
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, September 10, 1994                   TAG: 9409120060
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NEW ORLEANS                                 LENGTH: Short

NEW CHURCH HEAD VOWS TO TAKE ON TOUGH ISSUES

The new president of the National Baptist Convention U.S.A. wants to make America's largest black denomination an agent of political and economic change and a force to reckon with in Washington.

``Our presence must be felt, must be made known and our counsel sought,'' the Rev. Henry J. Lyons said. ``We've got to let it be known we will not be taken for granted.''

The election Thursday of the convention's third president in 42 years comes at a critical juncture for black churches, which are under increasing pressure to confront AIDS, violence, poverty and the dissolution of family life more aggressively.

``America continues to look to this group for leadership ... and we've never offered them anything,'' Lyons said.

Lyons narrowly won a five-year term as president of the convention, which has an estimated 8 million members in 33,000 churches.

At a victory celebration Friday, the Rev. Jesse Jackson praised Lyons, who was Florida chairman of Jackson's presidential campaigns in 1984 and 1989.

Lyons, 52, a convention vice president and pastor of Bethel Metropolitan Baptist Church in St. Petersburg, Fla., said the convention will seek to work closely with the National Congressional Black Caucus, President Clinton and federal agencies to address issues facing black communities.

by CNB