Childhood Friends Raise the Profile of Their Beloved City

Daniel Cloyd, David Rose, and Michael Jenkins are on a mission to cement L.A. as a serious place for barbecue. The three young founders of CITYBOI Incorporated pay homage to a place which has given them so much — love, support, and boundless hope.

“CITYBOI as a name serves to lay hold to the claim that city boys can be serious artisans in this culinary space,” states Daniel.

Born and raised in Leimert Park, Baldwin Hills, and Inglewood, their lives intersected at Price Schools with Daniel and Michael attending kindergarten through 8^th grade together. Sadly, Michael’s father passed away when he was eight, leaving his mom to raise four boys.

Soon after this, his beloved grandma passed. With the swift and fervent love and support of good friends, including Daniel and his family, and a caring village of others, Michael, his mom, and his brothers prevailed.

Daniel and David met at St. Bernard High School, becoming instant friends, and playing on the football team. They too, supported one another through adversity, including David’s parents’ divorce and a robbery in which David’s father was shot and paralyzed from the waist down.

This forced David to grow up faster than others with instant responsibilities. He had second thoughts about going to college, yet his dad urged him to go. He attended and graduated from Tuskegee University in Alabama.

Daniel attended and graduated from UC Santa Barbara where he ran track and played Rugby. Both David and Daniel went on to work in finance where they remain with day jobs to care for themselves, their own families, and to fund CITYBOI.

Michael attended Santa Barbara City College where he played Rugby, and El Camino College. He supports himself, his family, and the business with work in school public safety.

When asked about his thoughts about recent school shootings across the nation, he shares, “It’s hard to speak about. If you can’t send your kid to school, where can you take him or her? My mentality is if I return home, so does your kid. My job is to make parents feel comfortable through consistent action and earned trust.” Values that are equally important in the marketplace — consistency and trust.

None of the founders of CITYBOI knew that life’s speedbumps and a brother’s keeper response would serve as building blocks for the requisite intestinal fortitude vital for starting a business. They launched just prior to the pandemic with barbecue catering that was decidedly L.A. — a cultural mecca and melting pot of flavor and style.

“L.A. may not have the same reputation for barbecue culture as other regions, yet we are the godfathers of the backyard BBQ boogie,” said David. With a solid start bringing fun, and a unique, flavorful sauce to gatherings throughout Los Angeles, the trio had to reimagine their business model amid the pandemic. They retooled and emerged with an FDA-approved, proprietary barbeque sauce that is prepared, packaged, and shipped by a California distribution company.

With family lines that originate from the Caribbean, Alabama and Missouri, the flavor-infused sauce with an L.A. flair is designed for universal use. It is thinner, making it the perfect complement to myriad dishes — enchiladas, pasta, tofu and more. It is sweet and tangy, with a touch of spice.

Dishes come to life in homes and on HBO Max’s “The Sweet Life,” which is produced by Issa Rae and includes David as a cast member. The trio has wrapped up 10 episodes of the YouTube cooking show, “Taste the City,” and have been part of multiple community festivals and convenings, including Black Flea Market, Black on the Block, and Spicy Green Book.

They are humbly honored to have their sauce sold at Hanks Mini Market on Crenshaw and Florence, bbqLAND in Long Beach, and Byblos Mediterranean Restaurant in Westwood.

Learn more at citiboi-bbq.com.

Through the death of a child, a challenging bout with cancer, and the loss of her husband of 69 years to COVID-19, Dr. Betty R. Price has always turned to the same place for solace and strength: the Word of God.

“There is a scripture for every situation in life,” says the steadfast former first lady of Crenshaw Christian Center (CCC). “God has something to say about everything under the sun.”

Hebrews 10:23, John 3:15 and Mark 11:24 are among the Bible passages that roll off her tongue with ease, bringing peace and purpose to her life. These passages speak to God’s promise to those who are faithful, while affirming the wonderworking power of prayer.

Dr. Betty, as she is lovingly known, says she prays throughout the day. Bedtime finds her reciting a longer prayer in which she appeals for the safety, happiness and prosperity of her family, her church, church leaders, world leaders, and more.

“God lives inside of me,” she says with a zeal that belies her years. Her 89^th birthday is February 9. “God is alive – powerful and sharper than any two-edge sword.”

