THE URBAN LEAGUE OF GREATER CINCINNATI GUILD PRESENTS
Featuring
HEZEKIAH WALKER
and the Love Fellowship Choir
Friday, November 9, 2012
Word of Deliverance Ministries
693 Fresno Road, Forest Park
November 9, 2012
Programme
Dear Friends,
Greetings and welcome to our fourth annual Evening of Faith! Tonight we welcome
renowned gospel artist Hezekiah Walker and the Love Fellowship Choir. For the fourth
Welcome
Faith Daniels, WROU 92.1 Dayton
Tracey Artis and Tywauna Hardy
year in a row, we will feel uplifted and inspired through music to continue to serve
our community—a community that we have served for more than six decades.
As we look forward over the next five years, the tasks the Urban League has determined
it will undertake will require time, talent and treasure from us all! The League recently
completed a comprehensive 5-year strategic plan. We have a newly adopted vision
of vibrant communities with thriving individuals, families and businesses, and a mission
to transform generations by promoting personal empowerment and economic self-
Performance
Thee Unlimited Ensemble
2012 World Choir Games Silver Medalist
sufficiency. As an organization, we have committed ourselves to doubling the number
of people we train for jobs and doubling the number of jobs we help people get. We have
also committed ourselves to working with small businesses to create 500 new jobs and
spur economic development in the communities we love.
Our Evening of Faith is also an evening of celebration; we appreciate the hard work
of the Urban League Guild, the Board of Trustees, and all the staff and volunteers
who have collectively allowed our one organization to touch the lives of over 11,000
Special Remarks
Donna Jones Baker, President/CEO
Urban League of Greater Cincinnati
individuals last year. We also owe a special thanks to Bishop Bobby Hilton and his wife
Dr. Valda Hilton for warmly welcoming us to Word of Deliverance Ministries.
Thank you so much joining us this evening. With your help, we know we will meet our
goals of doubling the people we reach in five years.
Concert
Sincerely,
Urban League Mass Choir
Hezekiah Walker and the Love Fellowship Choir
Donna Jones Baker
Tywauna Hardy
Richard Dyer
President/CEO
Urban League of Greater
Cincinnati
President
Urban League Guild
Chairman
UL Board of Trustees
and President and General
Manager WLWT5
Board of Trustees
Evening of Faith
Committee
EXECUTIVE OFFICERS
CHAIRPERSON
SECRETARY
MR. RICHARD DYER
MR. MICHAEL D. CONNELLY
President & General Manager, WLWT 5
President & CEO, CATHOLIC HEALTH PARTNERS
IMMEDIATE PAST CHAIRPERSON
VICE CHAIRPERSON
Evening of Faith Chair
MR. DANIEL R. GRONECK
MS. PEG MOERTL
Tracey Artis
Regional President of Northern Kentucky, U.S. BANK
Sr. Vice President, Territory Executive Community
Guild President
Development Banking, PNC BANK
TREASURER
MR. JERRY OLIPHANT
Tywauna Hardy
Planning Committee
Juanita Adams
Executive Vice President and COO, TRIHEALTH, INC.
Gail Billings
Carol Brown
DR. KAREN BANKSTON
MS. ALANDES EURE-POWELL
President and CEO
KDB AND ASSOCIATES
CONSULTING SERVICES, LLC
Sr. Vice President, Dir. of Collections
Program Mgmt. Group
CITI
MR. SAMUEL E. LYNCH
Tywauna Hardy
Maria Hill
MR. SCOTT G. MANGOLD
Carol Patton
Regional Vice President
ENTERPRISE HOLDINGS
Diane Richardson
MR. GREGORY W. BATTLE
MR. CLARK D. HANDY
President/CEO
COOLANT CONTROL
Vice President, Workforce Solutions
PHOENIX UNIVERSITY
MR. DAVID F. NEYER
Andrea Turner
GUILD PRESIDENT
Rasheeda White
MR. MARVIN A. BLADE
President/CEO
AI. NEYER, INC.
