“We have mentorship programs for our young men and young women,” said Gerald, a 45-year resident of Detroit. “For our young men we go to baseball games and basketball games and air shows. Sometimes we’ll just get together and have rap sessions — talk about life, anger management, how to treat women, things of that nature. Or one time someone just bought some chicken, took some young men out to Belle Isle, and let them talk about their concerns.
“The important thing is that we let the kids know that there is always an open line of communication between them and the members of the church, and what they say they say in confidence.”
The women of King of Kings take a similar approach with the young ladies.
“I’ve had young ladies spend the night,” Minner said. “We go shopping, we go to breakfast, and they can speak on anything they want — it’s open dialogue. They even teach me some of the slang.
Combined, Gerald and Minner have worked more than 60 years in the banking industry. They are well versed in the “bottom line,” and the bottom line they wish to convey to their community is that Detroit’s youth deserve their city’s support.
“One of the things that is very important to Gerald and I is that we listen to the news and hear so many negative things about our kids. Our community needs to hear more positive things coming from and about our young people.
“We would love for the world to see the positive kids that we have at our church, we really would.”
Her partner for nearly three decades agrees.
“Even though we weren’t blessed with kids, kids have always been a big part of our life,” Gerald said. “We love kids and it makes us feel good to know that we may have had some impact on how a child turns out. We don’t use a cookie-cutter approach, because all children have their unique characteristics that you have to feed into. But we are consistent, we don’t give up and we don’t get frustrated.”
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