wfn.org | PBS series will include feature on United Methodist pastor

["NewsDesk" <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

May 28, 2003 News media contact: Tim Tanton7(615)742-54707Nashville, Tenn. 
10-31-71B{297}

By United Methodist News Service

The Rev. Cecil Williams, chief executive officer of Glide Memorial United
Methodist Church in San Francisco, will be featured in a PBS television
series on the African-American religious experience through the last three
centuries.

"This Far by Faith: African-American Spiritual Journeys" is a six-part series
that will air on PBS June 24-26 (check local TV listings for times). The
series traces African-American history from the early days of slavery in
America to the civil rights movement of the 1950s and '60s and into the 21st
century, and explores the connections between faith and African-American
cultural values.

Each hour-long episode focuses on a different aspect of African-American
religious history. The third hour, "Guide My Feet," includes an account of
how the Rev. Cecil Williams "takes his religious faith and his compassion for
all people to the streets and builds the Glide Memorial United Methodist
Church congregation," according to a press release from WGBH Boston, which is
presenting the series on PBS with the Independent Television Service.

The series was produced by Blackside Inc. and The Faith Project. It was
conceptualized by the late Henry Hampton, a filmmaker whose work included
"America's War on Poverty," the Peabody and Emmy Award-winning "Eyes on the
Prize" and "Malcolm X: Make it Plain." Hampton died in 1998.

Lorraine Toussaint, of TV's "Any Day Now" and "Crossing Jordan," narrates the
series. 

 
 

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United Methodist News Service
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