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

    July Black Women Resized

    Hello World,

    I haven’t been as regular as I would like with my monthly posts in which I corral interesting blog posts and or articles for black Christian women from each month, but I’m a  perfectly imperfect human 🙂 But below is July’s list of the most interesting (to me, anyway) blog posts and or articles for black Christian women ( 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.”I’m A Christian Feminist, Because Jesus Loves Women, and We Should, Too” by Char Adams

    Excerpt: As I navigate the world as a modern-day woman, I can’t help but notice the many sexist practices we have wrongly attributed to God’s word. For example, I was on a date a few months ago and, as usual, I insisted on paying for my own meal. This infuriated my date, a Christian man, and he proceeded to tell me how it was his “job” as “the man” to “provide” for me during our date. I asked him if he could show me a scripture in the Bible that said “Men, pay for your date’s meal because you’re the man and it’s your job to provide.” Of course, he could not. (Actually, the Bible says in Proverbs 31 that a “virtuous woman” “provides food for her family,” but I’ll sip my tea.) See more at: bustle.com.

    2.”20 Lessons I’ve Learned Since Leaving The Church” by Makiah Green 

    Excerpt: I haven’t been to church in over a year now, and I’ve been pondering how I should address what I’ve discovered along the way. If you’ve been following my blog for a while, you probably could’ve never guessed that I would end up here. I never imagined that I could exist outside the Church I once held so dear. But due to the routine state-sanctioned violence that is being inflicted on my people, and the inadequate response from the church (among other things), I have decided to remove myself entirely from a system that claims to value my soul, but fails to show up for my Black body. I’ll probably end up writing a book about this one day, but in the meantime, here are 20 things I’ve learned since leaving the church. See more at: makiahisms.com.

    3. “When Black Women Saved Democracy” by Robert Patillo

    Excerpt:  The rescue began with Donna Brazille being appointed interim Chair of the Democratic National Committee and Rep. Marcia L. Fudge being appointed Convention Chairperson. Next Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake was chosen to gavel to order the convention in the stead of the disgraced former chairwoman and an invocation was delivered by Rev. Dr. Cynthia Hale of Ray of Hope Christian Church.  We heard the black women in the choir of the Mother Bethel AME Church sing “Glory, Glory Hallelujah” and we saw Rev. Leah Daughtry, Mayor Shirley Franklin, Lorraine Miller – Chair of the Credentials Committee, Rep. Maxine Waters, State Rep. Stacey Abrams and finally the house was shut down by First Lady Michelle Obama. See more at: atlanta.cbslocal.com.

    4.Omarosa I’m Engaged Check Out This Rock by TMZ Staff

    Excerpt: Omarosa (director of African-American outreach for Donald Trump…smh…) gained some weight over the weekend … with a fat rock. She’s engaged! Pastor John Allen Newman proposed to Omarosa Sunday in front of his congregation at The Sanctuary @ Calvary Church in Jacksonville, FLA … a churchgoer who witnessed the proposal tells TMZ. See more at: tmz.com.

    Incidentally, have you heard of this event happening later today? I cannot even…

    Trump resized

    5.”Tweet is Working on a Gospel Album” by Aliya Faust

    “As a consumer and an artist, I found that I was falling out of music, so I went back to the basics,” she said once during a press conference. “[Listeners] will find out what inspired me to do music in the beginning. My gospel roots. You’ll hear all that on Charlene.” We caught up with the R&B songstress at the 2016 Essence Festival in New Orleans after her show in the “Hot Right Now” performance lounge, where she revealed that she’s actually currently working on a gospel album. See more at: gospelgoodies.com. (So on the last episode of “The Preachers,” Pastor Jamal Bryant said he calls Tweet, his “last lady!” In other words, they go together…LOL…)

    6.Carla Hayden Confirmed as Librarian of Congress

    Excerpt: The Senate has confirmed Carla Hayden to be the next Librarian of Congress. She was approved by a vote of 74-18. Hayden, the CEO of Baltimore’s Enoch Pratt Free Library, was nominated by President Barack Obama five months ago. She becomes the first woman and first African-American to fill the post. See more at : politico.com. (As a child, I wanted to be a librarian so I’m thrilled at this news! My inner child is dizzy with joy!)

