Former local pastor assumes leadership in S.C. church after deadly shooting

When Rev. Dr. Norvel Goff, Sr., was pastor of Baber African Methodist Episcopal Church in Rochester, among his many accomplishments was establishing the Faith Community Alliance, organizing pastors and Christian leaders in their efforts to tackle quality of life issues.

Overseeing a period of great growth at Baber AME from 1991-2004, he was also president of the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

"He was a towering figure," the Rev. Marlowe Washington of The Historic Parsells Church in Rochester. Goff was very involved in Rochester, "he had a heart for the community and spent 13 years in this city," Washington said.

Goff "made the church (the) forefront of social justice and the forefront of reconciliation in a lot of respects," he said at a press conference held at Northeast Seminary at Roberts Wesleyan College in Chili. Washington succeeded Goff at Baber AME before leaving in 2010 to become baptist and starting his own church.

The "Rev. Goff showed his leadership abilities in many areas, from civil rights issues, to issues at Kodak, to being one of the leaders of all ministries here in the city,'' said current Rochester branch NAACP president Edward Goolsby. "A lot of ministers here learned from him, I learned from him.''

And now they are praying for him.

Goff's leadership skills – and faith – will be called on like never before in the wake of Wednesday's massacre of nine people at a historic black church in Charleston, S.C., police have termed a hate crime.

Goff, a presiding elder of the 7th District AME Church in South Carolina, oversees 30 churches, including the one where the shooting took place, Mother Emmanuel AME.

Its pastor, Clementa Pinckney, was among the victims who were gunned down during a bible study session. Shooting suspect Dylann Storm Roof, 21-year-old, is in custody.

A District 7 spokesperson said that Goff would guide Mother Emmanuel's membership through the difficult days ahead until a new pastor is named.

Earlier in the day, Goff spoke with ABC News and called the shooting a "heinous crime.'' Goff spent the night with families of the victims. He said he was told the suspect sat in on the Bible study for a few minutes, then stood up and started shooting. He said there were no threats to the church or its members to his knowledge.

"Mother Emmanuel Church is a point of destination for the entire nation and for the state of South Carolina,'' Goff said. "We are a very solid part of the fabric of this community and has been a force for positive change since its inception.''

In Rochester, Goff's guidance made Baber AME a force for positive change as well, area pastors and church members said. A prayer vigil was scheduled for 7 p.m. Thursday at Baber AME, 550 Meigs St.

"Pastor (James) Simmons and the Baber family prays for Mother Emmanuel and the families of the nine persons, including the pastor, Reverend Pinckney, that were murdered," Baber AME posted on its Facebook Page. "The Baber Family also keeps our former pastor and Mother Emmanuel's presiding elder, Reverend Goff, in prayer as he and approximately 50 AME pastors minister to this community's grief."

Carolyn Bailey, who pulled up to Baber AME Church in her car with a back seat full of donated bread and pastries to be given to residents in need later in the day, said she learned of the church shooting Thursday morning.

"We live in an insane society now," said Bailey, who is active in her church as a youth worker, missionary and steward. "It's a sad situation."

She said in the culture we are living in we see something every day that is race-related unfortunately. She also believes that if we love and take care of each other, a lot of this will stop.

Bailey, of Rochester, knew Goff when he was pastor several years ago. She said he's more than able to help the grieving Charleston AME church through this, calling Goff a "reliable and God-fearing man.''

Goolsby, a Baber AME member for 30 years, said Rev. Goff has a lot of "pressure on his shoulders'' now but that his shoulders are big enough to handle it.

"The job is a very difficult one,'' said Goolsby, who recalled Goff presiding over his marriage to his wife, Deidra. "People are calling from all around the country to speak to him and give prayer to his community, so he has a lot on his shoulders both politically and personally, and our prayers go out to him and his family so that he's able to have that strength.''

The Rev. Sammy King of Trinity Missionary Baptist Church on Genesee Street, who worked with the Rev. Goff as part of the Faith Community Alliance, called the killing "mind-boggling." He said it had to have affected Goff on a very deep level since church members are like family to a pastor.

"He has a deep love and compassion for the people of God and this has to be weighing heavily on his heart,'' King said. "He's going to need our prayers to strengthen him through this kind of incident. I know he'd have taken a bullet himself than have one strike his parishioners like that. But he's a determined man. This won't stop him."

The tragedy struck close to home for Washington. He was just at the historic Emanuel AME in Charleston in January and he has family members who attend Emanuel's senior program. He calls Charleston a "second home."

"We must amp up our love," he said, " our love must always out weight the hate."

Speaking on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives, Rep. Louise Slaughter, D-Fairport, mourned what she called "the horrific loss of life'' and expressed support for Rev. Goff, whom she called a good friend (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zBqJp2gAx0&feature=youtu.be).

"Places of worship used to be places of sanctuary but there are no more sanctuaries in the United States from gun violence," Slaughter said.

The NAACP's Goolsby said he had been in touch with the executive branch of his organization as well as church leaders and said an open discussion has started on whether places of worship need to be made more secure.

"We have to have faith in the Lord to oversee that but we also need common sense," he said. "We ask of anybody who knows of individuals commenting on attacks of any kind, that they contact their local law enforcement and prevent it from happening.

"I personally still believe the doors of all churches should remain open to all individuals but churches now have to focus on security, too. More security monitors, brighter lights outside, just be more knowledgeable of the evil in this world today."

LROTH@DemocratandChronicle.com

TYEE@DemocratandChronicle.com