Church Drains: The Epidemic of the Worthless Servant Pt. 1

Imagine you find a church you enjoy....the music is pretty good and the preaching is awesome...it's probably your fourth or fifth time going...you pile up the kids, remembering that your occasionally hyperactive 7 year-old invites his occasionally hyperactive 7-year old friend...so he comes too...but you're cool because the children's church is good as well...aaaaannnd you get there to find there's no children's church this Sunday.  It turns out that of the 5,000 members that attend, the church couldn't scrape together 20 that could replace the usual 20 that serve in that ministry...every Sunday...for uncountable consecutive number of Sundays.  That team had been wanting to take a break since last year, but they couldn't because there were no replacements.  They did all they thought was necessary to solicit help in the children's ministry.  But out of the large number of teachers and daycare workers that attend that church, none of them felt the need or desire to serve.  You start to feel bad...and then judgmental.  Thoughts like, this big church can't keep a children's thing going and how they gonna just leave parents hanging like that swarm through your head.  And these thoughts must be heavy, too; because never did you think that in the 20 years of you going to church(es) you haven't even asked if anyone needed any help.

The Mirage of Pain: How Social Media Discredits Social Issues

Domino's Pizza, 2-liter sodas, tossed salad, and a mix of Generation Xers and Millennials.  About 30 of us packed in a warmly lit room to just...talk.  The organizer asked for everyone to write down a topic on a torn piece of paper and toss it in the "bucket of discussion" for breakdown and evaluation.  Yep, you guessed it, police brutality was near the top of the pile.  Unlike the other topics that were approached with slight anxiety, this one was jumped on with force.  I wasn't at all surprised by the cliche-esque nature of the conversation...we were all African-American and mostly female (sorry...not sorry).  But I was a little frustrated by it.  I'd been seeing it all day on Facebook from these VH-1 groupies-turned-activists, and I was about filled up with the "my heart is so heavy" and "I have no words (right before a 17 sentence paragraph)" post.  So before a you guys can't be serious flew out of my mouth, I stopped the convo and asked how many people in the room had been brutalized (not harassed) by the police.  Out of 30 only myself and another young lady raised our hands.  The conversation turned into a lesson after that point.

The 21st Century Family: Does Gender Translate into Love

My late grandmother showed me throughout the years what possessions were really designed to do.  Cars and homes weren't only for a persons' personal desires and needs, they were (or at least should be) used to help others.  I kept this philosophy when I purchased my first home by allowing two families and another individual to live there with me during different times.  It was far more rewarding than I could fathom at the time, and there are some benefits I'm still reaping from...one of which being a better understanding of the modern family.  I myself grew up in what would be considered traditional family; two parent household, both parents working, everything is everything.  This wasn't an exception in my neighborhood, although I had several friends coming from one-parent homes.  Back then, those families would've earned the non-traditional label.  That label is changing, though.  And now the "non-traditional" tag is moving to yet another demographic of people.  I was able to view this first hand.

Christian Wealth: The Intended Goal of Influence

Whenever a political conservative makes the statement that the United States needs to get back to it's Christian roots, I quickly think of this quote from Thomas Jefferson in a letter he wrote to the Danbury Baptist Association:

"Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between Man & his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, & not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should 'make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,' thus building a wall of separation between Church and State."

Christian Wealth: Make it Personal

Every year on the Friday before Easter, the church I attend has an evening event called Project G.O.O.D.  It serves for several purposes, with the more promoted reason being that all church members and partners can come together and assist the ministry in satisfying the debts of its creditors.  The biblical foundation of this event is pulled from two main places in biblical scripture (although arguments supporting it can be found throughout the Bible): Luke 6:38 and 1 Chronicles 29.  If you're familiar with Luke 6, you can understand why this scripture is the more popular one that tags the event....as most people what something in return when they give anything.  But the story in 1 Chronicles 29 explains the intended motive of the art of giving; as the Israelites, led by King David, gave deliberately and generously for the honor of God, for the benefit of the entire nation, and not for themselves (at least to where it was so obvious that it could be recorded).  The eternal principle of God proved faithful as after that event the young country experienced exponential growth in finance, resources, and production that positively impacted most of the population.  Things tangibly got better.  Now, the thought that's usually pushed in situations like relies heavily on the spiritual component...which is crudely captured now by the statement "won't He do it."  But I believe it's something more practical than the opening of the windows of Heaven.  And I think it involves personal responsibility for others.

Spousal Abuse: The Forgotten Marriage Ministry Topic

I believe that when a person is able to remember where they were or what they were doing when a certain event...whether joyous or traumatic...occurs, that it speaks more about the impact that event made on their life that day instead of the magnitude of the event itself.  Although 9/11 was obviously one of the worst days in American history, if you weren't there or had a family member there...it was probably more about how the world looked to you right at the moment when you got the news and how you believed your world would continue.  You knew you changed, even if just a little, because the event was so pivotal, so poignant.  You could've been a foreign student from a U.S. ally on the way back in a couple weeks.  It still changed you.  It was that important.  I'd be interested to know how many Christians, Christian leaders mores specifically, will remember where they were when they heard gospel music icon James Fortune plead guilty to assaulting his wife.

