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	Cogic Bishop Addresses Convocation Relocation, Sexual Misconduct By Lindsay Melvin Commercial Appeal November 5, 2009 http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2009/nov/05/cogic-bishop-addresses-convocation-relocation-sexu/ The Church of God in Christ's presiding bishop talked Thursday about the convocation's move to St. Louis in 2010 and the denomination's stance on sexual misconduct by church leaders. Four days into the 102nd Holy Convocation in Memphis, the head of the fourth largest protestant denomination in the United States, Bishop Charles E. Blake, spoke to reporters about the move to the Gateway City. "This is not a result of devious actions on the part of Memphis," Blake said in an early morning interview with the editorial board at The Commercial Appeal. "St. Louis just offered us a better package." He later held a press conference at the Cook Convention Center Downtown, where 70,000 people are expected to attend the convocation through Tuesday. St. Louis' bid was about $1 million better than what Memphis offered, he said. Apart from limited convention and hotel space, Blake said, the largest obstacle to staying in Memphis was the lack of offers for discounted hotel rooms and the ability to hold blocks of rooms for traveling members. While hotel rooms in Memphis run about $130 to $150 a night, the average offered rate in St. Louis is $79, Blake said. "A lot of perks have been extended by the city of St. Louis," he said. The Memphis Convention and Visitors Bureau is trying to court the more than 6.5-million-member denomination back to Memphis for convocations in 2011 and 2012. Blake, however, would not discuss subsequent years. "Auditorium to auditorium and seat to seat, Memphis cannot compete with the city of St. Louis," the bishop said. However, he added, "Memphis will always have a little head start on everyone else because we love Memphis." Regarding sexual abuse in the church, Blake addressed a recent article in the newspaper about Atlanta pastor and blogger DL Foster, who runs a Web site listing about 30 COGIC clergy involved in sexual abuse cases. "Brother Foster has a flavor of the year he usually focuses on. His flavor this year is sexual harassment and sexual abuse," Blake said of the pastor, who has been a harsh critic of the bishop. Blake said the attention the site has received is out of proportion considering the thousands of COGIC leaders. "Thirty allegations of sexual misbehavior is too many, but it should be looked at in that context," he said. COGIC has had a zero tolerance policy since 1992 enforced by a sexual misconduct review board, the bishop said. To support what's already in place, the entire denomination will adopt additional policies this week, including a code of conduct to protect youth. Blake also mentioned his urban initiative. Using Internet-based tools, the plan is to empower the denomination's more than 12,000 churches to focus on five key issues: education, economic development, crime, family values and financial literacy.
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