A Ministry of Earthly Self-Help

If you see a tall man rushing through a hotel lobby, looking like he’s got too much to do, it could be the Rev. Floyd Flake. Dressed for Saturday morning in a navy blue suit and tie, running from a late plane to a book signing and two Sunday sermons before the redeye blows him back to New York for work on Monday, the understandably lean, elegant pastor is never too busy to be gracious.

In his hotel room, a stereophonic phone rings often and always for the wrong number. This calls for barely a hint of impatience by the pastor, which is very reassuring. It seems Flake lives what he writes. His new book, “The Way of the Bootstrapper� (HarperSanFrancisco), is for people determined to rise above whatever it is that needs improvement.

One of 13 children, whose parents never finished grade school, Flake sees himself as a bootstrapper. He grew up to become a Democratic representative to Congress from 1987 to ’97. He built a church in Jamaica, Queens, that now includes 10,000 members and has an operating budget of $24 million a year. Allen African Methodist Episcopal is referred to as a nonprofit corporation as often as it is called a church. The list of community services reads like a checklist from the mayor’s file; commercial and residential property development, private school options, family health-care programs, making it the second-largest employer of African Americans in New York City.

Flake, 54, may have refined his fatherly counsel in the fires of congregational life, but his advice makes as much sense for one person as it does for a crowd.

“It’s not uncommon, when you want something you can’t have, to go through a depression,� he says. “At some point you must deal with reality.�

Challenging People to Achieve Their Dreams

He remembers Hannah, who wanted a baby but couldn’t have one. Her own family made fun of her and told her to give up her dream. She wouldn’t do it. When her son, Samuel, was born he turned out to be worth the wait and the ridicule. This is Hannah from the Old Testament, whom Flake talks about as if she lived down the street. Her son, Samuel, anointed David as king of Israel.

“There are some circumstances you cannot control,� Flake concludes. “Don’t let them define you. If it appears that your efforts are not yet fruitful, keep going.�

The father of four children who range from high schoolers to college students, Flake advises church leaders around the country on how to get equal education opportunities for African American children and build financial partnerships with the local banks.

In the end, the way to change is the same whether you’re a church or an individual.

“The book is to challenge people to look inside, evaluate where they are and what they need to get to the next place in their dream,� he says. “You’ve got to know what it is that you need. You can’t be nearly as effective working for the community if you’re not personally strong.�

Maybe it was political life that taught him to boil ideas down to a few basics. Flake’s book, subtitled “Nine Action Steps for Achieving Your Dreams,� is a self-help manual with a step-by-step guide.

A few highlights:

* Know yourself. He gives an unexpected reason. “Work to know as many truths as possible about yourself,� he writes. “Otherwise, what others know about you can ultimately become destructive when used against you.�

* Claim what’s yours. “If you have no idea which goals to pursue--and this is common--you probably will never get out of the gate.�

* Plan your destiny. “People often skip planning, but no company intent on growth, prosperity and longevity would ever skip this crucial step.� To him, the word “sacrifice� means paying the personal cost of making a dream come true, not giving up what you really want.

* Execute. With suggestions like “don’t talk, act� and “love your enemies and watch your back,� Flake’s warnings about obstacles sound as much like a primer for surviving Washington politics as church politics. “Keep your plans between you and God for as long as possible,� he suggests. “God is the ultimate confidant. He will not react with jealousy, and he’ll help you along the way.�

* Deal with crises. “If you are trying to do something positive with your life, I guarantee that someone or something will try to hinder you,� Flake warns his constituents. “It’s the nature of the game, so expect it.� In his own life, a high school guidance counselor discouraged him from applying to college. Ministers told him he didn’t need a degree to be a preacher. Later he was discouraged from trying to move Allen church from a small, complacent congregation to something more like a Greek city-state.

* Leave a legacy. It is hard to think of anyone who includes that among their plans for the future, but Flake has honestly set the goal for himself.

“This is the next phase,� he says of his own most recent steps toward realizing it. “In the ‘60s, the era of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., it was necessary to protest. Unfortunately, there was not a plan to educate people about making the most of the opportunities made available by protesting racial segregation.

“We moved from an era of protest to an era of politics,� he says of the ‘80s and ‘90s. This phase had its limits too, by his standards. School busing programs didn’t solve the problems of lower achievement levels in inner-city schools and people burned out from battle fatigue. “The level of expectancy concerning education fell,� Flake says.

Putting Education First on the Priority List

A new tactic has African American Christian churches across the country working to turn things around. The churches Flake admires most have made education the first item on their priority list. They have opened their own schools, or their members volunteer to tutor public school children in reading and math. In Los Angeles, Flake says, First AME Church, whose pastor is the Rev. Cecil Murray, and West Angeles Church of God in Christ, which is pastored by Bishop Charles Blake, are good examples of the black Christian church of the future.

“Education will be the subject of greatest outcry in the African American community now,� he says. “There is a clear understanding that an unequal condition exists.�

Neighborhood redevelopment is a close second priority for the model of faith-based community Flake is promoting. He builds partnerships between churches and financial institutions in which loan money goes to developing safe housing complexes and new businesses in the neighborhoods near the churches. “Faith-based loans are the safest a bank can make,� he says. “It is inbred in the African American people’s sense of God and obligation to pay back loans when the primary lending institution is the church.�

In return, banks expand their market share in the neighborhood, just as they have done by investing in developing countries, he says.

“They’ve taken risks abroad while allowing Third World conditions to emerge within our own borders,� Flake says.

He sees the church as the mainstay of any African American community, but only a few are what he describes as bootstrapper churches. He can recognize them easily.

“The African American churches that are growing are faithful to the sacred word,� he says, “but they are actively involved in a process that allows people to know something of heaven while they’re still on Earth.�

Mary Rourke can be reached by e-mail at [email protected].