Another day; another tragedy

Make no mistake. I fully support the right to assemble peacefully and protest. I support the right to speak on issues that need to be heard, even if they make others uncomfortable. I support the right to create movements to enact change. I support the right of all to live peacefully without fear of being shot or killed for protesting or protecting protesters. I support officers that stand tall and take seriously the oath that they took and exercise it without fear or prejudice.

In no way do I support taking a life. Whether it is a criminal on the street, a drunk behind the wheel of a vehicle, an officer overstepping their bounds, an abusive husband of wife that snaps, or the government executing the death sentence. Understand and empathize, perhaps. Support, no. There are often many other options available to us, that we do not employ.

The tragedy last night is in lost lives needlessly over some fool or fools trying to make a big statement with a small mind. It was wrong, reckless and stupid. Period. The tragedy is in the families that are traumatized by this senseless act. The tragedy is in those that will take this act as a reason to attempt to de-legitimize the protest movement seeking real change. No one seeking real change would of authorized, sanctioned, approved, or give aid and comfort to those that perpetrated this evil. Yet we know that it will be used by the media, by political hacks, by trolls and troglodytes trumpeting their moral superiority in all things in that matter to attempt to silence the voices of protest. As a reason to silence our witness to wrongs. As if our protests were the sole cause of this action.

Don't lose sight of the fact that the protests that you see today are the outgrowth of years of coverups, push asides, legal wranglings, and political grandstanding that has taken our attempts to go thru the system and run roughshod over it. It not because we did not get the result that we wanted. It is the way were victimized a second time going thru their process.

We don't blame every officer in the world when an incident occurs. We blame that one officer and seek information, clarification and justice in that case. That case. We want truth and honesty in the investigative process, not a cover up and the attitude that only good ****** is a dead ****** from those that are sworn to protect and serve. That mentality from slavery, and the Jim Crow era is still here with us, just called a different thing now.

We want order like you want it. We want you to arrest true law breakers and threats to public safety. But not at the expense of protecting those if they are guilty of wrong doing in killing a citizen and demonizing a victim to ensure no convictions of the guilty. We as people of the melanin hue are already all painted with the same brush of your negative perceptions of us as a people. We live it and breathe it every day. That is not just our emotional attachment to a bygone ere. That is our reality 24/7. We are judged guilty before ever getting a chance to prove we are innocent. Please don't use this incident to further cloud your judgement of what the true protesters are really seeking to achieve.

We support law enforcement officers doing their jobs. We support a fair, impartial and unbiased investigative process that is transparent and true. All officers are not bad. All blacks are not criminals. All of us want to get home at the end of the day to see our families. Every day we make it home is a blessing and the results of countless amounts of prayers.

Can we just put down our weapons and talk? Real talk? No BS? No filter? I see your points way better than you think I do. An intelligent person can see validity in more than just their own opinion. An intelligent person knows statistics can and will be manipulated to say whatever you want them to say. But we can never have that conversation if you refuse to even consider my points have merit. It is that all my way and none of your way mindset that has brought this nation to this point in time in its history. Time to do something different. ‪#‎thinkaboutit‬  

Never Fail

The devil has a pernicious way of showing us the problems of our pastorates, the chaos in our church, the misunderstandings of our ministries and draws our focus off of Christ. Once our focus is off Christ we will begin the downward spiral into the depths of despair. Great relief comes to me in understanding that when the Lord sends his disciples out to preach the gospel, they come back overjoyed at the results. Folk were saved, demons cast out, the work of the Kingdom was advancing. And the Lord’s response in effect tells me that He did not send them out to fail. So true with you and I as well, the Lord did not send us out to fail. He charges us to follow Him, and be Faithful to Him. If we just abide in that calling we shall never fail.

How Long?

There is a reprehensible spirit of evil walking in this world today that justifies taking the lives it does not agree with. Gender, age, ethnicity, sexuality, - nothing matters but to advance their argument and agenda. The countless violence, blood shed of the innocents and lives lost means absolutely nothing to it, as it is justified in it's eyes. It will not be satiated by compromise or communication, only submission. To that end, these tragedies will sadly continue in various locals around this world until we as a human race stand up collectively against the evil that surrounded us.

How long O Lord? I pray for lives lost. I pray for families devastated. I pray for communities shaken. I pray for innocence lost. I pray for strength for the journey ahead.

The Challenge of the Modern Church Extending the Call

Many churches have numerous associate ministers these days. In this season of silence as I have visited numerous churches even the smallest church has had 2 to 3 associate ministers.There are literally preachers everywhere...both licensed and unlicensed.

When a church pulpit is vacant these days the pulpit is almost immediately filled by a legacy (by blood or work) or a family member of staunch supporters of the church, or a political, fraternal, connection to power brokers in the church. The reasoning is to continue the legacy of the pastor that has retired or passed. On the surface this seems to be the most logical way to continue to flow of ministry at that location. Yet one of the chilling side effects is we often cancel God out of the process.

In effect what we have done is told God that the bride of Christ is in our hands not His. We know what is best based on our plans and visions and we only need God to cosign on what we have authorized.

If it is truly an open pulpit searching for a pastor, some of the craziness that goes on can be anything but scriptural or godlike.This has also been a cause of more legacy or immediate appointments. Bartering, deals on if "I become the pastor you will become my right hand man or woman",campaigning, playing dirty pool digging up dirt on other prospective candidates because "you don't want the church to make a mistake" using scriptural qualifications to qualify or disqualify people for the position, I have seen preachers tear each other down like dogs just so they can one day be called "pastor."

Yes there are those that are committed to do right both in the pulpit and in the pew. Those that are willing to faithfully wait till placed knowing they may never ever get placed, or wait till the Lord sends even if it means waiting longer than expected. I praise God daily for those types that in their patience possess their souls. But that does not change the fact that there is a lot of foolishness and abuses that goes on. And there are both churches and preachers that have shared in that corrosive conditions willingly.

This effectively makes it almost impossible for many associate ministers that believe they have been called to pastor to even get a fair consideration at a majority of churches. They are disqualified before they ever see a face or get a hearing. This then leaves starting your own church or ministry as the most viable option to become a pastor which is part of the reason we see so many more of them in these days in order to finally get an opportunity to pastor, While only God knows the heart, this proliferation is not in any ways accidental.The old axiom in ministry is still in effect that it is better to be a pastor of a few folks than a minister with none.

My point is this. If the church belongs to God, and we belong to God, cant we just let God do His thing His way and stop with all the foolishness on all sides?