The Power of Right Now

I have a good friend that has recently taken on the challenge of being my accountability partner. He has taken a personal interest in helping me to improve my follow-up, arrive on time and eliminate procrastination from the path to my divine destiny. All improvements that will no doubt help me be the best father I can be to my four children. One of his recurring messages is “do it right now!” You want a million dollars? Make the ask right now! You need to make a doctor’s appointment? Make the call right now! You want to make a difference in your community? Do something right now!

This do it right now message resonated in a speech Kirk Franklin delivered during this year’s Student Male Empowerment Conference at Kean University in Union, New Jersey in April where more than 1,000 young men heard his challenge that now is the time to commit to staying in school and developing a positive plan for their lives. Franklin also challenged the men of his generation to become mentors - right now - to younger brothers in their community or church. The mentoring message to the adult men was particularly poignant considering the conference survey results revealed that only 10% of the adolescent boys said that they had a good relationship with their fathers.

Proud Poppa’s cover story features the father/son team of Eddie and Gerald Levert who present a right now message of love, forgiveness and healing to fathers, families and the Black community in their father/son memoir called I Got Your Back. Their book is an intimate call and response dialogue between the musically-gifted father and son team that is timely delivered against the backdrop of a growing responsible fatherhood movement in America – a movement that is gaining in momentum with each passing day with new books, conferences, research reports and grassroots initiatives sprouting up across the country. Eddie Levert has a rigorous book tour lined up that will find him speaking at a number of fatherhood events that did not even exist just a few years ago. And for a father and son duo that often performed together on stage, the book tour might have some somber moments because of Gerald’s absence, but it will surely be a celebration of the power and impact that the positive presence and involvement of fathers can have in the lives of their children.

The one-year anniversary edition of Proud Poppa is packed with information and inspiration that urges our readers to do something right now to improve not only their lives, but their families and communities. Susan L. Taylor challenges us to mentor a young person right now in her call to action article. In the My Money Matters department Reverend DeForest B. Soaries, Jr. inspires us to demolish debt, delinquencies and deficits from our financial forecasts. Our Middle Passage Press section of the paper presents four young men, Shaun Ray Randolph, Marcus Briggs, Kyle Washington and Todd Murray, Jr. who let us know that while they are still in high school or college, that they are making an impact in their communities right now not only through their written words, but also through their deeds.

Whatever it is that you have been waiting to do that will make a positive difference in your life as a parent, leader, entrepreneur, friend... know that God has got your back and do it right now!

Purposefully,
Shawn Dove, Publisher
info@proudpoppa.net

To find out more about Shawn Dove please visit www.shawndove.com