Will To Live

Recently I've been intrigued with the stories on TvOne's documentary show entitled: "Will To Live". It is true stories of survival against all odds. The only way I can describe each story is by using one word...AMAZING!

As I watched an episode this weekend sitting on the couch my sermon brain began to kick in because their were a number of people with a Will To Live against (and in the midst) of impossible situations. It led me to a preaching/teaching outline that I pray to share some day soon (hopefully in my next pastorate).

- Will To Live With Determination - Mark 5:24-34

- Will To Live With Dependency - Proverbs 3:5-6

- Will To Live With Dedication - Romans 8:35-39

- Will To Live With Direction - 2 Corinthians 4:17-18

- Will To Live With Decision-Making- Joel 3:14

Pray God blesses my study time and presentation!

Church Dropout

Last night on KJLH Beyond the Pulpit with Pastor Xavier Thompson pastor of Southern MBC, they discussed the topic "Church Dropout" with special guest pastors of our city, Pastor L A Kessee of Bethany Baptist Church and Pastor Melvin Von Wade of Mt Moriah Baptist Church both in Los Anageles, Ca. Good listening piece of material from seasoned pastors on the subject at hand.

Why do people stop attending and being committed to church?

Here are a few of the responses from callers and guest (that I can remember):

1). Lazy pastors and preachers

2). Church has become a distraction for some people. The caller explains that for them church politics, fighting, etc is too much to handle and therefore resolves that staying home is better to getting closer God.

3). Churchless Christianity- people who use TV, internet, and radio as they're church fellowship

4). Pastor Wade says church dropout is due to "church frailty".

5). Rev Melvin Wade Jr says that the church is not bridging the generational gap to reach young people. When God led the people of Israel to the promise land with Moses they crossed a Red Sea but with Joshua they crossed the Jordan River. Two different bodies of water but headed in the same direction.

6). Entertainment - the church has allowed the entertainment world to enter into the worship service to compel men, women, boys, and girls to come to Christ.

7). Mixed priorities of what's important

8). Lack of developed leadership resulting in senior leadership staying too long as the church's pastor.

9). Under-developed leadership, lack of training, or lack of mentorship in young preachers. Therefore, throwing them into the fire before their time.

10). This one is my thought on the issue....lack of sincere reverence in the church. I believe our reverence for God has lost its sincerity. And churches that strive to maintain reverence are labeled as traditional for which I take exception. I love contemporary, exciting, lively, enthusiastic, zealous worship. However, I believe we can't allow our contemporary worship overshadow our reverence for God. There has to be a limit where we don't push the envelope so far that God is pushed to the back of the line. God is to be the centrality of our worship whereby leading us to worship Him in spirit and truth. In laymen's terms, watch how we treat God in our worship service. Both saved and unsaved attendees need to know that they are in the presence of God.

What's the solution? Writing my thoughts to publish soon

Recovery!

A few weeks ago Tracy and I were going to Walmart to do a lil shopping. While driving, she says to me: "Clint, have you noticed that for the past few months we have not discussed our departure from First Goodwill". I looked at her and said: "No, we have not and that's a good thing to give us time to heal". I have discovered in the past few months that sometimes you have to step away from intense situations to clear your mind, to guard your heart, protect your family, and listen to God. Unfortunately, the enemy is not happy when he can't and couldn't destroy you in a situation with the hope that you will doubt God and turn away from Him. So he (the enemy) will throw at you nuggets of past hurtful situations that will cause you to feel the sting of pain, loss, frustration, guilt, unforgiveness, depression, discouragement, and frustration. So, a few weeks ago, we started receiving calls that we thought were calls of concern about our well-being that ended up being a strategic plan of attack to pull us back into feelings of hurt and pain and frustration by discussing events that took place earlier this year. Blood starts boiling! Eyes filled with drops of sadness! Heart is pounding hard and fast! Mind is racing faster than words can come out! We've been incognito on purpose and staying in Lakewood not bothering anybody trying to move on. Why are we being pressured into having feelings failure and that we've done something wrong by moving on. I write this experience as help to others because I know i'm not the only who has been attacked with the weapon of pulling you back into past hurt to get you off the course of recovery. Recovering from any hurt in life is a long process and even still some people still do not recover. The memories still linger in the air of our minds as a dark cloud covering portions of a blue sky. We may never forget the hurt but God will take the pain away. Here are a few suggestions that has helped me recently keep on track to recovery while being attacked at the same time.

