A white Christian friend of mine recently asked me to write a blog about the Confederate Flag controversy in South Carolina. As someone who has spent the vast majority of my life in northern states (Wisconsin, Ohio, Michigan), I wasn’t sure what I had to offer to the conversation. Honestly, it seems obvious to me […]
One Church Liturgy Prayer for Charleston
This past Sunday, my church participated with churches across the country in praying the “One Church Liturgy,” a prayer of lament for our fallen brothers and sisters in Charleston, SC. It was a powerful experience. The liturgy was written by Rev. Leroy Barber (CCDA board member, Executive Director of Word Made Flesh) and the Imago […]
Podcast Interview with Youth Pastor David Singleton on Race, Urban Ministry
Episode #5 of “Behind the Curtain” Ministry Podcast is here! Youth pastor David Singleton and I talk about the different narratives of the white and black cultures and how this relates to the Church. We discuss the Baltimore riots, racial segregation in churches, the differences between suburban and urban youth ministry, and steps we can […]
Podcast Interview with Baltimore Pastor Chris Lockemy on Race, Riots
Episode #4 of the “Behind the Curtain” Ministry Podcast is here! In this episode, I interview Pastor Chris Lockemy from Epic Church in Baltimore, MD. Chris planted his church in 2005 and gives an on the ground “Behind the Curtain” look at the Baltimore riots from the perspective of a white church planting pastor who […]
A Lament for Baltimore
Lord, we lament the violence that has broken out in Baltimore. We lament the anger that has been boiling in the black community for centuries. We lament the greed and hate of whites who enslaved blacks in the name of economic prosperity for whites. We lament how whites built the United States on white supremacy. […]
What Growing Up White Taught Me About Race
I’m 32 years old and I grew up white. I was raised in a suburban town of Dayton, OH where nearly everyone was white. The Dayton area follows the pattern of most metropolitan cities in America: urban core made up predominantly of people of color, particularly African-Americans, where the most recorded crime and the worst […]