    7.”United Methodist Church Elects Four Black Women Bishops” by Zenitha Prince Senior

    Excerpt: Four African-American women were recently elected as bishops at quadrennial meetings of the United Methodist Church, further removing the glass ceiling for Black women in the denomination. In a historic election, the Rev. Sharma Lewis was elected bishop by the Southeastern Jurisdiction on July 13, becoming the first African-American women to be elected as prelate in that jurisdiction. “I was called by God and I made myself available, not just to a position, but to follow God’s will,” said the lifelong Methodist in a statement. “I am excited, and I am really humbled. At 52 years old, I am excited that my next phase of life will be as an episcopal leader. I am humbled to the fact that this is historic.” A native of Statesboro, Ga., Lewis is a woman of several “firsts.” She was the first female senior pastor and first African-American pastor of Powers Ferry United Methodist Church. She was the first woman to serve as senior minister of Wesley Chapel UMC, and the first woman to serve as district superintendent in the Atlanta-Decatur-Oxford District, her current position. See more at: afro.com.

    8. “Woman Launches Black Lives Matter Morristown” by Julia Martin

    Excerpt: But on Thursday, when she woke to news that a black man, Philando Castile, had been fatally shot the night before by Minnesota police during a motor-vehicle stop, following the death of another black man, Alton Sterling, in a police shooting in Louisiana on July 5, she knew she had to act. “I texted my high school friend Jerry Carter, and said, ‘We have to do something.’ ” says Kimbrough. “I wanted to do it when things were still fired up.” Carter, whose father, Jerry Carter Jr., is the pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Morristown texted back, ‘We do’ “, she says. See more at: dailyrecord.com.

    9.”Meet the Dallas Gospel Singer Whose Solo at Today’s Police Memorial Gave You Chills” by Michael Granberry

    Excerpt: Gaye Arbuckle lived through an extraordinary moment Tuesday afternoon. She sang a solo, a gospel song, which for her is nothing unusual. But on this day, there was nothing even remotely usual, or normal, or commonplace about whom she sang for. The crowd included President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama; Vice President Joe Biden and his wife, Dr. Jill Biden; and former President George W. Bush and his wife, former first lady Laura Bush. It also included a capacity crowd of more than 2,000 people at the Meyerson Symphony Center, many of them law enforcement officers still feeling a deep, raw grief over the loss of five from their ranks, men who were gunned down Thursday night during a protest in downtown Dallas. See more at: dallasnews.com.

    10. “Black Man In A Dress Robbed A Staten Island Bank” by D.L. Chandler

    Excerpt:  A Staten Island bank was robbed this past Monday by a black man completely decked out in Grandma’s best Sunday morning at church outfit, which probably isn’t the most effective disguise in the world. For all of the man’s troubles, he only managed to steal a few hundred dollars while being caught on surveillance video. See more at: hiphopwired.com. (This is so hilarious to me!)

    If you know of any black Christian women bloggers and or writers, please e-mail me at jacqueline@afterthealtarcall.com as I’m always interested in expanding my community of black Christian women blogs and websites. As I noted before, while this is a roundup of interesting blog posts and or articles for black Christian women, you don’t have to be one to appreciate these pieces :).

     

    Any thoughts?

     

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    ‘Greenleaf’ Star Deborah Joy Winans Shares About New ‘Greenleaf’ Gospel Album, Her TV Husband & Her Aunt CeCe: My Interview (With Audio)

    Charity Greenleaf

    Hello World,

    So my favorite new show is OWN’s Greenleaf which I’ve been faithfully recapping each week! I’m especially excited about tonight’s episode because it looks like Charity is finally going to confront Kevin about why he is on that dang phone so much! But I’m even more excited that I recently had the opportunity to interview Deborah Joy Winans (yes, of the dynamic Winans family) about release of Greenleaf – The Gospel Companion Soundtrack Volume 1 in conjunction with Lionsgate (the full 14-track album will be released on CD and digital on August 26), having a TV husband and a real life husband, controversy in the church, playing her Aunt CeCe in the stage play Born for This: The BeBe Winans Story and more! Read and or take a listen below!

    greenleaf soundtrack

    1. I know that you are primarily an actress, but I wanted to find out with this new gospel album coming out, is this your first album?

