Posted on Thursday, May 14, 2020

Advocacy Group, Concerned Christians Host Prayer Vigil for Boko Haram Captive Leah Sharibu TODAY On Her 17th Birthday…

Hello World,

It was six years ago this month that I first mentioned on this blog that Islamist terrorist group Boko Haram stole more than 200 Christian and Muslim Nigerian girls in the middle of the night from their boarding school in Chibok, Nigeria.

Below is a 2020 update about what has happened to these girls from the grio.com:

Six years later, 164 have been returned or accounted for. Many of them struggle to readjust as some have been ostracized for wearing the unearned cloak of shame that many victims have to dress themselves in. We can thank God for those who, over the last few years, have either escaped or negotiated themselves out of bondage, however, there are still 112 unaccounted young women, still ransomed, sold into slavery, forced into marriage and or dead.

Read the rest of the article Bring Back Our Girls: 6 Years Later, And People Still Don’t Care by Nicole Duncan-Smith, a member of Bring Back Our Girls, USA, HERE.

In 2018, Leah Sharibu, then 14, was kidnapped by Boko Haram along with 109 of her female Dapchi schoolmates. In the days following, five of the girls died in captivity, and 104 were released on March 20, 2018. Leah alone was kept because she refused to renounce her faith in Jesus Christ and convert to Islam, as demanded by her captors. TODAY, as it is her 17th birthday, a prayer vigil is being held to pray for release. Below are the details.

The International Committee on Nigeria (ICON), a coalition partner of Save the Persecuted Christians, will host the online prayer vigil at 4 p.m. Here is the link to join: standwithnigeria.org.

Any thoughts?

Posted on Sunday, March 8, 2015

The Sunday School Lesson of Selma’s “Bloody Sunday” 50 years later…(Pics from Selma 50 included)

Hello World,

My friend LaTosha Brown and the Obama girls…

For those of you who won’t make it to Sunday School this morning because of Daylight Savings Time (I’m opening my eyes wide right now because of that one hour), you don’t have a church home or you haven’t heard about Sunday School but want to know more, I’ve got you with a brief Sunday School lesson for you…Touch your neighbor and say, “Brief.” LOL…

In all seriousness as this subject requires, I cannot imagine living in a world in which I did not have the right to vote and yet that was essentially the case a mere eight years before I was born…Because of three marches in March 1965 from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, particularly the march that occurred on March 7, known as “Bloody Sunday” because of the violence the officers unleashed on the peaceful protestors, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 became a law with the signature of President Lyndon B. Johnson…

I believe it is no coincidence that “Bloody Sunday” occurred on a Sunday…Sunday is the day that Christians celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ as he paid for the sins of humankind by shedding His blood and dying on the cross…One of the ultimate lessons in life is that without sacrifice, nothing changes…And the ultimate sacrifice is sacrificing your life or blood…

Because of the sacrifices paid by those involved in the American Civil Rights Movement, black Americans now enjoy many freedoms including the right to vote without facing discrimination although the Supreme Court weakened the Voting Rights Act of 1965 in 2013 with it’s decision to allow several states to change their election laws without federal preclearance.

That being said, the best way to honor the sacrifices of those on “Bloody Sunday” and in the other marches is to vote in every.single.election.

And, we have to remember that sacrifice is a key tenant in change as we grapple with how to stop black boys from being targeted whether by police officers or others in this country and Christians in Africa and the Middle East from being targeted by Boko Haram and ISIS…

Because “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere,“ as Dr. King said…

And as President Obama, the ultimate fruition of Dr. King’s sacrifice and dream, said yesterday in Selma at the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday…

Because Selma shows us that America is not the project of any one person. Because the single-most powerful word in our democracy is the word “We.” “We The People.” “We Shall Overcome.” “Yes We Can.” That word is owned by no one. It belongs to everyone. Oh, what a glorious task we are given, to continually try to improve this great nation of ours.

Fifty years from “Bloody Sunday,” our march is not yet finished, but we’re getting closer. Two hundred and thirty-nine years after this nation’s founding our union is not yet perfect, but we are getting closer. Our job’s easier because somebody already got us through that first mile. Somebody already got us over that bridge. When it feels the road is too hard, when the torch we’ve been passed feels too heavy, we will remember these early travelers, and draw strength from their example, and hold firmly the words of the prophet Isaiah: “Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on [the] wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not be faint.”

To read President Obama’s entire speech, go to medium.com.

So that was your brief Sunday School lesson…

I wasn’t able to be there yesterday, but my friend LaTosha Brown was there. She wrote about her conflicting emotions as she prepared to go back to Selma, her hometown, this weekend in her blog post “Selma Is More Than A Place; Selma Is A People!” on her blog Latoshalove.blogspot.com. Little did LaTosha, who is an Atlanta transplant, know that not only would she be returning to her hometown to honor a critical time in our nation’s history she would also be able to march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in arms length of of first black president of the United States…LaTosha is just behind First Lady Michelle Obama and is wearing the black sweater with white hearts 🙂

And here are a few more photos of LaTosha and her experience in Selma yesterday and her commentary that I am sharing with her permission…

Yesterday I was unexpectedly selected as part of a delegation to cross the bridge with the President of the United States and his family. I actually stood directly behind the first family. I’m still very happy about the experience. I walked with The foot soldiers and the first family. Can’t get no better than this.