1). Pray - this seems simple and easy but also hard to do when the heat is on. Ephesians 6:19-20 teaches us that the best defense in heated situations is a praying offense. Pray about it!

2). Speak the truth in love (confrontation) - Many of us don't like tough conversations. At least I know I don't. However, I've found myself as of late doing it more an more often. The difference is that now I'm slow to speak. Confrontations are difficult but is do-able without breaking fellowship with the other person. Matthew 18 outlines for us how to handle disagreements between two people. Moreover remember, the end goal in confrontation is reconciliation.

3). Control your anger - When I started receiving phones calls immediately my blood started boiling when i discovered the true nature of the call and I was about to burst like a screaming tea kettle. A few months ago, I received some information that again made me boil on the inside. In time past I would have unleashed the dragon but I didn't. I waited for a few weeks before having a conversation with the other person so I could be clear and plain about what I needed to say. I made my point and ended the conversation so that I didnt violate Paul's exhortation to be angry but do not sin.

4). Move on - what happened yesterday cant stop you from moving on not unless you allow it to. I've vowed to the best of my ability to not speak of any issue that will cause me to loose focus. So unfortunately for others but fortunate for me, I kill the subject before it starts. This Sunday I heard one of the greatest messages on Genesis 13:11-16 when Abram and Lot split. One of the points in that message was that we need to find peace in parting. In other words, we need to split from some things so we can be successful in other things. Find peace so that it doesn't bring you down and move on.

5). Surround yourself with godly people who are really concerned about you and not the situation - it's amazing that when I was in the heat of battle I heard from people that I normally don't hear from and now that the dust has settled some I don't hear from them much anymore. But God has placed some genuine people in my life now that is not concerned with what was. We talk about what God has on the other side of it but most of all we just have fun together period. We pray together. We encourage each other. And we hold one another accountable. Without any hidden agendas.

6). Be honest about your feelings - if it hurts it hurts! God created with emotions but we can control the emotions that we feel. We can hurt and still maintain our faith and character. When I broke my hand years ago it hurt pretty bad. Now, I have scars but no pain.

7). Recovery is a process, so don't rush it

8). Be cautious with whom you share your dreams and successes - everyone can't handle the success (or even potential success) of others. They will celebrate but it will be what I label as "coveted celebration". Some people celebrate and covet your success at the same time with hopes of your ultimate failure. I heard a preacher say once "you can't share your dreams with everyone".

9). Trust people again - I know this sounds like a contradiction after saying be careful with whom you tell your dreams. But it's not. You can develop relationships without sharing your dreams. The point is we can't judge new relationships on past hurtful experiences. I know for a fact God will move some people and bring new people to your life.

10). Keep trusting God - oftentimes when bad things happen the first person to get attacked is God. Why did God allow this happen? It's hard to accept the sovereignty of God most times. However, I've learned a valuable lesson over the years and certainly within these past few months. That is, most times we see the agenda of others before it's revealed and God will throw up a red warning sign saying: "Be careful danger lies ahead!" However, we put on our ignoring blinders saying to ourselves "they won't do that". And then when it happens, we start to blame God. There are some things that happen in life that we can't control and then there are some things in life we can control with discernment.

Keep it pushing! I believe things will get better!