Black Future: Black Enough

I grew up in the Chamberlayne area of Henrico County, Virginia.  It was and still is a mixed-race, multi-class community ranging from white, black, Asian, Hispanic; low, working, middle, and upper class families.  An only child living with happily married parents in our modest but loving home, I played and excelled at baseball, enjoyed reading, history and social studies, and did very well in school.  I was in art clubs, the debate team, student government, and was in an honor or "talented and gifted" program every year of my formal education.  My second elementary school and my middle schools were predominately white.  All of this and more has allowed me to have a unique opportunity for exposure throughout my childhood years...which helped me gain the skills to communicate with people from a variety of races and socio-economic backgrounds.  I've had real white, Asian, and Hispanic friends.  By the account of many, many people I've associated with.....particularly from more urban areas than Chamberlayne, I wasn't black enough.

Black Future: The Police

In 2007, Harlem-based hip-hop artist Cam'ron told Anderson Cooper during an interview that he believes there's never a reason to ask for police assistance or help police during a crime investigation.  This was around the tail end of his "Stop Snitchin'" campaign, aimed at telling his community and fans to stop involving the police in, well, anything.  This was also after he had been shot in a botched robbery attempt after leaving a nightclub in Washington D.C., where he drove himself to the hospital and told the police he didn't know who shot him or anything else about the incident.  Cam'ron, by all accounts, is solid on his anti-police rhetoric.  By word and deed, there's no cooperation about cooperating.  Because of this he should be honored as an urban legend.  They should rename the club he was attending the night of the incident Club Cam and Howard University should have a course on him.  Unlike Tupac Shakur (who has courses about him in a few colleges across the country) Killa Cam didn't talk to the police or go on record to discuss working with them, like Tupac did.  Cam'ron was real...at least to himself.  To most of black America, however, he and his anti-police views are media fodder and fantasy....because we really, really love the police.

Black Future: The Political Arena

When it's all said and done...and by done I mean after the various "farewell" gatherings around the D.C. area and across the country, the BET, Centric, and TV One specials, the nearly defunct free news publication commemorative editions, and the absurd amount of non-factual memes....we will see that President Barak Obama was a slightly above-average U.S. president.  Some of us will.  Most of us will remember the "good" things like the gas prices falling in the last two years of his term, the commuting of hundreds of unfair illegal drug-related prison sentences, and how cool he appeared to be.  Yet most of us will forget how the Affordable Health Care Act strained the resources of many black-owned small business, how Obama kept American soldiers in the volatile Middle East, how he his administration sent troops to raid American homes to deport Hispanics, and how there was no legitimate, legislative response to police brutality.  All of the negative aspects of his administration will be blamed of course on Republican opposition.  But very few African-Americans will acknowledge that we didn't hold him accountable for anything that we knew wasn't good (according to white president standards).  And in the end, if we're honest we'll be able to confirm we only voted and  re-voted for President Obama because he was black.

Black Future: Black Christianity

 To all my black Christians out there, can you remember the first time you heard that white southern slave owners beat Christianity into the African slaves?  Do you remember who it was, what it was, or where you were? How do you remember feeling?  What did it do to you?  What did it do to black Christianity?

Black Future: The 'Serious Challenge' of Reparations

After a week long tour of the Untied States, the United Nations Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent released some recommendations after meeting with African Americans and others from around the country.  Now these are their preliminary thoughts according to various reports, but they believe the Untied States should put some serious effort into closing in race driven past.  For starters, they suggest the U.S. government consider reparations for all of the descendants of African slavery, establish a national human rights commission, and publicly acknowledge that the trans-Atlantic slave trade was a crime against humanity.  The group was reportedly was "extremely concerned about the [current] human rights situation of African-Americans."    Mireille Fanon Mendes-France, chair of the organization said "the colonial history, the legacy of enslavement, racial subordination and segregation, racial terrorism, and racial inequality in the U.S. remains a serious challenge as there has been no real commitment to reparations and to truth and reconciliation for people of African descent."  Should their recommendation be built on?  Should some of today's black Americans receive money for their ancestors being enslaved?  Can this really happen?

Church Value Pt. 3: What's a Servant or Worker Worth?

At a time where many church boards and staffs are holding or have held their year end meetings, I thought it'd be interesting to take a look at what the value of a church is in the local and global community.  For the sake of the next few pieces, when I say church, I'm not referring to the Church as described in 1 Corinthians 12:27,  Colossians 1:18, and other places.  I'm referring to the business of church, which would include the sale of what's known as Christianity.  To guide this, I've identified four areas where we can look at various regulation and data to get solid opinions about the church; the value of a pastor, the value of the music department, and the value of the worker, and the value of the congregant or consumer.  Let's take a look at the worker or the servant.

Church Value Pt. 2: How Much is Your Praise Team Worth?

At a time where many church boards and staffs are holding or have held their year end meetings, I thought it'd be interesting to take a look at what the value of a church is in the local and global community.  For the sake of the next few pieces, when I say church, I'm not referring to the Church as described in 1 Corinthians 12:27,  Colossians 1:18, and other places.  I'm referring to the business of church, which would include the sale of what's known as Christianity.  To guide this, I've identified four areas where we can look at various regulation and data to get solid opinions about the church; the value of a pastor, the value of the music department, and the value of the worker, and the value of the congregant or consumer.  Let's take a look at the music department.