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P: Here at Beulah Baptist Church?

L: At Beulah Baptist Church.

P: How do you spell Beulah?

L: Beulah. The full name is Beulah Baptist Institutional Church.

P: One of the most prominent __ churches in Tampa.

L: Exactly. 128 years old, this year. Its founding is history.

P: How did you get recruited, not simply Beulah, I am going to ask you how you
 came to Tampa from Georgia. But how in the world did you make that transition
 from being an academic, teaching at Morehouse College, to going into the world
 of the ministry. Those are pretty different.

L: They are different, but I had a little pastoral background. The battle going on in
 me was whether or not to remain in the college setting and become a full
 professor eventually, or whether to leave the academic world and you could not
 say that you are not involved with academics in pastoring because you still need
 to study and equip yourself properly and of course I had that equipment. I was in
 somewhat of a dilemma about that. Dr. Mays who was then president of
 Morehouse College, when I informed him of the call to become pastor. The
 Tabernacle Baptist Church in Augusta said no, I do not think that you ought to do
 that, the city into which you are going or you are contemplating, there is a social
 lag there. It is not a progressive kind of city, the church although very historic, is
 not what it used to be. It has a tremendous name, a huge building, but you need
 to be in a setting like Atlanta where all the universities center and Dr. Border said
 no, what you need to do is go on and give people in that community, granted
 their may be a social lag, and maybe the people are not as politically-minded and
 conscious as they are in Atlanta, and so all the more reason for going because
 they need the kind of leadership that you can provide.

P: So he favored you going?

L: Yes, this was Dr.Borders, now.

P: The first one who told you not to go was?

L: Dr.Mays was anti.

P: Dr.Mays was once again the head of Morehouse college. Dr Borders was?