Pastor Stephen F. Smith gives this powerful summary on the importance, the relevance, and the history of The Black Church!
www.stephenfsmith.org
www.preachsteve.com
www.preachstephen.com
Showing posts with label Black Church. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Black Church. Show all posts
Friday, May 2, 2008
Saturday, March 15, 2008
The Black Church
I couldn't have predicted the response that I received after I posted a comment on the Black Church. The term Black Church has been used to describe the African American Church, which is the most revered institution in the black community. It is indeed quite sad that anyone would have to call his or her church a black church, or a white church. I will proudly submit to you that the God of the Bible transcends color, and either God is Lord of All Born-Again Believers that follow his precepts, ways and his word, or he is not Lord at all. The scriptures state that God is not a respecter of persons, so that would mean that God would not be enamored by the race or ethnicity of any believer. Yet, it is still surprising to me that to just mention the term black church causes such an uproar.
I am the descendant of a people that were brought to this nation in the hulls of slave ships. I am not asking for an apology from anyone, but I am asking many of you that come to this blog and others to consider the following point of view. We shouldn't have to call a church a Black church. However; one would be remiss to not note that there has not been widespread reconciliation in our houses of worship. The African American People are less than 7 generations up from being banned from reading, writing, and even worshipping God.
While American pulpits and choirstands have proclaimed that God is love for hundreds of years, systemic and institutional racism has prevailed in our nation and even in our churches. While the slaveowners studied the Holy Writ, they brutally assaulted many of the initial African American slaves. Where there prayer meetings before lynchings? Why was the mainstream church silent for so long on such a horrible practice as slavery? The Black Church was basically all that people of color possessed.
Blacks had been lingering at the bottom of the American social caste chart for years. One of the commandments of Jesus was to love one's neighbor as one would love himself. Is it a sin for an African American to savor the fragrance of an African American Worship Service? I submit to you that it is not a sin for one to enjoy his or her church's flavor of worship. Our church has had a proud legacy, and I am not ashamed about loving the ambiance of The Black Church. There have been many efforts to integrate churches throughout our land, yet 11 AM on Sunday Mornings is still the most segregated hour on the clock.
If one would pay attention to our television ministries and our megachurches, there are many preachers of other races that pastor or oversee thousands of members of color. Yet, this is not true in the inverse. If one would follow all of the major African American ministries in our land that have black pastors, one would not find an overwhelming "percentage" of other races in the congregation. This is why there has been a so called black church.
Our modes of worship are different and that is not a discredit to any race. Are we really committed to reconciliation in our houses of worship? There was a previous pastor of a large mainstream church in Memphis,Tennessee that once stated-I can't wait to get to heaven, so I can go on the Negro side of heaven and sing one of those great Negro spirituals. Will there be subdivisions in heaven? Was he reciting what others secretly believe?
Prayerfully, the houses of worship in our land will learn to work together on common ground. We are all aspiring to make it to a place called heaven where there will be no segregation, busing, or separations by ethnicities. One could surmise that racism has sometimes even crept into the House of Grace. The enemy must love to see the church separated by lines of color. Let's eradicate this problem. If we ever plan on seeing the Christ that we all preach about, we had better get started!
Respectfully Submitted,
Pastor Stephen F. Smith
Sure House Church, Inc.
I am the descendant of a people that were brought to this nation in the hulls of slave ships. I am not asking for an apology from anyone, but I am asking many of you that come to this blog and others to consider the following point of view. We shouldn't have to call a church a Black church. However; one would be remiss to not note that there has not been widespread reconciliation in our houses of worship. The African American People are less than 7 generations up from being banned from reading, writing, and even worshipping God.
While American pulpits and choirstands have proclaimed that God is love for hundreds of years, systemic and institutional racism has prevailed in our nation and even in our churches. While the slaveowners studied the Holy Writ, they brutally assaulted many of the initial African American slaves. Where there prayer meetings before lynchings? Why was the mainstream church silent for so long on such a horrible practice as slavery? The Black Church was basically all that people of color possessed.
