Posted on Sunday, March 27, 2016

The Tankards’ ‘Thicker Than Water’ Season 3 Returns on Bravo TONIGHT: My Interview With Ben & Jewel Tankard…

Hello World,

After you’ve celebrated the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ with your family this Easter Sunday today, settle in tonight at 10 p.m. with some reality TV! Bravo Media’s larger-than-life Tankard family returns bolder than ever when Season 3 of “Thicker Than Water” premieres. Leading the charge are Ben and Jewel Tankard with their self-proclaimed “Black Brady Bunch” which includes Brooklyn, Britney, Benji, Cyrene, Marcus, with his wife, Tish, and their newborn son Micah.

This season, preacher and patriarch, Ben faces the stark reality that the Tankard household has become an empty nest and also realizes there are deep emotional wounds that need to be healed within the family, mainly between him and his eldest daughter Brooklyn. Embracing a new chapter in her life, Jewel prepares to welcome her grandchild and launch her very own nationally syndicated television talk show while trying to reconnect with Cyrene, who went to her freshman year of college meek and mild, but reemerged as a certified wild child. Meanwhile, Britney, healthier than ever, is unable to shake the notion that a baby is what’s missing most in her life and embarks on a journey to make her dreams of motherhood come true while Benji and Shanira eagerly await the arrival of their first child. Marcus plans to expand his ministry into Nashville but can’t hide his frustration with his family’s adamant criticism of his wife’s parenting skills.

From an eye-opening girls trip to Jewel’s hometown of Detroit to a traumatizing secret haunting Cyrene, it’s a season of breakthrough and transformation that forces the family to embrace each other and move forward to a place of joy and love. See my interview with Ben & Jewel Tankard about Season 3 of “Thicker Than Water” below:

1. How do you like being empty nesters?

Ben: I love my kids, and now that they’re pretty much all out it’s a challenge trying to keep everybody engaged and connected with each other so we won’t be like ships passing in the night so we know a little bit more about each other than what we see about each other on social media.

Are there any things that you’re looking forward to doing now that you are empty nesters that maybe you couldn’t quite pursue when you had the hustle and bustle of everyone around you?

Ben: Me and mama we gettin’ a whole lot more sexy on. (Laughter) C’mon tell ‘em about it Jewel.

Jewel: (Laughter) Yes, it’s definitely a whole lot more freedom there. It’s a whole other level of playfulness and creativity that I’m really enjoying in our marriage. And for Ben and I both, we are able to spread our wings and really do things we weren’t able to do before. I had my own talk show (The Jewel Tankard Show) on Impact last year. It was the first season, and I got signed for a second season. It was a lot of fun. I got the chance to interview some people that we really love and admire like David and Tamela Mann, Phaedra Parks, Tameka Raymond and the list goes on. We also covered some real heartfelt issues like overcoming molestation. We had some really great topics and great people. I wouldn’t have been able to do all of that before because we didn’t want to be gone from the home so much.

Is there a talk show host example that you want to emulate?

Jewel: I’m sure a lot of people feel this way, but I would have to say I definitely love Oprah. I think Oprah has done a phenomenal job at starting as talk show host but then continuing to evolve. She started the Oprah show, then behind the scenes with Oprah, then Lifeclass and now she owns a network. And she continues to improve herself personally, emotionally and then do the same thing for her viewership, and it’s been a whole journey. She is so much more than a talk show host. And I can really relate to that. I have a passion for women being financially educated. I have a Millionairess Club, and what we have done is insert some of my core values where finances are concerned in the talk show. And that has been very powerful because it fits my brand and what I believe perfectly.

2. Also, during this season, Benji is getting ready to be a father for the first time. Do you feel that Benji is ready to be a father?

Jewel: Ben has grown tremendously. I definitely had a lot of concerns, but I think you guys are really going to have the opportunity to see his process. He is very vulnerable and transparent, and I think it will be relatable for a lot of men.

3. And what are y’all concerned about as it relates to Tish’s s parenting skills?

Ben: (Laughter) This is her first time around, and I’m just having a ball just watching how engaged she is. I’ve said to her, ‘You’re going to break the boy in half. Let him have some breathing room!’ It became a competition between her and Shanira because Shanira is a couch quarterback. She hasn’t had the baby yet, but she’s making all of these assessments and saying how much better she is going to be than Tish. And we try to referee this debate between these two first-time moms. It is hilarious. I cannot wait until you guys see it!

4. Now, tell me about this girls trip to Detroit and what was so eye-opening about it.

Jewel: I think the fact that I opened up to my girls about my past in areas that I had not. And I think I was concerned for many years, probably like a lot of parents are, ‘I don’t walk to talk about that,’ or ‘That’s not good.’ But you know what? It was my truth. And I think I had to do it in order for us to go to the next level in our relationship. And I think it gave them a lot of insight into me like, ‘So that’s what was going on with you back in the day,’ and ‘that’s why you are so passionate about certain things.’ We had conversations that I had never had with them before.

