Outrage And Talk of Boycott Surround New Publication Targeting Church Community

For 46-years, the ACC (A Corporation for Christ) News has been a weekly source of church news and information, and before this year had never ceased publication. But for the second time in six months, the newspaper has been out of print.

It’s been almost a month since the ACC Newspaper has printed an issue, sending the rumor mill into overdrive and leaving an ever loyal base of more than 300 churches who regularly list their services in its church directory—without a voice.

Some have sought other avenues to publicize what’s going on in their churches, but most have been eagerly awaiting the return of what has been a legacy in the LA church community.

At least one pastor got tired of waiting. His name is Frederick Howard and last month the first issue of his new publication hit the streets. Howard began Raise The Praise Church and Community News to provide a more steady flow of church news to the church community.

Howard’s plans are to start the paper off with a distribution base of 150-200 churches and for thirty days, listings have been extended to churches free of charge, but there’s one problem Raise the Praise bares an uncanny resemblance to its troubled predecessor, the ACC News.
Already there is backlash from some in the community who say their ads and likenesses were used without their knowledge or permission.

“All of the churches were contacted by phone and we left messages stating what we were about to do and that if they did not want to be listed—or to have their names removed—they could call us,” Howard stated.

But Pastor L.D. Williams said he didn’t receive a call. Neither did Pastor Xavier Thompson of Southern Missionary Baptist Church, Rev. Edward Jenkins of Victory Baptist Church, or Quaford Coleman of Mt. Moriah Baptist Church.

Dr. J. Benjamin Hardwick, pastor of Praises of Zion Baptist Church and a longtime supporter of the ACC News, was shocked to find that he was among those listed.

“I haven’t seen it,” said Hardwick. “I don’t know anything about it. If I have been included, it was without my consent.”

“We were not called. We were not notified. We were not sent a letter,” said Coleman, associate and former columnist for the ACC, who was livid to see his likeness used without permission. “He’s open for lawsuit. Not saying that we will sue, because it’s not moving our community to a very positive end.”
Many like Rev. Xavier Thompson said they weren’t even aware of Howard, yet alone the paper.
“I don’t know who are the authors, the publishers. I don’t know who are the owners, the proprietors of this paper,” Thompson said. “We definitely would have hoped that they asked for our permission before using our pictures and our name.”

But that’s the least of what got many of them upset.

Said Thompson, “It is almost a replica of the ACC. It’s okay to be influenced by other persons and other models, but my concern is if one is preying or taking advantage of a period of tribulation of another.”
Others, such as Coleman, question how Howard, who volunteered at the ACC offices for a couple of months, even got all the pastors’ information and photos.

“How did he get our pictures? We didn’t give them to him to use,” Coleman questions.
“I’m going to contact him personally and ask him to withdraw our name,” Coleman said. “Because anything- whatever we do in our community and especially our religious community, we want God to bless it. God cannot bless anything, any entity that’s built upon deception.”

“When I picked up Raise the Praise I thought it was the ACC,” said PACE News founder and publisher Gloria Zuurveen. “I was made aware that it wasn’t not by my eyes but by someone saying it wasn’t.”
Zuurveen counts herself among those appalled by Raise the Praise.

“As much as we are all competitors, competition should not breed deception and unethical practices, particularly in the church community. He’s out of order.”

Howard said he had no malicious intent in either volunteering at the ACC’s office in South Los Angeles, nor mimicking their format or placing the church listings for which he charged no fee. He would not comment on where he got the information and pictures used in the more than 300 listings he included, but a conversation with ACC publisher Jeanette Thomas-Byers reveals that in his time there, Howard had access to the files.

“I wasn’t trying to promote me. I wanted to promote churches,” said Howard, of the free publication that he intends to distribute weekly.

“Let him go for it. He doesn’t have the money nor expertise to last,” said a somewhat miffed Jeannette Thomas-Byers, who took over the family-owned business. “He will have to reap what he sows.”
Thomas-Byers, who has not declared whether or not she will seek legal recourse, said that while she is undergoing some financial difficulties, the next issue of the ACC will be out later in the month.
The pastor—whose backing he says is “coming from up top, on high,” motioning toward Heaven—expects to have 2,000 papers in churches by this Sunday. After setting up his distribution point of the paper last week at Beulah Baptist Church, Howard greeted representatives from 10-20 South L.A. churches who had come to pick up stacks of papers.

“It’s fresh vision that I’m sure he’s going to work his butt off to make happen, and it’s going to be persistent,” said K.W. Tulloss, pastor of Weller Street Baptist Church and a big supporter of Howard’s. “The more opportunity we have in the church community to share our voice and our stories and our news, I think the better.”

