Rev. Edgar Vann Jr.

The Reverend Edgar L. Vann Jr. approved the positioning of pastor at Detroit’s Second Ebenezer Baptist Chapel in 1977; simply 21 years of age at that time, he assumed control of a chapel that had skipped its last 31 lender obligations and which stated only 66 users. During his 1st year Vann approved no salary, assisting himself instead like a lender teller; over that 12-month period the chapel emerged from personal debt, and gradually its congregation increased to over 2,000 users. The youngest-ever innovator from the Baptist Council of Ministers (a nationwide group representing some 350,000 churchgoers), Vann also co-founded the charitable group Task Recovery; in 1998 he and the next Ebenezer Baptist Cathedral Choir — including Minister of Music Michael E. Fletcher, organist Curtis Pearson, guitarist Eugene Wright and percussionists Michael Trip and David Reed — released the record Reside in Detroit.