NC Values Voice: Live with Dr. Kelvin CochranJoin us this week for another episode of “The NC Values Voice”, a weekly 30-minute interview by Executive Director, Tami Fitzgerald, with a special guest. The NC Values Voice will be aired on Facebook Live every Wednesday night at 7:30pm. Our goal is to inform and motivate our statewide coalition members with current, relevant information. On tonight's program, we are playing Dr. Kelvin Cochran's Carolina Values Summit 2020 speech about how his 34-year career as a firefighter and Atlanta Fire Chief was extinguished for writing a devotional book for his men’s Bible study. Watch live and past episodes at: www.ncvalues.org/voice. You can also watch the other Carolina Values Summit 2020 speakers as well as the event in its entirety at www.carolinavaluessummit.com.
Posted by North Carolina Values Coalition on Wednesday, July 15, 2020
The North Carolina Values Coalition presents a special project called the Carolina Values Summit to equip you to resist growing attacks on religious freedom. We are honored to announce that Dr. Kelvin Cochran will be joining us as a speaker. His 34-year career as a firefighter was extinguished for writing a devotional book for his men’s bible study.
This Christian leadership event is for Pastors, Christian Leaders, and Executive Directors of our state’s faith-based nonprofits, schools, and ministries.
Dr. Kelvin Cochran is currently the Chief Operating Officer at Elizabeth Baptist Church in Atlanta, GA.
- Born in Shreveport, Louisiana and grew up dreaming to be a firefighter
- Joined the Shreveport fire department in 1981 and worked his way up become the city’s fire Chief in 1999.
- Served in Department of Homeland Security to lead the US Fire Administration in the Obama Administration in 2009.
- The Summer of 2010, the City of Atlanta hired him as Fire Chief.
- In 2012, he received the “Fire Chief of the Year” award for “pioneering efforts to improve performance and service within the Atlanta Fire Rescue Department.”
- In 2013, Chief self-published a162 page devotional book for his men’s Bible Study called, “Who Told You That You Were Naked”
- In 2015, The Atlanta Mayor suspended and launched an investigation after she learned about his the book. The investigation found no evidence that Cochran had ever exhibited discrimination toward anyone but the mayor fired Cochran anyway.
- After a judge confirm the city could not police non-work speech and ruled it likely that Cochran would win his wrongful termination case, the City of Atlanta offered a 1.2 million dollar settlement to compensate for court costs incurred by Dr. Cochran for defending his constitutional right to free speech.