Tithing....Mandatory or Optional

I am a part of a clergy discussion group on Facebook that is utilized for pastors, preachers, and lay leaders to pose questions for discussion to help increase our knowledge and understanding about God, salvation, Christian living principles, practical ministry helps, etc.

Most of the questions and responses are very beneficial and affords us the opportunity to learn from one another as well as see things from a different perspective.

I’ve decided to take some questions, comments, suggestions, and post my response on my blog. Others discussions I will respond with the group on Facebook. The purpose of me blogging my response is not to bash anyone’s ideas or theology but to respond according to what Scripture teaches on a particular issue in a more thorough way.

In recent weeks there has been much discussion on the topic of tithes/offerings. Should believers tithe? Should tithing be mandatory? Should leaders be required to tithe? And so many questions and concerns.

I want to post my response to this question that was directed towards the group…

“What does your church teach about tithes and offerings? Manditory or optional?

I teach the tithe as a standard practice of Christian living just like every other biblical principle given in Scripture. The issue for many believers however, is whether or not tithing is relevant for us today? The tithe was never the standard of Old Testament generosity, nor is it the standard of Christian generosity today. Tithing may be a helpful guideline as we strive to develop a lifestyle of even greater giving, but it was and is possible to tithe faithfully while neglecting true, biblical generosity (as Jesus pointed out to the Pharisees; see note on Matthew 23:23). First, a close look at the Old Testament and other ancient Jewish evidence shows that the tithe (as a mandatory gift equaling a tenth of one’s income) only applied to crops and animals from the promised land, not to all income in any time and place. Moreover, 10 percent was never “the standard,” for there were three tithes (two every year, one every three years) and many other offerings and gifts that were also part of Jewish life. In the Old Testament and today, God usually requires far more from his people than the 10 percent we typically assume.

However, the NT teaches a radical generosity. The idea tends to strike us as strange, but only because of our modern, secular assumptions about money. In the Bible, giving away large parts of one’s income is quite realistic. John the Baptist taught that the man with two tunics should share with the man who has none (Luke 3:11). Zacchaeus the tax collector, when he converted to faith in Jesus, thought it fitting to give half of all he owned to the poor (Luke 19:1-10). Jesus praised a certain widow in the temple who gave away the last pennies she had to live on (Luke 21:1-4). The first Christians in the Jerusalem church willingly sold their own possessions to give to those in need (Acts 2:45). They were normal people, just like us. The only difference is that the life-changing power of the gospel had made its way even into their personal finances. And the same is possible for us, as well—though it is important to note we are not directly commanded to give all away, as the rich young ruler was. Above all, we should remember that Jesus promises that we cannot out-give him. Whatever we do for his sake, he will take care of us and reward us. If we give away a fortune for Jesus’ sake and earn a lower living standard, social status and health care, he may not give it back all in this life; but we do have the promise that our blessings soon will be eternal and that we can “store up treasure in heaven” rather than on earth precisely by doing such acts for the poor. And we may just find ourselves “reaping generously as we have sown generously ... having all that [we] need, [so that we] will abound in every good work ... rich in every way so that [we] can be generous on every occasion” (2 Corinthians 9:6, 8, 11).

In short, the tithe of a tenth is a good starting point for generous sacrificial giving is the teaching for NT believers.

But, there are still so many questions about the principle of tithing that many of us need an answer. So, I want to address a few questions regarding tithing and a Christian’s responsibility:

If I choose to tithe, does God expect more than a tithe from me? For most Christians the answer is a resounding “yes.” The Old Testament sets forth a system of tithes (10 percent offerings). For this reason, many Christians conclude that by giving 10 percent, they fulfill God’s requirement and are absolved of further responsibility. But interestingly, the tithe is mentioned only rarely in the New Testament, not because God expects less from the majority of us, but because far more is possible.

If I am not required to tithe, am I free to give whatever I want?
Yes, but this doesn’t mean we give whatever we wish, no questions asked. The apostle Paul did say, “Each one should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Corinthians 9:7).

