Kevin Cosby, the black Louisville, Ky., pastor who has inspired Cooperative Baptists on matters of race may now have the ear of Hillary Clinton as she prepares for her presidential run.
An Empower West Louisville panel discussion.
The presumptive Democratic candidate attended a racial reconciliation worship service in May at Cosby’s St. Stephen Church in Louisville. It was a combined service with Broadway Baptist Church, a Cooperative Baptist Fellowship congregation whose pastor is Chris Caldwell.
Clinton apparently enjoyed the experience enough to follow up with Cosby, the minister told the Louisville radio show “Saturday Morning Solutions.”
“She was so impressed by what she saw when she visited our church that she has called me three times in the last six weeks to determine if our racial reconciliation strategy is one that can be replicated nationally,” Cosby told the show.
That strategy is embodied in Empower West Louisville, a collaborative campaign to sustain black communities by encouraging African-American business and infrastructure investment.
Cosby has expanded the effort in the past year to include white partners, including participation by the Kentucky Baptist Fellowship. Partnerships have formed with Fellowship ministers and congregations in Louisville.
In June, Cosby was featured speaker at a Friends of Baptist News Global dinner event during the CBF General Assembly in Greensboro, N.C.
Empower West’s coalition of interdenominational faith leaders gather weekly to heighten awareness of the challenges faced by the city’s minority residents.
“She’s very intrigued with our Empower West model,” Cosby said. “I was able to share with her how we are able to bring people of different denominations and races together to work for the common good.”
Related stories:
Prior to Ky. primary, Clinton appears at joint Baptist worship service
Black pastor urges CBF to partner with institutions in the ‘hood’