    Absolutely. It is absolutely my first album. I’ve never even recorded a song before I did Greenleaf.

    So what was it like to make this album considering that you’ve never sung on an album before and yet you have this powerhouse musical family?

    It was very daunting. It was very challenging. It was exciting. It was definitely fun to find another way to give Charity a voice as a character, you know, not just in different scenes speaking, but she could actually show you who she was through her music. So that was fun to kind of uncover that and see where that could lead. So it’s been a lot of things – challenging but amazing.

    Did you get any advice for your family members about singing?

    Oh absolutely! BeBe actually Uncle BeBe was executive music producer on the show so the first time I had to record it was with him. And he gave me quite a few pointers and was just really helpful and really boosted my confidence and taught me how to work the studio so it was really great.

    Did you get a chance to meet anyone else on the album?

    No, I did not. I know Melinda Doolittle, and we are pretty cool. And Desiree Ross who sings one song that’s on the record she sings it in the show. I think it was last week’s episode where she sang. You know we’re cast mates and so I know her very well. But nobody else I think that worked on the record.

    2. What is it like to play Charity Greenleaf-Satterlee, a minister of music?

    It’s very exciting! It’s not extremely far from my own life where I was surrounded by music. I grew up in church. I love the Lord. My dad was an elder in the church so it’s not too, too far from my own life but with Charity, it’s been fun to not just watch other people sing but for that to be more of the core of who she is. I’ve been able to learn a lot about that. Praise and worship is my favorite part of service anyway. And so being able to be the leader of our worship was really, really cool. And just bringing her to life in all aspects. She’s married on the show. I’m married in real life. So it was really exciting to see the similarities and also the differences and how to make it work. It’s been incredible.

    Did you even have to audition considering you come from such a powerhouse musical family?

    Oh, absolutely because it wasn’t necessarily about the singing, and I think that’s just been a really, really cool by-product of working on the show and being able to sing. I’ve been able to sing a lot of things through the course of the show so it’s been really cool. But I definitely had to audition you know because Charity is more than singing.

    3. Obviously, Kevin, your TV husband, has a big secret that has yet to be revealed. What can we expect from Kevin and Charity in future episodes? I know you probably don’t want to give everything away but just kind of give us a little teaser.

    I can’t give everything away, but I think through all of the little things that are kind of being shown to the audience, I think the bigger picture is that he really loves her. And she really loves him. So I think you will continue to see their love story but also the trying…He’s complicated. He’s very complicated and so you’ll see that unfold but you’ll also see the love they share unfold and how that’s going to work. Will it work? Will it not work? We’ll see.

    4. You mentioned that you are you married in real life. What is it like to have a TV husband and a real husband?

    (Laughter) Well, you know the real husband always wins! My husband is amazing. He’s so supportive and just incredible. He’s smart. I definitely feel I have the best husband in the world. But it’s been fun because we talk about being married for three years on the show, and I’ve actually been married for just a little over three years in real life and so I’ve learned quite a bit. I’m sure that there is quite a bit more to learn but being able to have that background and bring it into the show where I’m working with Tye who plays Kevin was just really fun. When we did our research and our homework, I was able to tell him some things about how married life works. It’s really a great parallel to have for working on this specific character.

    And now you’re pregnant on the show, do you have any children in real life?

    I do not. I’ve got two nieces and three nephews so that’s about all of the kids I have right now. I spoil them rotten and send them back home. Hopefully, in the future if the Lord blesses us to have kids of our own, that would be awesome.

    5. Considering all of the drama on the show, do you think the show is casting a negative light on megachurches, the church in general or even faith and Christianity? I’ve heard some feedback regarding those issues so what do you think about it?

