From: Overground RR!! TM [hjaa@brcatl.ccsend.com] on behalf of Overground RR!! TM [hjaa@brcatl.com]
Sent: Thursday, April 24, 2008 4:05 PM
To: hjaa@alexanderlawfirm.com
Subject: Volume 4, Number 4

Attachments: _AVG certification_.txt
Sparks MastHead
Above All Things Ministry Volume 4, No. 4
April 21, 2008

Dear HJA,

The Sparks is the ORR's online communication tool. We hope that ORR members and friends will find this E-newsletter a great way to stay connected to the ORR family and promote your products, events and services within and beyond the Overground RR!!TM community. Welcome aboard

in this issue
  • East Point's Chosen Generation COGIC: Transforming Lives a Generation at a Time
  • Concerned Black Clergy Annual Walk and Health Fair
  • Wanda Robinson of Atlanta RealTime Court Reporting
  • Sat. April 26 -- Business Strategies For Tough Times

  • Concerned Black Clergy Annual Walk and Health Fair
    cbc walk apr 26

    Wanda Robinson of Atlanta RealTime Court Reporting
    Wanda Robinson

    In our continuing series of profiles of the ORR's business members, we visited with Atlanta RealTime Court Reporting's Wanda Robinson. We asked Ms. Robinson what the biggest changes she had seen in her field, what was coming, and if she had any advice for those aiming to break into it any time soon. Here's what she told us.

    I've been court reporting for more than thirty years. I do enjoy it. I have a lot of clients who are law firms large and small in the Atlanta area for whom I take depositions on a daily basis.

    There have been many, many changes in this field over the last thirty years. The biggest and most important is the computerization of court reporting, beginning about twenty years ago. We used to have big mainframe computers that would take up a whole room. Now we can go out and take depositions using a laptop computer, and it comes out in real time. My firm's name is Atlanta RealTime reporters because I specialize in real time transcription.

    When I came into the field there was a large demand for court reporters. I won't say there isn't a demand at this time, but it is a very demanding job. You have to put a lot of work into it, there are a lot of deadlines you have to meet. I guess I'm kind of used to that. But there are young people who don't want to go into this field because of those demands. It may be that a lot of young people don't want to put in the time, the energy and the effort it takes to be a top notch court reporter.

    But as long as the law is out here, there are going to be court reporters taking these depositions for attorneys.

    Another part of this field that has appeared over the last few years is captioning, which is widely used in television. That captioning is done by court reporters, in addition to what we do at depositions and in courtrooms. So there are a lot of opportunities opening up now outside the legal field for court reporters.

    Businesses and churches have marched hand in hand for years, I don't think you can disconnect that. It's kind of a circle. Black entrepreneurs have to work harder, they cannot give up, they have to strive harder. They have to put out their businesses, what services and products they provide outside the black community too, Your consumer might not just be in a black community, that person or business might be in a Hispanic community or a Jewish community. We have to get out of the mindset of looking for our customers only in the black community.

    I heard about the ORR from one of my clients, Herald Alexander, who has headed it for quite a while. I was one of its first members and have attended most of its events, galas and such. I think it's a great opportunity to network with other business people, to exchange ideas. For those reasons, I'd highly recommend it to everybody.


    Sat. April 26 -- Business Strategies For Tough Times
    George Fraser

    Nobody doubts that these are tough times indeed. Not every business enterprise succeeds, but yours can be one that survives and thrives in this difficult times.

    The Business Alliance of Cascade UMC invites you to its annual retreat, Business Strategies in Tough Times, beginning this Saturday at 11AM.

    The keynote speaker is George Fraser, America's networking guru as noted by Black Enterprise Magazine. A panel discussion will follow featuring Marvin Arrington, Jr. Esq.; Daryll Griffin, President of Accolades, Inc.; Rob Wilson, business talk show - Solutions & Remedies - at WAOK FM Radio; and a few other prominent local business owners.

    Registration for the day is $15.00, which includes a continental breakfast and lunch. For more information about the Cascade Business Alliance 2008 Business Fair & Retreat, contact David Walters at 678-933-2312.


    Are you an ORR member yet?
    Board the Overground RR!!© and find out how you can practice "KTAA" Kitchen Table Affirmative Action ©. Visit online at www.brcatl.com or call our office today at 404-346-0808 to find out how you can become a member.


    East Point's Chosen Generation COGIC: Transforming Lives a Generation at a Time
    Pastor Keith Staley

    Recently, the ORR caught up with Pastor Keith Staley of East Point's Chosen Generation Church of God in Christ. We asked him about his special mission, and his opinion of how Black business and the church ought to be working together. What follows are his edited remarks.

    At Chosen Generation COGIC God is transforming lives one generation at a time. Our belief is that God wants each and every one of us to be used by Him to win the world for Christ.

    In the fifth chapter of Luke, Jesus told Peter to launch out into the deep, and to use something that belonged to him. Peter allowed Jesus to use his ship, but Jesus asked Peter to do something that Peter was certain would not work. He asked Peter to go back out and fish, to cast all his nets after Peter had fished all day and caught nothing. Peter, since he knew it wouldn't work, dropped only a single net. But when he did, he picked up such a large number of fish that his net could barely hold them.

    Imagine what he might have gotten if he had done what Jesus asked him and cast them all? Just as asked Peter to use something of his, we believe that God wants to use something of you, your energy your time, your contribution to win this world for Christ. We believe that if we follow this directive we will be rewarded beyond meausre.

    Chosen Generation came from a dream that came to me and to my wife after we had done some years of missionary work overseas. After seven years of ministry in a partricular church, I approached my pastor, who told me that he had seen the seed of this coming all along. He helped me get all the paper work together and we began this ministry in our home.

    After six months we outgrew the home and moved to a hotel. Six months after that, God gave my wife a dream that had her driving up and down Church street here in East Point. She called me and told me that she'd found the place the Lord wanted her to find. The owner rented it to us for a year, and with God's grace we were able to purchase it. We've been here a good year and a half now, and we are well recognized and well integrated into this community here in East Point.

    We have a tutoring program, we are doing budgeting counseling. We've got a clothes closet that we open in order to have people suitably attired for job interviews. We are helping create resumes for people in the community, and coaching them in how to present themselves in job interviews. We are investigating how we can take this further, how we can partner with other forces to provide some kinds of training for people helping people become what they really want to become and what God wants them to be.

    We know that the roles of black businesses and of entrepreneurship are vital to the economic well-being of our community. We know that successful businesses enable the community to grow, to thrive and to be able to support efforts like ours. That's why Chosen Generation is part of this Overground RR!!(TM) effort to lift up our black businesses and our churches as one. The success of each one enables the other, and going back to the point where I started, God wants to use Black business to uplift this community.

    Chosen Generation Church of God in Christ is located at 2846 Church St in East Point GA, 30344. Services are at 9AM every Sunday, and 7PM every Wednesday.



    Join our mailing list!
    Sparks Editor: hjaa@brcatl.com
    phone: 404-346-0808

    Forward email

    Safe Unsubscribe
    This email was sent to hjaa@alexanderlawfirm.com, by hjaa@brcatl.com

    Overground RR!!© | 3485 N. Desert Drive | Bld. 2, Suite 109 | Atlanta | GA | 30344