Category Archives: God’s Economy

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Three Gifts Guaranteed to Give You Christmas Cheer!!! A Repost for 2017…

Editor’s Note: I’ve posted this before, but the Christmas message is renewed every year! Merry Christmas!

Hello World,

I’ve said this before, but I will say it again: Christmas is supposed to be “the most wonderful time of the year!” So if your eyes aren’t twinkling like they are Christmas lights, if jingle bells aren’t attached to your ankles or if you are not burping up eggnog, you obviously don’t possess that sometimes elusive Christmas cheer…

I know that “Jesus is the reason for the season,” but can I be honest? Sometimes even knowing that isn’t enough to dredge up that Christmas cheer that everyone is supposed to be cloaked in like an expensive heavy coat that you only wear on special occasions….

Still despite the manufactured Christmas cheer that retailers will lead you to believe can only be bought, I have discovered there are three gifts, not 12, not enough for your whole family or all your network, simply three that will stoke the furnace of genuine Christmas cheer within you…

I don’t know if it is the example of the three Wise Men or because God is the Father, the Son & the Holy Spirit or at the suggestion of my favorite author Catherine Marshall, but in my 20s, I decided that in addition to the gifts I would give to my friends and family, I would also give three gifts to Jesus…

Now, how does one go about giving gifts to Jesus? Although I feel His presence with me, I have never seen nor touched Him physically…So how was I supposed to do that? I was led to these three verses below as I came up with a way to give three gifts to Jesus…

 In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ” Acts 20:35

The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ Matthew 25:30

But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. Matthew 6:3-4

So what do these three verses mean?

1. I was give without expectation of receiving anything back.

2. I was to give to people and or organizations that served “the least of these.”

3. I was to give in secret and not tell a soul.

I have never revealed what I have done before, but since I am writing a post about this, let me share some of the gifts I have given over the years as a testimony to how God has blessed me with authentic Christmas cheer as a result….

There was once a homeless man that I saw every day as I walked from one location to another in downtown Atlanta…All of the store owners on the street were kind to him, and I could see why…He was kind and mannerly and even funny sometimes…I don’t don’t why he was homeless, but he seemed content to live on the street…I thought that since he seemed like he wanted to be on the street, I could at least help keep him warm…I tried to figure out what what size pants the man wore and bought him a pair of jeans (he always had on jeans) and a blanket…When I handed him the wrapped up gift, he seemed not to know what I was handing to him until I explained it was a Christmas gift…Then he smiled…That simple smile made me glow on the inside…

Another year, I decided to volunteer one Saturday at My Sister’s House at the Atlanta Mission…I helped hand out supplies to the women and children that were staying at the shelter…At that particular time in my life, I pretty much hated my job and the fact that I was too poor to move out of my parents’ house…But spending just one Saturday at the shelter showed how much I had to be grateful for…My mom has always told me if you want to feel better, forget about yourself…

And finally another one of my secret three gifts was the doll I gave to a Christmas toy drive one year…although I am not a girly girl, I have always LOVED dolls…I wanted a new doll every  Christmas for years and years…in fact, I used to worry that as a fifth grader, someone at school would find out I still played with dolls and I would be teased…So one year I decided to give the prettiest, most girly, luxurious hair-having doll I could find and afford to a toy drive…I don’t know what girl was the recipient of that doll, but if I have learned anything about God, I know that “every good and perfect gift” comes from Him…I’m sure that the girl who received that doll was the very girl that wished for and deserved that gift…

Although the Christmas countdown has begun,  there is more than enough time to give (and get) Christmas cheer…

Any thoughts?

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Do You Still Trust Pastor Joel Osteen After His Hurricane Harvey Response?

Hello World,

As I watched the daily coverage of Hurricane Harvey over the past seven days, I’ve marveled over the fact that the course of one’s life can change as easily as a watercourse flows. Can you imagine that one day you’re immersed in the regular monotony of life and the next day all that you know is immersed under rainwater that refuses to recede. I’ve been praying for those affected by Hurricane Harvey as they go about recovering from the ravages of this natural disaster.

Even as Hurricane Harvey developed day by day, stories of how those in its path responded developed day by day alongside it. One of those stories you’ve probably heard of by now is how Senior Pastor Joel Osteen of Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas responded. Osteen was dragged on Twitter last week when he allegedly tweeted out inspirational messages regarding Hurricane Harvey but did not open the doors of his 17,000-seat megachurch to Hurricane Harvey evacuees until he was shamed into doing so. It has been a point of contention whether the church had also been affected by the hurricane and thereby not accessible or whether that was not the case at all. A flurry of news coverage was created by this “Twitter storm” which resulted in Osteen granting various news outlets interviews to explain “what had happened was” and for damage control.

Do I believe that Pastor Osteen responded with too little too late and was shamed into opening the doors of this church? Hmmm…I’ve had to think about my own humble and small church where I’ve attended since I was six years old in forming my opinion. If Hurricane Harvey would have hit Atlanta, would my church be prepared to open its doors to evacuees? I don’t know that we would have immediately because a typical church isn’t prepared to assist in that way. When we’ve had snow storms for example in the A, church shuts down and everyone is encouraged to remain in their homes until the roads are clear and conditions are safe to gather together again. So I think it’s unfair to rush to judgment when most organizations aren’t prepared to service people in natural disasters.

That being said, if the natural disaster, storm, etc. continues, a place of ministry should develop a means to minister to its congregants and the wider community if they have resources available. A small church often does not the resources available to minister to people in the time of a natural disaster or otherwise that a large church like that of Lakewood Church, for example, has its disposal. It’s likely that as Hurricane Harvey continued, the staff at Lakewood headed by Osteen would have implemented a plan to minister to its congregants and the community even without the Twitter storm. I’m sure that many churches throughout Houston have been considering their course of action as well.

