PHILADELPHIA, PA – On a cold crisp January afternoon, you could hear hammers of laborers working tirelessly on renovations of a building for the location of Eagles Wings Evangelical Church and business/community center, in the Tioga-Nicetown section of Philadelphia. The new owners of the property are Rev. Henry and Rev. Lola Blount, Founders of Eagles Wings Evangelical Church. The building will also serve as a local community center for adults, youth, senior citizens, artists, and entrepreneurs from the local community. Charitable donations are currently being accepted to fund the complete renovation of this project.
To read more visit SCOOP USA Media, January 26, 2021 page 12
PHILADELPHIA, PA 'This is not who we are!' – a trending statement that recently yielded 9.4 billion Google results; a statement echoed and bolstered by idealistic government officials, celebrities, news, and talk show hosts that see America through optimistic rosecolored glasses for what she could be, as opposed to the blunt reality of what she actually is - a scorned racist savage country! On the eve of celebrating the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. National Holiday, January 18, America must wake up from the Dream and realize she’s not changing. America remains a racially divided country under steeper civil and political unrest.
To read more visit SCOOP USA Media, January 15, 2021 page 12
I was recently criticized, as a pastor, for my public criticism of the Capitol Police for not using deadly force against the terrorists that recently breached police barricades and the Capitol Building, in Washington, D.C. One-third of our entire national government leadership, the Legislative Branch of government (e.g. Congressmen and U.S. Senators), and the Vice President of the United States were in that building. Threats to their safety were imminent. Can you imagine if they were taken as hostages, assaulted, or worse killed by these rabid terrorists?
To read more visit SCOOP USA Media, January 12, 2021 page 13
– I’m sure millions around the world would agree that 2020 has been a very challenging year. Globally, the COVID-19 pandemic has killed ten-of-millions of people, shuttered businesses and local economies, and resulted in millions of workers becoming unemployed. For those fortunate enough to maintain employment during this global scourge, finding ways to remain upbeat, productive, and vital in the workplace can be challenging during a pandemic era.
HAPPY EMPLOYEES
Psychologist Ron Friedman, author of The Best Place to Work, reveals why workplace friendships heightens happiness and productivity in the workplace, “Studies indicate that happy employees are more productive, more creative, and provide better client service. They’re less likely to quit or call in sick. What’s more, they act as brand ambassadors outside the office, spreading positive impressions of their company and attracting star performers to their team.”
To read more visit SCOOP USA Media, January 1, 2021 page 13
PHILADELPHIA, PA – The resurging COVID-19 infections and deaths in the nation and locally are heart wrenching. But there is some good news during these troubling times.
Bible Way Baptist Church, a local urban ministry in West Philadelphia, held a pastoral ordination ceremony for three of its ministers, now newly ordained pastors, they are: Rev. Vernal Sims, Rev. Gregory Barber and Rev. Brian Marshall, new pastors serving in the Philadelphia community!
This pastoral ordination ceremony was held on Sunday, November 19, 2020, it was officiated by Rev. Lynn Bethea, Associate Pastor at Bible Way Baptist Church.
To read more visit SCOOP USA Media, December 1, 2020, page 4
With one of the most important Presidential elections in modern history coinciding with a surging coronavirus pandemic, mail-in voting should be a great option to avoid risking infection by standing in line voting. But because it’s 2020, throw normalcy out the window. The U.S. Postal Service has failed America.
America doesn’t trust the Post Office. And for good reason.
The U.S. Postal Service has been embattled, publicly excoriated, and trolled on social media for its overt shenanigans in delayed and undelivered mail. Its newly appointed U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy is shady. To avoid the messy and colossal failure of the post office, people are turning to early voting - and people are turning out in record numbers.
To read more visit SCOOP USA Media, Octobober 30, 2020, page 5
The Gallup Poll and other major national polling groups voted President Obama the Most Admired Man in the World. For me, Obama will always be America’s Perennial President because of his enormous global popularity, upstanding character, and love of people.
During his recent visit to Philadelphia, President Obama made a surprise stop in North Philadelphia at the Hank Gathers Recreation Center, 2501 W. Diamond Street. This surprise visit to one of Philadelphia’s poorest communities is a testament to the compassion and care President Obama has for the disenfranchised, the least of these in America. The Scoop USA Newspaper was one of approximately 25-30 community leaders invited in on this private meeting. This will remain one of my greatest life moments, an esteemed honor and privilege indeed to be in a private meeting with this brilliant leader.
