This morning at the New Birth Missionary Baptist Churchin Lithonia , thousands of individuals were in attendance, including a fire truck, an ambulance, about five satellite trucks, three media tents and the Channel 2 news came to listen as Bishop Eddie Long‘s addressed the congregation. This Bishop, has allegedly, took advantage of young teen boys, sexually, who came to him with hopes of finding a friend and guidance.

At 9am, Long entered the arena and he received a big response from the Parishioners. Standing at the Podium, he removed his glasses and began to speak to the attentive congregation. “Good morning New Birth. Good morning to all our other guests. And I would be remiss not to say good morning to the rest of the world. I do want to remind. We’re here today and every Sunday morning. And I’ll be here next week. First of all let me thank you on behalf on my wife my family for all of your support and prayers. We are certainly humbled by such a loving congregation. I realize many have been waiting on me to say something.”

He continued, “My first responsibility is to my family.This an extremely difficult time for me and for my family. It’s extremely difficult for you. [People] called you and asked you questions. You aint never got this many phone calls in your life. It’s a time when you see the veil dropped and you see who’s with you and who’s not with you. As a pastor I want to help everybody. ”

Lastly, he made it clear, “I have never in my life portrayed myself as a perfect man, but I am not the man being portrayed on television That’s not me. That is not me.”

Long, who has been accused of having had sex with four teenage boys is now facing multiple lawsuits. He continues to deny any involvement with these boys. On Friday, he described himself as being, “under attack” to supporters in conference but, only time will tell.