If Lucas, 61, has a divine purpose these days, it's to keep such things from happening again. "She had one unfriendly experience at the door, and look how it changed everything," Lucas says. The last time the woman had been to church, Lucas learned, an usher had handed her a program so rudely she decided not to return. So when a friend missed a half-dozen services, she decided to investigate.
Vanessa Lucas, an avid churchgoer, says she'd love for everyone to be as blessed by the Scriptures as she has been. So I thought of Hamil when The Baltimore Sun ran a fine news feature the other day under the somewhat bland headline: " Ushers serve as 'doorkeepers' to worship." The opening anecdote captures the "eyes and ears" concept. They are the eyes and ears of the body of the church. Ushers are a crucial part of what these churches do, both in worship and in community building. This brings me to his insights, through the years, into the role that ushers play in African-American church life. Journalism is often about famous people, but wise journalists know that everyone they meet knows something about some story, information that could be crucial in the future.
Journalism is about people, their voices, their stories, their pain, their joy and, yes, the information in their heads and at their fingertips.
But the key for this post today is his constant emphasis, speaking to my students, on never losing sight of the human element in reporting. Name me another former Florida State University gridiron lineman who is a great multi-platform reporter, speaks Russian, is a talented Gospel musician, has worked as a tech aide (hope I got that right) in emergency room surgery and has a theology degree. Now, this ultra-energetic man - a student once called him Hurricane Hamil - is talented in so many ways. During my two decades - sort of - teaching journalism in Washington, one of the sharpest and most talented journalists I got to know was Hamil Harris of The Washington Post.
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