First Lady Michelle Obama and LaTosha…(My friend cut off Mrs.Obamas head but I still appreciated this opportunity)

Got to take a photo with former Attorney General Holder...

A familiar face…Former President Bush and LaTosha…(Guess who gladly took a selfie and cracked a joke?!)

President Obama and Congressman John Lewis, one of the protestors beaten on “Bloody Sunday”…(I asked the President for a selfie and he cracked a joke and said, “I can’t take a selfie with you because then everybody would want one.” But I did get a photo from walking across the bridge behind him while leading freedom songs with him and his family, and foot soldiers.)

Any thoughts?

Posted on Sunday, October 12, 2014

Your Sinners & Saints Christian News Roundup…The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly…

Hello World,

Have you missed me? I hope so…I haven’t been posting as much. I usually post on Sundays and Wednesdays but due to a pending deadline this month, I will only be posting on Sundays…So I hope my Sunday posts are worth waiting for :)…

Just because I’ve been focused on meeting my deadline doesn’t mean I’m unaware of all of the shocking news stories that have been unearthed in the Christian world…These stories are ugly…And I’ve come across some new stories that may not cause shock waves in the Christian community but are bad nevertheless…And thankfully, I’ve come across some good news that take a bit of the sting way from the ugly and bad stories that tarnish the testimony of the Christian faith…

So let’s get the ugly out of the way…

THE UGLY…

Montgomery Pastor Admits to Having AIDS, Sleeping With Church Members...This, by far, has got to the be the ugliest news story in the Christian world that I have seen in 2014….Apparently, he had sex with several of the female congregants knowing he has AIDS, was using drugs and mismanaged church funds…I really don’t know how no one in the church confronted him about any of these three sins (Whatever happened to female intuition or the prompting of the Holy Spirit?) and likely way before he confessed all that mess to his church and removed from his post…
Enugu Pastor Impregnates His Church Member, Forces Her to Abort Pregnancy…But former Pastor Juan Demetrius McFarland ain’t the only pastor acting up…Instead of a praying for a young girl in his church, allegedly Pastor Friday Onuh of Nigeria preyed on the young girl church, got her pregnant and “took her to a patent medicine dealer” (Are they talking about a witch doctor?) in order for their child to be aborted…Whew…I cannot imagine….
Faith Under Fire: A Westlake Church Rallies Around Its Pastor After Charges That He Sexually Abused His Adopted Daughter…Allegedly Pastor Paul, as he is known to the congregants at Church on the Rise, is “awaiting trial on six felony charges of allegedly sexually abusing his adopted daughter,” But at least one congregant is pointing a finger at the adopted daughter rather than Pastor Paul…In fact, members are still packing the pews… (Whom do you believe?)
7th Heaven’s Stephen Collins Reportedly Admits to Molesting Underage Girl, Fallout Reaches Hollywood…As ugly as this story is, at least this story is about a fake pastor…Collins portrayed Rev. Camden, pastor of the Glen Oak Community Church on the TV series “7th Heaven,” is “longest-running series on The WB.” Although I am shocked and saddened by this story, Collins only portrayed a pastor on TV (If your pastor is a fake pastor on television, you need more than Jesus) …that point needs to be emphasized….

THE BAD…

Boko Haram Destroys 185 Churches, Beheads Seven People in Borno…While this story is ugly, I put in the bad category because this isn’t the first time this Islamist terrorist group has committed crimes against humanity (Lord, please intervene…)…On April 14, more than 200 Christian and Muslim Nigerian girls were stolen in the middle of the night from their boarding school in Chibok town by this group…
Jersey City Sunday School Teacher Stabbed to Death By Ex-Fiance, Police Say…As a former Sunday School teacher, this story is particularly troubling…Reportedly, Patricia Santana’s former fiance was a “nice guy” and went to church with her…(Just because a man comes to church with you, doesn’t mean he is saved, and even if he saved…well, see above…

THE GOOD…(finally, right?)

‘Homeless’ Pastor Rick Cole Goes Home to Capital Christian Church…In spite of the shenanigans and crimes committed by a few “pastors,” I do believe the overwhelming majority of pastors have good intentions and are committed to serving God and their people…This pastor left his home, “living on Sacramento streets for two weeks to raise money for the area’s winter shelter program.” (Praise God for this pastor…)
Columbus Churches Come Together for Prayer Walk…Under the leadership of Pastor Christopher Smith, Word of Truth Ministries partnered with other churches in the community to walk through its neighborhoods and pray for the people that live there…(Prayer is so powerful…)
The Beauty of Small Church…Don’t get me wrong, megachurches are great, but bigger is not always better (#smallchurchestandup) and Rev. Hope Lee, lead pastor of Kirkwood Presbyterian Church, agrees with me…She wrote a sweet tribute to the small church in which she was raised…As a daughter of a pastor who leads a small church, I’ve had similar experiences…
Christian Brothers Automotive & Lake Pointe Church Offer Free Oil Changes for Single Moms…Again, although the church and its leaders should be open to criticism when warranted, I believe that most churches and its leaders want to do good…(What about free or discounted oil changes for newlyweds? :))

Any thoughts?