Communications Relations Manager
DUKE ENERGY
MS. TYWAUNA HARDY
MS. KATHLEEN B. SELKER
Special Thanks to staff members:
President and CEO
NORTHLICH
Anna Parrish, Constance Phillips, Josephine Steagall, Kristi Lee
MR. CHARLES H. BROWN
Vice President & General Manager,
Accounting & Finance
TOYOTA MOTOR ENGINEERING
& MANUFACTURING NORTH
AMERICA, INC.
MR. HERBERT R. BROWN
Sr. Vice President
WESTERN & SOUTHERN
FINANCIAL GROUP
MR. DAVID B. DILLON
Chairman/CEO
THE KROGER CO.
Clinical Laboratory, Chemistry Manager
CINCINNATI CHILDREN’S
HOSPITAL MEDICAL CENTER
MR. J. PHILLIP HOLLOMAN
MR. JAMES A. SLUZEWSKI
President & Chief, Operating Officer
CINTAS CORPORATION
Senior Vice President, Corporate
Communications and External Affairs
MACY’S, INC.
MR. EDWARD R. JACKSON
Entrepreneur
TERRY B. JOYNER, Ed.D.
President/CEO
SYSTEMS SOLUTIONS, LLC.
EDUCATIONAL CONSULTING
Carolyn Sherman
The Urban League Guild promotes volunteer service in the areas of fundraising,
tutoring and community awareness.
MRS. MARIAN SPENCER
To join the team of volunteers, please contact:
Community Volunteer
Aurelia Candie Simmons at [email protected] or call (513) 559-5443.
MR. LEVON THOMPSON, JR.
President/COO
FOXX CONSTRUCTION
Letter From
the Chair
Faith Daniels
As Chairperson for the 2012 Evening of Faith, I am honored to be a part of this great
event and I am proud to be a part of the Urban League of Greater Cincinnati. For over 60
years, the League has represented opportunity and hope for so many in our community.
Tonight, the League represents faith, inspiration, and praise. It is an opportunity to enjoy
gospel’s finest while supporting a worthy cause.
I am so excited to have as our special guest this year my friend, brother, and Grammy
Award winner—Bishop Hezekiah Walker. Bishop Walker’s music and ministry have
literally overtaken the world. Bishop Walker and Love Fellowship Choir have amassed
such a rapport with worshippers and performance ensembles that his compositions
have become synonymous with Sunday morning. I celebrate his gift of ministry and
I am overwhelmed that he is here tonight. I do believe that he is by far one of the
greatest gospel artists of our time. I have known him for many years and I am glad
to call him friend. While working with Bishop Walker to promote many of his CDs, it
was evident that he lived what he sang about. I believe that one of my favorite songs
ministered by Bishop Walker is “God Favored Me”, and I so believe that God has
favored his ministry.
Please join me, League President & CEO Donna Jones Baker, the Board of Trustees, fellow Guild members, and persons everywhere as we move forward, by faith, building and
empowering the Queen City.
Sincerely,
Faith Daniels’ radio career began at the tender age of 14 when she won a “DJ for a Day”
contest in Louisville, Ky. After her first day she was hooked! She was offered a job by
WLOU and has never looked back.
Faith is known through out the Midwest as the “Midday Motivator!” Since 1994, Faith has
commanded the airwaves in Cincinnati working as an On-Air Personality for a variety of
formats: WCIN 1480, WEBN, Mix 94.1, WMOJ 94.9, WARM 98 and MOJO 100.3.
Currently, Faith is the Midday On-Air Personality with WROU 92.1 in Dayton, OH with
Mainline Broadcasting.
Faith is a licensed minister and finds time to give back to the community through her
ministry with The Faith Daniels Foundation, LLC, where the mission is: “To cultivate
change and inspire growth in the community through Faith, Hope and Charity”.
Faith is married to Kent Robinson and is the mother of 3 children, Brandon 23, Matthew
11 and Trinity 8.
Tracey Artis
President & CEO
I Hear Music in the Air
Chairperson, 2012 Evening of Faith
“I’m living my dreams and I pray GOD will empower me to inspire and motivate those
I touch to believe that through Faith in GOD, Prayer and Giving they can too.”
