Hello World,

And Hello June…I’m back with my monthly roundup of blog posts and or magazine articles for black Christian women! Below is my Top 10 monthly roundup of blog posts and or magazine/newspaper articles for black Christian women for May, 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. “What does it mean to trust Black women?” by Sharon Blount

Excerpt: A recent scientific study found that Black newborn babies in the United States are three times more likely to die when looked after by White doctors. In her essay, “Dying to be Competent,” African American sociologist, writer and professor, Tressie McMillan Cottom shares how her daughter became one of those statistics. Four months into her pregnancy, Cottom began bleeding. She reported the symptoms to her doctor and went immediately to his office but sat in the waiting room for half an hour before being seen. After the doctor examined her, he sent her home explaining that the bleeding was normal and that Cottom “was probably just too fat.” See more at: pres-outlook.org. 

2. “Tabitha Brown Is Launching a Clothing Line for Target” by Elizabeth Logan

Excerpt: Tabitha Brown, social media star and vegan influencer, has teamed up with Target to create Tabitha Brown for Target, a line of clothes and products her fans are sure to love. Tabitha Brown for Target is a limited-time-only line of, per a press release, “apparel, swim and accessories items, home and office, food and kitchenware, entertaining and more.” The line will be composed of more than 75 items, with most available for under $30. See more at: glamour.com.

3. “Macy’s Wins Over Underserved Market: Black Sororities” by Jordyn Holman

Excerpt: Inside a Macy’s a few months ago, Cenetta Baker-Woods discovered something that made her immediately call her sorority sisters. Holding up her phone’s video camera in the Charlotte, North Carolina, store, the 32-year-old showed fellow members of Zeta Phi Beta, a historically Black organization, racks of $90 dresses in unmistakable color combos that she knew were designed specifically for them. Baker-Woods was right, having stumbled across a new strategy by Macy’s to win over Black sororities in a partnership with clothing maker Kasper Group. Members of these organizations maintain strong ties well after college through conventions and chapter events and have a consistent need for dressier attire in their group’s colors. But finding a frock in a pattern like royal blue and white (Zeta Phi Beta’s colors) can be difficult. See more at: bloomberg.com. 

4. “Dianna Hobbs’s touching online tribute to Buffalo supermarket massacre victim, Pearl Young” by Rebecca Johnson

Pearl Young was a long-time member of the Good Samaritan Church in Buffalo, N.Y.

Excerpt: Hobbs, who said she “used to attend the same church with Mother Young,” wrote that she was “such a positive, warm, loving spirit. You had to experience her smile to understand how it would light up a room.” Hobbs continued, “I will forever remember that beautiful smile, how much she loved to praise the Lord, and how encouraging she was to me and my husband. She loved hearing me sing at church and admonished me, always, to go forth in the work of the Lord. She helped instruct me in the word of God to prepare me to obtain my Evangelist Missionary license. It is people like her who, along my life’s journey, helped mold and shape me into the woman I am today. See more at: eewmagazineonline.com.

5. “In ‘Truth’s Table’ book, women podcasters cast vision for future of Black church” by Adelle M. Banks

Excerpt: The three Black women — a public theologian, a senior pastor, an educator and psychologist — first got to know each other through a group chat. After having wide-ranging discussion on religion, race and gender, they met at a conference, where they were encouraged to start a joint podcast. Now, their book, Truth’s Table: Black Women’s Musings on Life, Love, and Liberation, was released April 26. Ekemini Uwan, Michelle Higgins and Christina Edmondson have said their work — in audio and in print — is designed expressly for Black women but they welcome others into their audience, to what they call their “standing-room section.” See more at: ncronline.org.

6. “Short story writer Deesha Philyaw: ‘I wanted to challenge the church’s obsession with sex’” by Lucy Knight

Excerpt: When asked to choose their favourite story in The Secret Lives of Church Ladies, Deesha Philyaw’s acclaimed debut collection, most people, the author tells me, say Peach Cobbler. This simultaneously funny and punch-in-the-guts-devastating tale focuses on Olivia, a young girl in the American south who believes the local pastor to be God, because when he visits she overhears her mother screaming “Oh, God!” from the bedroom. See more at: theguardian.com. 

