I have to admit that I am saddened and have mixed emotionsabout the news that Barack Obama has decided to leave Trinity United Church of Christ after over 20 good years as a member there. He came to the Christian faith, was baptized and married there, and saw his beautiful girls baptized there as well, but ultimately what he did today was the best thing for him in his pursuit of a national agenda at a pivotal time for the United States of America.
Regardless of what anyone else thinks, I have also been a longtime fan of Dr. Jeremiah Wright and Father Michael Pfleger and understand why a brother like Barack, in a city like Chicago, would find them to be good friends and supporters. Like Barack, I had never heard much of what Dr. Wright has said that is now played over and over on the news, but knew him to be a bold and creative leader during times that needed bold, creative leaders. The same is true for Father Pfleger.
However, and I know that many of my Afrocentric buddies, as well as my friends that attend Trinity may not understand this, but leaving Trinity was the right thing for Barack and the Obama family to do at this point in time. He is a national leader attempting to bring together a diverse cross-section of people and Trinity, for better or worse, is a very Black, very culturally-focused church that alienates huge portions of the American populous. In a society where racism is still real and still felt by many, churches with a culturally theological slant are still important, but mixing them with national politics is like mixing oil and water.
Barack may not say it, but I also think that he did this to alleviate the constant pressure and scrutiny off of the church he loves. A church like Trinity (or any church for that matter) should not have to worry about the political consequences of every word uttered from the pulpit. With Barack as a member of Trinity, every word, every article, every church bulletin was going to be looked over and analyzed with a fine tooth comb. Those days will soon be over and Pastor Otis Moss, III will be able to be the great pastor and leader that he was brought there to be.
I think Barack has a great chance to be a once-in-a-lifetime President for this nation (and for the world) and this move shows me that he is willing to make hard, personal decisions to position himself as a leader for all people.
Your thoughts?
:::UPDATE: (12:09am) Barack confirms that he left, in part, because of the outrageous scrutiny the church was under…including reporters contacting sick and shut-in members…wild!
Yesterday at the dinner table, Kendi said, "this family ain’t no kind of normal." Rai and I laughed because she was completely right. We ain’t no kind of normal! Here is a 2 minute video of all 5 of the kids jamming out to Hannah Montana. I had to end the video abruptly when something obscene happened, but hope you still enjoy the smooth moves of the King Team.
A few weeks ago, Perry Noble, pastor of NewSpring in South Carolina posted a great blog about the 5 ways he has responded to criticism. I think I am currently at step #2, but look forward to moving up the ladder to step #5. Right now, I find myself engaging critics and ultimately wasting my time with people that already have their minds made up.
Check out the steps and let me know where you are? How did you move up from one level to the next?
I recently opened up an account with ConstantContact to send mass email newsletters. I sent one out yesterday that many of you may have received if you put your email address into one of the boxes on the right of this screen or if you have been on my email list. They are pretty friendly and tame and I usually offer some positive news about my family and our church plant and request your prayers.
Well, within minutes of sending this one out, I received a response from one of the older, most prominent bishops in the Pentecostal church putting me on major blast for, amongst other things, being a "sheep stealer" and a potential cult leader. Ed Young has created quite a stir in the blog world with his video on "sheep stealers" and "church pirates" and when I watched it I felt concerned about Ed, but knew that his thoughts didn’t apply to me because I have not done any of what he describes.
What troubled me the most about the email from this senior bishop is that his authoritative email was so smug, haughty, and full of misinformation. He so firmly dismissed and denounced the work that we are leading without ever speaking to me concerning our church plant. His suggestion that I was a potential cult leader really took me by surprise. I joked on twitter that I didn’t know if I should be offended or feel like I must be on to something since so many of my mentors have faced the same criticism at one time or another. When I responded to him (see my Perry Noble post above this one) by showing him through facts how he was misinformed, he wrote basically saying that what I had to say didn’t matter.
His claim about "sheep stealing" is doubly ridiculous – first and foremost because I have not asked one person from my previous church to leave their church and have actually told some people that desired to work with us that I wanted them to stay at their church and not work with the Courageous Church as we prepare to launch. I publicly pledged to not "steal sheep" when I left my previous church and have stayed true to this pledge. Beyond this, I am finding this current discourse on "sheep stealing" to be pretty crazy at this point – particularly since the church I left was started with a dozen people from other churches.
