Posted on Sunday, February 1, 2015

Looking for Love for Valentine’s Day? Maybe Your Pastor Should Set You Up…

Hello World,

Today is so exciting! It is Super Bowl Sunday! (Don’t ask me what teams are playing… 🙂 ) It’s the first day of Black History Month (which I will post about later in the month) AND it’s the month of Love (you have 13 days to find a date for Valentine’s Day as of TODAY)…

So back to the question in the headline…If you are single, have you ever thought of having your pastor set you up? When I was single, the thought never crossed my mind…but a new show on WE tv is hoping a pastor can do just that?

Millionaire Shawn Bullard Searches for True Love; And This Time The Pastor Is In Charge…NFL Spiritual Advisor for the Indianapolis Colts, Pastor Ken Johnson, Hosts and Guides Bachelor Bullard In His Quest!

Meet Shawn Bullard, an African American real estate magnate and former college athlete looking for true love. And who better to help him find The One than the man upstairs – or someone with a close connection? Enter Pastor Ken Johnson (spiritual advisor to the Indianapolis Colts) who guides Shawn and observes the authenticity and godliness of 24 women living under one roof hoping to find a love connection with Shawn. Not only does the pastor weigh in on Shawn’s choices, but when his very outspoken mother moves in, she too has a say on who could potentially be her daughter-in-law.

While some ladies are sane and sweet, others are downright devilish leading to plenty of drama and bad behavior. After a series of dates, romantic rendezvous, harsh eliminations, and solicited (and unsolicited) advice from the Pastor and his mother, find out if Shawn finally meets his match. “Match Made in Heaven” premieres on WE tv, Wednesday, February 4 at 8pm ET/PT.

Below are a few pics from the Atlanta screening of the new show…

Shawn Bullard

Being interviewed about the show…

Shawn and his mother Maggie Bullard

Will you watch?

Any thoughts?

Posted on Wednesday, January 21, 2015

The Christian Faith of David Oyelowo…

Hello World,

As is my custom on the Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday, I always watch the Martin Luther King, Jr. Annual Commemorative Service held at Ebenezer Baptist Church on television. You can count on hearing inspiring speeches that espouse the beliefs of Dr. King, seeing people of different races crowd the sanctuary, politicians promising to work together…You get the idea…All of it is good, but it is a rather lengthy service…And just like in any long church service, no matter how good it is, you realize that after some time that you are no longer listening, you are rather waiting for it all to come to an end…

This year, however, there was one speech, a jewel of a testimony, that shone because of its rarity…David Oyelowo, the actor that portrayed Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in the biographical film “Selma,” openly spoke about how his faith in God led him to the role of Dr. King…This is how he began his speech…

“I stand before you today as evidence that what God starts, He will finish. On the 24th of July, 2007, having read a script for ‘Selma,’ God told me I would play Dr. Martin Luther King in the film ‘Selma.’ It came during a time of prayer and fasting, and I know the voice of God.”

Oyelowo said he later auditioned for the role, but the director of the film at that time (not Ava DuVernay) did not agree with God so he did not get the role. However, in the mean time (How many of you know that when God promises something to you, it doesn’t mean it will happen immediately even though you know that you know His promise is being fulfilled? Or that there won’t be some roadblocks along the way?), he went on to play a part in the movie “Lincoln.” In 1865, his character said these words to Lincoln regarding the Gettysburg Address. “You cannot say these words. You have actually have to act upon them. Maybe one day we”ll get the vote.” He goes on to tell what happened when he did get the part.

“Seven years after God told me I would play this role in another film called ‘Selma, 100 years later. In ‘Lincoln,’ I played a character in 1865. In ‘Selma,’ I played Dr. King in 1965. Nineteen presidents later, my character as Dr. King asks the very same question. What God starts, He will finish.”

Insert praise dance…

He could have shut down his speech right then…But he had more evidence that God led him straight to the role of Dr. King…As tears shone on his face, he revealed that he prayed to God to “allow the spirit of Dr. King to flow through me.” And God answered his prayer…Just before one scene in the movie, as he portrayed Dr. King giving a speech in front of the capitol steps in Montgomery, Alabama, Oyelowo said he felt a “palatable, indisputable fear of death” and that he “felt a huge need to ask for the buildings around to be swept.” He concluded: “I’m an actor. I’m not Dr. King, but it was very real for me. At the end of that day, I was shocked I was still alive.” And he said it was no accident that Dr. King had the name “King.” “He was a king. He was a priest. He was ordained by God. He was a child of God.”