Thee Unlimited Ensemble
Thee Unlimited Ensemble (TUE) is a group of young people that are dedicated to one
thing: Lifting up the name of Jesus!
TUE, led by Minister Lindsay Orr, is a group of dynamic young voices that grew up
together in the Princeton school district where they began singing together in the
Princeton High School Gospel Choir and as God would have it they have been lifting
up his name ever since. Upon graduation, this group of young people still wanted to
minister in voice and this is how Thee Unlimited Ensemble became an entity of praise
and worship.
Since their inception, Thee Unlimited Ensemble has opened for or shared the stage
with national recording artists such as Kierra ‘Kiki’ Sheard, Jonathan Nelson, Jessica
Reedy, Rapper K-Drama, and Bold Right Life Choir while also ministering at various
churches and events throughout the city of Cincinnati. TUE has also had the privilege
of participating in the 2012 World Choir Games and winning the silver medal in the
gospel competition. Moving forward in God’s will, Thee Unlimited Ensemble will also
go to Latvia, Riga for the 2014 World Choir Games, giving them the opportunity to share
Christ with people all over the world.
Thee Unlimited Ensemble stands on the word in which it says that we live by God’s
unmerited favor, offer His unmerited favor, and rest in His unmerited favor (Galatians
1:6) and for His kindness, unmerited favor and forgiving love reigns in our lives.
Thee Unlimited Ensemble wants to encourage you to live with Unlimited Favor,
Unlimited Worship and Unlimited Praise!
“We’re trying to keep choirs alive,” Walker says. “Everyone’s trying to do away with
choirs, but you can’t delete choirs. As long as there’s a church, there’s always going
to be a choir.”
But Walker’s mission goes a step further. Mindful that it is in these trying times when
the souls of God’s people are most tested, the pastor wants for SOULED OUT to serve
as a reminder that now, more than ever, is the time to give one’s all for the Lord’s cause.
“In this day and age —with high gas prices, the mortgage crisis, job problems, the
economy—a lot of times that can really hold people back from giving themselves to God
and to the church,” he says. “We decided that regardless of what we go through, we’re
still going to remain souled out.”
It sounds like a snappy catchphrase, but Walker is serious about it, adding “what I’m
trying to communicate to everyone is that we have really made up in our minds that
there’s no turning back. We’re going all the way with this Jesus thing.”
A transplant of Brooklyn’s notorious Fort Greene projects, Walker had a good life
growing up, thanks to a mother who encouraged his passion for choir-based gospel
music in spite of the tumult surrounding him. It was then, when he was barely 8 years
old, that his love affair with gospel began. Walker never looked back. By the time he was
14, and without any formal musical training, he was already leading a choir of his own
at a local congregation and learning the ropes of creating songs and arrangements that
strike a chord in hearts of people from all walks of life.
It wasn’t long until Walker became a heavyweight of gospel music in his own right,
scoring a bevy of best-selling releases recorded stateside and abroad, all of which
Hezekiah Walker
& LFC
have made appearances on Billboard’s gospel charts, including 1994’s Live in Atlanta
at Morehouse College and 2001’s Love Is Live!, both of which snagged GRAMMY®
trophies for Best Gospel Album by Choir or Chorus. At the song level, the church-atlarge has sung the praises of Hezekiah Walker for almost two decades, rising to its feet
with such classics and anthems as “I’ll Make It;” “Oh Lord We Praise You;” “We Made
It;” “Second Chance;” “How Much We Can Bear;” “Clean Inside;” “Power Belongs
to God;” “Jesus Is My Help;” “99 ½;” “I’ll Fly Away;” “Let’s Dance;” “I Need You
to Survive;” “Faithful Is Our God;” and “Lift Him Up” among many others.
Hezekiah Walker & LFC have amassed such a rapport with worshippers and performance
ensembles that his rousing, heartfelt compositions have become synonymous with
When not leading his blockbuster ensemble or splitting his time pastoring churches
Sunday morning. It’s difficult to have church and not include at least one of his songs
in New York and Pennsylvania, Walker gets behind a microphone of a different sort:
in the set list.
he’s a radio host on New York’s 1190 WLIB, imparting hope and encouragement
to anyone with ears to hear, especially those outside the four walls of the church.