To read more visit SCOOP USA Media, October 27, 2020, page 5
'While it might sound like an excuse, the unfortunate reality is that there is a very limited pool of black talent to recruit from,' NBC News (9/22/2020) recently reported this comment made by Charlie Scharf, Wells Fargo chief executive officer. Scharf's comments were grossly exaggerative and irresponsible rhetoric.
To find Black talent, a talent search team must go where the Black talent exists. Historically Black College and Universities (HBCU) have collegiate interns and alumni represented at some of America's top Fortune 500 companies. I'm curious to know how robust and infiltrating are Wells Fargo's recruiting efforts at these campuses.
To read more visit SCOOP USA Media, September 25, 2020, page 6
Reliability. A great virtue that is noble, indeed, but sorely lacking among many of our leaders today, particularly leaders in our highest levels of government. The new leader of the U.S. Postal Service is Louis DeJoy, and his new policies and personnel shake up within the U.S. Postal Service has caused a national outcry regarding the lag and unreliable delivery of daily mail.
The U.S. Postal Service noble mission is “to provide the nation with reliable, affordable, universal mail service,” but under DeJoy’s leadership, America isn’t getting reliable deliveries it’s been accustomed to.
To read more visit SCOOP USA Media, August 18, 2020, page 4
Running a holiday sale or weekly special? Definitely promote it here to get customers excited about getting a sweet deal.
Our children’s lives deserve more safety planning than the piece-mill approaches that are being bandied about at the local and federal level to return our kids to school. The urgency to bunch our kids on school buses, which is a recipe for high risk exposure to COVID-19, is very concerning. Yes, schools are taking some major precautions to social distance our kids once at school, but if the buses are ill equipped to social distance our children, than the kids are at higher risk for exposure to COVID-19 before they even set foot on their respective K-12 school campus.
To read more visit SCOOP USA Media, July 31, 2020, page 7
The internet and social media are a repository of inane memes, commentaries, trending videos, and goofy shenanigans that sometimes go viral. But the internet and social media are also a repository for vital information, serious political discourse, and a source for legitimate breaking news.
Recently, while reviewing posts across my social media platforms, I came across commentaries about Trump and Betsy DeVos, Secretary - U.S. Department of Education decision to return our kids back to school in the Fall-with no sound comprehensive plans to insure the safety of our kids, teachers and administrators amidst a surging lethal pandemic, with has no vaccine or cure developed.
To read more visit SCOOP USA Media, July 24, 2020, page 4
Philly’s native son Gerald Veasley isn’t just a worldrenowned jazz bassist, he’s an amazing advocate for cultural arts. Veasley, a patron saint of the cultural arts, has played on local, national and international stages, entertaining millions of jazz aficionados worldwide. Now, he’s performing on a different stage. He’s become an outspoken voice advocating for the restoration of $4.4 million in funding for cultural arts in Philadelphia, and restoration of the Office of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy (OACCE) and the Philadelphia Cultural Fund (PCF). Both OACCE and PCF fell victim to recent draconian budget cuts proposed by the Kenney administration.
To read more visit SCOOP USA Media, June 23, 2020, page 4
After 400+ years, African Americans continue to be disrespected, mocked, stereotyped, disenfranchised, routinely discriminated against, racially profiled, disproportionately imprisoned with longer jail time, and murdered by police for non-violent infractions. Racism is too institutionalized. There have been thousands of marches, prayer vigils, rallies, riots and boycotts, and racism still exists in this country. My optimism has run out. I desperately want to be proven wrong. I desperately want to remain optimistic. But history and evidence prove that racism is here to stay.
The first African slaves were imported and traded in America in 1619 (possibly earlier). The U.S. Constitution was written in 1787, and at that time, African slaves and American born African Americans weren't considered humans. In fact, animals had more protective rights in this country than Black slaves. When the Emancipation Proclamation was issued in 1863 to free slaves, the U.S. Constitution had to be amended (13th Amendment) in 1865 to make it unlawful to own slaves in America. Why? Because back then, America couldn't resist keeping its oppressive knee on the necks of Black Americans in this country. This republic didn't want to let go of the free and profitable slave labor force that built this country and enriched millions in the process - - from homeowners to farmers, to small businesses, to big manufacturers, to international companies - owning slaves was profitable for white Americans! In addition, we were scapegoats for whites in America to act out their sadistic-sociopathic-violent-murderous fantasies on Blacks in this country.