Blacks had been lingering at the bottom of the American social caste chart for years. One of the commandments of Jesus was to love one's neighbor as one would love himself. Is it a sin for an African American to savor the fragrance of an African American Worship Service? I submit to you that it is not a sin for one to enjoy his or her church's flavor of worship. Our church has had a proud legacy, and I am not ashamed about loving the ambiance of The Black Church. There have been many efforts to integrate churches throughout our land, yet 11 AM on Sunday Mornings is still the most segregated hour on the clock.
If one would pay attention to our television ministries and our megachurches, there are many preachers of other races that pastor or oversee thousands of members of color. Yet, this is not true in the inverse. If one would follow all of the major African American ministries in our land that have black pastors, one would not find an overwhelming "percentage" of other races in the congregation. This is why there has been a so called black church.
Our modes of worship are different and that is not a discredit to any race. Are we really committed to reconciliation in our houses of worship? There was a previous pastor of a large mainstream church in Memphis,Tennessee that once stated-I can't wait to get to heaven, so I can go on the Negro side of heaven and sing one of those great Negro spirituals. Will there be subdivisions in heaven? Was he reciting what others secretly believe?
Prayerfully, the houses of worship in our land will learn to work together on common ground. We are all aspiring to make it to a place called heaven where there will be no segregation, busing, or separations by ethnicities. One could surmise that racism has sometimes even crept into the House of Grace. The enemy must love to see the church separated by lines of color. Let's eradicate this problem. If we ever plan on seeing the Christ that we all preach about, we had better get started!
Respectfully Submitted,
Pastor Stephen F. Smith
Sure House Church, Inc.
Saturday, February 24, 2007
Being Tyler Perry
What Do You Think of Tyler Perry? Is he a force to be reckonded with?
Perry Talks to 'Nightline' About His Past, Present and Future
By VICKI MABREY and TARANA HARRIS
Feb. 21, 2007— - At 6 feet 5 inches tall and weighing well over 200 pounds, Tyler Perry is an imposing bear of a man. But when we first met him in Atlanta last week, he was speaking in a woman's voice. Disconcerting? A little. Funny? Absolutely.
It was Tyler Perry channeling Madea, the tough-love, no-nonsense, gun-toting grandmother character that's made him famous. The cast and crew at the newly opened Tyler Perry Studios were on set, blocking out scenes from his latest venture -- a sitcom called "House of Payne," which was scheduled to start shooting the following day.
During a break in the rehearsal, Perry sat on the sitcom's living room sofa and told us Madea is just dropping by to help get the sitcom off the ground.
"She's only going to be in three or four episodes," he said. "Unless it's not going well, in which case she may be showing up a lot more," he laughed.
Behind the cordiality and humor, there's a mind constantly at work. Perry is a triple, quadruple, quintuple threat: an actor/director/playwright/producer/author. He is always busy, constantly on the move, notices everything, even down to the smallest detail.
He has to -- he's responsible for hundreds of employees and a multimillion dollar empire. And it's all riding on him.
Being Tyler Perry
"Being Tyler Perry means a lot of things," he told us. Everything from janitor to boss.
"Sometimes it gets overwhelming," he admits, … "because I realize that there are so many people depending on me from day to day, so I'm up at 5:30, working out every morning, making sure my health is right, making sure I can manage and making sure that the 200 or so people that are working for me can feed their families."
Quite a difference for a guy who 15 years ago was working at a variety of uninspiring jobs, trying to figure out what to do with his life. When a friend read some things he'd written to get over feelings of anger toward a father that Perry had described as abusive, he suggested that Perry had actually written a play. Thus, the playwright was born.
Perry used his life savings to staging his plays in empty theaters, only to find himself broke, living in a pay-by-the-week motel and even his car for a short time, until he discovered his core audience: black church women. Once he ignited that previously untapped theater audience, his career soared.
He recently opened his third film, "Daddy's Little Girls," about a father who fights for custody of his three daughters.
"I had a friend who's a great father. He has three girls he loves to death and he was always on the phone. And I thought he was talking to some woman and he was talking to his kids. And I thought, man, the world needs to see this. We're talked about, as African-American men, as being deadbeats and not great fathers and terrible husbands. I wanted to show that you can … really be a good father."