7. “AFRO Exclusive: Bishop Vashti Murphy McKenzie named Interim President and General Secretary of the National Council of Churches of Christ” 

Excerpt: Bishop McKenzie has been appointed to a two-year term as Interim President and General Secretary. In this role, she will provide executive leadership to a diverse covenant community of 37-member communions with 30 million Christians and 100,000 congregations from Protestant, Anglican, historic African American, Orthodox, Evangelical and Living Peace traditions which have a common commitment to advocate and represent God’s love and unity in the public square. Since 1950, the National Council of Churches has worked in a common expression of God’s love and promise of unity. She is the third woman and the first African American woman to serve as General Secretary and the first woman to serve in the combined role of President and General Secretary. See more at: afro.com.

8. “Karine Jean-Pierre starts job as first Black White House press secretary” by Associated Press

Excerpt: “Representation matters, and not just for girls, but also for boys,” Jean-Pierre told reporters during the first of what probably will be hundreds of daily news briefings she will hold. “And so what I hope is that young people get to dream big and dream bigger than they have before by seeing me stand here and answer all of your questions.” See more at: washingtonpost.com.

9. “19-Year-Old Texas Student Becomes Nation’s Youngest Black Law School Graduate: ‘It Feels Really Good'” by Maria Pasquini

Excerpt: Haley Taylor Schlitz is making history! Over the weekend, the 19-year-old student graduated from Southern Methodist University’s Dedman School of Law. In the process, not only did she become the school’s youngest law school graduate, but she also became the youngest Black law school graduate in the country, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. See more at: people.com.

10. “Here’s the Real Takeaway From Black Lives Matter’s Sketchy Finances” by Ernest Owens

Excerpt: One of the more concerning situations revealed by the financial disclosures is the fact that co-founder Patrisse Cullors was the foundation board’s sole voting director, and held no board meetings, before stepping down last year. Under her leadership, Cullors authorized a six-figure payout to be given to her child’s father for various services, paid $1.8 million to companies owned by her relatives, and ensured that her brother, Paul Cullors, was one of the highest-paid employees of BLM. See more at: thedailybeast.com.

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 blog, magazines and websites. As I noted before, while this is a roundup of interesting blog posts and or magazine and newspaper articles for black Christian women, you don’t have to be one to appreciate these pieces  .

The post The Top 10 Blog Posts and or Magazine Articles for Black Christian Women in May 2022… appeared first on After the Altar Call.

Hello World,

I’m back with my monthly roundup of blog posts and or magazine articles for black Christian women! Below is my Top 10 monthly roundup of blog posts and or magazine/newspaper articles for black Christian women for July, 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. “Retiring Bishop Vashti McKenzie, first AME Church woman prelate, reflects on a groundbreaking career” by Adelle M. Banks

Excerpt: Just-retired Bishop Vashti Murphy McKenzie is an apologist for an adaptive style of leadership. It’s what has helped her succeed as the first woman to hold many roles in the African Methodist Episcopal Church. And it’s a style of leadership she said was needed during the pandemic “Adaptive leadership means that you are faced with situations but do not have a solution or answer that comes from past experiences, so you have to adapt,” she said in an interview on Thursday (July 15), a week after her retirement began at the close of her denomination’s General Conference in Orlando, Florida. See more at: religionnews.com

Sadly, just weeks later, Bishop  Murphy McKenzie’s husband Stan McKenzie passed away…

“Former NBA player Stan McKenzie, husband of first woman AME Church bishop, dead at 76” by Adelle M. Banks

Excerpt: Stan McKenzie, the first male episcopal supervisor of missionary work in the African Methodist Episcopal Church and the husband of Bishop Vashti Murphy McKenzie, has died. The Christian Recorder, the official publication of the denomination, announced his death, which occurred on Wednesday (July 21). Stan McKenzie, 76, died in Dallas after a brief illness, John Thomas III, the publication’s editor, told Religion News Service.  See more at: religionnews.com