I guess you can’t give a preview of what you hadn’t told them before?

Jewel: (Laughter) You have to watch.

Ben: It’s so funny watching the kids challenge Jewel on her behavior when that’s the same thing she’s challenging them on right now. So they’re like,‘Mom, how can you tell us not to smoke weed when you used to smoke weed? Or what about this, you did it?’ It is so hilarious to watch Jewel squirm this season.

5. Ben, I understand that you recently lost 40 pounds. How did you lose this weight?

Ben: I had to make a decision to let the doughnuts go. (Laughter) The devil is a liar! I had to stop the bread and the sweets, the late night eating out. I’ve always been an athlete and into working out. I would get up and go to the gym and play ball with my buddies, but then I’d leave there and go eat hamburgers and hot dogs and a lot of bread so I had to let the bread go and the sweets. I’d like to be as healthy as long as possible so I can enjoy these grandchildren.

6. Do you talk about your weight loss in your new book The Full Tank Life: Fuel Your Dreams, Ignite Your Destiny?

Ben: Absolutely. The Full Tank Life is all about being the best that you can be in every area. There is a section on inspiration, spiritual maturity. It’s an all-around self-help book including health.

7. During Season 1, you were criticized for being all about bling bling or being a prosperity gospel teacher. Do people still respond to you and the show that way now that you are in Season 3?

Ben: Oftentimes, if people don’t know you, they will make an assessment about you. And there were some parts of my testimony that got exposed in Season 1 when I said, ‘I’ve been poor. Now I’m rich. Rich is better.’ What people did not hear is that I used to be poor, but God has blessed me through my career to become successful and now I can be a blessing to other people therefore rich is better for me. What they heard was rich people are better than poor people. And so it went viral. But after people kept watching us and seeing that I don’t make my money from my ministry, I make my money from my music and my career and my talent, they fell in love with us. I have to say from the first season although we had a lot of negativity, it still worked out for our best because people were so mad they wanted to tune in to see who the heck are these Tankards. And then they fell in love with the family.

Below is a video snippet of Season 3:

Season 3 of “Thicker Than Water” premieres TONIGHT, March 27th at 10pm ET/PT on Bravo.

Any thoughts?

Posted on Sunday, March 6, 2016

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

Hello World,

Well, Black History Month 2016 is a wrap, but I’m still doing my monthly post in which I list interesting blog posts and or articles for black Christian women from last month that intrigued me as a black Christian woman ( 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. “Dancing 106-year-old Describes the Day She Charmed the Obamas: ‘I Can Die Smiling Now’” by Colby Itkowitz

Excerpt: Deeply faithful, McLaurin attends a weekly Bible study, and she said it’s helped her stay upbeat and healthy. That, she said, and a diet of fried beans and peas. Other than a back surgery about 50 years ago, she hasn’t had any major health issues. See more at: washingtonpost.com.

2. “DeVon Franklin to Suggestion in Church That Wife Meagan Good Should Cover Up: ‘She’s Going to Wear What She Wants to Wear in the Name of Jesus’” by Yesha Callahan

Excerpt: “This is not offensive, but I was at the grocery store and I looked at a newsstand and I saw you, and you had your breast showing,” one woman in the audience said. “So, so, I wasn’t gonna come here, I wasn’t, but the Lord brought me here to see you. You’re beautiful. You are a beautiful young woman, and your testimony is awesome. It’s awesome. Amen. Amen! And the Lord let me come and push past the judgment … because you have to make sure what you say and what you do match up, you understand? So we gonna cover up, right?” See more at: theroot.com.

3. “Too Sexy for Church Appeal: When Does Cleavage Become Sinful?” by Charlene Aaron

Excerpt: Ayesha Curry, wife of NBA player Stephen Curry, received a ton of backlash from people who said she was shaming women who dress less modestly. Actress Meagan Good, who is also a Christian, has often been criticized for wearing clothing viewed as too sexy. See more at: cbn.com.

4. “They Lost Trayvon, Eric, Sandra, Jordan, Dontre. Now These Mothers are With Hillary” by Juana Summers

Excerpt: As rain pelted the rooftop of Mount Zion Missionary Baptist church on Monday afternoon, five mothers — united both in their grief and their purpose — came to share their stories. The women, from five different cities, had each lost a child to a high-profile case of violence. And each had thrown her support behind Hillary Clinton in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination. See more at: mashable.com.