To read more visit SCOOP USA Media, June 12, 2020, page 9
“I can’t breathe!” Desperate words uttered by Eric Garner in 2014, while being illegally choked to death by a New York policeman. Eerily, just six years later, after hundreds of protests – after numerous of prayer vigils – after a plethora of justice marches in the streets – after millions of social media posts of disgust and rage – after many more documented cases of police misconduct against African Americans, particularly African American males – the same desperate words were uttered by George Floyd, a Black man, while being brutally choked to death by a former Minneapolis policeman named Derek Chauvin. Chauvin has since been fired and arrested for murder charges for his role in Floyd's death.
“I can’t breathe!” has morphed into a social justice anthem at massive rallies for justice. Just recently, Saturday, May 30, 2020, Philadelphia held a rally that drew hundreds of people in solidarity holding signs, raising pumped fists, kneeling in prayer and marching the city streets in civil protest against the terroristic, illegal and unlawful lethal force of rogue police officers. In the words of Hollywood superstar and Philadelphia native son Will Smith, “Racism is not getting worse, it’s getting filmed!” The rally in Philly started out very peaceful but then things went sideways real quick.
To read more visit SCOOP USA Media, June 2, 2020, page 3
Recently (May 16, 2020), I was given the privilege to present a workshop for a virtual men's conference in Philadelphia. I capitalized on my professional training, experience, and Master's level of education in Counseling to present a session on the topic of mental health, from a Biblical worldview. Surprisingly, millions of Americans quietly suffer from varying forms of mental disorders. And the global shelter- in response to the Coronavirus has exacerbated some of the mental disorders people experience.
According to the National Institute on Mental Health, here are just a few symptoms that a person may have a mental disorder:
•Thoughts or behaviors that interfere with work, family, or social life
•Aches, headaches, digestive problems without a clear cause
•Feeling flat or having trouble feeling positive emotions
•Noticeable changes in mood, energy level, or appetite
•Obsessive thinking or compulsive behavior
•Difficulty sleeping or sleeping too much
•Anger, irritability, or aggressiveness
To read more visit SCOOP USA Media, Friday, May 22, 2020, page 10
It is certainly true, not all White people are racist or wicked. Equally, not all Black people are criminally suspicious. Whites will never understand the state of constant hypervigilance many Blacks exist in. For example, routine encounters with the police, innocent jogs, carrying legal firearms for Blacks can literally draw a deadly outcome for us, versus no such lethal threats posed to our White counterparts.
According to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, research suggests that Black adults were 'most likely to maintain high levels of racism-related hypervigilance (also called anticipatory stress)... Any type of stress can impact health, but none may be quite as toxic as the tension and anxiety people experience when they fear that they will be discriminated against...'
To consistently see injustice perpetrated against Blacks and no punishment meted out to the perpetrators is reminiscent of America's dark history of unchecked institutionalized racism and violence against Blacks. Such recent actions of the two White men in Georgia (the McMichaels), murderers of an innocent Black male jogger, coupled with the avalanche of many other headline-grabbing racial incidents over recent years, triggers more hypervigilance among Blacks.
To read more visit SCOOP USA Media, Friday, May 15, 2020, page 10
In Marvel's blockbuster superhero movie, "Avengers Endgame" - a galactic villain named Thanos dons a bejeweled gauntlet of infinite power. When Thanos snaps his gloved Infinity Gauntlet fingers, half of life throughout the entire universe ceases to exist; resulting in a dystopian Earth and a universe laid in ruin.
Snap!
And just like that, in real life, the COVID-19 Coronavirus has decimated the world economies, taken lives, and rendered millions sick around the world.
Currently, there are 2,565,879 known cases of Coronavirus worldwide, and 177,789 attributable deaths, according to source Worldometer. Every death represents households upended, futures cut short, workers lost forever.
"As confirmed cases of COVID-19 spread, it has the potential to take lives, overwhelm health systems, and trigger lasting geopolitical change. The International Monetary Fund says the global economy now faces its worst downturn since the Great Depression, and Oxfam International has warned that half a billion people could be pushed into poverty. Around the world, desperate efforts are underway to contain what has become a profoundly disruptive outbreak." This isn't an excerpt from a Hollywood blockbuster script, but an actual quote published by the World Economic Forum (WEF).
To read more visit SCOOP USA Media, Friday, April 24, 2020, page 8
Philadelphia, PA – The COVID-19 Coronavirus has everyone making major adjustments, from social distancing, wearing face masks and latex gloves, sanitizing everything, to staying at home to greatly help flatten the curve of spreading the virus exponentially. Even ministries have shut their church doors to honor the stay-at-home orders by the Governor and the White House to help reduce the virus aggressive spread.