Will God really “throw open the floodgates of heaven” if I start to tithe?
Perhaps. But we must recognize that this oft-quoted passage (Malachi 3:10) was written not as a blanket promise to Christians in all times and all places, but to a very specific group of people in history—the impoverished, insecure Israelites living in the land after their return from exile in Babylon. Many “health-and-wealth” teachers today misuse this passage to guarantee that God will give us prosperity in this life if we only start to tithe, especially to their ministries. (Other pastors use this passage less controversially as an encouragement to people who hesitate to give.) But do these same teachers also promise that God will send us into exile in Babylon if we don’t tithe? Such promises tend to ignore the context of Malachi 3, which is tied intimately to life in the promised land of Israel after the people returned from exile. Interestingly, God requires more here than just tithe (Malachi 3:5): He requires his people to be generous in mercy and justice.

Should I tithe on my gross or net income? I answer this question with another question, which do you want God to bless.

Why should you give? We might ask instead, “Why should we not give?” We often assume that money exists for our own benefit, rather than for God or others. Pastor Andy Stanley tells a story about a little boy who was scolded by his mother because he refused to share his lunch with a classmate who had brought no lunch to school that day. The ironic point, Stanley says, is that we expect our children to know that possessions are for sharing, yet when it comes to our own affairs, we act as if possessions are for keeping. First, we should give because it is a reasonable response to all God has done. Because God has shown such great mercy to his people by sending Christ to suffer in our place, it is fitting that we should offer ourselves as sacrifices to him (Romans 12:1) and specifically in part by giving our money (2 Corinthians 8:8-9). Generous giving is an act of Christian worship. Second, we should give to show the genuineness of our Christian confession. Many people say they know Jesus, but those who really know him show it by their lives, especially by their generosity (Matthew 25:31-46). Third, we should give because the Lord Jesus (Luke 12:33) and his apostles (2 Corinthians 8:7) command us to give. Christian giving is certainly much more than a duty, but the biblical commands are unavoidable. Fourth, if specific instruction from the Scriptures were not enough, we should give because God promises to reward us for doing so (Luke 12:33). As it turns out, to give is not to throw money away, but rather to invest it for a staggering return. The Bible is certainly not lacking for reasons that we should give. Why would we not give?

What is sacrificial giving, and why is it important? Sacrificial giving is the kind that is done at great personal cost to the giver. In other words, give until it hurts. It doesn’t cost you anything it won’t mean anything to you.

Why should I be a generous giver? Jesus measured generosity by a radically new standard: the condition of the giver’s heart. The apostle Paul said that even the most lavish donations are empty acts in God’s sight if the giver’s heart is hardened toward him (1 Corinthians 13:3). So a truly generous giver is, first of all, a person who has been reconciled to God through faith in Christ, whose perfect life and sacrificial death can generously free any person from sin. Once this gospel works its way deep into that person’s heart and mind, the stage is set for a new person to emerge: a generous giver.

The bible speaks about money matters in such way that the measure of a person’s maturity is measured by their generosity (or their continued sacrificial investing) in kingdom business.

I believe tithing is a Christian principle to be practiced by every believer.

Did You Pray About It

The pressure was on some months ago while I was faced with situations that had me stressed, frustrated, discouraged, anxious, and disappointed. The pressure was so thick it was affecting me physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. I was totally drained! Never in my life have I experienced anything like it before. It seem like crying was a daily occurrence to the point my wife and family were really worried for me and my well-being.

During this time, two of the most precious people within our church were dying together, husband and wife. Never seen nothing like it before in my life. And then, family members died. In all within a 3 month time period, 6 people passed away. Never seen nothing like it before. During the funeral of one of my members, I tried to keep it together but when I stood to preach my last sermon for the member who passed and members of the church, I completely lost it. Weeping uncontrollably! Thank God for sustaining grace which allowed me to pull it together and complete my assignment.

