Barack Obama was warmly received at the 99th annual NAACP convention in Cincinnati, where the candidate paid homage to African American leaders who walked before him, including Julian Bond who introduced the candidate, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and John Lewis. “It is because of them; and all those whose names never made it into the history books – those men and women, young and old, black, brown and white, clear-eyed and straight-backed, who refused to settle for the world as it is; who had the courage to remake the world as it should be – that I stand before you tonight as the Democratic nominee for President of the United States of America,” he said.

But, he observed, “Just electing me does not mean our work is over. We’ve got more work to do.”

Part of that work, he said, will have to be done by individuals. Obama, who was recently crudely chastised by Reverend Jesse Jackson for his tough love message to the African American community, made it clear he will not back down from his beliefs that those in the community have to take on more responsibilities to better their lives and those of their families.

“Now, I know there’s some who’ve been saying I’ve been too tough talking about responsibility. NAACP, I’m here to report, I’m not gonna stop talking about it,” he said to a rousing applause. “Because as much as I’m out there fighting to make sure government’s doing it’s job and the market place is doing it’s job and we’re passing laws to bring more investment and more education and more infrastructure into our communities and putting our young people back to work. No matter how much money we invest in our communities, how many 10-point plans we propose, how many government programs we launch – none of it will make a difference, at least not enough of a difference, if we also at the same time don’t seize more responsibility in our own lives.”

Jackson implied Obama’s comments were condescending, but Obama stood tall before the African American group and continued, “We need societal responsibility and we need individual responsibility. We need politicians doing what they’re supposed to do and CEO’s doing what they’re supposed to do, and we need parents doing what they’re supposed to do….if we’re serious about reclaiming that dream, we have to do more in our own lives, there’s nothing wrong with saying that.” Based on the crowd’s response, they agreed.

Obama concluded his remarks with a promise to return on the NAACP’s 100th anniversary next year. “I will come back to you next year on that anniversary and I will stand before you as the President of the United States of America. And at that moment, you and I will truly know that a new day has come in this country we love. Thank you NAACP. God bless you. God bless the United States of America.”

Obama headed to church this Father’s Day Sunday in his hometown of Chicago — the first time he’s been to church since he severed relations with his former pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright. The Obama family attended services at Chicago’s Apostolic Church of God, one of the city’s largest African American congregations and just six and a half miles from Obama’s former place of worship, Trinity Church of Christ.

Longtime church leader Bishop Arthur Brazier greeted his “good friend” warmly and touchingly noted, “[Obama] has done something [in] this country that I never thought I would live to see.” He continued, “I am filled with emotion because I have lived through some very tough times in America. But the America today is not the America of yesteryear. And I don’t think, I don’t think it behooves us well to keep talking about the past. The Apostle Paul said forgetting the things that are behind and reaching out to the things that are before.”

Brazier recalled words Martin Luther King, Jr. said in a speech, that we would “reach the promised land.” Of the historic political moment, Brazier said, “I can tell you now that America, we in America have crossed over the River Jordan, we’re out of the wilderness, and we are in the promised land.” Both Obamas, Brazier said, were “true patriots.”

Obama took to the pulpit to deliver a speech on fatherhood, a tenet that should be strengthened, he observed. “Too many fathers are also missing. Too many fathers are MIA. Too many fathers are AWOL. Missing from too many lives and too many homes. They’ve abandoned their responsibilities, they’re acting like boys instead of men, and the foundations of our family have suffered because of it. You know and I know this is true everywhere, but nowhere is it more true than in the African American community,” he said, delivering his straight-talking message to the African American congregation.

While Obama noted that some of the problems within the community have been ignored, if not exacerbated by the government, he said, “We can’t simply write these problems off to past injustices. Those injustices are real. There’s a reason why our families are just in disrepair, and some of it has to do with a tragic history, but we can’t keep on using that as an excuse.”

He recognized that the government has to change in order to improve the economy and schools, which is why he’s running for president. But, he added, “The change we need is not just gonna come from government. It’s not just gonna come from a president. It’s gonna come from us. It’s gonna come from each and every one of us. We need families to raise our children. We need fathers to recognize that responsibility just doesn’t end at conception. That doesn’t just make you a father. What makes you a man is not the ability to have a child. Any fool can have a child. That doesn’t make you a father. It’s the courage to raise a child that makes you a father.”

At the end of his speech, Obama thanked Apostolic for their hospitality and urged them to pray for him and for Michelle. The senator left the sanctuary before the actual sermon to be delivered by Bishop Brazier’s son Byron Brazier and didn’t get a chance to hear Apostolic’s prayer for him.

With his head bowed, the younger Brazier said as worshipers joined hands, “We ask that you give him great wisdom, knowledge, power and understanding. We pray that you give him the mind of Christ, so that when he speaks, demons will tremble, mountains will be removed, and when the firing guards of the enemy are flung his way, that the prayers of the saved protect him and let the world know that no weapon formed against him shall prosper.”