The WNBA players have been outspoken about social injustice and racial inequality. After Atlanta Dream co-owner Kelly Loefflerissued a statement against the Black Lives Matter movement in June, Dream and other WNBA players begin to wearshirts “Vote Warnock” in support of Raphael Warnock.
We are @wnba players, but like the late, great John Lewis said, we are also ordinary people with extraordinary vision. @ReverendWarnock has spent his life fighting for the people and we need him in Washington. Join the movement for a better Georgia at https://t.co/hC8iF9urakpic.twitter.com/mvN5e9m4oO
I am honored and humbled by the overwhelming support from the @WNBA players. This movement gives us the opportunity to fight for what we believe in, and I stand by all athletes promoting social justice on and off the court. #BlackLivesMatter
— Reverend Raphael Warnock (@ReverendWarnock) August 4, 2020
Rev. Raphael Warnock is the senior pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church, the same Atlanta church where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., preached. Warnock is also the democratic challenger running against Loeffler for her Georgia senate seat and now he has gained the backing of religious leaders in Georgia.
Below is an open letter from Pastor Jamal Bryant, 49, Senior Pastor of the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia, Georgia.
The record-breaking turnout during the first few days of early voting has shown that voters in Georgia are engaged, excited and ready to make their voices heard in the 2020 election. It also shows that many Georgians are concerned with the direction of our state and our country and that there is a desire for new, audacious and progressive leadership. We know what’s at stake because we are living in the surreality of a year unrivaled by anything we’ve ever experienced. The COVID-19 global pandemic has proven the fragility of so much that we take for granted and has affirmed that without question – leadership matters.
As Bishops, Pastors and faith leaders, many of us have been stretched beyond our perceived capacity to lead families and communities through the unprecedented chaos and calamity of 2020. We have endeavored to stay positive, encouraging and hopeful even as so many who look to us for guidance and assurance find themselves closer to the brink of financial, emotional and mental ruin. Indeed, these are perilous times, but our faith teaches us that hope and optimism is always available to us if we earnestly and actively pursue it. A glimmer of hope can present itself in many forms but for this state and in this season, hope is personified by the opportunity to elect a transformational leader like Dr. Raphael Warnock to the United States Senate.
We stand united behind Raphael Warnock because he is the principled and progressive leader that Georgia and this country needs. He will be an authentic and effective voice in the Senate. He will be uncompromising in the fight to protect the interest of working families in our state and he will bring civility and grace to our politics which is too often divisive and vitriolic at the expense of progress. He competently wields the spirit of an activist with the heart of a bridge-builder. He is steeped in the tradition of Martin Luther King, Jr., Congressman John Lewis and Fannie Lou Hamer to organize, strategize and mobilize those of good will in the pursuit of fairness, equity and justice for those too often marginalized and unseen by our decision makers. As a Pastor, he understands who and what he is fighting for; and he realizes that to achieve transformative progress for communities in need, it will take all of us working together and pulling together in one direction.
As Georgians from every corner of the state head to the polls in this election, we are blessed to have Raphael Warnock fighting for us. A Morehouse man, rooted in good Savannah soil, Warnock represents the next best opportunity to make real the promise of what Henry Grady and Maynard Jackson called, the New South, ripe with opportunity and prosperity for all God’s children. This is our moment to forge a new path, to illuminate a new perspective and to turn up the volume with a new voice in DC – Raphael Warnock.
United in Faith for Rev. Raphael Warnock
Alonia Jones, Dream to Destiny Ministries, Inc.
Bishop Frances V. Mills, Tabernacle of Faith Christian Church
Bishop Johnathan Alvarado, D.min, Senior Pastor of Grace Church International
Bishop Kent Branch, Pilgrim Cathedral
Bishop Ruth W. Smith, Light of the World Covenant Fellowship Worldwide, Stockbridge, Ga.
Bishop William H. Murphy, III, The dReam Center Church of Atlanta
Dean, The Joint College of African American Pentecostal Bishops
Dr. Brian Keith Hodges, Gathering of Champions Church, Marietta, Ga.
Dr. Craig L. Oliver, Pastor of Elizabeth Baptist Church
Dr. Francys Georgia, Pastor in Statesboro, Georgia
Dr. Francys Johnson, Magnolia Baptist Church, Statesboro, Ga.
Dr. Grace C. Washington, Pastor of Love Life Christian Fellowship Church
Dr. I. E. Mack, Pastor of Unionville Baptist Church
Dr. Jamal Harrison Bryant, Senior Pastor, New Birth Missionary Baptist Church
Dr. Martha Simmons
Hud J.A. Nation of Islam, Columbus, Georgia
Judge Penny Brown Reynolds, Ordained minister
Ms. Armelia Cartier, Faith Leader Activist Hosea Williams feed the homeless
Pastor Bob Thompson, Founder Compassionate Atlanta
Pastor Charles Hamilton, Pastor of New Morning Light Baptist Church
Pastor Christine Chavis, Atlanta, Georgia
Pastor Emeritus Gerald Durley, Providence Missionary Baptist
Pastor Karl D. Moore, Clarkston First Baptist Church
Pastor Le’Zaire D. Reese, Pastor of Shiloh Baptist Church
Pastor Tyler Joshua Green, Founder/President of The United Churches of America
Pastor Wanda Ackles, Senior Pastor of New Directions Ministries
Pastor Will D. Hayes, Pastor Atlanta, Georgia
Rabbi Edward Harwitz, Head of school, Weber School
Rabbi Peter Berg, The Temple Atlanta
Reverend Adrian Burgess, St. Mary’s Rd. United Methodist, Columbus, Georgia
Reverend Rev. Adrian Chester, Greater Beallwood Baptist Church, Columbus, Ga.
Reverend Adrienne Fenner, clergy Atlanta, Ga.
Reverend Alan Jenkins, Social activist and humanist Atlanta
Reverend Allen Hollie, Green Forest Baptist Church, Atlanta
Reverend Allison Henderson-Brooks, MDiv.
Reverend Andre Osbourne, Savannah
Reverend Andrea Franklin True Vine Worship and Deliverance Center, Columbus, Georgia
Reverend Annika Culbreath, Associate Pastor Greater Piney Grove Baptist Church
Reverend Antonio Grissom, Sr. Chapel Hill Baptist Church, Atlanta
Reverend Basean Jackson, Lead Pastor of Fellowship of Love Church
Reverend Bernard Clark, African Methodist Episcopal Church clergy
Reverend Brady Radford, Pastor of Trinity Presbyterian Church, Decatur, Ga.
Reverend Brandon Johnson, Atlanta, Georgia
Reverend Brian Tillman
Reverend Brittany Powell, Pastor and activist
Reverend Burrell Billingslea, Seminarian ITC
Reverend Candace White, Seminary graduate of ITC 2020
Reverend Cassandry Redmond Keys, CME District Superintendent Greenville, SC
Reverend Charles Fischer, III, Episcopal clergy former Rector of St. Paul’s Episcopal, Atlanta
Reverend Chaz Gipson, Associate Pastor Beulah Baptist Church, Atlanta, Ga.
Reverend Cherry Devore, Clergy in Atlanta
Reverend Rev. Chester Ellis, St. Paul Baptist Church, Savannah
Reverend Christi Jackson, associate Pastor Mt. Ephraim Baptist Church
Reverend CJ White (President Emerita), Morehouse School of Religion Baptist Fellowship
Reverend Rev. Clarence “Teddy” Williams Pilgrim Baptist Church, Savannah