Oyelowo also introduced the sanctuary to his father who had flown in from the United Kingdom and talked about the tribal marks his father, who is from Nigeria, has on his cheeks and his stomach. The tribal mark on his stomach means “King.” Oyelowo said he thought the tribal marks his father and other Nigerians bear are a custom that predates slavery; however, in a conversation, his father told him he was mistaken. The tribal marks originated during slavery times.

“When we were taken away from Africa, we marked ourselves so that when we made it back, our people knew who we were and where we are from. I’m in the first in my line of over 400 years to not bear those scars.”

Insert shout…

Oyelowo concluded his message with some words about Hollywood (I’m guessing he was referencing the fact that “Selma” was snubbed during the Oscar nominations…).

“In my industry, in Hollywood, we are celebrated more for being broken and subservient than playing kings, than being leaders, than being in the center of our own narrative. I stand before you today as a man that has played a king.”

To see the speech in the entirety, please check these two videos….Thank God for E Powell who recorded the speech…

Any thoughts?

Posted on Sunday, November 23, 2014

What Would Jesus Do About Bill Cosby?

Hello World,

If anyone has ever doubted the power of Google, just say three words. “Bill Cosby Rape.” In just over a month, just these three words have been able to tear down a career that took decades for the noted actor, comedian, philanthropist, author and more to build. Since fellow comedian Hannibal Buress first delivered these words as a part of a show in Cosby’s hometown Philadelphia on October 16, video of the show went viral, heightening interest in what Buress claimed…

I admit that I first came across an article in which the author alleged that Cosby had coerced several women to have sexual contact with him about three weeks ago. I quickly scanned the article but dismissed it an Internet hoax and or outright hogwash because Bill Cosby is Dr. Heathcliff “Cliff” Huxtable to me. And everyone in my generation knows that Dr. Huxtable is a noted obstetrician, husband to wife, attorney Clair Huxtable née Hanks and father to their five children. Although Cliff and Clair were busy working parents, they took time to have fun together as a family. Remember when the family memorized a dance routine to Ray Charles’ “Night Time is the Right Time” to entertain Cliff’s parents as they celebrated their 49th wedding anniversary? And has having five children would suggest, Cliff and Claire took time for romance too, emanating unadulterated adoration as they gazed at each other listening to jazz greats like Betty Carter when she sang “Look What I Got.”

Dr. Huxtable is a proud graduate of the highly esteemed HBCU Hillman College and sent his daughter Denise, the original boho-chic fashionista, there. When she left the Huxtable nest, her college days were chronicled in “A Different World.” While at Hillman, Denise was schooled in the honor and high jinks characteristic of attending HBCUs although she didn’t graduate from the school. However, her friends Dwayne Wayne and Whitley Gilbert were able to carry on without her. In fact, they later married and moved to Japan when Dwayne got a job offer from Konichiwa.

Yes, these fictional characters became a part of my family. But now as these 16 women have recounted stories of starstruck naïveté, pills and forcible sexual encounters, I have been forced to extricate Bill Cosby from Healthcliff Huxtable. They are not one in the same. And I suppose that is one of the fallacies of fame – confusing an image with a person. Since the allegations have spread throughout the Internet, spawning by the day, FB friends have declared that they will no longer watch reruns of “The Cosby Show” and “A Different World,” networks have dropped the shows from their programming and while other people and entities have taken a more centric approach. I am a part of the latter group.

The journalist in me knows that 16 accounts of anything should be considered, particularly since the accounts seem to be similar. Many of the women themselves seem to similar (at least at the time they allege these encounters occurred) as they all paint a picture of Cosby as a powerful Hollywood player while they were young wannabe starlets eager to ascend with his influence. The home training advocate in me wonders just what did they think would be the end result of carousing alone with this married comedian. The realist in me wonders if the truth is also somewhere in the middle. Maybe Bill Cosby used his fame to attract the attention of these then young women under the guise of innocent fun. And maybe what happened between them was consensual until it wasn’t…

The fact of the matter is no matter what is proven in court or has not been proven in court or what Bill Cosby and his accusers have said or haven’t said, only Jesus is the ultimate and final arbiter of truth…

There are many Bible verses that I can list to support my point, but this verse comes to mind today…

The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person. For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil. Ecclesiastes 12:13-14.

Any thoughts?