Lately, his audiences have begun to change. It's no longer just women. There are more men in the seats. And more white faces among the black faces.
A Universal Story
"I'm not surprised," Perry said, "because I've always thought I was just telling a universal story. For years we as African-American people have had to go to the movies and never see our faces, so I just thought what does this mean: cross over? If you can cross over one way can't you cross over the other way too? So I just thought if I stayed true to what I was doing, audiences -- no matter what race -- would find it and appreciate it."
He's got a schedule of touring plays, films and TV shows worked out through 2009, possibly into 2010. He remains driven even with millions in the bank, and he has just opened a 75,000 square foot studio so he can shoot all his projects in his beloved adopted home, Atlanta.
"Even at this age, I worry about having to go back to my parents house for some reason," Perry told us, "as well as I remember being in school and getting straight A's and not getting attention, and getting straight F's and not getting any attention, and so I think I've learned how to rechannel my own energy to drive myself in the things that I do to make sure that things are successful."
And how successful is he? According to figures his company has compiled, his plays have grossed $100 million since 1998. He structured a deal with TBS for his new sit-com "House of Payne" that will generate $200 million in revenue.
According to independent tallies, Perry's first two movies -- "Diary of a Mad Black Woman" and "Madea's Family Reunion" -- made for about $5 million and $6 million each, and grossed about $110 million at the box office.
Not Seeking Approval
Only once during our interview did he express anger, and that was at the black theater elite, some of who have dismissed his work.
"My work has been frowned upon by a lot of the African-American theater companies. But I think my shows, because they generate so much income, that they could actually finance some of the other shows, some of the August Wilson shows, some of the great playwrights of our time." As well as introduce his audience to a different type of theater experience, he said.
But he's not seeking the validation of anyone except his fans. They know what they're getting when they go see a Tyler Perry production. After all, it's more than just his name -- it's his brand.
"For me the Tyler Perry brand is good family wholesome entertainment. It's things you can take your entire family to," he said. "It's about life lessons, it's faith based, it's about God, it's about love, it's about hope, forgiveness, all of those things encompass and make up a brand."
"Daddy's Little Girls," Tyler Perry's latest, has scored big at the box office since its Valentine's Day release, hauling in $18.6 million last weekend. Distributed by Lionsgate, the film cost less than $10 million to make.
Perry Talks to 'Nightline' About His Past, Present and Future
By VICKI MABREY and TARANA HARRIS
Feb. 21, 2007— - At 6 feet 5 inches tall and weighing well over 200 pounds, Tyler Perry is an imposing bear of a man. But when we first met him in Atlanta last week, he was speaking in a woman's voice. Disconcerting? A little. Funny? Absolutely.
It was Tyler Perry channeling Madea, the tough-love, no-nonsense, gun-toting grandmother character that's made him famous. The cast and crew at the newly opened Tyler Perry Studios were on set, blocking out scenes from his latest venture -- a sitcom called "House of Payne," which was scheduled to start shooting the following day.
During a break in the rehearsal, Perry sat on the sitcom's living room sofa and told us Madea is just dropping by to help get the sitcom off the ground.
"She's only going to be in three or four episodes," he said. "Unless it's not going well, in which case she may be showing up a lot more," he laughed.
Behind the cordiality and humor, there's a mind constantly at work. Perry is a triple, quadruple, quintuple threat: an actor/director/playwright/producer/author. He is always busy, constantly on the move, notices everything, even down to the smallest detail.
He has to -- he's responsible for hundreds of employees and a multimillion dollar empire. And it's all riding on him.
Being Tyler Perry
"Being Tyler Perry means a lot of things," he told us. Everything from janitor to boss.
"Sometimes it gets overwhelming," he admits, … "because I realize that there are so many people depending on me from day to day, so I'm up at 5:30, working out every morning, making sure my health is right, making sure I can manage and making sure that the 200 or so people that are working for me can feed their families."
Quite a difference for a guy who 15 years ago was working at a variety of uninspiring jobs, trying to figure out what to do with his life. When a friend read some things he'd written to get over feelings of anger toward a father that Perry had described as abusive, he suggested that Perry had actually written a play. Thus, the playwright was born.
