Nutter's 30-minute sermon in front of a white-robed choir invoked rousing applause from the packed house at Mount Carmel Baptist Church, in West Philadelphia, where he's been a member for 25 years.
The only problem was that the median age of the congregation appeared about four times that of the 11- to 19-year-olds who have randomly accosted Center City pedestrians this summer in large groups of mostly black youths.
"He might be preaching to the choir," said church member Carol Lee, 59, of Upper Darby, "but I hope his message gets out."
Nutter said later that "even the choir likes a good sermon," and he hoped that those who heard him would share his message with friends, neighbors and children.
Bill Miller, CEO of Ross Associates, a strategic communications firm, said that Nutter's decision to speak at his church yesterday demonstrated leadership.
"If you want to clean house, start at your own house, so he did," Miller said. "You're talking to people in an organized structure who talk to all kinds of people."
Chad Dion Lassiter, president of the advocacy group Black Men at Penn, agreed.
"I don't see it as speaking to the choir because the black church has an opportunity to play a pivotal role of addressing the ills of our society," he said. "The black church can no longer sit idly by maintaining the status quo as young people loudly proclaim, 'We want to know that you care, before we care to know what you know.' "
Nutter's speech to the mostly black congregation was a prelude to an announcement that he and other city officials are expected to make today regarding an increased citywide response to the youth mobs.
