The History of A Voice for Today

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A Voice For Today Ministries was begun by Evangelist Greg Presley and revival meetings were held from the East Coast of Florida to Yuma, AR. During a time of crisis in America during the Vietnam War, faith was waning and people questioned the Church, Morality, the Bible, and the Government. Teaching personal evangelism, preaching from the Bible coupled with exciting music enhanced by his son Earl, and David Phillips (former Organist with Dennis Yost and the Classics IV) was a combination that found hundreds of people coming to know Jesus Christ as their Savior and dedicating their lives to the cause of Christ.

Now in the 21st Century, it is once again a time of crisis. We find ourselves with a new generation of young people to whom the Gospel has not been made relevant. The Facebook and Twitter Generation questions the institutions of Church and religion in a new and more challenging way than every before. It is time for a new voice, A Voice for Today, to challenge people of faith to return to personal evangelism, renew their Christian Experience, and lead the emerging Church into a new century of carrying the Gospel to a world that is seeking love, peace, reconciliation, compassion, and spirituality without the trappings of the 20th Century religious bondage that plagues the declining Church.

Born out of crisis, A Voice for Today is a catalyst for change in the church's worldview regarding ministry, worship,and discipleship. Earl Presley is a Minister born out of the Civil Rights Movement of the Sixties, the Vietnam Protests of the seventies, the Individualism of the eighties, and the Culture of Greed in the nineties. He brings a prophetic voice in music, preaching and teaching based on the principles taught in the Bible that speak to the current crisis of faith confronting the Church and the World. Like his Father before him, Earl goes forth with Christ high and lifted up, bearing the Good News of Hope through Christ to a dying world.

There is a new website http://avoicefortoday.com/ which will allow you to book personal appearances for Earl Presley.

What a Black President Means

It is Wednesday morning after the historic election of November 4, 2008. I did not realize how vested I was in the historic significance of the election of our first African-American President.

65 years ago, Marion Anderson was the greatest Contralto Opera Singer of the 20^th Century. Mary Presley, my grandmother, was the president of the Women’s Club in Cottonwood, AL and arranged for a concert to be performed while Anderson was on tour of the US. When she arrived, the arrangements for Hotel and Restaurant fell through when the business owners realized she was of African-American. She stayed with my Grandmother’s family and performed to a sold out audience with rave reviews, but was denied access to Lodging and Food.

45 years ago, my father, Greg Presley, was Pastor of Fellowship Baptist Church of Ocala, Florida during the St. Augustine Race Riots. He led the Church to be the first Baptist Church in Florida to seat African-American visitors. The KKK burned a cross in the yard of the Manse and I remember my mother’s tears and fear as we watched my Dad take my little .410 shotgun out and defend our home while they danced around the flaming cross. 20 years later I would sing at the funeral of the same man that led that led the dance.

40 years ago I watched the Civil Rights activists H. Rap Brown and Andrew Young go to jail after speeches my father had helped write during demonstrations at the 1968 Democratic National Convention. Threatening phone calls followed my family for years for my father’s role as a speechwriter for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

Today I wake to realize the American Dream of Equality and Opportunity regardless of race, gender, or entitlement is closer to being a reality than it has been in my lifetime. As Barack Obama said, “We have come so far”. Transformation is the theme of the American Dream as well as the Christian experience. Truly that transformation is taking place before our eyes at this time in history. I continue to pray for my own spiritual growth, the continued transformation of my country, and the Lord’s guidance for my new President. I hope you will join me.

Rev. Earl G. Presley, Pastor -First Christian Church, Rockdale, TX

Printed in the Rockdale Reporte, Rockdale, TX November 11, 2008