Posted on Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Powerhouse Pastors Bishop T.D. Jakes, Dr. Tony Evans & More Come Together for Racial Reconciliation…

Hello World,

Just in time for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday tomorrow, national leaders are convening at The Potter’s House of Dallas on Thursday, Jan. 15 to take practical steps toward racial reconciliation. Leaders include:

Bishop Harry Jackson, one of the nation’s most prominent African-American pastors, is chairman of the High Impact Leadership Coalition and senior pastor of Hope Christian Church in metro Washington, D.C.

Bishop T.D. Jakes, senior pastor and New York Times bestselling author, leader and speaker

Andrew Young, ordained minister, civil rights leader and former mayor of Atlanta and United Nations Ambassador

Dr. Alveda King, pastoral associate and director of African-American outreach for Priests for Life and Gospel of Life Ministries and niece of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Dr. Samuel Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference/CONELA

Dr. Tony Evans, senior pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship and founder and president of The Urban Alternative

James Robison, founder and president of LIFE Outreach International and co-host of LIFE Today TV

Dr. R.A. Vernon, founder and senior pastor of The Word Church and

Dr. Jim Garlow, senior pastor at Skyline Church

“The Reconciled Church: Healing the Racial Divide” is a forum comprised of racially and culturally diverse Christian faith leaders to take practical steps toward racial reconciliation across America.

“The Reconciled Church” will begin with a private prayer session followed by four prescriptive panel discussions of best practices around the country and potential solutions to heal racial division. The dialogue will center around the seven “Bridges of Peace” including prayer summits; reconciliation forums; community engagement forums; community service and compassion outreaches; personal, marriage and family development; engagement with the criminal justice system; and economic development strategies.

Late afternoon, leaders will gather for an interactive session with media to summarize their conversation and consensus for moving forward. In the evening a public communion worship service, commissioning individuals to go out and work for reconciliation, will be held, during which leaders will sign a covenant of reconciliation.

It is free and open to the public.

3:00pm Interactive Media Session
7:00pm Prayer, Communion and Commissioning Service
LiveStream 7pm

The Potter’s House
6777 West Kiest Boulevard
Dallas, TX 75236

For more information, go to thereconciledchurch.org.

Any thoughts?

Posted on Sunday, January 4, 2015

Two Signs Your New Year May Not Be Off to the Best Start…

Hello World,

If you were shot in the back during your church’s New Year’s Eve Service like Tonia Barnes was while she worshiped at Macedonia Ministries in Jackson, Mississippi or called the “n-word” like six black friends who left a church’s New Year’s Eve Service to get something to eat at Shatila Lebanese Grill and Hookahat in Arlington, Texas were, your New Year may not be off to best start…Thankfully, Barnes has been released from the hospital and the waiter who referred to the friends as the “n-word” has been fired…Prayerfully, in spite of what happened on these people on New Year’s Eve, God will bring good even out of that…

As for my church’s New Year’s Eve Service otherwise known as Watch Night Service, all went well although I am struggling with what the pastor preached during the service…The pastor spoke on…

⁵Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.

⁶So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me. Hebrews 13:5-6

If you know anything about me, one of my worst faults I have to admit is coveting…I’m a habitual coveter…In fact, one of my earliest posts “I’m Such a Hater aka I Sometimes Break the Ten Commandments” (I began coveting as a scrawny six year old…) is about this very word…I remember when my book was released in 2012 and I was working like crazy and God was blessing me with all kinds of opportunities, sometimes I still got discouraged because other authors seemed to moving be farther faster…In fact, I even called an author friend, and she told me that days earlier she had had a dream about someone running a race and the runner got off track because the runner kept looking at the other runners…She told her husband she wasn’t sure why she had that dream, but when I called her, she knew that dream was a message for me…Isn’t God awesome?! He knows this child of God (me 🙂 ) has got it bad when it comes to coveting…

So the next day, I reflected on and prayed about what these two verses mean, and I was led to this sermon “The Path that Leads to Contentment.” Marvin A. McMickle noted…

Covetousness and contentment. If ever there were two words placed within the same verse that seem to point in totally opposite directions, it is those words found in Hebrews 13:5. One word seems to imply a persistent and relentless pursuit for something more than one already has. Covetousness is a condition in which a person’s heart, mind and soul are preoccupied with getting and gaining more and more of the things of this world. At an even deeper level, to be covetous is to be so concerned with what someone has of possessions or abilities that we cannot be satisfied with whatever it is that we have.

Pointing in the opposite direction from covetousness is the word contentment. I do not know if you and I will ever reach this state in life, but the writer of Hebrews seems to suggest that it is an ideal state in which to live. To be content is to be satisfied with what you have. To be content is to be at peace with who you are. To be content is not to spend all day complaining about what is wrong in your life. To be content is not to mope around in self-pity because of what you have not achieved, or what you have not acquired, or what you have not attained.