SOULED OUT, Walker’s long-awaited 13th recording, is set to advance his calling to keep
alive the choir tradition, a mission the GRAMMY®- and Stellar-winning choirmaster has
upheld victoriously for more than 20 years, even as gospel music itself has shifted
to more contemporary expressions of praise.
The Love
Fellowship Choir
The Love Fellowship Choir – initially envisioned by Pastor Walker as nothing more
“Lift Him Up” is a high-energy explosion of pure, undiluted, traditional Sunday morning
than a weekend outlet for his talents – is also recognized and appreciated for its
church that defies any living human being to sit still in the pew. LFC shines on “Faithful
innovation and musical artistry. The choir first began performing in local arenas and
is Our God,” a modern-day, choral and congregational anthem of praise destined to be
halls, as well as churches, hospitals, prisons and even the streets. “We began as
sung for generations to come.
a concert choir but changed to a ‘ministry choir’”, says Walker. “I had no idea when
we started [the choir] that it was ever going to reach the international notoriety
20/85 The Experience is the eleventh consecutive Top 10 Gospel album by Love
that it has.”
Fellowship Choir since their 1986 chart debut, and it continues Hez’s hit-making
tradition of mixing high-energy, modern R&B with traditional Gospel roots into a sound
In 1986 Love Fellowship Choir recorded their first live album, entitled “I’ll Make It”
that can be credited with having had a major hand in birthing the now pervasive genre
which became a smashing hit in gospel music. In 1989 the choir recorded their 2nd live
of contemporary, urban Gospel. Rather than being a repackaging of notable moments
recording entitled “Oh Lord We Praise You” which put the choir along side with other
in Hez & Love Fellowship Choir’s long history, 20/85 The Experience features twelve new
major gospel artist. In 1990 the choir received major secular attention which brought
songs, each of which Hezekiah explains, relate in unique but very relevant ways to the
them to arenas to perform with Celine Dion, Patti Labelle, Brian McKnight, Enrique
many phases and stages of the choir’s long history.
Iglesias, Kenneth “BabyFace” Edmonds, and numerous other stars; the choir has also
recorded with Teddy Riley, Sean “P.Diddy” Combs, Brandy, Kelly Price, Faith Evans,
To the choir's credits are 2 Grammy Awards, 12 Grammy nominations, among countless
Ray Charles and Justin Timberlake just to name a few.
other Dove, Stellar, NAACP and privately recognized awards and nominations.
Over the years, many songs by the Love Fellowship Choir have become nothing
short of anthems for the young gospel church, among them “Clean Inside”, “Jesus
Is My Help”, “Wonderful Is Your Name”, “Power Belongs to God” and “Let’s Dance”.
The choir’s musical accomplishments include 9 hit albums on the Verity label. One
of his recent recordings is historical being the only Live Gospel Recording to ever take
place at the world renowned Radio City Music Hall – February 2002. The choir’s latest
CD entitled “20/85 The Experience” has become an all time favorite of music lovers.
With Gospel artist, writer, arranger and producer-extraordinaire Donald Lawrence
behind the boards, 20/85 The Experience is the perfect convergence of musical finesse
and precision with unbridled spontaneity and excitement.
Jobs
Employment Connections SM
This seven-step, two-hour program teaches participants how to connect with potential employers.
Topics covered range from writing a career goal to preparing for the interview. Using PlacePro
Internet Career Center, participants can post their resumes and search for a new career from home.
Employers can view resumes online and contact participants for interviews.
ACESM — Accelerated Call Center Education
ACE is a free four-week program that helps participants develop the skills necessary to obtain
meaningful and stable employment in the call center industry. Graduates are equipped with the
training and experience necessary to compete at the high-end of the entry level employment
in customer service call centers.
