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reprint or license thisState AME leader assumes top post
By CAROLYN CLICK
cclick@thestate.com
Banquet honors new global president
NORTH CHARLESTON — In a celebration that drew 3,000 church members, 21 bishops from around the world and one presidential hopeful, the Right Rev. Preston Warren Williams II was sworn in Monday night as the president of the AME Church’s Global Council of Bishops.
In assuming the denomination’s top administrative post, Williams, bishop of the 7th District of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, said he would focus on social justice themes that the church has pressed through its storied history.
“The main issues are what we read about every day,” Williams said. “It’s hunger. It’s disease. It’s children without parents, rearing themselves.”
Those were themes that resonated with keynote speaker Mark Warner, the former Virginia governor who is considering a bid for the 2008 presidency. The centrist Democrat was elected in Virginia by a coalition that included the black faith community, and he was clearly pleased to be among a potential political base.
But he acknowledged that the support of minority faith groups cannot be earned by simply showing up on Sundays before election day.
“The church is a powerful force for change,” said Warner, who planned to meet with Charleston supporters this morning. “I want to share some of the things we actively did in Virginia.”
The AME Church is no stranger to politics, and the dais, filled with lawmakers as well as clergy, reflected that history. The denomination, with roots in Methodist and Episcopal traditions, was founded in 1787 by Richard Allen, a former slave, to protest against slavery and the ill treatment of black Christians by their white brethren.
Williams said he and Warner had been friends “for some time.”
But James Felder, a former black lawmaker from Columbia, said the politically savvy Williams would not likely be endorsing any presidential candidate soon.
“He’s a cautious kind of fellow,” said Felder, a member of Union Station AME Church in Sumter. “He has not blessed anybody as of yet.”
Williams, the spiritual leader of the state’s 400,000 AMEs since 2004, will serve a one-year term as council president. According to church law, bishops take turns leading the council in order of their initial election as bishop. Williams, the 119th bishop of the church, succeeds Bishop Gregory Ingram, presiding bishop of the 10th Episcopal District in Texas and the church’s 118th elected bishop.
As women and men in elegant evening attire swirled through the Charleston Area Convention Center before the investiture banquet, Williams, 67, was praised as an energetic and compassionate man.
“I know him to be one of the most productive people on the bench,” said Bishop James Davis, spiritual leader of the AME church in South Africa, “with little mouth and a lot of work.”
Williams, a longtime Atlanta pastor before his election as bishop, first to Africa and then to South Carolina, said his energy has not flagged.
“The Bible said he shall give strength to your bones and strength to your flesh.”
The AME’s General Board and the Global Council of Presidents are meeting through Thursday.
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