Ministries that weren’t so tech-savvy have pivoted to now offer their worship services, prayer gatherings, class offerings and business meetings via social media and streaming services. It’s become a booming trend! Many weddings, baptisms, communion services, and baby dedications are on hold because of social distancing. With Palm Sunday, Good Friday and Easter right around the corner, churches are scrambling to adjust to ministering to members while they are at home under quarantine.
Rev. Dr. Wayne E. Croft, Sr. is a nationally renowned and award-winning clergyman. He’s the Senior Pastor of St. Paul’s Baptist Church in West Chester, Pennsylvania, an affluent suburb of Philadelphia. He is former President of the NAACP West Chester Branch; inductee into the Martin Luther King, Jr. Board of Preachers of Morehouse College; author of the book Unexpected Calls to Unexpected Places; former Dean of the Pennsylvania Eastern Keystone Baptist Association; alumnus of Princeton Theological Seminary; and alumnus with distinction from Drew University in Madison New Jersey earning a Doctor of Ministry degree. Croft is certainly a brilliant scholar and leader, indeed, but even he admits that his tech skills were a little lackluster. He had to lean on his tech staff to pivot the church to live and pre-recorded streaming and social media broadcasts.
To read more visit SCOOP USA Media, Friday, April 3, 2020, page 2
Recently, while listening to New Edition's song 'Boys to Men' (featuring Johnny Gill on lead vocals), I thought of the character of many male youth today, versus the character of male youth of generations' past. Are today's boys ready to become prominent, productive, and positive men of tomorrow?
Many current era males in America are being raised in single parent households headed by females. According to November 2016 Census data, of the 73.7 million kids under the age of 18yrs. old, 23% of these children are living with and being raised by a single mother, it's the "second most common family arrangement" in America.
Ms. Tracy Moore, staff writer for MEL Magazine, reported in an April 2019 article, that "one in four kids under the age of 18 are raised without a father, or about 16.4 million children."
"The statistics on single mother parenting don’t exactly look great. There’s a greater risk of poverty, behavioral problems, suicide, substance abuse and dropping out of high school. Generally speaking, criminals (who are typically male) are more likely to have grown up in a single parent household. Prisons are lousy with fatherless men, and some 92 percent of men currently behind bars are fathers themselves, carrying on the legacy of their own fatherless childhoods," wrote Moore.
To read more visit SCOOP USA Media, Friday, February 14, 2020, page 15
Years ago, when a person was asked if he/she were in a dating relationship, a trendy response was "It's complicated."
Dating relationships can be very complicated. From the angst teens experience in approaching their crush for the first time, to college students experimenting with same sex dating partners, to single moms cautiously dating new guys, to religious folks daring to date others outside their faith, to divorcees finding new love after contentious breakups, to domestic abused and sexually abused victims not fully trusting new dating partners - - dating relationships can indeed be very complicated.
In an article by Christine Switzer - "Dating Problems" - on, she lists the following major issues that can make dating relationships very complicated...
*Different Expectations
*Different Backgrounds
*Inadequate or Nonexistent Boundaries
*Differing Levels of Commitment
*Poor Communication
These aforementioned issues, if not addressed and resolved, can really undermine the health and well-being of potentially good dating relationships.
To read more "Dating" visit SCOOP USA Media, Friday, February 14, 2020, page 15
Over the 2020 Super Bowl weekend, one of my good friends, author Dr. Stephen Jones, challenged me and my wife to write a list of tips for a healthy and successful marriage. As a Pastor and Couples Relationship Counselor, I thought this would be a great activity for me and my wife to work on.
I didn't take this assignment lightly because research reveals how spousal relationships have great impact on workplace performance. In fact, "A surprising new study suggests that personality plays an even bigger role in workplace outcomes than previously thought — but in an unexpected way. Brittany Solomon and Joshua Jackson from Washington University found that while our own personalities influence our job performance, our spouses' personalities are also associated with professional success," reports Dr. Cindi May, a Professor of Psychology at the College of Charleston.
In a Forbes article, Amy Morin, contributor and international bestselling mental strength author, also cites the Washington University study, "The 5-year study examined 5,000 married people who ranged in age from 19 to 89. Approximately 75% of the sample included homes where both spouses worked. Researchers administered a series of psychological tests to assess participant’s scores in five broad areas of personality–openness, extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism, and conscientiousness."
To Read more "Tips for a Healthy Marriage" visit SCOOP USA Media, Friday, February 7, 2020, page 10