Pastor Fred Price of Crenshaw Christian Center passed on February 12, 2021, in Torrance, CA. He was said to have been a man ahead of his time, having purchased the Pepperdine College City Campus to carry out his ministry, long before other local black churches had developed Mega Churches. As part of the ministry, Price developed a television ministry and a school ministry for local children in the community.
Pastor Fred Price
As part of the private school system, jobs were developed for community teachers, administrators, and maintenance personnel dedicated to keeping up the Campus. The Crenshaw Christian Center became a place where the community participated to fill their needs for conferences and public events, rather than having a selfish place to narrowly benefit only a select few. It also becomes a model for how we can live our lives for the benefit of the total community.
I have been blessed to have purchased a property to help others develop their businesses and for affordable places to reside. I followed a pattern that I saw another businessman do. This man built his office where there was room for others to build their businesses. He called his location, “English Square”, because his name was English, and he owned the whole corner. I called my corner location, “Hopkins Village”, which houses five small businesses. I recall my wife belonging to an organization called, Los Angeles Bench and Bar Affiliates, composed of wives of black Judges and Lawyers. They held an annual event to raise scholarship funds for young aspiring black lawyers and raised lots of money. This type of unity is still a great idea for different occupations. And, this type of unity is how money was raised to purchase the Pepperdine College Campus and how money was raised to buy the Forum for Faithful Central Church in Inglewood, CA. This type of unity was also a pattern for acquiring community wealth as well as families to acquire wealth. Organizations such as churches, fraternities, sororities, and others acquired their wealth through unity and group savings. The strong suggestion here is that blacks may rebuild wealth through organizations. We must understand that you don’t have to buy a property that is already developed, like the Forum or Pepperdine. You can buy a property and develop it. Make an appointment with a realtor and start your wealth-building process now. If you don’t have money, but you have a job, make your appointment anyway and look for your surprise. You can also invest in something that has a financial return in it, as a way to build wealth. Do some research to find out a need that your community should have but doesn’t, and fill the need. Create a coffee shop, or develop a clothing line or a silk-screening shop. You can buy an Entrepreneur magazine to seek out ideas. Remember, once your money is gone, it’s gone unless it has a return. Microsoft and Ford were once someone’s idea, as was syrup and soda. Just as you should seek out a vacant piece of land to develop, you can develop a new product. Other ideas could be to open a business that works for you such as a laundromat, a barbershop, or a beauty salon. You do not need to be physically in the business to run it. Hire managers or professionals to work the business. You collect the earnings and pay the staff. This frees you up to continue working another job if you so desire. You’ll collect added revenue from your business, as well as a salary from your job. You can then say you’re, “working smarter, not harder”. |
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