Hello World

When I read this story on Americapreachers.com “Pastor Fired After Attending a Rick Ross Concert,” I knew I had to blog about it…Apparently, the deacons at Mt. Salem Baptist Church in North Carolina discovered that the youngest pastor in their 109-year history, Pastor Rodney Wills, 26, attended a Rick Ross concert on a Saturday night. The next morning he showed up at church only to find that his parking sign and his name on his office had been been removed…OUCH!

What went down here is my worst nightmare…I am a real Christian. By that I mean, I have trusted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior…I pray about just about everything…I read the Bible pretty regularly although I could probably read longer passages… You can find me in church every Sunday morning (although late…) I attend Bible Study…I pretty much do what is expected for Christians…but I also am probably not the traditional Christian in that I have some “worldly ways” I guess…I’ve had a life-sized poster of Tupac Shakur on my office wall since I was in my ’20s…I don’t have an iPod, but if I did, you would hear anything from Yolanda Adams to the Geto Boys…And there is more I could share, but I won’t…the point is…I’m not nor will I ever be a holy roller..All that being said, I do recognize that when you have increased responsibility for whatever reason (whether you’re in the church or in the world), you have to conduct yourself differently…For example, I am a teacher at L.A. Fitness, this means I must be fit…This means I have to be more fit than the people I teach…One of my biggest pet peeves is an out-of-shape fitness instructor!  And the Bible addresses this principle too…

“Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.” James 3:1

I asked my father, Dr. Denzil D. Holness, who has been a pastor of Central Christian Church in Atlanta for over 30 years, what he thought about it. He agreed that the young pastor did not make the best decision, but the deacons should have talked to him first before unceremoniously firing him without talking to him and giving him a second chance…However, I forgot to tell my father that the pastor had been spotted at a Lil Wayne concert nine months ago by some youth and young adults (Sidebar question: I wonder if these youth and young adults are members of Mt. Salem Baptist Church? If so, how are they going to tell on the pastor if they are there themselves? Hmm…)

Now that I’m a Christian author, I must admit I am more careful about my actions because the devil is real…Even though you may have innocent motives, he has a way of twisting situations to make you look guilty…I don’t think there is anything wrong with enjoying rap music as a Christian, but maybe, you should give up certain environments where some rap music is played because the situation could be misconstrued…

To sum it up, I feel sorry for the pastor, but I understand the actions of the deacons…And at the end of the day, all thing work together for good for those who love God and are called according to His purpose…If this pastor has been called by God to be a pastor, God will use this situation to grow this young man up…I can say stuff like this now since I will be 40 years old next month…YIKES…Did I just say that?

Any thoughts?