2. “Marla Gibbs to receive star on Hollywood Walk of Fame” by Jared Alexander

Excerpt: Congratulations are in order for Hollywood icon Marla Gibbs. The actress is set to receive a star on The Hollywood Walk of Fame this July. Whether you know her for her iconic turn as Florence Jefferson on the CBS sitcom, The Jeffersons, or as Mary Jenkins on the hit series 227, Gibbs, 90, is a national treasure, and she is about to get the flowers she so richly deserves. Gibbs will receive the honor on July 20 at 11:30 a.m. The living legend took to her official Instagram account to celebrate the honor with her many fans and followers. She shared a meme that reads, “why don’t we celebrate Marla Gibbs the way we do Betty White?” with pics of Gibbs at various stages of her accomplished career. See more at: thegrio.com

3. “The first African American contestant to win National Spelling Bee is now aiming for Harvard, the NBA and NASA” by David Williams and Kevin Dotson

Excerpt: Zaila Avant-garde wasn’t focused on her place in history on Thursday when she became the first African American to win the Scripps National Spelling Bee in 93 editions of the competition. Instead, she was thinking about Bill Murray. The 14-year-old from New Orleans, Louisiana, won the 2021 crown after correctly spelling murraya — a type of tree — that she associated with the famous comedian. When she realized she won, Zaila gave a little spin and jumped in the air as confetti rained from the sky. See more at: cnn.com

4. “Nearly 70 years after she was married, Birmingham woman wears a wedding dress: ‘It was too special’” by Carol Robinson

Excerpt: Martha Mae Ophelia Moon Tucker was watching her favorite movie – ‘Coming to America’ – with one of her granddaughters last week when she whispered a life-long dream of hers that she had never before said aloud. “I’ve always wanted to try on a wedding dress,’’ the 94-year-old Tucker said under her breath, which was heard by granddaughter Angela Strozier. Strozier asked her grandmother to repeat what she had just said, and Tucker said it again. See more at: al.com

5. “‘I’ve Got 10,000 Books in My House’: Dallas Woman Shares the Joy of Reading” by Laura Harris

Excerpt: Many people would call Emma Rodgers a living legend in and around the Dallas community. She was the co-owner of Dallas’ Black Images Book Bazaar for 29 years. It was a place where the community could go to learn about Black literature and hear authors speak. The store opened in 1977 and closed in 2007, but Rodgers’ love of books and childhood literacy has not stopped. “Let me tell you how I got into books,” Rodgers said. “I had an aunt who would buy me books for Christmas every year, and it was a sniff and lift the page activities. It was just so cool. I have just always loved books.” Her love of books carried into the rest of her life. She estimates she has about 10,000 books in her Dallas home right now. See more at:  nbcdfw.com

6. “Ban on ‘Soul Cap’ Spotlights Lack of Diversity in Swimming” by Jenna Fryer

Excerpt: Alice Dearing has an afro, a voluminous puff nearly impossible to protect in most swimming caps. Her hair shrinks if it gets wet. And the chlorine? The chemicals in a pool can cause severe damage that requires substantial time and money to treat. The first Black female swimmer on Britain’s Olympic team uses the the Soul Cap, an extra-large silicone covering designed specifically to protect dreadlocks, weaves, hair extensions, braids, and thick and curly hair. But Dearing has been forbidden from using the cap in her Olympic debut next week in the women’s 10k marathon swim . See more at: time.com

8. “Naomi Osaka: ‘It’s O.K. Not to Be O.K.'” by Naomi Osaka 

Excerpt: Believe it or not, I am naturally introverted and do not court the spotlight. I always try to push myself to speak up for what I believe to be right, but that often comes at a cost of great anxiety. I feel uncomfortable being the spokesperson or face of athlete mental health as it’s still so new to me and I don’t have all the answers. I do hope that people can relate and understand it’s O.K. to not be O.K., and it’s O.K. to talk about it. There are people who can help, and there is usually light at the end of any tunnel. See more at: time.com