Befitting words coming from a God-fearing woman who, herself, possesses a sword-like sharpness of conviction. Dr. Betty easily recalls stories from years of studying and sharing the Word with people around the world. An author, speaker and evangelist, she has come this far by faith, continuing to fight the good fight with grace and humility.

“It is so exciting when your prayers are answered,” she says. “It doesn’t always happen immediately. It took a year and a half for my prayers regarding a cancer challenge to be answered, but I never stopped praying and believing. You have to believe before you receive. The minute you pray, you have to believe what you are praying for will be.”

After two years of streaming church services from home due to the recent pandemic lockdowns, Dr. Betty is thrilled to be back in the sanctuary that she and her pioneering husband, the late Apostle Frederick K.C. Price, built. She also attends weekly Bible study and works in the church office twice a week.

“I am thankful we had the technology to keep church going, but there is no substitute for fellowship, for coming together,” Dr. Betty says. “How can you be a blessing to others – how can you know their needs – if you don’t see them and talk to them?”

Crenshaw Christian’s 14,000-member ministry is currently shepherded both in-person and online by Dr. Betty’s youngest child, Dr. Frederick K. Price. “I am so proud and thankful our son was anointed,” she says, beaming with a mother’s pride. “There is no more important work he could be doing than God’s work.”

Dr. Betty’s son is not the only Price family member who has made Crenshaw Christian Center their life’s work. In her role as president of CCC, daughter Angela Price Evans supervises day-to-day operations for the massive ministry. Daughters Stephanie Price Buchanan and Cheryl Ann Price have also worked behind the scenes to keep the ministry on track, making Crenshaw Christian Center a family affair in the best and truest sense of the phrase.

With her flawless complexion and radiant smile, Dr. Betty embodies the joy she believes comes from knowing God and being filled with the Holy Spirit. Her unflagging love for the Lord and her empathy for people are palpable. However, she confesses to having a deep-felt compassion for those facing hardships. As such, the mother of four, grandmother of 10, and great-grandmother of six expresses a profound affinity for the most vulnerable among us – children and the homeless.

“I do not like to see suffering, yet there is so much all around,” she says. “I want to give until I don’t have anything to give, and then I know God will provide.”

As she approaches her 90s, she wishes to continue doing what she has done her entire life – exalting the Lord through devout words and humane, merciful deeds. “They won’t let me retire and I don’t want to,” she laughs.

“My goals are simple,” she continues with a youthful sparkle in her eyes. “I want to stay with God; cast all my cares upon him and continue to help people.

“I have everything I could ever need or want,” Dr. Betty proclaims with a spirit of gratitude. “I have had a wonderful life. I wouldn’t trade it for anything. I want that for my family, our church and God’s people. What could any of us want more than the peace of God?”

Over the years Dr. Betty has received numerous awards and commendations from local, state and federal government entities for her community service work, including “Woman of the Year” from the Los Angeles County Commission for Women in the Second District.

She is the author of six books and a mentor to many.

On Sunday, January 29, Crenshaw Christian Center (CCC) hosted a brain wellness event in response to the outsized impact of dementia and a form of Alzheimer’s disease on the African American community.

The effort builds upon the ministry’s years-long address of the disease with caregiver support for congregants, their families, neighbors, and co-workers. What began as a stand of faith through prayer and applied resources of the day, has expanded as greater knowledge about the disease has surfaced.

What we know today is that there are 6 million Americans living with Alzheimer’s, a disease which can develop 20-30 years before symptoms occur and can begin to develop in individuals as young as 20 years of age. Additionally, there are 11.2 million Americans providing unpaid care to someone with Alzheimer’s or dementia. Two-thirds of them are women.

African Americans are twice as likely as Whites to develop Alzheimer’s; Latinos 1.5 times. One third of Alzheimer’s cases may be preventable by addressing lifestyle factors, and it’s never too early to start.

“This is a horrible disease, and we want to do our part to not only meet people where they are in this journey, but to prevent its occurrence,” says Angela Evans, president of Crenshaw Christian Center, which is celebrating its 50^th anniversary. “We want to be known as the healthy church and aim to equip generations with useful lifestyle tools to drive community change. We invite everyone to make use of the thoughtfully curated resources for their optimal health.”