My job at this point is to not internalize this type of criticism, but to continue receiving wise counsel from trusted church leaders, and to stay true to the call of God on my life with prayer and obedience.
The growing generational divide between yesterday’s leaders and the leaders of today and tomorrow cannot be repeated. Twenty years from now please remind me to remember these moments so that when some young church planter comes along I will treat them with the dignity and respect they deserve.
We just bought this bedding set. It looks great. Last night my wife made our bed look pretty much like this picture.
I was a little hot, so instead of getting under the covers, I decided to lay on top of the comforter and was totally miserable. The top of the comforter was decorative and looked nice, but it was very coarse.
I began to resent buying the bedding. My old raggedy set felt so nice.
Finally, in the midst of my sleepy stupor, I got under the covers.
WOW! It was softer than I could have ever imagined.
Sometimes, you need to really try something out before you decide it’s a raw deal.
I love that wifey reads my blog. Like a big kid, I ask her daily if she has checked it out. I await anxiously for her praise of how good of a writer I am and how cool she thinks my blog is.
Courage, I am learning, is often relative to whose side you are on. While I find McClellan to be a very courageous dude for telling the truth about his experiences, many others are calling him anything but courageous. Watch the video for yourself. What do you think?
Ezekiel has gotten just outside of my reach. He sees the door of the Belly General Storeopen to the real world. Cars moving, birds chirping, wind blowing. He smells his chance to break free and explore the world and is really considering what will happen if he makes a mad dash for the door. It’s just in him to go for it.
He did! We caught him. We closed the door. But he went for it and I, being the go-for-it-type-of-guy, was proud.
My kids stay busy. Not stupid busy, but we are a very active family and we are on the go a lot. We are active @ the East Lake YMCA (we would own stock in this Y if we could), we swim, we play soccer, we eat out, we grocery shop together, we cook out, we visit churches, we run endless errands, we travel out of state – we rip and run a lot.
At the end of the night, when my kids go to sleep, it would take an act of God to wake them up – which lets Rai and I know that it is very, very unlikely that we are going to have any one of our monsters wanting to sleep in the bed with us late at night.
Well, when I got the word that Elijah and Sakiah (the newest members of the King Team) prefer to stay up all night long and wreak havoc on any resemblance of peace in the house, I giggled to myself because I knew they had never kept our pace before.
When we finally made it to the park yesterday, Elijah, who has a reputation for being a big ball of endless energy, just couldn’t take it. Needless to say, he slept well last night!
Can’t blog for long, I have my hands full. No cool photos or videos (yet).
About 4 years ago, my wife and I received custody of our (then) four-year-old niece, Taeyonna. At that point, Rai and I just had one child, Kendi, who was just two-years-old at the time. We have always been close to Tae and were glad to bring her into our family. She calls me Daddy, calls Rai Mommy and she is a real-deal member of the King Team.
A little less than two years ago, Rai and I had Ezekiel – my main man. He is fun and witty and I love him like crazy!
At the point where we had EZ (our nickname for Ezekiel), people really starting joking about how LARGE our family was.
Well, at least for the summer (and likely for much, much longer), Rai and I have drafted two new members onto the King Team – Sakiah (Age 5) and Elijah (Age 4) – our niece and nephew.
They are great kids, but would really benefit from being down here with us in a major way. Obviously, having 5 kids is a big, hairy, messy deal, but James 1:27 is really making sense to us right now. Is the timing perfect? Do we have the resources? The space? The food? The beds? Not really! But those are the wrong questions for these kids.
Do we have the love? Do we have the skills? Does it feel right? Does it honor God? Will our friends and family help us out?
One of my favorite things to read on blogs like this one and this one, is when they give a roundup of everything that is on their mind/in their heart on Sunday. I think I’m going to do the same thing and call it "Buncha Stuff Sunday" – which will just be a random hodge podge of things going on with me, the King Team, the Courageous Church, and more. Here we go:
I am super amped about this guy moving to Atlanta in July. We roomed together @ Morehouse and were best friends in little ‘ol Versailles, KY. I am dreaming of some creative ways he can take the Courageous Church to the next level!
I’m about to go eat @ Cracker Barrel with Rai’s family. They are great people and remind me that I have a solid foundation of support and love in Kentucky.
