North Minneapolis pastor takes work to the streets: "Love works"
MINNEAPOLIS — You may think, for a pastor, Sunday is always the big day, but Pastor Jerry McAfee says the days in between matter too.
"We could actually function as we do Monday through Saturday without ever coming in here on Sunday," McAfee said.
At New Salem Baptist in North Minneapolis, McAfee's pulpit is indoors, but he's proven his ministry is outdoors.
He helps run "21 Days of Peace," an anti-violence alliance. He also spends days on end on city streets trying to intercept crime in real-time.
"You don't have to go out there on the streets at this point in your career, but you want to be there. If I don't see them in there, I will see them in here, in front, laying in a casket. So I would much rather go out there and let them see me out there," McAfee said. "So we are able to help some of them with jobs, housing treatment, the whole nine, but that's the book, 'Go ye now and for all the world.' So, what we try to do is take the promise of what we know we have in here out on the block and give it to someone who might not come to church."
McAfee was born in Michigan. He came to Minnesota to play basketball. He says things got intense quickly when he and a friend were at a north metro store.
"We are in line and police show up and pull guns on us and we are up against the wall," McAfee said. "We said, 'Tell us what we did,' and he said, 'Honestly, the cashier said she'd never seen so many of us before and she hit the panic button.'"
From a place of deep perspective, he's worked for 40 years to build trust with police and curb violence.
"I remember the first program we had — it was called 'Stop the Killing and Start the Healing.' And Stevie Wonder was our keynote speaker because he even understood what's going on in our community is a result of unresolved trauma," McAfee said.
Wonder is an old family friend who still makes low-key drop-ins for Sunday service. Together the pair started "Make Love Great Again" — an annual dinner where they pause to pamper the women of the community with a well-deserved meal.
When asked about his legacy, McAfee says, "My heart and desire is that A, they be saved but, two, that they see there is a better way. Love works. Love still works."
McAfee believes a huge component to peace is understanding trauma. He helped get training for 100 mentors to better understand trauma so they can bring comfort to the people they meet on the streets.