During these most difficult months I was asked on several occasions….

Did you pray about it?

When asked the question, I was spending a tremendous amount of time praying about all the situations I was facing. My prayers were not long but quick and short prayers:

“Lord, protect my heart, mind, and ego!”
“Lord, give me peace about the situation!”
“Lord, help me to understand what’s going on!”
“Lord, search my heart!”
“Lord, protect my wife and teenage children through this process!”
“Lord, protect me from the wolves. Those who are only looking for a reason to gossip about my situation rather help me navigate through the situation!”
“Lord, let me not loose my love for ministry and preaching!”
“Lord, restore the joy of my salvation!”
“Lord, forgive me for past mistakes!”
“Lord, hold my wife together as my help mate but now let me help her!”

I’ll be the first to admit that my prayers were short and quick because I found it extremely hard to pray during a time when I was experiencing extreme loss everywhere imaginable.

Did you pray about it? And the follow up question was….

What was God saying?

If I can be extremely candid and honest, I prayed but had no clue what God was saying at the time. The pressure was so thick that it placed a dark could over my faith which had me doubting if this is all worth it. I was doing everything I could to make sense of all that was going on but was becoming more and more confused, irritated, stressed, and frustrated. I tried using church clichés to encourage myself but that wasn’t working. I tried to sing some of favorite hymns and that wasn’t working. I ran out of options and yet the question(s) still remained...

Did you pray about it? What is God saying?

Did I pray about it? Yes, I did! What is God saying? Honestly, I don’t/didn’t know!

It’s been a few months and while things are still somewhat fresh God has been showing me some things that I believe is helping me to keep moving forward with Him and not give up.

First lesson, back off from the situation. The pressure got so thick that I made a decision to take my hands off and let God deal with it. This was not an easy thing to do. I’ve learned that there are times when there’s nothing more you can do about it. I went into a shell mode so to speak where I didn’t talk about the situation (as best I could). I stop taking some phone calls. And, I even backed off by taking a few Sundays off to spend with the family. I’ve found that by backing off, it afforded me the opportunity to clear my head from all that was taken place and see it from a different perspective.

Second lesson, pray anyway. It’s said that the best time to pray is when you find it hard to pray. That’s true! I know I didn’t loose it totally because I kept praying even when I thought it was useless. In John 11 Mary and Martha went to Jesus about Lazarus but He stayed where He was and didn’t run to raise Lazarus immediately. Paul prayed in 2 Corinthians 12 asking God to remove the thorn in his side but God said “NO!” I’m learning that God’s no really means a slow yes. He’ll show up when the time is right. But in the meantime He will keep you covered with His strength. And trust me, I know He will.

Third lesson, be quiet. Let me say it this way, keep your mouth shut. Sometimes I believe we talk ourselves out of our own blessing simply because we don’t know how to be quiet. I made a selective choice as to whom I spoke to about what I was going through. And with others I developed a generic one sentence answer where a follow up response couldn’t take place. I shot it down before it got started.

Fourth lesson, don’t spiritualize everything. This particular lesson may sound blasphemous to many of you reading this blog. But hear me out first before closing your ears. There some decisions we will make that are business transactions for which we can’t spiritualize. Having to close a business, sale a home, change stock, laid off a job, etc are all business transactions while living in an economic downturn. However, the decision is business not spiritual but how you handle the decision then becomes spiritual. Therefore, your prayer then becomes…”Lord, guard my heart and ego!” “Lord, give me peace about this decision!”

When the pressure is on it makes praying and hearing God’s voice difficult. But whatever the dilemma, distress, and/or difficulty you’re facing don’t stop praying.

Lesson Clarification

Bishop Sanders has started a lesson series for Wednesday Night Bible Study entitled "What God Thinks About Same Sex Marriage" which in my opinion is a good topic of study at the moment because of the push to teach homosexuality in schools to our young people.

