Posted on Sunday, November 4, 2018

Bebe Winans, Angie Stone & More Join Historic Ebenezer Baptist Church in Hosting Election Eve Prayer Rally!

Hello World,

Can you believe it? There are only two months left in 2018! But if you’re still hoping, wishing and praying for something to change before the year is over as I am, God says in 2 Peter 3:8 that “with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” In other words, He sees time differently than we do and anything can change in an instant. It’s hard work having faith sometimes, but it’s worth it in the end.

Speaking of time, last month I pretty much only focused on OWN “Greenleaf” recaps in October, but now that I’ve met a writing deadline, I will be posting about twice a week unless life happens. Y’all know how that is. And for my new subscribers who read my recap each week, I hope you like my other content as well 🙂

So all of that aside and on to the topic of today’s post. Unless you don’t watch TV at all, you probably know that Election Day is THIS Tuesday! And if you didn’t vote early, Tuesday is the day to vote! I’m not sure where you live, but where I live, we have some pretty big issues to address in Tuesday’s election! And I’m proud to say that the first black woman to be the nominee of a major party for governor, Stacey Abrams, who is also PK as I am, is on the ballot! I won’t tell you whom to vote for, but I do think it’s important to vote!

Tomorrow night, Ebenezer Baptist Church, the church of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., is hosting an Election Eve Prayer Rally at 7 p.m. My father, pastor emeritus of Central Christian Church in Atlanta, likes to use this quote by Alfred Lord Tennyson in his sermons about prayer: “More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of.” I truly believe that, and if that quote is too “high post” for you, this quote will do: “Prayer changes things.” I don’t know who said that first, but it is true…

Among luminaries who will be there include: Bebe Winans (uncle of Deborah Joy Winans who portrays Charity on OWN’s “Greenleaf”), Angie Stone, Congressman John Lewis and the Rev. Dr. William Barber II. The church is located at 101 Jackson St NE, Atlanta, GA 30312, but if you cannot make it, check out the church’s website for the livestream.

Also, Dr. Raphael G. Warnock, pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church, wrote a piece “Here Are the Chilling Tricks We’ve Caught Georgia Using to Disqualify Voters” for The Washington Post about voting issues here in Georgia. Here is an excerpt below:

A young woman learned her name was no longer on the voter rolls in Georgia. Ironically, she discovered this while training as a canvasser for new voters. Since registering and casting her first ballot in 2008, she hadn’t returned to the polls, and under the new “use it or lose it” rule, the system purged her registration.

A dentist in Macon received a letter from the secretary of state, warning him that he was at risk of being labeled an “inactive voter” for changing addresses, not voting or not responding to election-related mail. None of that was true, he said: He’d participated in every Georgia election in the past 40 years and had lived in his home for 30.

To read the entire piece, go to washingtonpost.com.

So my final plea on this Sunday, please VOTE!

Happy Sunday!

Any thoughts?

Posted on Sunday, September 16, 2018

White Greenville Oaks Church of Christ Lead Minister Collin Packer Shares Support of Black Slain Worship Leader Botham Shem Jean…

Hello World,

I’m so disheartened and yet not surprised that Dallas, Texas police officers are reporting what was allegedly found in the apartment where 26-year-old Botham Jean, who is black, lived and was killed by Dallas police officer Amber Guyger on Sept. 6. The office-duty police officer, who is white, shot and killed him after thinking he was a burglar in her apartment when she mistakenly went into Jean’s apartment. CNN is reporting the items included “two fired cartridge casings, a metal marijuana grinder and 10.4 grams of marijuana. The search warrant indicates that officers went inside the apartment looking for drugs the night of Jean’s death, his mother, Allison Jean, said during a news conference Friday with her attorneys. She accused authorities of defaming her son.”

Further down in the story, it is noted that “A CNN team visited Jean’s apartment Friday, where a small memorial of flowers and a photo with his mother adorn the front door. Several books were scattered around the unit, including C.S. Lewis’ “The Screwtape Letters,” which was on Jean’s bedside table. Some dishes were left in the kitchen sink, and a bowl filled with ID badges, keys and notes covered the counter.”

Honestly, I don’t care what they found “good” or “bad.” What may have been found does not explain why this police officer shot this man who was in his own apartment and minding his own business.

All of that aside, I was encouraged when I saw a Facebook post by a white Texas minister Collin Packer who acknowledged the startling racial dynamics at play in this tragedy. Jean had visited his church a few times.

And if you cannot see the entire post, here are his words below:

Yesterday, I attended the funeral of Botham Shem Jean. It was one of the most moving experiences I have ever had. Botham was a man of God, a graduate of HardingUniversity, a worship leader, and a brother in Christ. We shared the same city and the same small religious tribe. He attended our church a few times.