9. “Meet the sole Black female owner of the Milwaukee Bucks” by Rebecca Klopf

Excerpt: MILWAUKEE — The Bucks have made the playoff seven of the last 10 seasons. A majority of those appearances have come under new ownership that took over in 2014. You may know the names Wes Edens, Marc Lasry, Jamie Dinan, and Michael Fascitelli, the majority owners of the Bucks. But you should also know this woman: Valerie Daniels-Carter, one of the team’s minority owners. “There are couples that own the Bucks. I’m the only African American female that’s single that I know of that owns the Bucks,” said Daniels-Carter. See more at: tmj4.com

10. “Angela Bassett Dishes On The Black Panther: Wakanda Forever Script ‘I Don’t Know What It’s Going To Look Like At All’” by Shannon Dawson

Excerpt: “I don’t know what it’s going to look like at all,” Bassett explained of the film’s new script. “There have been about five incarnations of the script and I hear another one’s coming.”  Bassett continued; “Of course, with our dear king [Chadwick Boseman] going on to glory, a lot of things had to be shifted and changed. So thankfully, [director] Ryan [Coogler] and [writer] Joe Robert Cole, they’re just such masterful storytellers that they’ve found a way into this world, and hopefully it will be satisfying, I think, for the fans and it will be honorable of our Chad. We love our king,” she added.  See more at: madamenoire.com

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 blog, magazines and websites. As I noted before, while this is a roundup of interesting blog posts and or magazine and newspaper articles for black Christian women, you don’t have to be one to appreciate these pieces  .

The post The Top 10 Blog Posts and or Magazine Articles for Black Christian Women in July 2021… appeared first on After the Altar Call.

My Delta line sisters with copies of my book at the release party…

A year ago today, a long cherished dream came true…My first book, while officially released on Feb. 14, 2012, was presented to friends, family members and supporters on Feb. 10, 2012 at my book release party…It was the visual culmination of a lot of behind-the-scenes hard work…I worked hard to get a book deal…It took me 7 years…I worked hard to secure interviews with one of my favorite Christian celebrities Sherri Shepherd and Bishop Vashti Murphy McKenzie, the first female bishop of the A.M.E. church and the granddaughter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Incorporated founder Vashti Turley Murphy. I worked hard to get women from all walks of life to share intimate details of their lives and about their personal relationships with God so that other women would be encouraged. I labored in prayer to God because I wanted the book to blessed by the Holy Spirit. I planned out my marketing and promotion time line six months in advance of the book release to make sure I could get as much publicity as possible. If you want to know more, read this “I’m Bout It Bout It aka Marketing & Promotion Month 7 (And It.Don’t.Stop.).” I.WAS.DRIVEN. And I could go on and on…And I have had some good results regarding best seller lists, various accolades, etc.

But a year later, while the best seller lists, various accolades have meant a lot to me, what matters most is this…And I haven’t shared this story before…On the night of my book release party, I was a little perturbed that the venue where my party was held wasn’t entirely shut down for my party…I guess that’s neither here nor there a year later…But anywho, needless to say, there ended up being a few guests at my party that were not expressly invited…LOL…Remember that happened in the family reunion cookout scene in the movie “Poetic Justice?” Anyway, as I was trying to make sure that all of the various elements of the book release party were coming together from the door prizes, to the food, to the entertainment, etc., a woman came up to me and asked me if could she speak with me. I realized that I hadn’t invited her so I wandered what she had to say so I replied, “Yes.” Apparently, she had gotten a copy of my book and wanted to speak with me about it. She told me that she had just prayed that morning about knowing more about God because of some things she was going through, and she felt that my book was the answer to her prayer…I.WAS.DONE.

I’m ashamed to say I hadn’t thought about that woman in a while, but it came back to me this week as I was reflecting on my first year as a published author…I’m human…I love praise and accolades and there is no doubt that I want to sell lots of books and all of that…but I’m also a Christian…If this book has only helped one person develop a personal relationship with God, then it was worth all of my hard work…Of course, I want to reach more than just one person…but each and every one of us are precious to God…Read the Parable of the Lost Sheep and the Parable of the Lost Coin if you don’t believe me…

So I have a request today, if my book has helped you to develop a personal relationship with God, e-mail me at jacqueline@afterthealtarcall.com and let me know…

Any thoughts?

The post Reflections: After the Altar Call a year later… appeared first on After the Altar Call.