The opening session included welcome messages from Maryland Gov. Wes Moore and Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott, both of whom quoted Scripture in their remarks.
Scott mentioned the other presidential election on many members’ minds and voiced his support for Vice President Kamala Harris.
“Black women have saved this country from itself time and time and time and time again and it’s high time that we elect one of them to lead us,” Scott said, drawing applause from some of the thousands in the convention center.
On his campaign website, Kimber lists his goals for the denomination, describing his vision as “A Convention where Everyone is loved, united, and committed to living out God’s Word through: global missions, evangelism, discipleship development, Christian Education, and social justice.”
His opponents have mounted a unified campaign to challenge the process that eliminated them.
“Each of us as candidates in this presidential election cycle have united for a cause that
surpasses our individual aspirations,” said the Rev. Tellis Chapman, a Detroit pastor, in a four-and-a-half-minute video produced in May by the disqualified challengers. “We stand together and ask to stand with us in this fight for the soul of our convention.”
Added the Rev. Claybon Lea, a San Francisco-area pastor: “We’re here because member churches have followed the membership process and are being denied the right to have their recommendation letters counted and the right to cast their vote in the upcoming election.”
The Rev. James B. Sampson, a Florida pastor, also participated in the video and continued to voice his concerns in an August Facebook post addressed to Young and NBCUSA members.
“There is no way that any candidate selected under these circumstances can legitimately govern this august body,” Sampson wrote. “How can we as a convention talk about politicians when we have lost our moral compass and spiritual high ground? How can we criticize or critique anything that any secular political party is doing when it comes to voter suppression?”
The Rev. Alvin Love, a Chicago-area pastor who also appeared in the video, told The Tennessean in August that the turnout at the meeting would be a factor in the outcome of the vote.
“Our biggest challenge is not Boise Kimber. And at this point, it’s not even the shenanigans of the board,” Love told the paper. “Our challenge now is building up enough excitement among our people to even want to come to Baltimore.”
