve the condition of the Body of Christ.
Joy Tabernacle Christian Ministries was founded in 1953 by Overseer Josephine Byrd under the name of Joy Tabernacle Church of God. The Church focused on saving the lost and serving the disadvantaged of Newark, NJ. In 1993, Rev. Emma Salter was installed as senior pastor of Joy Tabernacle and the church changed its name to Joy Tabernacle Christian Ministries. Under Rev. Salter's leadership Joy Tabernacle has: increased the grades of the primary and secondary level students within the Ministry via its tutoring program and education initiatives; awarded scholarships to high school graduates to attend college; eliminated welfare from the congregation; and increased financial literacy among members to help those who were unemployed become gainfully employed, among many other achievements.
Websites: http://www.joytabernacle.org and http://pastordeandre.blogspot.com