A formed a partnership with the non-profit Healthy Minds Initiative (HMI) and National Academy of Medicine have enlightened the ministry’s understanding for a measure of control navigating a disease where a loss of control is often the felt sentiment. HMI is an evidence-based program that supports communities on their path to brain health. Founders, and husband and wife, Drs. Dean and Ayesha Sherzai, neuroscientist and neurologist respectively, began to investigate how communities could be empowered to make healthy lifestyle changes.

They looked at how technology could play a role in outreach, habit forming, and intervention, and found that involving the community through the entire process — from investigation, to research, to intervention — empowered people to make significant lifestyle changes.

Dr. Dean Sherzai states, “Ultimately, these changes can significantly reduce diseases such as diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke and dementia.” Both Drs. Sherzai have personal experience with dementia, with each having a grandparent affected and having served as hands-on caregivers.

Dr. Dean Sherzai continues, “growing up with humble means in Pennsylvania, I watched my grandfather eat a donut every day for 40 years. I discovered the long-term health impact in my research, learning that the brain needs healthy fuel to thrive.”

Dr. Ayesha has her own family story, and these realities served as an impetus for their passionate work in this field — starting with the population most disproportionately affected — African Americans. They have done work at Cedars Sinai, they run the brain health clinic at Loma Linda University, and have recently accepted a request to establish a brain health center at Charles Drew University.

The first-time Brain Health Fair at CCC began with a morning worship service address by Drs. Sherzai to impart statistics and ways to counteract realities with lifestyle changes such as beloved food recipe adjustments, exercise, sleep hygiene, stress reduction and more.

After worship service, 589 people of all ages attended the Fair whose aim was to cement health management as a daily imperative. The robust effort, which was held in the Youth Activity Center, also known as the Price Knights’ school gym, included cooking demos of healthy versions of favorite foods: Uncle Michael’s Tableside Guacamole, The Perfect Peach Cobbler by Queen Bee’s Delightful Catering, Dr. Ayesha’s Spicy Jackfruit Tacos, and sandwiches made with whole grain bread, organic almond butter, organic bananas, and organic reduced sugar raspberry preserves by 11-year-old Atreyu Evans.

Free blood pressure screenings were provided by CCC Reception Committee Nurses, giveaways including seeds for starting a home garden, 100 Omron blood pressure monitors, and coffee provided by Tessie Cleveland Community Services Corporation’s (TCCSC) Coffee Truck were popular, as was an exercise obstacle course.

Prizes of 100 Starbucks and Jamba Juice gift cards and more than 100 of Drs. Sherzai books, “The Alzheimer’s Solution: A Breakthrough Program to Prevention and Reverse the Symptoms of Cognitive Decline at Every Age” and “The 30-Day Alzheimer’s Solution: The Definitive Food and Lifestyle Guide to Preventing Cognitive Decline” were appreciated. Mental health professionals from TCCSC shared information and encouraged patrons to take advantage of free resources. Brain health videos played, and handouts on caregiving, healthy eating for healthy weight, fitness, high blood pressure and hypertension prevention were distributed.

Learn more and download materials at healthymindsinitiative.org/hmi-ccc/. View the worship service, including the Sherzais presentation on the Ever-Increasing Faith Ministries You Tube channel and at faithdome.org.

Congregation Donates Over 1,000 Items in Partnership with Union Rescue Mission 

For more than 40 years, Crenshaw Christian Center (CCC) and its generous members and guests have donated an estimated $6 million worth of food, clothing, toys, personal care items, money, gift cards, home goods, and more to benefit the local community.

This long-time spirit of giving emanates from the mother of ministry, Dr. Betty Ruth Price, a daughter of the segregated South whose humble start in life provided relational empathy for those in need.

Previous internally executed efforts included long lines on Vermont Avenue with individuals and families showing up to receive lovingly donated items. Church staff and volunteers served the community with a warm welcome and navigation support.

Today, under the leadership of Pastor Frederick K. Price and Lady Angel Price, community efforts have evolved through a partnership with Union Rescue Mission (URM) — to provide year-round support to individuals and families experiencing homelessness and other challenges.

Pastor Price has served on the URM board for several years and has witnessed the organization’s deep impact. “Angel and I are grateful to represent CCC with URM, an entity whose mission aligns with ours, to ensure that ‘none suffers lack’,” states Pastor Price.

