BELLE GLADE — Brother Church went back on Facebook Live on Tuesday, Oct. 27, to announce the first few winners in the “Get Out the Muck Vote Challenge” — which continues through Sunday, Nov. 1 — and to remind folks of the rules, because there has not been a winner every day. That’s cash in the pocket, $200 daily for winners, plus a $500 grand prize, that those not participating are missing out on.

“DJ Church Boy,” as he’s also known (*aka Albert V. Polk IV), found it necessary to emphasize this part in this follow-up broadcast: “You’ve got one rule that you gotta remember — you must have a minimum of five people ... to qualify. Two days when we first started this challenge, we didn’t have winners.”

It began, coinciding with the early voting period in Palm Beach County, which started Oct. 18 and ends Nov. 1, and there will be people recognized each day for bringing people to the polls, but it must be five or more.

Brother Church posted a 15-minute video Tuesday. “We have a presentation, cash money, a $200 cash prize to the winner of Monday’s ‘Get Out the Muck Vote Challenge.’ That is a challenge where we’re actually celebrating the people that bring out the most people to the polls,” he explained.

Polk continued: “We want to give a shout-out to JPDT Holdings Corporation, the organization who supported this initiative; current and past pro football stars like Deonte Thompson, Travis Benjamin and Jon Mann.

“‘Convoy to the Polls’ was a very amazing event on Sunday. We had people lined up in all three cities ... in Belle Glade, the line-up site was at the St. John First Baptist Church, Pastor Rease’s church over there on Eighth Street; in South Bay we lined up at The Bridge, Kings Tutoring and Mentoring (facility) up there on Palm Beach Road; and in Pahokee we lined up to the Pahokee Church of God. And then what we did from these locations was drive through up until we got to the polling site,” he said.

There was a mobile billboard truck, live music by several local DJs playing music and calling out people to join the caravan and vote with them. Polk called them out by name. “And I want to especially thank the Tri-City Mayors, Mayor Keith Babb, City of Pahokee; Mayor Joe Kyles from the City of South Bay; and also the mayor, Steve Wilson, of Belle Glade. They were phenomenal.” He said they all sat down and came up with this idea in a brainstorming session earlier in 2020.

“We did it for the primaries day back in March, but it was just outdated for the general election. Also, thank you to #FaithInFlorida, a big organization that really supported our initiative here... Also a big thank-you to Mr. Marshall barbecue, who was the caterer out here on Sunday, who did a phenomenal job, and to the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office. How amazing they were — had an officer on every intersection we had to cross, to block traffic and make sure there were no accidents and traffic kept flowing. It was just smooth. Also a special thank-you to all the sorority groups that came out and participated; Mr. Kevin Brown, our photographer, and to all of our hired DJs. Everybody, we appreciate you guys.”

He also credited the City of Belle Glade “for being a huge partner” and the Be Elegant creative group for making the cotton candy, snow cones, decorations and snacks, popcorn and the like. “The kids looked very happy out here.”

“We used to do ‘Souls to the Polls’ on that final Sunday of early voting, but we had to figure out an innovative way to reinvigorate the ‘Souls to the Polls’ because we were in the middle of a pandemic when the primary came around, so ... there was no way we could have had a gathering with that many people out there. So we figured out, let’s do a convoy. Initially it was going to be a parade, then we came up with the name ‘Convoy to the Polls,’ and just have everybody drive in a convoy, honk their horns, make noise. So the church community, we still stood tall in this election ... God gave us the wisdom to be able to do the convoy, and I want to thank everybody who participated,” Polk declared.

“The convoy is over, but the election is still ongoing.” He said he was still standing at the Belle Glade Library, where early voting is taking place daily through Sunday.

He pleaded with listeners, “If you haven’t voted, it’s a very important election for you to vote in. People like (the late Georgia U.S.) Rep. John Lewis remind you: Come on out here and vote. His life and his legacy stood for the premises that I’m standing on today, a polling location.”

And the preacher continued on for several more minutes, calling on passersby to come in now. “Tomorrow is not promised to you. So if you say, ‘I’ll vote on Election Day,’ I’ll say, ‘Who told you that you’re going to live until Election Day? Hallelujah! The Lord may want you tonight. So I say, vote today!”

Polk told them: “If you do not vote in this election, you show where you stand in these great United — used to be United — States of America. Right now, this country is so divided. Your vote will be a part of the glue that puts us back together!”