Love Akron is practically an Akron institution. But it wasn't always that way. Pastor Mark Ford shared with us how Love Akron came about.
Mark Ford, Director of Love Akron, said it began as a crisis situation. We are in a civil war of vitriol. As a Pastor he noticed that churches were not working together. They didn’t know each others names and were competitive. Church news was bad news.In 1983 he became friends with Dr. Ron Flower a black Pastor. They decided to bring the faith community together like a Chamber for business. They would build a faith community to combine energy and money to work for a common practice Christian Group. They were the people of peace and needed to talk about big issues and prayer strategies to bring civilty to the public square.
Dr. John Green from the Bliss Institute started the civility project for the University of Akron. 650 people paid $75 for breakfast at the Knight Center to create a model that could be transfered to other cities. The rugged individual issue is keeping us apart. Come to Akron and be the LaBron James of the Christian Church.
If our Church went out of business would anyone know or care? The Church had a sign but wasn’t making an impact. Mark introduced two ministers who had Churches next to each other but had never talked.
Can you name your neighbors? For civility and humility we should work together. Walk together or fall apart. Blend your voices, begin a mission. I want to be your friend.
www.loveakron.org
www.loveakron.org