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 […]
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 […]
What does Jesus say about our segregated churches?
If the Old Testament prophets told you that churches in America shouldn’t be segregated along racial lines, would you listen? If Jesus told you churches in America shouldn’t be segregated along racial lines, would you listen? For most of my life, this stuff wasn’t even close to being on my radar and I realize for […]
What would Old Testament prophets say about our segregated churches?
I have felt a lot like one of the Old Testament kings recently when it comes to Scripture and the injustices in my land. I feel like Josiah when the Torah was accidentally found during a repair job at the temple (2 Kings 22). Generations of doing things a certain way, now confronted with God’s […]
Ferguson’s Michael Brown Reveals Problem + What We Can Do About it
By now everyone has most likely heard about the shooting and killing of unarmed 18-year-old African-American Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri on August 9, 2014. The story is intense and certainly a lot to digest. Stories like these can be tough to figure out because they often feel like a case of “he said, she […]
Racial Diversity = Church Unity
One thing I noticed about visiting different churches over the summer is how racially segregated the American Church is. Most of us say, “So what? Blacks and whites like different styles of church, and that’s about all there is to it.” I used to think this way too as I grew up in my all-white […]