We're all well aware of Detroit's peak during the industrial age. The city, state and region capitalized on a single engine industry with little to no competition and overwhelming demand. Not only are those days long gone, but creating an industry with that level of demand coupled with no competition is nearly impossible to recreate. However, there is one industry, and one industry alone that still thrives in Detroit with no sign of erosion. It exceeds expectations in revenue, development and customer loyalty.

That industry: the black church. I'm not going to spend thread real estate discussing the moral or spiritual implications of the idea. What I would like forumers to consider are the models that's been established. Anyone who has visited the international cities of the Vatican, Jerusalem or Cairo will tell you the sustainability and wealth associated with ORGANIZED faith based economies.

Nationally, I would like for Detroiters to look at Salt Lake City, Ut as the model. This [[in large part) faith based city has created sustainability impervious to national economic whims because of the cultural dependence on the church. And because of the faith standards, most of the intellectual property developed in the post secondary, secondary, grad and professional schools [[even those who will go on to Ivy League colleges) come back home to reinvest that intellectual property in Salt Lake City, Ut. They, through their recruitment efforts, reach internationally on missions to save souls. What they in turn get is an opportunity to absorb more culture, language and intellectual property to bring back to Salt Lake City to develop sustain their economic engine. There are more bilingual residents in Salt Lake City per capita than any other city in the country.

Now lets take Detroit. Nearly/Over 3000 churches. Revenues of untold amounts. Devout followers [[for generations). Why not organize those churches into a similar model of the LDS church and develop the type of sustainable financial engine that makes other faith based cities impervious to economic demands?