Perry used his life savings to staging his plays in empty theaters, only to find himself broke, living in a pay-by-the-week motel and even his car for a short time, until he discovered his core audience: black church women. Once he ignited that previously untapped theater audience, his career soared.
He recently opened his third film, "Daddy's Little Girls," about a father who fights for custody of his three daughters.
"I had a friend who's a great father. He has three girls he loves to death and he was always on the phone. And I thought he was talking to some woman and he was talking to his kids. And I thought, man, the world needs to see this. We're talked about, as African-American men, as being deadbeats and not great fathers and terrible husbands. I wanted to show that you can … really be a good father."
Lately, his audiences have begun to change. It's no longer just women. There are more men in the seats. And more white faces among the black faces.
A Universal Story
"I'm not surprised," Perry said, "because I've always thought I was just telling a universal story. For years we as African-American people have had to go to the movies and never see our faces, so I just thought what does this mean: cross over? If you can cross over one way can't you cross over the other way too? So I just thought if I stayed true to what I was doing, audiences -- no matter what race -- would find it and appreciate it."
He's got a schedule of touring plays, films and TV shows worked out through 2009, possibly into 2010. He remains driven even with millions in the bank, and he has just opened a 75,000 square foot studio so he can shoot all his projects in his beloved adopted home, Atlanta.
"Even at this age, I worry about having to go back to my parents house for some reason," Perry told us, "as well as I remember being in school and getting straight A's and not getting attention, and getting straight F's and not getting any attention, and so I think I've learned how to rechannel my own energy to drive myself in the things that I do to make sure that things are successful."
And how successful is he? According to figures his company has compiled, his plays have grossed $100 million since 1998. He structured a deal with TBS for his new sit-com "House of Payne" that will generate $200 million in revenue.
According to independent tallies, Perry's first two movies -- "Diary of a Mad Black Woman" and "Madea's Family Reunion" -- made for about $5 million and $6 million each, and grossed about $110 million at the box office.
Not Seeking Approval
Only once during our interview did he express anger, and that was at the black theater elite, some of who have dismissed his work.
"My work has been frowned upon by a lot of the African-American theater companies. But I think my shows, because they generate so much income, that they could actually finance some of the other shows, some of the August Wilson shows, some of the great playwrights of our time." As well as introduce his audience to a different type of theater experience, he said.
But he's not seeking the validation of anyone except his fans. They know what they're getting when they go see a Tyler Perry production. After all, it's more than just his name -- it's his brand.
"For me the Tyler Perry brand is good family wholesome entertainment. It's things you can take your entire family to," he said. "It's about life lessons, it's faith based, it's about God, it's about love, it's about hope, forgiveness, all of those things encompass and make up a brand."
"Daddy's Little Girls," Tyler Perry's latest, has scored big at the box office since its Valentine's Day release, hauling in $18.6 million last weekend. Distributed by Lionsgate, the film cost less than $10 million to make.
Friday, February 23, 2007
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
There is Nothing Like the Black Church!
Do you agree with this spin on our religious experience? Broderick Rice is extremely funny.
A Chain or a Crown?
I was speaking with another preacher the other day and I was kidding with him that he would soon be wearing a gold chain, which would symbolize his ascent to the bishopric in our denomination. He then went on to tell me that he is not working on wearing a gold chain, but his focus was on one day wearing a crown. This stimulated me to think that it is totally amazing that some preachers aspire to reach man made benchmarks of success instead of God's benchmark of success. We are living in a day when everyone has an armorbearer and some have adjutants, but the question of the hour is will some of the preachers who are seeking fame and fortune lead themselves and their armorbearers to Hell? Should we focus on the gold chain, the signet ring, the trappings of ecclesiastical success, or a title as much as we should focus on one day wearing a crown?
Guest Columnist,
Pastor Stephen F.Smith
Sure House Church, Inc.
Guest Columnist,
Pastor Stephen F.Smith
Sure House Church, Inc.
Monday, February 19, 2007
The Most Popular Moment in Black Television History
What is the most popular moment in Black TV History? We feel like it was Florida Evan's reaction to the death of James Evans on Good Times.
Sunday, February 18, 2007
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