5. “The Legacy of Women in the Black Church” by Pastor Tiffany Thomas

Excerpt: Black women have a long and intricate history with the church. Women, making up 70 to 90 percent of black congregations, have always found the institution of the church a place of refuge, of solace and hope. As far back as African American history begins, during a time when their bodies were bound by the violence of slavery, black women gathered to worship communally a God who gave freedom and liberation in the salvific power of Christ. See more at: christianitytoday.com.

6. “Black Women and the Imago Dei” by Austin Channing Brown

Excerpt: In the late ’80s and early ’90s when I grew up attending a predominantly white private school, words like diversity and multiculturalism had not yet been popularized. So schools were still developing curriculum and experiences largely devoid of cultural depth. In my experience, all of my teachers were white, as were the principal, librarian, and other staff members. We regularly used illustrated Bibles, storybooks, and movies in which all the characters were also white. When teachers posted pictures of Jesus in the room, Jesus was always depicted as white. See more at: todayschristianwoman.com.

7. “Meet the Incredible Woman Chosen to Lead Mother Emanuel Church After Last Year’s Shooting” by Collier Meyerson

Excerpt: Clark is unabashed about being a woman at the pulpit. During a part of service where visitors to the church introduce themselves, one particular gentleman calls out, “I’m going to ask, like I do every year.” She begins to fan herself. “Will you be my valentine?” The church erupts into laughter and cheers. “The answer is yes,” she says to her husband. More laughter and clapping. See more at: fusion.net.

8. “Charleston Shooting Survivor Jennifer Pinckney: ‘I Want to Carry on (Clementa’s) Work’” by Jesse James DeConto

Excerpt: The first lady of Charleston’s Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church offered two enduring images: her late husband’s smiling face lying in a casket, and the bullet holes that riddled the church walls when she went to clean out his office a week later. See more at: religionnews.com.

9. “Professor Who Donned Hijab in Solidarity Announces Exit from Christian College” by Women in the World Staff

Excerpt: A college professor at a Christian college in Illinois has agreed to leave her position at the university after she posted a photo of herself wearing a hijab in solidarity with Muslims on social media. Larycia Hawkins drew ire from the administration at Wheaton College over the photo and her remarks on Facebook, where she wrote that Christians and Muslims “worship the same God.” See more at: nytlive.nytimes.com.

10. “First Female African-American General in the Army National Guard Visits Windsor Church” by Jenna DeAngelis

Excerpt: “I’ve had many people, both black and white, tell me that, ‘C’mon you can’t do that. You’re never going any further than this.’ and to me that was always a challenge,” Cleckley said. Every challenge became an opportunity and every opportunity became another page in her book, A Promise Fulfilled. See more at: fox61.com.

Any thoughts?

Posted on Thursday, March 3, 2016

WE TV’S Original Reality Series Mary Mary Returns For the Fifth Season TONIGHT! (See Exclusive Pics!)

Will You Be Watching?

Hello World,

Last season left audiences in limbo with Erica and Tina Campbell focusing on their individual careers…forcing Mary Mary into an indefinite hiatus. The sisters, now in direct competition with each other, are also feeling pressure to keep Mary Mary in the game…even if that means replacing a Mary! Tune in to season 5 of WE tv’s MARY MARY reality show, premiering Thursday, March 3 at 9PM ET/PT.

This season, Erica Campbell is at the top of her game having won a Grammy, Dove and Soul Train Award; meanwhile Tina’s solo career is on the rise. These, now, solo sisters have become accustomed to being at the top as part of the dynamic duo that is Mary Mary; however for the first time ever, they are competing for the same spot on the charts.

In the premiere episode, Warryn Campbell begins to feel pressure from Sony Records to deliver the next, long awaited, Mary Mary album. He immediately enlists Erica to help convince Tina that this is the right time to resurrect Mary Mary. Erica believes she has the perfect plan to get Tina on board; however, it may not be foolproof as Tina is solely focused on her solo effort and is finally seeing her hard work pay off. With success come countless responsibilities, leaving Tina feeling a bit overwhelmed. Her husband Teddy’s task of keeping her from breaking under the pressure proves to be more challenging than expected.

Former Mary Mary manager, Mitchell Solarek, has finally moved on from his tumultuous relationship with the Mary’s (If you missed my interview with Tina Campbell earlier this year, check out “Mitchell Solarek is NOT Tina Campbell’s Manager & More: My Interview With Mary Mary’s Tina Campbell”; and just when he thinks he made a clean break, his new client will only work with one producer…Warryn Campbell. With Warryn on the hook for a Mary Mary album will do everything he can to stay in Sony’s good graces; even if the result is making a deal with the devil and possibly recasting Mary Mary.

Can Mary Mary survive the pressures of Erica and Tina’s individual ventures and personal lives, or will their success be the demise of Mary Mary? Tune in to season 5 of WE tv’s MARY MARY, premiering TONIGHT at 9PM ET/PT.

WATCH A SNEAK PEEK OF SEASON 5!