To read the rest of the sermon, go to preaching.com.

So how do we go about making the best of our talents and being ambitious while being content at the same time?…How do we determine how are efforts are panning out if we’re not checking out the ~~competition~~ which often leads me to coveting? I’ve got more reflecting and praying to do….

Any thoughts?

Posted on Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Saying Good-bye: 2014 in Posts…

Hello World,

I absolutely love this time of the year: the few days after Christmas just before the dawn of a brand New Year…Maybe it’s because it’s winter or maybe it’s just in my head, but somehow the air feels crisp with excitement as the world prepares to hit biggest reset button of them all…Whatever has happened in a year – good or bad, the beginning of a New Year is an opportunity to continue to greater heights or leave pain in the past…It’s a time to reflect on all that has transpired in 365 days and wonder about what is to come…And that sentiment brings me the point of today’s blog post…If you mind, let’s take a tour of 2014 via my this blog…

January 2014 – I admitted that I do watch “The Real Housewives of Atlanta” (hiding behind my computer since you probably want to throw rocks at me 🙂 ) and was fascinated by the storyline about Mama Joyce and how she couldn’t stand that her daughter Kandi Burruss, former Xscape songstress and current song-writing millionaire was engaged Todd Tucker, a production manager. (They are now married!) I was so fascinated with the storyline that I interviewed Mama Joyce: “Mama Joyce Gets Us Straight…And Steps Back…And Keeps Stepping…(MY INTERVIEW).”

February 2014 – I celebrated my first Valentine’s Day as a married woman in my blog post “Lovapalooza: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly of Love on Valentine’s Day.” Also, if you live in Georgia, remember this was the second time in just a couple of weeks that we were snowed and iced in…and this particular snowstorm/ice storm happened to fall on Valentine’s Day week…

March 2014 – Although I am a reality television show fan, I pleaded with gospel duo Mary Mary to rethink their reality show in “Why Mary Mary May Need To Get Off Reality TV…My Open Letter to Erica & Tina Campbell” as their lives seem to have unraveled for all the world to see…

April 2014 – I shared that I FINALLY completed the rough draft of my first novel in “This Novel That I’m Writing…My Modified NaNoWriMo Challenge…”

May 2014– With my husband’s permission, I shared some of his testimony in “Delay is NOT denial…Celebrating My Hubby’s College Graduation!!!”

June 2014– Although the world lost “Phenomenal Woman,” Dr. Maya Angelou on May 28, I wrote about her in my June 1 blog post “Remembering The Phenomenal Woman: Maya Angelou…” The example of her life is a beacon that anything is possible for a black girl, a girl who once thought of herself as “a too-big Negro girl with nappy black hair, broad feet and a space between my teeth that would hold a No. 2 pencil” – her words…

July 2014 – I wrote the blog post “Young Pastors Vs. Old Churches…” that generated a great discussion…This post was inspired by this article “Young Pastor Voted Out By Veteran Members Of Historic Baptist Church In Philadelphia” by Cherri Gregg on CBS Philly’s website.

August 2014 – My husband and I celebrated our first anniversary as marrieds and I wrote about our journey together thus far in “7 Lessons Learned: Going From ‘Single Lady’ to ‘Smug Married.'” It was the third in series of three posts I wrote about being married for a year 🙂 To read my first post, go to “Couples’ Night – Going From ‘Single Lady’ to ‘Smug Married’”… and my second post was “Cooking & Cleaning Oh My! – Going From ‘Single Lady’ to ‘Smug Married.’”

September 2014 – During this month, I met newly minted Soror Suzan Johnson Cook, who is not only a former pastor and current author, she also served as the United States Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom. Her book “A New Dating Attitude” made me know that I know that I know that I truly know my husband was and is God’s best for me…I wrote about our meeting in “Making Your Divine Appointment…”

October 2014 – I explored my fear of Ebola in my blog post “Seven Scriptures to Dispel F.E.A.R. About Ebola…”

November 2014 – I forced myself to separate Dr. Heathcliff “Cliff” Huxtable, America’s favorite dad, from Bill Cosby in “What Would Jesus Do About Bill Cosby?” I still don’t know what to do about these allegations…This ranks up there with finding out there is no Santa Claus and the chocolate factory in “Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory” is not real…

December 2014 – Ever since I got engaged during the Christmas season two years ago, I see Christmas as a time to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ and celebrate the beginning of my new life with my hubby…So I was especially elated to interview Malinda Williams, who starred in the movie “Marry Us For Christmas,” which premiered on UP. Check out “‘Watch ‘Marry Us For Christmas’ Tonight/My Interview With Malinda Williams.”

One last thing:

I’ve found the best way to bring in the New Year is in church where I will be tonight…And what better way to prepare for Watch Night Service and the whole year than to pray? Join Girlfriends Pray as they begin a Pray-A-Thon today at noon EST….Details below…

Any thoughts?