Description
Imagine walking with Jesus down your community’s Main Street. Would you weep together as you jump over the cracks chiseled by the invisible hand of the market? Jesus is calling us to reimagine local economies! Learn about the full range of Community Economic Development (CED) tools including Community Benefits Agreements, business incubators, cooperatives, and more. Learn how Church of the Messiah on Detroit’s east side has taken holistic CED principles to heart, spawning initiatives including affordable housing, workforce development, community organizing, leadership development, business incubation, and more. Come away with tools and inspiration to walk with Jesus on Main Street.
Barry Randolph has been the priest of church of the Messiah Detroit for 19 years. Under his leadership the church as grown from 40 members to over 200 currently. The congregation is mixed raced with 60% of the congregation being African American males under the age of 30. The church has 200 units of housing, a business incubation center, a medical clinic, employment office, and is the internet provider to the neighborhood.
In 2019 Randolph was named Michiganian of the year by the Detroit News, and was Detroit’s first ever human rights leader of the year in 2019.
Dave Kresta (PhD, MBA) specializes in Community Development and Economic Development, with a longing to see Jesus followers as indispensable members in communities that thrive for all. His research and advisory services focuses on the role of churches in neighborhood change, in local economies, and reimagining church buildings and property. In addition to teaching undergraduate and graduate level courses at Portland State University, Dave equips church and denominational leaders to actively participate in building thriving communities from an data-informed, Biblical, and collaborative perspective.
