Category Archives: Beyonce

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Watch Kierra Sheard on TV One’s “NewsOne Now” with Roland Martin on Monday, Aug. 1!

kierra roland

Hello World,

Kierra Sheard will chat with television host Roland Martin about her “BRIDGES Tour,” new EP “LED,” a self-titled app, politics and more on Monday, August 1, 2016 – 7A/6C!

Listen Live at: http://newsone.com

Watch Kierra Sheard as she performed “Freedom” by Beyonce live in Detroit at the “BRIDGES Tour,” on July 23.

Any thoughts?

P.S. Stay tuned for awesome After the Altar Call content this week! (Not that all of my content isn’t great (LOL), but I’m truly excited about what’s coming…Stay tuned 🙂 )

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The Top 10 Blog Posts and or Articles for Black Christian Women in April 2016

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Hello World,

Well, I missed March’s list, but I’m still doing my monthly post in which I corral interesting blog posts and or articles for black Christian women from last month that intrigued me as a black Christian woman ( but you don’t have be a black Christian woman to to check them out:) ! ) As usual, let me know if you like my list! Enjoy and share!

1.The Church Needs Lemonade by Brandi Miller

Excerpt: Intuition. Denial. Anger. Apathy. Emptiness. Accountability. Reformation. Forgiveness. Resurrection. Hope. Redemption.If one were to put these words together on a Sunday morning, slip them into synthesizer led worship, announce them from the mouth of a plaid clad pastor integrated with anecdotes about his child and wife, or present them in an altar call or prayer, we wouldn’t blink. These words are integral to the Christian narrative. Try to find a bible tract or gospel presentation that doesn’t have at least 50% of them.  Christians love these words…that is until Beyoncé says them. See more at: thesaltcollective.org.

2. Gospel Singer Tasha Cobbs Says Black Church Can Help With Depression by Brennan Williams

Excerpt: Tasha Cobbs’ journey to award-winning and chart-topping success as a gospel singer has come with both praise and self-discovery.The 34-year-old has publicly shared her personal testimonial battling depression through the years, and is dedicated to inspiring others dealing with the same issue. After years of masking her sadness and self-neglect, Cobbs says she decided to seek professional help in 2010 prior to the release of her debut independent project, “Smile.” See more at: huffingtonpost.com.

3. Hollywood’s Black Christians Are on The Rise by Ronda Racha Penrice

Excerpt: Black Christians shocked Hollywood last September. War Room, the mainstream, prayer-themed film starring unknown black actors, dethroned the hit N.W.A. biopic, Straight Outta Compton, at the box office over Labor Day weekend. But this was no fluke. Black Christian entertainment has been broadening its appeal for years. See more at: urbannewsservice.com.

4. Episcopal Saint is Namesake of New Yale Residential College by Lauren Markoe

Excerpt: A new residential college at Yale University has been named for an Episcopal saint who was the first African-American woman to be ordained an Episcopal priest. Anna Pauline Murray, known as “Pauli,” was also a civil rights activist who helped shape the legal argument for the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court ruling and a women’s rights activist who co-founded the National Organization for Women. She received an advanced law degree from Yale in 1965 and an honorary doctorate in divinity from the university in 1979. See more at: religionnews.com.

5. Organized After Civil War, Mount Zion AME Remains a Cornerstone of Ocala’s Black Community by Marian Rizzo

Excerpt: With a glowing face and smiling eyes, the Rev. Rhella P. Murdaugh stood in the doorway of Mount Zion African Methodist Episcopal Church last week and talked excitedly about the church’s 150th anniversary celebration, which will be held at 3 p.m. Sunday. To Murdaugh, Mount Zion AME Church is more than just a building, more than just a meeting place: “It’s a beacon of light,” she said. See more at: ocala.com.

6. ‘One Day the War Came’ — Liberian Nobel Prize Winner to Talk Peace in Ottawa by Kirsten Fenn

Excerpt: It’s a tactic Gbowee used to her advantage during Liberia’s civil war in 2002, after waking from a dream one night that inspired her to create a women’s peace initiative.  The idea morphed into the Women of Liberia Mass Action for Peace, a movement of more than 10,000 Muslim and Christian women staging peaceful protests in 20 communities across the country. See more at: ottawacitizen.com.