This is but one example of the ministry’s myriad community support efforts. Foster youth and families in great need throughout South Los Angeles and beyond are aided through the church’s collaboration with Care Portal. Monthly, open-to-the-community blood drives are held at CCC as part of its decades-long collaboration with American Red Cross — with an aim to support gains and a cure for sickle cell disease. Angela Evans, CCC’s president and CEO, serves on the American Red Cross Los Angeles Region Board and chairs its Diversity Committee.

This year’s Toy Drive — an accumulation of toys, games, bicycles, scooters, clothing, personal care items and gifts cards will benefit 250 families, and 450 children and teens residing at Union Rescue Missions’ Angeles House, and their Downtown and Hope Gardens living areas. Pastor Price, Lady Angel, and their children personally donated the three requested Christmas Trees and a host of toys to round out the generous congregation’s efforts.

Crenshaw Christian Center is located at 7901 S. Vermont Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90044, at the corner of 79th and Vermont. Its 34-acre oasis is a community-haven and the former original campus of Pepperdine University. Its founder, Apostle Frederick K.C. Price, supported by a strong family unit and faithful congregation, built the historic FaithDome, a giant geodesic structure often seen on the flight path into LAX Airport. The ministry is celebrating its 50th anniversary and the faithfulness of God. Details at faithdome.org.

By Dr. Betty Price

In Ephesians 5:25, Paul tells us: Husband, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the Church and gave Himself for her

If a man wants to know how to treat his wife, all he has to do is examine how Jesus treats the Church. I have never seen Jesus slap down the Church, and I do not believe there is any reason whatsoever for a husband to beat his wife. If a wife is a Christian, she is a member of the Body of Christ. So, when a husband strikes his wife, he is in essence hitting Christ. Just think about that!

In Verses 28-29, Paul adds: So husband ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself.

For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church.

God has placed the man as the head of the home. Now, he is not the god of the home. No woman should worship her husband. But God has placed man to be the caretaker, provider and protector of his wife and their children, just as Jesus is the caretaker, provider, and protector of the Church.

Our children’s faith comes from teaching them God’s Word by precept and example.

Second Timothy 1:5 says: When I call to remembrance the genuine faith that is in you, which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am persuaded is in you also.

Timothy was a man of faith, but it started with his grandmother and mother. So the Word of God shows us that parents and even grandparents have an impact on their children.

For the next few months we will be sharing from the book Lifestyles of the Rich and Faithful. We want to encourage you and your families’ well-being. If you do not already have this book, you may click here to order it or the CD Series. It is Christmastime. We are a family-centered ministry.

We live Christ, love people, teach people.

LOS ANGELES — As the pandemic wanes, the doors of most of the city’s Black churches have reopened, but many are choosing to stream the word of God rather than coming back to the sanctuary.

Church leaders, anxious to welcome believers back into the building, say about a third of members continue to depend on the digital church for a variety of reasons including health concerns, age, which makes them more vulnerable to the virus, and the sheer convenience of church on demand.

“There are those who have gotten comfortable with church at their fingertips and being able to stay home or watch on the go,” said Pastor Denon Porter of Greater Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church in South Los Angeles.

“We want as many as who can come back to come back to in-person worship,” he added. “We are not experiencing the church life and the fellowship and brotherhood and sisterhood if each of us is at home watching on our own. That is not the definition of church.”

Church scholars say the definition of church is shifting as the Black church finds itself at a crossroads. The continuing popularity of online services — which was the only option during the height of the pandemic — is forcing church leaders to rethink the social, spiritual and cultural role of the church and how and where the word is administered.

“We were already seeing a generation move away from the church and the pandemic just accelerated that,” said the Rev. Najuma Smith-Pollard, assistant director of public and community engagement at the Center for Religion and Civic Culture at the University of Southern California. “It is not only about the impact right now, but how do we think about doing church going forward.”

The impact of the pandemic extends beyond church attendance to church finances, she said. According to Rev. Pollard, for some churches the shift away from in person services means less money in their coffers.

At the same time, other, more well-established churches — many offering the convenience of electronic payments — are growing their support.

“The Black church is resilient and will always be around, but it will be a lot smaller and less influential if it doesn’t change to meet the moment,” Rev. Pollard added. “The old church model has people coming to a building or a place and the pandemic has shown us that that place might have to shift. It might have to be more about the church going to the people, rather than the people coming to the church.”