I visited Imani Baptist Church this morning and was glad to see a lot of old friends – including Rev. Willis Polk – the Senior Pastor there. They are doing HUGE things in Lexington that I will be blogging about when I get back home to Atlanta. I learned a ton from the time I spent with Rev. Polk this past Saturday in the awesome facility they are constructing.
I was shocked to find out how many people @ Imani and in Lexington are reading my blog. I knew that some folk were reading it, but I didn’t know who!
I am writing this from a desktop computer in my nephew’s bedroom. I brought my laptop, but realized that without wireless service, it’s like a big hunk of junk for me. I may need to buy a wireless card or a phone that tethers to the laptop!
My wife’s family is going through some REALLY hard times right now. Too hurtful to tell it all here, but Rai and I are dreaming about how we can help. It may mean some radical moves and I’ll keep you posted. We may need to ask you for a bunch of money and a bunch of prayer to make this work! We may also need a new van and a new home – hint, hint!
I love my mother and find her home to be a place of peace and a real country refuge for my busy, citified family.
I have to admit that I was hurt to see Sean Sherk get beat up by BJ Penn last night @ UFC 84. I used to love BJ Penn, but have found him to be arrogant and smug over the past few years. He called out my main man GSP after the fight and I hope GSP squashes him like a bug later this year.
Couldn’t believe that Keith Jardine got hammered so badly by Wanderlei Silva – was even worse than when he got hammered by Houston Alexander. The way to beat Keith has been exposed. Rush him as soon as the bell rings with everything, but the kitchen sink.
I used to think that Barack Obama and John McCain would have a civil campaign against one another, but I am starting to think that that race may get low. Let’s hope not because they both have a history of doing things differently.
I am planning on visiting NewSpring in Anderson, SC in two weeks and can’t wait. I love what they are doing in SC and want to see some of it live. What an awesome church?!
Dreading the ride back to Atlanta tomorrow. The drive kills my back and puts me out of commission for a few days every time we make it now.
I have been working out daily with the plan that Andrew Johnston put together for me and feel worse physically (and emotionally) having not done it for 2 days. I will take a walk and workout tonight. I could blog for days about how much his plan is helping me.
Gotta run and get some other things done on the net while I have some time. Love y’all!
Well, all five of us are about to load into this and make the 6-7 hour road trip here.
I am meeting with a few different pastors tomorrow morning to seek their support for our church plant.
Either for their 5:55pm service or one of their Sunday morning services I plan on going here. They are doing AMAZING things in my hometown. I don’t even know them, but I am pumped about what they are doing in Central Kentucky.
Tomorrow night, a tornado couldn’t keep me from watching this. Can’t wait to see what happens. I’m serious, I am amped like a kid the day before Christmas over it.
Sometime before we leave on Monday, I have to find a way to stop here. It’s classic
Yesterday we posted the primary strategy of our church plant. The day before that we posted our mission statement. Today we are posting our core values. These things are all a part of us creating a well-conceived project for our church plant before we launch.
For us, core values are basically guiding principles that should help navigate us on our journey. We have written them in the form of six questions that we should ask ourselves as we pursue our mission.
Here they are:
What Did Jesus Do?
Jesus was the living, breathing, walking representation of
God on the Earth and we rely on His body of work to guide our actions as
individuals and as a community of faith. Our creative adventure is to discover 21st century ways to do
what Jesus did. If we leave some really
cool stuff out in our attempt to do what Jesus did, that’s OK with us.
What Does the Bible
Say?
Too much guesswork is being done in churches today when the
Bible is full of answers and insights that God made available to us. Even though the world has tons of
best-selling books, we choose to use this ancient text as our primary guide and
believe strongly in the power and authority of its words.
Does this Require Faith?
We believe that we should be making decisions, going places,
taking stands, and pursuing goals that would totally fail without God’s
intervention. If our work requires
little to no faith, we’re missing the mark.
How Does this Express
Love?
Love should be at the center of all that we do – so much so
that it doesn’t take a scientist or theologian to interpret the source of our
actions. This does not mean that we
cannot take tough or even controversial stands, but our motives must not be
centered in ambition, anger, hate, envy, popularity, or any other factor other
than a love for God and humanity.
Are Creative Limits
Being Pushed?