7. Lest We Forget Museum Keeps Slavery’s Lesson in People’s Memory by Arlene Edmonds

Excerpt: Gwen Ragsdale feels that the African-American church and slavery history is so important that she stepped into the pulpit recently, although she is not an ordained minister. Ragsdale, along with her husband, J. Justin Ragsdale, are founders of the Lest We Forget Museum in Northeast Philadelphia. One can often find her at a local Black church sharing historical accounts. See more at: phillytrib.com.

8. All Female Christian Hip-Hop Cypher Is Fierce by Alex Osborne

Excerpt: Except for maybe Tupac’s Only God Can Judge Me, my exposure to Christian hip-hop is nil (I am assuming Tupac doesn’t really count anyway). That was until today, when Christian Hip-Hop’s YouTube channel posted this incredible cypher featuring an all female cast: Porsha Love, Speez Louise, Ily Rap, Ty Cage and Lady Adamas.The women all hail from Detroit and are serious about spreading the word of God through their raps. See more at: howlandechoes.com.

9. Too Blessed To Be Stressed? How Christianity is Harmful to Those With Mental Illness by Tracey Lloyd

Excerpt: I consider myself a Christian. I believe in God, I read the Bible, I go to church. My faith plays a role in certain aspects of my disease, but this wasn’t always the case. Earlier in my Christian journey, and before I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, I had experiences that would lead me to believe that Christianity and mental illness could not be reconciled. That information came not from the Bible, but from how some Christians exhibit their faith. See more at: madamenoire.com.

10. The Emotional Verbal Abusive Narcissistic Church Mother

Excerpt: My mother is the oldest girl out of nine children who was raised in a single parent home by my grandmother. When my mother was six years old, her father died in a car accident. One could only imagine the devastation and impact that a child at the age of my mother could’ve experienced due to the sudden death of her father. My grandfather’s death trigger the narcissistic behavior that my mother suffers with today. See more at: preyingnarcissist.blogspot.com.

So I’ve covered pop culture, mental health and faith, an Episcopal saint, a new slavery museum and more…how did you like the list?

Any thoughts?

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Does Halle Berry’s Third Divorce Make Her a Modern-Day Woman at the Well?

boomerang

Hello World,

Pretty hurts, according to Beyoncé. It must. Halle Berry has pretty much been Black America’s poster girl since she was the nice girl to Eddie’s Murphy bad boy in “Boomerang.” A few movies later, all of Hollywood caught on to Halle. Still, despite being pretty, beautiful really, and all of the top Hollywood accolades she has received, her personal life continues to be a challenge for all of the world to see…such is the saga of a Hollywood starlet I guess…

On Oct. 27,  Halle Berry and Olivier Martinez announced that they are divorcing after two years of marriage, making it her third divorce, according to People magazine. While this was news in itself, Berry’s first ex-husband over 20 years ago, David Justice, raised the stakes when he hosted a “Tweetdown” on his Twitter account last week pretty much slamming his ex-wife. Here are a few of tweets, according to the New York Daily News…

“Me, (second husband) Eric (Benet), (boyfriend) Gabriel (Aubry) and Olivier were all her ‘Knight in Shining Armor’ until it ends,” the former MLB star tweeted.

“Then we all become the worst guys in history.”

He also used his Twitter account to clarify that he was not the man who hit Halle Berry in the ear and caused her to go deaf in that ear as some may have thought.

“Reading the latest Halle Berry Reports, it wasn’t me who hit Halle causing the ear damage. Halle has never said that I hit her,” he tweeted.

Even Halle Berry’s second ex-husband Eric Benét went in on Halle after David got the “Tweetdown” started!

“My man at @23davidjustice is tweeting some truth dis’ mornin’!” the musician tweeted.

When I came across this article, I really thought it was a punk thing to do – that is put down your ex-wife while she is already down,but since then, Justice has been interviewed by People magazine and explained why he felt the need to hate on Halle via tweets…

But for Justice, setting the record straight was a long time coming. “For so many years, there has been this cloud upon the guys who were associated with Halle back then,” he says. “Halle has said that she was in abusive relationships but she didn’t name who the abuser was, so for many years I know a lot of people thought it was me.”

