Last weekend, courtesy of the Faith Based Tourism initiative, Dr. Jamal Harrison Bryant of Empowerment Temple in Baltimore, Maryland, shared with locals and visitors alike in services at the Centennial Hall, St. Paul's AME Church in Hamilton, for the "Taking it to the Next Level: Crusade on the Rock."

"Mr. (Andre) Curtis called our office after watching one of our broadcasts to come visit in the winter," Dr. Bryant said. The sell was not hard, he explained, with a smile on his face. "Who wouldn't want to go to Bermuda in the winter?"

Preaching was not something Dr. Bryant had planned on.

"It wasn't what I wanted to do at all," he said. "I wanted to go to law school, but there was this unending call from God."

Finally, after serving as the National Youth Director for the NAACP for four years, Dr. Bryant established Empower Temple in Easter, 2000 with only 43 members. Today, the church serves up to 10,000 in three Sunday services. The average age of congregants is between 18 and 40 years.

Dr. Bryant, who is publishing his first book, "World War Me: Winning the War Within", next year, sees much of his ministry as helping to empower his congregation economically, socially, politically, educationally and, most importantly, spiritually.

"We have a problem with self-sabotage," he said. "We convince ourselves not to try or to settle."

"We, as a society, have moved from community to individuality," he said. And as a result, societal problems have increased. It speaks volumes to social ills."

The focus on self, instead of looking at the needs of others and helping each other has even hit the church, he explained.

"The message from the pulpits has become focused on individual success. The message changed, and so the mind-set has changed."

Dr. Bryant sees great importance in the need for people to work together, and is saddened that the priniciple of working together, that was so clearly seen through leaders such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in the 1960s has been lost, and sums it up in the quote by former US President John F. Kennedy: "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country."

The lack of concern for the world's problems, until they come unexpectedly on our own doorstep, and the focus on individuality is clearly seen, according to Dr. Bryant, in the dwinding number of voters seen in US elections.

"It speaks to the thought that, 'My vote doesn't count'," Dr. Bryant said.

Dr. Bryant said the Lord has lately been laying on his heart the principles of patience and persistance, as seen in Isaiah 40:31, "Yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary."

Dr. Bryant thoroughly enjoyed his time on the Island and sees it as a great location for a spiritual retreat.

"I pray that more African Americans will come to the Island."