    I don’t think so. First, I think we have to recognize is that it is a show written for TV. So it’s drama. And it’s not based on any real life scenario. It’s a show about family, but church is really the backdrop. It’s a show about a family and all of their flaws. I think that people relate to the show. And I think that they like it because they see real people and they see real people dealing with real problems. And they see how they deal with it. Sometimes, they deal with it the right way and sometimes they deal with it the wrong way. But that’s life. And I think that’s the attraction to the show. It’s real life. You see this beautiful family and all of their flaws and how they handle it. It’s about them. It’s about their family. They just happen to run a church.

    6. And you mentioned that it’s entertainment and so with all of the issues the show has already addressed from greed, child molestation, the Black Lives Matter movement, what do you feel or what has been communicated to you is the intent of the show beyond entertainment? Is it supposed to be an exposé type of thing or what do you think?

    I don’t think so. I just think that it hits on certain things that touch people whether it be bad or good. If we were all in a room and we had to show every flaw that we had, who would want to do that? What human would want to do that? I think it sheds a light on human life whether that is the good stuff that we go through or the bad stuff because we go through it all. And we have to figure it all out. And sometimes we don’t always make the right choice. And sometimes we don’t have the right motivation. And then sometimes we do. And I think that ultimately, it shows you that love wins. It doesn’t promote anything crazy. It’s just a show. It’s a well-written show. And I think it’s a show that shows people that you can make a mistake and get back up.

    7. I know you’re currently starring in Born For This: The Bebe Winans Story.What is like to play your Aunt CeCe in the stage play? And you do look a lot like her.

    I know. It’s crazy. It’s been such a wonderful and humbling experience. I think she’s incredible. Clearly nobody can be her but her, but it’s been really beautiful to try to fill those shoes every night and give people this person that they’ve loved for so long. Just touch a little bit on some of the music and a little bit of who she is. I think she is one of the most incredible people in the world. I call her Mama C because she’s been like a mother to me. And it’s a real honor. And for her to tell me that if anyone was going to play her, she hoped that it would be me. That just made it all the more exciting to do.

     

     

    For more information about Greenleaf – The Gospel Companion Soundtrack Volume 1, see below…

    Malaco Records, the legendary Jackson, Mississippi-based soul/blues/gospel label, has announced the release of Greenleaf – The Gospel Companion Soundtrack Volume 1 in conjunction with Lionsgate, a premier next generation global content leader. The album is a musical reflection of the hit OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network original drama series Greenleaf.  Malaco’s dominant role in the gospel music field led the series’ producers to join forces for the creation and release of this very special album. The album’s tracks, produced by Tim Lauer, Russell Ziecker and BeBe Winans, are rolling out digitally on a track-by-track basis. 

    Greenleaf – The Gospel Companion Soundtrack Vol. 1 track listing is as follows:

    1)    The Root (feat. Mavis Staples) (Greenleaf Main title)

    2)    Ring Them Bells (feat. McCrary Sisters)

    3)    (God Bless the) Broken Road (feat. Deborah Joy Winans)

    4)    Testimony (feat. Deborah Joy Winans)

    5)    Say Something (feat. Melinda Doolittle)

    6)    Satan, We’re Gonna Tear Your Kingdom Down (feat. Shirley Caesar)

    7)    Let Love Find a Way (feat. Deborah Joy Winans)

    8)    The Master’s Calling (feat. Deborah Joy Winans)

    9)    Battle Hymn of the Republic (feat. Deborah Joy Winans)

    10) Get Your House In Order (feat. Dottie Peoples & The Peoples

     Choice Chorale)

    11) Take Me To the Water (feat. Deborah Joy Winans)

    12) Blessed (feat. Deborah Joy Winans)

    13) River (feat. Deborah Joy Winans)

    14) (We’ll Understand It Better) By and By (feat. Desiree Ross)

    Click HERE to hear The Master’s Calling (which is beautiful) featuring the voice of Deborah Joy Winans who portrays Charity Greenleaf-Satterlee in the series.

    Greenleaf – The Gospel Companion Soundtrack Volume 1 is executive produced by Oprah Winfrey, Craig Wright and Russell Ziecker. Ziecker and Tim Lauer are soundtrack producers.

    Any thoughts?

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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 🙂 )