At Crenshaw Christian Center, with some 14,000 members, church officials were taking the word to the people well before the pandemic via streaming services and a national/global TV program.

Part of the church’s mission is to make the word of God relevant to the believer and community by utilizing applicable technology, said Crenshaw Cristian Center spokeswoman, Yumiko Whitaker.

“Our online services have really become like a family.” said Whitaker. “People have gotten to know each other online and have even met up at church.

“The chat is often full of well wishes and prayers for one another. They’ve become organic micro communities.”

Rev. Jonathan Moseley, regional director of the National Action Network and former pastor of Ark of Grace Church in South L.A., says the pandemic has been a wake-up call for the church and that it must practice Christianity in the sanctuary, online and in the streets.

“We built all these fancy buildings with stained glass windows and we insulated ourselves from what was happening all around us — the crime, the homelessness, the joblessness,” Rev. Moseley said. “When the people came to the church for help, a lot of churches were not prepared to help them. They were more focused on their membership numbers, what kind of car they drove and what kind of clothes they wore.

“The church should have been the first in line to help address and solve the problems that are plaguing our people,” Rev. Moseley added.

At historic Congregational Church of Christian Fellowship in the West Adams District, longtime member Clifton Johnson says church leaders are working to invigorate their connection with the community by providing relevant services such as referring people to community resources.

“We are flinging open the doors of the church to make ourselves a resource for the community,” Johnson said.

Rev. Anthony Evans, president of the Washington, D.C.-based National Black Church Initiative (NBCI), says churches must reach out to people both in person and through technology in a manner that is meaningful to their lives.

“To win people back to the church we have to go out and get them and show that we are addressing issues that matter to them,” said Rev. Evans, who leads a coalition of 150,000 African American and Latino churches working to eradicate racial disparities in health care, technology, education, housing and the environment.

Like the Black community overall, the pandemic hit Black churches hard in terms of church-goers and church leaders. Rev. Evans of the NBCI says 25,000 pastors died of COVID-19 nationwide.

One of those church leaders was Crenshaw Christian Center pastor and founder Frederick K.C. Price, who died in early 2021 after a brief bout with COVID-19. His son, Frederick K. Price Jr., currently leads the church.

“The church has lost the rich, we have lost the poor and young married couples,” said Rev. Evans. “We have to raise our level of technology and relevance to bring them back.

“The hardest thing to do sometimes is to go out and ask people what they want,” he said. “But that is exactly what we need to do and do now.”

When Dr. Betty Price learned that Kenneth Hagin Ministries was set to celebrate its 50^th Campmeeting, she set her heart on attending with all her children.

The inaugural 1973 Tulsa, Oklahoma gathering established by Kenneth E. Hagin is what she and her late husband, Apostle Frederick K.C. Price, attribute the eventual founding and success of Crenshaw Christian Center.

For 18 years, the Hagin and Price families and their ministries enjoyed wonderful fellowship. This 50th year celebration would be the first time all the family members would be together at Campmeeting in 30 years.

Dr. Betty’s congratulatory call to Lynette Hagin resulted in an invitation for Pastor Frederick K. Price, Jr. to join the slate of Campmeeting speakers.

Despite the passing of Kenneth E. Hagin in 2003 and Apostle Price in 2021, their families united in a historic reunion this past summer.

The Price family was very warmly received by the Hagins, their ministry, and local, national, and international guests. Daily, throngs of attendees greeted the Price family to offer condolences for Apostle’s recent passing, and to share how the teaching of Crenshaw Christian Center positively impacted their life.

In true form, Dr. Betty, her children, and their applied faith allowed for God’s example of love to manifest. “I pray for the Hagin family every day,” declares Dr. Betty, “and I’m grateful for their many contributions to the Body of Christ.”

Pastor Frederick K. Price Jr.’s message on The God Kind of Faith brought things full circle with his father, Apostle Price’s historic address at the second Campmeeting in 1974.

Reflecting on attending Campmeeting, Pastor Frederick said, “It was surreal and sobering to be in the place where my father and mother learned the principles of faith. It was exciting and eye opening to see Rhema’s longevity, relevance, and growth. It truly felt like coming home.”

Among the other speakers were Kenneth W. Hagin Jr., Lynette Hagin, Craig W. Hagin, Charles Cowan, Darrell Huffman, Earl Glisson, Mark Hankins, Mark Boer, and Tommy Pickens III.