Powerful pastor has more than one reason to rejoice

The Baltimore Sun

For nearly two decades, the Rev. Frank M. Reid III has been the shepherd guiding one of the Baltimore area's largest and most influential congregations.

Virtually every serious candidate for citywide and state office visits his church, Bethel African Methodist Episcopal -- and this year, at least two leading contenders for mayor are members. The Upton church plans to break ground on a Baltimore County location this year to accommodate the thousands who attend weekly services. Reid has even been immortalized on The Wire television series.

Now, barely six months after open-heart surgery, the minister who plans to spend 2007 teaching his congregants how to lead an abundant life has won city approval for a deal with one of the nation's most prominent developers.

The Baltimore Board of Estimates voted yesterday in favor of a plan for the Cordish Co. to manage the city-owned Pier Six entertainment venue on the downtown waterfront -- and give Bethel AME 10 percent of any profits.

The deal, unlike anything previously approved by the city, would further cement Reid's reputation as one of the city's most prominent religious leaders.

Reid is not a Baltimore native, but his father was pastor of Bethel in the 1960s, one of a long line of ministers in the family. His sermons attract some from as far away as Virginia and Pennsylvania, and others watch on television.

And politics have long been part of the mix for Reid, from crucial candidate endorsements to his own 1995 Democratic primary campaign for the congressional seat vacated by Kweisi Mfume. His stepbrother is former Baltimore Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke.

But Reid, 55, who earned degrees from Yale and Harvard Divinity School, spent much of the last half of the year easing back into the pulpit after bypass surgery.

The pastor had dangerously high blood pressure during a checkup in June, and Johns Hopkins Hospital doctors discovered that four of his coronary arteries were blocked.

It shocked the man who ran cross country in high school and had earned a black belt in karate. But Reid said his dedication to physical fitness waned as his ministry became more demanding. "You get so busy that you don't do what you know you need to do," he said.

His family lived short lives by today's standards. Reid's great-grandfather, grandfather, and uncle all died of heart attacks. His father succumbed to colon cancer, though an autopsy showed that he, too, had suffered a heart attack. Three of the four died by age 63.

"While I knew all these things, I was one heart attack away from dying and not seeing one daughter married," he said. "My children did not know their grandfathers. ... I'd like to see my grandchildren."

Just weeks after the diagnosis, he was on an operating table, but the surgeons performed bypass surgery on only two of the four arteries -- the others were too damaged. That's a constant reminder, Reid said.

"It was fast. It was traumatic. It was dramatic," said his wife, Marlaa. "We were all looking at the fact that it was a miracle."

He now walks an hour six days a week, waking up as early as 4 a.m. Sundays so he can finish hiking in his Owings Mills neighborhood in time to lead Bethel's 7 a.m. service. He has lost 30 pounds and also makes time for rest and tai chi.

"Every day I will be making choices that will help me live or lead me down a path of early death," he said.

"If we don't make a winning lifestyle a priority, we will be robbed," Reid said. If gifted and talented people die young, "the graveyard will become one of the richest places on the planet."

While Reid recovered, other ministers filled in. "I was antsy to come back," he said. But a cardiologist warned him to back off on preaching, because the adrenaline-powered, energizing sermons could strain his heart. "I was afraid to preach hard."

His youngest daughter, 14-year-old Faith reminded him that his calling didn't come from a doctor but from God. "Do what the doctor says, but trust God," he recalls her saying.

Reid returned to Sunday services Oct. 8, his 18th anniversary with the church, and he re-entered the pulpit the following week. At first he held back, but he eased into preaching as he felt more comfortable. "I had to be guided by the spirit."

Bethel's vision for 2006 was "the year of miracles." The minister said the congregation studied last year how "messes" of human life could be "God's opportunity for a miracle".

"We spent the year encouraging and equipping people to become miracle workers," he said. "Little did we know that some seven months later that we would have an opportunity to take a mess and make a miracle out of it."

Now he said the church is talking to foundations and hospitals about developing a community of healing. They plan to bring in speakers as well as yoga and tai chi instructors.

Politics are sure to play a large role in the church this year. City Council President Sheila Dixon and Comptroller Joan M. Pratt, both longtime members, have indicated they plan to run for mayor.

Reid said he doesn't believe the race will split the congregation. "I think it's very important that the church and people of faith try to be instruments of unity," he said. "We are determined as a congregation not to allow disagreements to divide our family."

Pratt, who joined the church in 1976, agreed. "I think it's a good position for the church to be in. Either member will do well," she said.

The pastor has not decided whether he will endorse in the mayoral race. "Right now I'm preferring not to, but one does not know what's going to happen in the next nine months," the minister said. "If a possible election could adversely affect the future of nonelites of Baltimore, I'd be forced to make an endorsement."

Reid said he didn't take a position when Schmoke ran for mayor. He endorsed Martin O'Malley in 1999, a race the pastor described as "a crucial election that could have divided the city."

However, Reid did not endorse four years later, nor during last year's gubernatorial election.

As for Pier Six, both Reid and Cordish officials said the deal will allow the church to improve quality of life by bringing in gospel acts or secular groups with a positive message.

"Bethel AME, as a leading Baltimore religious and civic institution, will assist the development team on Pier Six in ensuring that it becomes a gathering place for the full Baltimore community," wrote Reed S. Cordish, vice president of the Cordish Co., in a letter to the editor.

The congregation is not obligated to do anything for its share of the proceeds. But then, Reid said, there are no guarantees that there will be profits.

That concerned Pratt, a member of the Board of Estimates who said she was initially excited by the plan. "I just didn't feel that the church was going to actually receive any money," she said. She questioned why the deal didn't guarantee the church a specific amount, in addition to, or instead of, a percentage of the revenue.

The company could have benefited from a charitable tax deduction now or later, she said.

The project was approved unanimously by the City's Board of Estimates yesterday as a routine item, though both Pratt and Dixon abstained. The item was not discussed at the meeting.

Asked at a news conference later yesterday morning whether she thought it was appropriate for the church to be involved in the development deal, Dixon declined to comment. "I think being a member of the church, it's inappropriate for me to discuss it," Dixon said. "That's why I abstained from the board."

Reid has not lacked critics.

The minister faced charges of airing dirty laundry by penning a treatise in 2004 pronouncing the process of electing bishops within the AME church as "satanic."

After Bethel announced plans to open a church in Baltimore County, where many of the church's 17,000 registered members live, neighbors of the Granite site opposed the development in court for years. But Marlaa Reid said the church has overcome all appeals. Church officials expect to complete the project by late 2008 and use both sites.

Reid can already envision his future: He anticipates retiring as pastor before he's 65 and teaching at seminary as well as opening a healing center. He wants to learn massage in Thailand and continue to study tai chi until he's able to teach both as well. Right now, he is working on his fourth book, titled Choose the Abundant Life.

Members say they've noticed a change in Reid since he returned to the pulpit.

"It has been a year of miracles," said Kimberly Ross, 36, of Bolton Hill. "He's come back stronger than ever."

liz.kay@baltsun.com

Sun reporter John Fritze contributed to this article.

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