As for the layout, “it’s what the preachers and ministers are used to”, is Howard’s rationale, to which he quickly adds, “It’s a work in progress.”

Tulloss, who supports Raise the Praise “120%” backs Howard’s claim, stating that the paper was “done in that format because many of our members are used to it.”

Tulloss testifies to the nature of the man behind the paper.

“Pastor Howard has a heart for the church community and when many of our members were concerned in regards of the ACC, Pastor Howard did whatever he could to help them out but in turn developed a new concept with Raise the Praise.”

Debuting on Friday, June 27, the idea for Raise the Praise started as a hobby for the licensed Keller Williams realtor, and former beauty salon operator, after the housing crisis took the wind out of the Los Angeles real estate market.

Before starting this paper, Howard asked ACC owner, Thomas-Byers if the paper was for sale. The answer was no.

A family legacy, the paper was established by her father, the late Rev. Eugene Thomas, in 1965 with funds from his insurance policy and the vision of uniting the Christian community at large as well as creating jobs for youth. Since then it has appeared nearly every Sunday in the pews of more than 350 churches in the L.A. area.

That was until last February when the ACC for the first time in its long history ceased publication and caused a community of pastors to speculate as to the paper’s viability.

According to Coleman the six-week hiatus that ended March 23 was due to “challenges with the I.R.S.” At that time the paper was being audited by the Internal Revenue Service.

Thomas-Byers, who’d recently taken over the paper, inherited with it two years of back taxes. Because the I.R.S. garnished several thousand dollars for their accounts, the ACC was unable to publish the paper or pay the staff.

Through it all, the community supported the paper.

“When we first got involved, myself and other pastors and members of various churches, our idea or our focus was to provide the ACC some assistance during their expressed time of crisis,” said Jenkins whose church, Victory Baptist Church, played host to a benefit musical held to raise money for the publication.
Said Jenkins of the fundraiser, “It was a very good response. People were concerned. [Thomas-Byers] was provided with assistance.”

When the paper returned to print in March, Thomas-Byers offered the following written assurance.

“I pledge to the Christian family of Greater Los Angeles, the vow to work continually for the improvement of the voice of the Lord and to be accountable in stewardship to the mission of spreading the Good News of Jesus Christ”.

Though the exact reason for ACC being out of print this summer has yet to be divulged, the publication still has the support of many L.A. pastors.

“The ACC has been supportive of the churches,” said Jenkins. “They’ve been selective as relates to what they report and they’ve served us well down through the years.”

Coleman says 46 years of service far outweighs six months of challenges, pointing out that, “Everyone is having economic challenges.”

He goes on to state, “We have treasures in our community that we’ve got to preserve. And if we withdraw ourselves from everything that’s having an economic challenge, what are we saying about ourselves?”

Tulloss doesn’t see why the situation has to be either/or.

“The ACC is still there as far as I’m concerned,” he said. “Raise the Praise is here to give us another voice, another way to share information in the Christian community. I plan on advertising with ACC and LA Focus and Raise the Praise.”

Coleman, who says he stands absolute in his opinion on the matter, and considers himself at the forefront of a campaign against Raise the Praise and in support of the ACC.

“I believe that the publisher and the editor have proven themselves to be deceptive. Our religious community should not support a publication that is built upon deception, dishonesty, mistrust,” said Coleman, who continued.

“Pastor Howard has given volunteer time to the ACC. To come out with a publication of the same like kind does not show his integrity. I believe we should be in the prayer even more for the ACC and for the publisher, and we should support in any kind of way that we can.”

That support may include a boycott of Raise the Praise, while other pastor were, at press, getting together to urge Thomas-Byers to file a lawsuit.

Senator Mark Ridley-Thomas, the nephew of the late founder, is waiting to learn more about the situation before deciding what, if any, actions must be taken.

“I’ve received several calls from pastors, laypeople, business people, and loyal supporters of the ACC Church News,” said the senator, who plans to investigate the matter to the fullest extent.
He continues, “I know that there are several people that are very disturbed and even offended by the specter of the legacy of the great Rev. Eugene Thomas being ripped off. And there are those of us who have a commitment to protect the legacy.”

Despite Tulloss’ assurances that “[Howard’s] got more support than many people can imagine” from “hundreds of pastors,” Raise the Praise may soon have their own challenge to brace themselves against.
Yet and still, others are waiting to see what transpires before passing judgment.

“We’re just going to wait to see what’s going to happen,” Jenkins reasons. “If there’s another paper out there that’s trying to replace or supplement what the ACC is doing I really don’t have a view on that. They may know something I don’t know. So it would be difficult for me to say ‘How could they?”

Thompson is of the same opinion, “I will reserve further comment until I am able to get more information concerning who’s behind this paper. The jury is still out as far as I’m concerned.”