New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia, Georgia is one of the most prominent megachurches in the nation. And despite its storied history, particularly the tailspin the church found itself in after a sex scandal with Bishop Eddie L. Long, who served as its senior pastor until his passing in 2017, the church continues to enjoy a significant presence in the Atlanta metropolitan area and wields strong influence in the religious community and various civic programs and initiatives.
When he arrived current pastor Jamal Bryant took the reins four years ago, new Missionary was $32M in debt. Today, the church is $13M in debt. It was the late board chair Tommy Dortch who led the hiring of Jamal to the ATL megachurch.
Bryant is a popular pastor with a remarkable ability to connect to not only his constituents, to people of all ages in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The former husband of Real Housewives of the Potomac star Gizelle Bryant, the progressive pastor proposed growing marijuana on much of the church’s vast property holdings, evoking a tidal wave of responses from local clergy and laymen alike.
The popular pastor earlier in the year said he wants to start growing weed in an effort to drive more Black men to church as well as encourage entrepreneurism.
On an episode of the “Cool Soror” podcast with Rashan Ali, Bryant, a lead pastor at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, explained that he hopes to launch a cannabis business on the church’s grounds to teach Black men entrepreneurship and entice them to attend service, per Black Enterprise.
“I’m looking for people that smell like weed,” Bryant declared. “New Birth is the largest land-owning Black church in America. My position to my deacons is ‘why are we not raising cannabis?’”