It's not uncommon for pastors or ministers to help the community in any way they can.

And for those who are members of the Interdenominational Black Ministers Association, based in Gainesville, the organization provides an outlet each month for the church leaders to come together and do even more.

"We get together for a general meeting once a month and just basically deal with social issues," said the Rev. Isaac Whitehead, who serves as the IBMA president. "It's just a time to fellowship ... coming from different denominational backgrounds, we can come together and find out what we can do in the community and form some common bond."

Members in the group either are pastors in Hall County or live in Hall County, Whitehead said.

"We ask the ministers to get involved at whatever level they desire; not everybody participates in everything that we do."

Whitehead lives in Athens but is the pastor at First Baptist Church on Martin Luther King Jr. Drive in Gainesville. He said the association works nicely because the pastors don't discuss each religious denomination.

"I think it's great because it helps form that bond we need," he said. "Because if we are going to help the community, we can't get caught up on who's a Methodist, who's a Baptist, Presbyterian. So it enables us to be able to deal with the issues in the community. It helps us get along better with each other, and it helps us to understand each other's denomination."

The Rev. Elder Eddie Walker, pastor at Mount Calvary Church of God in Gainesville, agreed that denominations aren't the focus of the group.

"We try not to promote any denomination. ... We invite you to come and share your gifts and your talents," said Walker, a longtime member of the IBMA. "We've been blessed."

The IBMA holds five activities a year, including a revival in January, an Easter sunrise service, a scholarship awards banquet, a family picnic for ministers and families and a Christmas dinner.

One priority for the pastors and ministers of the group is awarding two scholarships each year to high school seniors.

"We do give out two $1,000 scholarships each year to students in Gainesville," Whitehead said. "We have a committee that does all the applications and screening."

The Rev. Michelle Mintz said the scholarship fund excites her because it helps children who may not otherwise get financial help for college.

"That is a commitment that we make to underscore the importance of education in the community," said Mintz, who is a minister and member at St. John Baptist Church in Gainesville. "The aim with that is not to give a scholarship to a child that has 20 (scholarships), but it's really to target a child that has good grades, has worked hard but may not have the type of scholarships and support that an all-‘A' student may have."

Mintz has been a member of the IBMA for the last 11 years, and said she thinks all local clergy, women and men, should become members of the organization.

"I feel like all the ministers in our community should be a member of IBMA," Mintz, who is one of just three or four active female members of the IBMA said. "I've certainly tried to keep involved in leadership with the IBMA."

The organization is another way for female leaders to be even more involved, she added.

"Women in our community, particularly in my own denomination - in the Baptist denomination - we are really just beginning to make breakthroughs, be visible in leadership areas ... in that regards in our community, we haven't a lot of women in leadership positions within our association, so I hope to see more of that."

Other members of the approximately 50-person group include the Rev. W.L. Whelchel; the Rev. Charles Dickey, who serves as vice president and coordinator for the scholarship committee; the Rev. Rodney Lackey of Antioch Baptist Church; and the Rev. Champale Brown, associate minister at First Baptist Church.

"Traditionally in the African-American community people have looked to the ministers to be leaders, and that is still true to a certain extent," Mintz said. "We try to participate in a deliberate fashion in community organizations and meetings. We don't just respond when there is an urgent (need) or crisis in the community, but (offer) ongoing support."