Nothing is more creatively beautiful than the amazing
handiwork of God. As His ambassadors on
Earth, God has not called us to operate in bland, one-dimensional grayscale,
but He desires that we push the creative envelope to its limits so that the
full weight of His character can be known and all of the senses of humanity
will be engaged by our good work.
Does this Fulfill our Mission
?
Good ideas are better than bad ideas, but good ideas that
don’t fulfill the mission of our church are a distraction. One of the blessings of knowing that hundreds
of thousands of churches exist around the world is that every church does not
have to be everything to everybody. We
improve the depth and reach of our impact by fighting to remain focused in an
extremely cluttered, blurry world.
Thanks to Todd @ MMI for this video. If you don’t watch The Office, it will only be mildly funny. If you are a fan, it is well worth wasting a few minutes of your day. Laugh & Enjoy!
I was so crushed this morning when I learned that the youngest daughter of Christian music artist Steven Curtis Chapman was killed when her old brother accidentally ran over her with their car. Daddy is the name I am called most in my house and as a father of three beautiful kids (2 girls), I honestly cannot begin to imagine the depth of the pain and despair that the Chapman family is feeling right now.
Sometimes it really seems like God is missing in action in this world. I have experienced some pretty awful tragedies and been so crushed that I was pretty convinced that God didn’t even exist. This is one of those times where it just seems like it would have been so easy for God to intervene to make sure this didn’t happen. Why didn’t you intervene God?
Los, my blogging buddy from Buckhead Church, has expressed some of his raw emotions about this on his blog and we have joined him there. Join us as we grieve and confess our confusion together. A beautiful video of Steven and Maria is there too.
Wow! I just read (and watched) the CNBC interview where two leading oil analysts stated that they honestly believe gas prices will eventually be $12-$15 a gallon. I don’t think of that as Doomsday at all, but it would cause some revolutionary shifts in nearly every aspect of our lives…
With gas prices already causing a bunch of stress @ $4 a gallon and oil going up to $133 a barrel today (will take a few weeks for us to feel this increase at the pump), leaders must now begin leading with witty solutions to this major economic shift. Here are my thoughts on what churches could do right away.
I would consider placing on this list providing church-wide meals before or after services as well.
Yeah, it’s very 20th century business-esque, but I still believe in the ability of a solid mission statement to help focus, shape, and drive an organization. The statement alone won’t bring about earth-shattering changes (usually), but it will help our church stay centered on God’s call for us.
Our mission statement is simple by design and answers the question, "Who do we want people to become and what do we want them to do?" Our mission is to:
Build courageous followers of Jesus that love God, love people, and prove it.
Much of what I will be detailing in the next few days, from our basic strategy to our core values, will all stem from this statement. Three groups really helped me refine this statement…
1. I really admire North Point and have studied their organizational brilliance a lot over the past few months. While our statement is different than what they have, they helped me to see the importance of the statement being an answer to a practical question.
2. The book, Simple Church, more than anything else, reemphasized for me the importance of using the mission statement as an opportunity to create the prevailing process that our church will use. In essence, our mission statement also details our strategy, but I will deal with that tomorrow.
3. About six months ago I learned of church in Virginia named Symphonic. Beyond the fact that that is a super-cool name, I immediately connected with their mission statement – which includes the "Prove It" part that I love so much. Thanks to Robb @ Symphonic for this.
About six years ago, through a series of unlikely events, I began forming a great relationship with the most un-denominational (my word) denomination out there – the Evangelical Covenant Church based out of Chicago, IL. Some of the most significant Christian voices (Craig Groeschel, Efrem Smith, Dave Gibbons) and creative churches in our country are [...]
Tomorrow I am going to begin a series of blog posts detailing what it means for our church plant to start off as a well-conceived project. Stay tuned – some really exciting things ahead…
Hello! I'm Shaun King - a 30 year old husband, father, pastor, and grad student (in that order) in downtown Atlanta.
I am the Lead Pastor of The Courageous Church- a brand new, diverse, exciting church in the heart of downtown Atlanta! Before I put on my SuperSuit and go live out my call in the city, I fix my five kids a bowl of cereal, change diapers, pack lunches, and give my wife a kiss.
This blog is all about the tight rope that I walk between Courage & Corn Pops!