In sending those tweets, he says, “All I was trying to do was let the world know that David Justice is not the person who hit her on her head and caused her hearing loss. Not only did David Justice not do that, David Justice never hit her, period.”

Justice also explained that his family is another part of the reason that he is speaking out now.

In addition, his daughter Raquel is an aspiring actress and just landed her first role on ABC’s upcoming show Recovery Road. “If she’s going to be floating around Hollywood, I don’t want anybody bringing this up to her,” he says. “All of us who have kids want to protect them as much as possible, and I felt like this is part of protecting my kids against something that is so bad, so horrific, that her dad can’t be attached to it.” To read the entire article, go to “‘I Never Hit Her’: David Justice Opens Up about His Divorce from Halle Berry, the Abuse Rumors and His Life Now” on people.com.

Now that he has had the opportunity to completely explain himself in a full-length article versus ranting in 140-character character assassinations, I get where he is coming from. And the truth is both David and Eric have moved onto loving marriages while Halle hasn’t had the same luck. Although she declared she would never get married again after divorcing Eric, she did have a five-year relationship with model Gabriel Aubry, according to People magazine. And even though they never married and their relationship produced her first child, a daughter, they still did not stay together. In fact, Aubrey ended up brawling with Halle’s soon-to-be ex-husband. “What followed was a highly publicized custody battle after Berry hoped to move to France with their daughter after marrying Martinez. A judge eventually denied Berry from doing so. In June 2014, the actress was ordered to pay $16,000 a month to Aubry for child support. Things also got physical between Aubry and Berry’s soon-to-be ex-husband during a brawl outside Berry’s home on Thanksgiving 2012; the two were treated for injuries.”

Obviously, the common denominator in all of this relationship drama is Halle. And before I go on, she is not the only celebrity who has been married three times. Steve Harvey is on his third marriage, and he has used his relationship drama (Have you read his relationship books? Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man and Straight Talk, No Chaser) to bring home the bacon (Have you heard of his new bacon product?!!) literally. And there are more whom I can name (and there is a double standard for men versus women for that matter), but Halle is the focus of this post. Halle has intimated that her “picker” may be broken. Check out this excerpt from the “The Slut-Shaming of Halle Berry” on thedailybeast.com.

In that 2002 interview with Barbara Walters, Berry said that she felt she attracted the wrong men before addressing her past as an abuse victim. “If there was a loser in any town—I used to find him!” she declared with a laugh.

She has also admitted that she has used her relationships with men to find her own identity.

“Well, I think I was still using men, and my mate, to identify who I was. And when that was gone, I was nothing.”

Finally, Halle has also admitted that she has been therapy for over 30 years after growing up with alcoholic, abusive father according to a Daily Mail article.

‘My father was an alcoholic and a very abusive one, and my mother knew the value of providing me with the outlet of an unbiased person to talk to, so I’ve done that all my life when times get stressful. It really helps me deal with stuff.’

But while admitting your issues are the proper first step and counseling is important as well, I wonder if Halle needs to have an encounter with THE Counselor like a woman who had been married five times AND was living with another man when she met Jesus at a well in John 4. In fact, although the woman had never met Jesus before, he was the one who told her that he knew she had been married five times and was living with another man! But he did not condemn her. Instead, he offered to save her from herself by offering himself as her Savior. He told her about living water rather than regular water in the well that she would need to return to time and time again to replenish herself. Chile, Iyanla can’t fix a life like Jesus can! And I think it was no coincidence that Jesus encountered her at a well. Nowadays, when a woman is chasing after a man or men, she is referred to as “thirsty.”
thirsty
And this is true in the woman at the well’s case too. The woman at the well tried to find salvation and quench her thirst in each man she married and in her live-in boyfriend whom she likely refused to marry after having so many failed relationships. But only the Savior could satisfy her thirst…

Maybe Halle should try Him too…(if she hasn’t before…)

What do you think?

Any thoughts?