The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Minister shares faith in new community
Kimber also serving as interim pastor at Stamford church
NEW HAVEN — The Rev. Boise Kimber says the church must be embedded in its community, a belief he’s put into practice for more than three decades as senior pastor of First Calvary Baptist Church on Dixwell Avenue.
Now he’s doing the same in Stamford as interim pastor of Faith Tabernacle Missionary Baptist Church, a post he took up in August in addition to his leadership of the Newhallville church, which he organized in 1986.
“The church belongs to the community, so if your calling is not about the community then you are misrepresenting your calling, because Jesus’ call was about the community and the people who lived in the community,” Kimber said. “He stood for those who were disenfranchised.”
The focus for Kimber, 58, who grew up in Alabama, is the city’s African-American population, much of which suffers from a lack of opportunity.
Kimber is bringing his commitment to social action to Stamford. Faith Tabernacle, located in downtown Stamford, is “a neighbor to all of the business people there,” Kimber said.
He’s toured the city’s public housing, Charter Oak Communities (formerly the Stamford Housing Authority), and met with its CEO, Vincent Tufo, as well as Mayor David Martin. “It was a pleasure meeting with Rev. Kimber,” Martin said in an email. “His experience in the city of New Haven supporting affordable house and youth programs will be welcomed in Stamford.”
“It’s not been a hard task” to take on a second church, Kimber said, and it’s not the first time he’s done it. He led First Calvary Church of Hartford for about eight years, bringing its membership from five to 100, he said.
“I retired there last year, thinking I was going to come here, finish up this building and prepare to retire.”
Behind First Calvary’s simple building, hardly visible from Dixwell Avenue, is the frame of a much larger church, which will be his final church-related accomplishment, Kimber said.
“He gives of himself, his time and his talent, especially in the Newhallville neighborhood, where our church is located.” Felicia McAdams, chairwoman of the deacon ministry at First Calvary
But when asked to take on the interim role at Faith Tabernacle, he agreed.
“I think my energy comes by helping people, by getting things done and by moving issues that affect people,” he said. “Knowledge motivates me; the (civil rights) movement motivates me.”
Concern for city residents
The issues Kimber believes African-Americans face include education, health care and especially jobs, which he sees as key to New Haven residents’ success. He said he will “continue to sound the alarm to this business community, to the institutions that are established here, that if we want to create a safe environment we must offer people things that will help them to become better people.”
Those institutions that have heard Kimber’s challenge include Yale University, Yale New Haven Hospital, City Hall and the city’s schools, he said.
While those doing the hiring must do their part, Kimber believes education is the foundation for enabling young people to qualify for those jobs. A frequent critic of New Haven Public Schools’ educational quality, he’s so far been stymied in efforts to get the board to back his proposal for an all-boys school, based on the success shown by the Eagle Academy Foundation in New York City and Newark, New Jersey.
“I have been a visionary person, I would like to think,” Kimber said. “I have not given up on that because I think it is necessary that we save as many boys in this community as we can at a young age.”
He also is an advocate for a vocational-technical school in New Haven.
“Everyone does not want to go to college, so why don’t we go back to what we used to do?” he said. “Train people to be cosmetologists, barbers, plumbers, welders, electricians.”
But while education and a good job are key to a safer city, Kimber sees New Haven as moving in a positive direction when it comes to crime.
“I think that the mayor and the chief have done an exceptional job” in reducing gun violence, he said. “They have paid close attention to it. Crime is down in this city and in this community.”
He credited former Newhallville district manager Sgt. Shafiq Abdussabur and newly appointed Chief Anthony Campbell with bringing hope to the neighborhood.
“I see where we were 30 years ago and where we are today. We’ve made exceptional strides,” he said.
Accustomed to controversy
Unafraid to speak out on issues, Kimber was much in the news as chairman of the Board of Fire Commissioners when, in 2004, a group of firefighters — 17 white and one Hispanic — sued then-Mayor John DeStefano Jr. and other city officials when the Civil Service Commission refused to certify the results of two Fire Department promotional exams because the commission claimed the results discriminated against minority candidates. Kimber, a strong supporter of the mayor, was vocal in his support of commission’s action. Ultimately, the case went to the U.S. Supreme Court, which voted 5-4 in favor of the firefighters in 2009. Kimber’s activism is rooted in his strong faith in Jesus, he said. “I’m a preacher and I have followed the footsteps of Jesus proclaiming what the gospel is. Jesus preached throughout Jerusalem, Galilee, helping people,” including the blind, the hungry, the naked, “giving life to the lifeless … and even turning water into wine. Even after being in the ministry 43 years I’m still fascinated with Jesus and his works,” he said.
Kimber said his priorities are, first, his family — his wife Shevalle Kimber, his six adult children and five grandchildren. Then come “these two churches that I’ve been entrusted with. The third thing that’s important to me is God’s people being liberated.”
He knows first-hand of the need for civil rights.
“I understand the struggle of black people,” he said. “I grew up under George Wallace, who was a racist governor at that time.”
He went to a segregated school in Alabama until he was 10, when he was bused to what was until then an all-white school.
“I understand the pain and the plight of the people whom I serve. I’m very sensitive to it,” he said.
Felicia McAdams, chairwoman of the deacon ministry at First Calvary and a member since she was 15, said Kimber is “very strong in the education of the community and the people fighting for education for all and fighting for what our children are supposed to have in our school system.
“He is definitely a people person and he has a very big heart,” McAdams said. “He gives of himself, his time and his talent, especially in the Newhallville neighborhood, where our