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	AME Church to Hold Big Convention in St. Louis By Tim Townsend St. Louis Post-Dispatch April 30, 2008 http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/religion/story/F2C54F6F2DC001EA8625743B00101521?OpenDocument ST. LOUIS — A meeting this summer of the African Methodist Episcopal Church is expected to bring 40,000 delegates and church members from around the world to St. Louis, making it the city's largest convention this year. Mayor Francis Slay announced the gathering at a news conference in his office Tuesday with about a dozen leaders of the predominantly African-American denomination. The city estimates the AME convention July 4-11 at America's Center will bring in $30 million. Bishop John Bryant, leader of the AME Church's district that includes St. Louis, said the decision to hold the church's largest convention in the city was made in 2000 and ratified in 2004. Bryant said there are about 40 AME churches in the area. The church, with about 2 million members worldwide, meets every four years to enact laws, assign bishops and review its policies. The convention comes at a time of heightened tension between Slay and African-American leaders over last year's ouster of Fire Chief Sherman George, the first African-American to lead the department. The mayor's critics have called for an economic boycott, and the National Society of Black Engineers had said it would reconsider holding its 2011 convention in St. Louis. Bryant said the AME Church had already signed contracts that would have resulted in "a loss of millions" if it moved the convention to another city. RELATED LINK AME Church "The AME Church is extremely excited to come to St. Louis," Bryant said. "We considered several other places and we don't think we made a mistake. ... We're expecting an exciting and good time." The mayor would not say directly if he believed the convention would help improve his relationship with the city's African-American leaders. "We're always working to build strong relationships with African-Americans," he said after the news conference. George was replaced after a longstanding disagreement with the mayor's office over testing and promotions in the department. Slay said it was only "some African-Americans" in St. Louis who were unhappy with his leadership and that he'd built long-time relationships with many of the city's black leaders. "Many people standing here today know me," he said. The Rev. Douglas Parham, president of the St. Louis Metropolitan Clergy Coalition, a group of largely African-American clergy that has voiced its disappointment in Slay since George's ouster, could not be reached for comment Tuesday. LAUDERMILL ISSUE Bryant said the case of the Rev. Sylvester Laudermill Jr. also will be taken up by the church's General Convention, its highest legal authority, during the St. Louis meeting. Laudermill, 50, was pastor at St. Peter AME Church, at Margaretta and Shreve avenues in St. Louis, from 1994 to 2004 and served with numerous clergy-activist groups. He then returned to his native Los Angeles to pastor a church there. Bryant, whose authority extends from Missouri to California, defrocked Laudermill after two church-run investigative committees in St. Louis and Los Angeles sustained separate allegations of "child sexual abuse" against Laudermill in May 2006. The church investigations looked into allegations that Laudermill had a seven-year sexual relationship with a young man in St. Louis that started when the boy was 14, and that the pastor sexually abused a 16-year-old Los Angeles boy in 2005. Though Laudermill was investigated by civil authorities in both cities, criminal charges have never been filed against him. A civil trial in the California case is scheduled for October. Laudermill subsequently won a reversal of the church ruling against him, and Bryant has appealed the reversal to the church's General Convention. The convention's decision will determine whether Laudermill will ever be allowed to pastor an AME church again. Contact: ttownsend@post-dispatch.com | 314-340-8221
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