And that brings me to another point. Pastor Osteen is not the only pastor in Houston and you would think that based on the news coverage. Is he the only pastor that who did not allegedly immediately implement a plan to open the doors of the church to evacuees? Probably not. But since he is well known, he was an obvious target of scrutiny. And I’m pretty sure the people who were already not fond of his ministry which has been referred to as “prosperity gospel” were some of the loudest people criticizing him. And on the other hand, those who were proponents of his ministry before Hurricane Harvey have probably not been persuaded to not support him based on his Hurricane Harvey response.

Finally, for all of those who have worked themselves into a lather regarding Pastor Joel Osteen, my question to them is: What are you doing to minister to those affected by Hurricane Harvey? If the answer is not much or nothing, maybe all of that energy would be better directed inward or upward. I don’t know why God allows storms, literal and otherwise, in the lives of people but there are always lessons to be learned. Maybe one of the lessons from this storm is that we need each other more than we thought we did…

That’s all I got.

Any thoughts?

 

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Former Christian Post Reporter Nicola A. Menzie Solicits Support for New Magazine!

nicola-menzie

Hello World,

As you may or may not know, I came of age in the 90s otherwise known as the golden age of black entertainment (although there are some shows out now that are giving me hope that black entertainment is enjoying a resurgence). One of my favorite shows back in the 90s was “Living Single,” which was about brand new adults making their way in  NYC (basically a black “Friends” before there was “Friends). I watched the show just about the time that I was making my way as a brand new adult in the A.

I identified with no one character more than the others, but I did feel a certain kinship with the character Khadijah James, who was portrayed by Queen Latifah. Khadijah was the editor and publisher of the upstart Flavor magazine and as such found herself on the brink of economic disaster a few times.

Queen Latifah in Living Single.

Queen Latifah in Living Single.

I didn’t have the courage to start my own magazine, but as a new journalist, who couldn’t find a job for a while, I worked with a woman who started her own magazine and saw the financial challenges of doing so up close. One of the highlights of working for this new magazine was meeting Diddy who was Puffy back then. It was so much fun, but most of all, I admired the drive of the woman who launched the magazine!

Well, now, I know of another brave woman who is endeavoring to start a new magazine, and I hope that you will support her in this much needed endeavor! Below is information from Nicola A. Menzie’s Kickstarter page! She needs $15,000 to launch the magazine and has until Jan. 22 to raise the entire amount or she doesn’t get any of it!

Hello. Welcome to the Kickstarter campaign for Issue No. 1 of Faithfully Magazine.

Faithfully Magazine is a News and Lifestyle publication that advocates for, celebrates and informs Christian Communities of Color by centering the conversations, issues and events they say are important to their faith and to their lives.

My name is Nicola A. Menzie and I am the founder and editor of Faithfully Magazine (faithfullymagazine.com). I live in New York City and have been writing, blogging, tweeting (and sometimes complaining) about happenings in Evangelical Christianity for the past eight years or so (five years professionally).

I’ve long been a believer, but entering the world of Evangelical Christianity as a member of the press was eye-opening. I soon learned the names, the quirks and the controversies that really set people off (like Osteen and Bell, “sowing seeds” and the prosperity gospel).

More than anything, I learned that Christian news media is saturated with the perspectives, voices and concerns of White Evangelicalism. And very few of their publications and websites have Christians of Color in decision-making roles or who contribute to their editorial direction.

HELP US PRINT THE PREMIERE ISSUE OF FAITHFULLY MAGAZINE 

Faithfully Magazine goes to press in January and we’re soliciting contributions from diverse writers, illustrations, photographers and other creatives for an impactful premiere issue. The goal right now is to publish the magazine as a quarterly, with this Kickstarter campaign being used to raise the necessary funds to produce Issue No. 1.

Some stories on deck for the full-color, 80-page premiere issue include:

  • Christians of Color sharing in their own words how they are moving forward under a Donald Trump presidency;
  • A diverse survey of responses on whether, due to the 2016 campaign, the term “Evangelical” should be dumped or redeemed;
  • A gripping feature on a former felon who came to faith in prison and still has to answer for his alleged crimes;
  • A revealing Q&A with rapper and pastor Trip Lee that includes his thoughts on the presidential election and how he cares for a faith community of both Trump and Clinton voters;
  • A sit-down with the husband-and-wife leaders of Crossover Church, a popular urban ministry that’s also a millennial magnet.

If you have some compelling content or story ideas, send me an email (namenzie @ gmail.com). We’re also looking to develop regular columns.

The image below is of a mock cover to give you an idea of our direction.

mock-cover

A LITTLE ABOUT ME

I was a staff reporter for The Christian Post for several years. Before that, I worked with companies like CBS News, AOL News and even Vibe.com — where I started out about 13 years ago as an editorial intern (yes, I love hip-hop). Most recently, I’ve written about Christians from diverse backgrounds strategizing to address police violence and African-American responses to Donald Trump. I’ve also interviewed the Christian activist who rocked a major conference and the pro-life movement with her remarks on Black Lives Matter. I also study Theology and am on course to (finally!) complete my Master of Divinity degree in 2017.

Below  is a video of Nicola discussing her vision for Faithfully Magazine…

Join me in supporting Nicola! And please go to her Kickstarter page to find out how you can contribute AND what you will receive for your generous contribution!

Any thoughts?