SOARSM — Solid Opportunities for Advancement and Retention
Established in 1998, SOAR is our flagship workforce development program and has
a history of securing employment for the unemployed and underemployed. The three week program
is operated Monday through Thursday, 9AM to 4PM to simulate an actual job. Program components
include self-exploration, financial literacy, understanding employer expectations, resume writing
skills and online applications, as well as professional job placement and retention assistance.
Construction Connections
Urban League of Greater Cincinnati Programs
Youth
An eight week Pre-Apprenticeship Training Program designed to prepare participants for a career
in the construction industry is a collaboration between the Urban League of Greater Cincinnati
and Allied Construction Industries and focuses on soft skill development as well as technical
instruction. Upon completion of the 172 hour program, each student will be equipped with:
National Center for Construction Education and Research (NCCER) Core Curriculum Certification,
After School LeagueSM
Registration into NCCER’s National Registry, Bobcat Certification, and OSHA 10. This program
The goal of this program is to increase student academic achievement through academic and
is funded by the Ohio Department of Transportation.
cultural enrichment opportunities. It features the Urban League’s innovative after school
programs for students of Rockdale Academy, South Avondale Elementary, and Woodward Career
Reintegration of Ex-Offenders (Rexo Program)
and Technical High School that provide safe supportive environments for students encouraging
Federally funded by the Department of Labor, the Reintegration of Ex Offenders Program provides
them to learn. In addition, we provide individual tutoring and small group tutoring for students
services to ex offenders released from incarceration within the last six months easing their transition
in math and reading as a state Supplemental Education Services provider.
from incarceration to the community. The program is a collaborative project between the National
Urban League and Urban League of Greater Cincinnati targeting adults 18 years of age or older with
Community Learning Centers
The Urban League serves as the Community Learning Center lead agency for South Avondale
Elementary and Woodward Career Technical High School. We engage the broader community
non sex related offenses. Rexo is an Equal Opportunity Program.
GED
to offer academic and social enrichment, and support for the success of students and their families.
We partner with Cincinnati Public Schools to provide General Education Degree training.
Project Ready
Financial Opportunity Centers (FOC)
Based upon the National Urban League’s flagship college access program, we work with youths
Established to help low to moderate income families boost earnings, reduce expenses, and make
in grades 9 through 12 to prepare them for post secondary education success. Participants meet
appropriate financial decisions that lead to asset building through an integrated service model
regularly and focus on academic preparation, social skill development, leadership development,
approach. The FOC provides individuals and families with services across three critical and
financial literacy and global cultural awareness.
interconnected areas: employment services, financial coaching and access to income supports.
Economic Empowerment
Economic Empowerment Center SM
The goal of the Cincinnati Economic Empowerment Center (C-EEC) of the Greater Cincinnati
Urban League is to help established entrepreneurs increase their capacity to enable them to take
advantage of new business opportunities and qualify for financing that will lead to higher levels
of business growth. The center provides these services through the following programs:
Small Business Development Center
A one-stop center for business and technical assistance, counseling, business plan preparation,
strategic planning, financial forecasting and analysis, market planning and much more.
African American Business Development Program (AABDP)
AABDP is a comprehensive 5-month program designed for African American business
owners who want to build sustainable companies that help to create employment opportunities
for the community.
Ohio River Valley-Women’s Business Council (ORV~WBC)
A collaborative effort with the WBENC and Urban League of Greater Cincinnati dedicated
to building businesses in our community and to economic empowerment of women owned
businesses in our region.
Justice
AALDPSM — African American Leadership Development Program
African American professionals experience a 10-month journey that exposes them to critical issues
facing the African American community, and calls upon their time and talents to become leaders in
addressing these issues.
Community Police Partnering Center
The League hosts the Partnering Center, and supports its efforts to implement problem solving
strategies regarding police-community relations.
Sickle Cell Awareness Group SM
The Sickle Cell Awareness Group provides awareness, education and screening services to those
Greater Cincinnati residents and family members affected by sickle cell disease.
Thank You
The Urban League of Greater Cincinnati extends its most grateful appreciation and
special thanks to our sponsors of An Evening of Faith.
Your financial and in-kind support helps continue our legacy.
Catholic
Health
Partners
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