This commentary by Bishop T. D. Jakes is the second post in a series featuring prominent African-American leaders on HIV/AIDS in the African-American community, coordinated by the Black AIDS Institute and the National Newspaper Publishers Association. Check back each week for the next piece in the series!

The problem of HIV/AIDS in the African-American community has rapidly progressed beyond just an illness to a massive epidemic that is a national crisis. When reviewing the magnitude of the numbers connected to this deadly disease, you only need to take a glance at a few of them to completely take your breath away.

• While only 12 percent of the total American population, African-Americans make up 37 percent of total American AIDS cases.

• More than 50 percent of newly reported HIV infections in the United States are among African-Americans.
• Among African-American men aged 25 through 44 years, AIDS is the single largest cause of death.

These numbers, should give everyone — not just African-Americans — great pause for concern.

I believe that the African-American church, long a symbol and source of information and education to the African-American community, has for too long remained silent about this challenge.

To be sure our churches — mine included — have done some notable works individually. The problem remains that this is not a foe we can defeat individually.

It will take the collective might of both the church universally committed and the implementation of a comprehensive agenda that includes medical professionals, political might, social services and personal responsibility to overcome this dreaded disease.

That collective pool has not been enacted previously and all of us have suffered from it.

Recently I was honored to co-chair a national discussion on HIV/AIDS with Dr. Calvin Butts from the Abyssinian Baptist Church in New York. At the African-American Clergy Conclave held in New York October 8-9, a congregation of clergy, government officials, health care agencies and leading educators came together to develop policy for legislation to support and aggressively end the spread of HIV/AIDS.

This flame of a more comprehensive and unified strategy is fueled by the commitment made by the Congressional Black Caucus to present a bill to fund a program that is designed to meet the unique needs of our community as we have unique challenges and issues, which previous efforts have failed to address.

We all must support the CBC in this endeavor to pass the proposed legislation to fund this critical need for efforts aimed at our community. These funds would include all of our tax dollars that have been directed elsewhere while we die.

The church was not designed to find cures, introduce legislation, change government policy or produce the kind of financial strength we need for research, care and prevention. But, the church can contribute to the solution and partner with existing institutions to do a much better job than it has done alone.

There are many churches who have not responded at all. But I hope they will also be inspired to do something as we all ramp up to do more.

Here are a few reachable goals that most churches can accomplish to make up for our late start:

• We can be a voice and support advocacy related to HIV/AIDS.
• We can challenge the government to set aside more funding for this initiative.

• We can challenge our members to get tested.
• We can make educational material available through our counseling and medical ministries.
• We can dispel the myths and fears.

Many pastors are overwhelmed, intimidated and ill equipped to do all that could be done. I also feel grossly under equipped for the daunting task before us. But if we do not stand up, then who will? And, yes, I am saddened that the black community has little more than the church to draw from as a lightening rod to motivate national dialog.

I agreed with Sen. Hillary Clinton when asked at a recent debate her thoughts on the fight to end HIV/AIDS. She said, “If HIV/AIDS were the leading cause of death of White women between the ages of 25 and 34, there would be an outraged outcry in this country.”

Yet we must do as the Bible says and “save yourselves from this untoward generation.”

But alas, we are on the roof again.

This time we must not wait. We must aggressively develop ways to work together, put aside petty differences, stabilize the loss of lives, reduce the rate of new infections, and disseminate much needed information to areas and groups who do not seem to understand the severity of the crises.

I founded the Potter's House on the bedrock of serving as a spiritual hospital. We do not have to agree with people on every detail to help save lives. The vision for the church was and still is to minister to hurting people — a place where all types and description could find healing and restoration for their souls. I am pleased with the fact that we continually work toward this goal.

Our national/international AIDS campaign has been instrumental in educating tens of thousands of our members on the impact of AIDS on men, women, and children. We have provided food, clothing, prayer, counseling, testing, and community agency referrals to those infected and affected by the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

We have tested thousands of our members and conference attendees.

Globally, we have provided aid and support to many African countries and endeavor to build homes for children orphaned by HIV/AIDS. For World AIDS Day 2007, we will partner with World Vision to host a 2,364 square foot exhibit (The AIDS Experience: Step into Africa) that is a replica of a Malawi village to allow our community to experience the lives of four children impacted by AIDS.

Is it enough? Absolutely not. Is it our best? No. I think we can and must all do more and better if we are going to lessen the ever-increasing rate of new infections.

I am hoping that people of color will unite. I am praying that non-blacks will help also as we must all realize that we are not safe while anyone is infected. We must work to get all groups to a healthy condition. We cannot care just for those we agree with. We must help all hurting people to safety and then debate later the many complications of our times.

I am pleading for us to not allow theological debate nor political maneuvering to cause us to ignore the priority of saving lives.

Tomorrow we can lobby, debate, and argue our theology. But while our men and women are dying seven times more rapidly than their white counterparts who are also infected, we do not have the luxury to politicize mercy nor allow our theology to defray the real mission of a state of emergency for which we find ourselves engulfed.

Indeed more can be done and more will be done.

As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord and we will serve all of His people.