Into the Future

Source: brooklynink.org --- Tuesday, October 17, 2017
Reverend David F. Telfort is in a calm yet expansive mood as he sits beside the desk in his new office. The room is large, with a 25-foot high ceiling and three floor-to-ceiling Windows letting pools of sunlight fall onto a hardwood floor, partially covered by an oriental rug. There’s a sense of age and history in the room, with a grandfather clock standing in the right corner, a stone fireplace set square in the center, and a 15-bulb chandelier hanging from a ceiling with cracks of paint falling from it; four rickety wooden chairs with red velvet upholstering seem like furniture pieces taken from the Appomattox Court House. “My predecessors are featured right along that wall,” he says, pointing to a series of gilt-framed black-and-white photograph portraits of aged white males. “Only seven men served before me in the last 160 years.” The room is the Cuyler Library at the Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church (LAPC) in Fort Greene, Brooklyn. The man speaking is the new 27-year old Solo Pastor of the church, David Telfort, who officially began in mid-August. He is the first African American ever to hold this leadership position since LAPC was founded in 1857 and only the eighth person overall. Upon meeting Telfort, one is struck by his combination of authority and openness. His voice is deep, and introduces his sentences with a characteristic rasp; a barrel-shaped chest and thick, muscular arms present a picture of brute strength ...

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