Brooklyn church becomes a political pulpit

The Rev. A.R. Bernard, the smiling, serene force behind one of the region's most influential churches, said he feels awed at his congregation's growth.

What began three decades ago as a 20-seat storefront is now the Christian Cultural Center, a 35,000-member megachurch in Brooklyn and a high-profile political pulpit.

"I never imagined this," said Bernard, 58, of Smithtown. "I was busy trying to do what I felt called to do -- you do everything you can to accommodate everyone -- and one day I look up and see 35,000 people before me."

Also serves as stage

The nondenominational church's massive membership, along with Bernard's clout, has established it as a sought-after stage on the political circuit.

Andrew M. Cuomo stumped there last fall during his campaign for governor. Nafissatou Diallo, who accused Dominique Strauss-Kahn of sexual assault, held a news conference there in July attended by hundreds of journalists. And earlier this month Mayor Michael Bloomberg made his first comments on the domestic-violence arrest of his former deputy mayor there.

"We wanted to stand with a man of integrity," said Diallo's attorney, Kenneth Thompson, explaining why they asked Bernard to host Diallo, who is Muslim, for her first major public appearance after Strauss-Kahn's arrest. Thompson, Diallo and Bernard made an ultimately unsuccessful plea for prosecution to proceed.

"Political leaders throughout the country respect Pastor A.R. Bernard. That's why so many of them make a path to his church," said Thompson, a 15-year parishioner.

Not that the reverend's endorsement is easy to earn, he said.

"I tend to be selective in my social activism. I don't want to stray from my primary calling as a pastor, teacher and spiritual leader," Bernard said. "On some cases -- Nafi Diallo, Sean Bell, homelessness -- I have to speak out."

The Brooklyn-raised Bernard, named to Crain's New York Business' "25 Most Influential" list in 2008, denounced what many black leaders deemed a pattern of NYPD violence after Bell's 2006 shooting. He has master of urban studies, a master of divinity and doctor of divinity degrees from Alliance Theological Seminary.

The 96,000-square-foot, $12.5 million Christian Cultural Center was built in 2001 in the East New York neighborhood after the congregation outgrew its last location. Churchgoers from Long Island and beyond flock to the 11-acre campus.

Errol Parker, 43, of Wheatley Heights, a member since age 13, said Bernard and Bernard's wife and church co-founder, Karen, attract congregants by keeping their ministry fresh.

"I've been at places where the sermons sound canned, but the message here speaks to your heart always," said Parker, the church's director of technology.

Sense of togetherness

Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, who holds annual Christmas shows for low-income children at the center, said Thursday he jokingly tells Bernard, "I'm his Jewish congregant."

Markowitz added: "He's really got something in terms of bringing us together."

Bernard, whose rotund voice fills the church's cavernous sanctuary for four services each week, pokes fun at himself during sermons and engages in playful exchanges with the audience.

"I'm more like a college professor in the sanctuary," he said. "Once we get past the worship portion, it's like my classroom. People retain more when they learn in an environment that is pleasant."