8 days ago, Botham was murdered in his home. The shooter was not taken into custody until 3 days later. And yesterday, while I was sitting at his memorial service, those in power prepared to release the results of what often happens when African-American men are murdered: a thorough investigation into the life of a victim to criminalize him and somehow help others come to the conclusion that he, because of some flaw, “deserved” the bullet that took his life in his own home.

We don’t just murder African-American men. We murder their character. And we continue to justify systems that have continually devalued black bodies from the moment they arrived on our shores on slave ships.

I am a white minister in Dallas. My family has lived here for generations. I have benefited from so much that this city has offered me. But my experience is not the experience of everyone in Dallas.

And I refuse to be silent and complicit any longer. Botham’s Memorial Service, along with many other events over the past few years, have unstopped my ears and cleared my eyes.

In his “Letter From a Birmingham Jail,” Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke words that still ring true in our day:

“I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen’s Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to ‘order’ than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice…”

I want to challenge my white brothers and sisters in Christ to be willing to speak up for justice. May we be willing to stand in solidarity. May we be willing to listen without being defensive.

The voice of our brother’s blood cries out to us from the ground. May justice roll down like a river. Let us do what we must to tear down any dam constructed to block the flow of that river.

Also, in support of the Jean family, below is a positive image of Jean leading worship at Dallas West Church of Christ Church the Sunday before he was shot and killed:

May God be with the Jean family as they grieve the senseless loss of their loved oneBotham Shem Jean. Below is a Dallas News video snippet from Jean’s homegoing service last week. And here is an article about the entire homegoing service “Botham Jean ‘was the light in the dark room,’ Dallas minister says at funeral.”

Any thoughts?

Posted on Sunday, July 22, 2018

Bishop Eddie Long Accusers Announce Release Date for Book Recounting Sexual Abuse Allegations!

Hello World,

It was just over a year and half ago that the untimely death of Bishop Eddie L. Long, megachurch pastor of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Decatur, Georgia was announced, sending shock waves in the religious community. It was the end of an era if you grew up in the A. Even if you weren’t a member, I will bet that every black person in the metro Atlanta area knew someone who was a member at some point, thereby multiplying his influence well beyond the church’s walls.

But don’t be mistaken! Bishop Long’s ministry garnered worldwide attention as the world came to his church’s doorstep when the funeral for the widow of Atlanta’s greatest native son the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Mrs. Coretta Scott King, was held on the premises in 2006. At the time, Dr. King’s youngest daughter Dr. Bernice King was an elder at New Birth.

That’s why it was so devastating when Bishop Long was accused of allegedly priming and eventually convincing four young men to have sexual relationship with him in a 2010 lawsuit. The matter was settled out of court and presumably never to be spoken of again as demanded by the rules of the settlement awarded to the young men. But as has been said truth is stranger than fiction and as I say, the best fiction is based on truth! To that end, the four accusers – Spencer LeGrande, Maurice Robinson, Anthony Flagg and Jamaal Parris – are writing a fictionalized account of their alleged experiences, according to the AJC.

The roman a clef — “Foursaken” — centers around a scandal involving the charismatic preacher of a thriving megachurch. While technically a work of fiction, LeGrande said there should be no doubt the sordid tale of power and betrayal is one they experienced firsthand.

Now this novel has been in the works for at least a year and this book isn’t the only one written about the experience. The fifth accuser, Centino Kemp, who wasn’t included in the initial lawsuit wrote a book entitled “First Lady,” which was published in 2013. If you want to read an interview with Kemp, check out The Christian Post’s interview with him about that work.

According to the AJC, “Foursaken” will be released before the end of 2018. And the leadership of New Birth Missionary Church, which has suffered a loss of membership since this scandal, will be among the novel’s readership if only to ensure that the authors maintain the settlement’s boundaries. New Birth board chairman Thomas W. Dortch Jr. detailed his position to the AJC.

“If they cross the line, then they’ll answer for it,” Dortch said. “If they violate the agreement or, if at this point, try to embarrass Bishop Long’s family, there will be consequences. We’ll take whatever action is necessary within the law.”

Also, as has been said before, there are three sides to every story, mine, yours and the truth. I don’t know whose account is true, but prior to his January 2017 death from cancer, Bishop Long wrote his own story “The Untold Story – The Story of Adversity, Pain, and Resilience.” Now, according to an interview with Steve Harvey, Long could not address the sexual abuse allegations in the book but all three of these works should give insight into a tragic set of events.