Last night was the second session of lessons of which Bishop and I did tag team teaching. I was giving the assignment to build a biblical argument on how God views homosexuality.

I wasn't sure exactly where I would pick up so I wrote the following outline to be on the safe side.

"God's View Of Homosexuality"
Select Scriptures

My thesis: The holiness of God disgust Him because it's against His creative design for humanity for men and women.

1. Humanities Design - Genesis 1:27, Genesis 2:23-25
Point: God created marriage relationships for one man and one woman.
Anything outside of this design is totally against the will of God.

2. Humanities Perversion
Genesis 6:1-7 - an indication of demon perversion whereby evil spirits enter into the human body to pervert God's intentional design for man and woman.

Genesis 19:36 - Incest - Lot sleeps with his daughters and they have his children.

Genesis 38:15-18 - Prostitution - Lot meets a prostitute and pays for sexual favors

Genesis 19:5 - Homosexuality - Men show up at Lot's with a bold request to send the men so they can sleep with them.

Point: Evil spirits coupled with humanity has perverted God's intentional design for sexual pleasure of which He made and said it was good to shared between a man and a woman in marriage relationship.
Anything outside of this design disgust God's holy nature.

3. Humanities Disgrace

Deuteronomy 22:5 -The Disgrace of Woman - it doesn't look good for women to be wearing men's clothes. In other words, women should not be sagging and men should not be switching.

Deuteronomy 23:1 - The disgrace of man –Verse 23 deals with transsexual/transgender activity whereby a man will cut off his organ to become what he believes to be a woman trapped in a man’s body. The statement here in verse 1 is deliberate and alarming because the text say no one who cuts of his sexual organ will enter the assembly of God. This should be alarming to those who consider doing and those who have done it. But also upon further review of the God we serve extends forgiveness in Isaiah 56. Leviticus chapter 20 teaches us that there is mercy before death and mercy before judgment to those who repent.

4. Humanities Decision – Ezekiel 16 – There were all kinds of iniquities characteristic of this particular city but none of them was more shocking than homosexuality. Adultery, and fornication and polygamy and incest and rape and prostitution are already present in the world by the time we get to Ezekiel. But none so ugly has homosexuality. The question is how do we handle such perverted sin as a whole that is corrupting humanity in a major way. The text helps us in handling the issues:

- Confrontation – v. 1
- Point People To God – v. 8,14,19,23,30,35,34,63
- Humiliation – v. 63

Point: God will break us down only to draw us to Him!

Lesson clarification: Time was running out so I didn’t time to elaborate further so I want to do it now. I stated in the lesson that people who live the lifestyle of homosexuality oftentimes carry feelings of humiliation, anger, depression, discomfort, and loneliness. Further my statement was …. “And that’s how God wants them to feel.”

I need to clarify this statement because it would seem that I was saying God is a vindictive God who rains down His wrath on people who are hard-headed.

Let me be very clear, we do not serve a vindictive God. He is a forgiving and loving Father. However, feelings of humiliation, depression, anger, loneliness, and discomfort are produced as a consequence of our disobedience to a holy God. Further cross reference helps us to understand that our God is not vindictive but that our sins produce consequences for our sin. Ezekiel 36:31-31; “Then you will remember your evil ways, and your deeds that were not good, and you will loathe yourselves for your iniquities and abominations. It is not for your sake that I will act, declares the Lord God; let that be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your ways, O house of Israel”. This text again supports the argument that God is not vindictive but that our sins causes after guilt and shame. These feelings are not God-inflicted but sin-inflicted.

This clarification was necessary because I don’t want us communicating to others an untruth about God. I hope I clarified the statement with biblical backup to support my argument.

My thoughts on Sunday’s Best

First I want to state that “I love gospel music”! I loved it from the day of my childhood. I also enjoy watching the Christian reality TV show “Sunday’s Best”. However, I do have a dislike with the show…the judges who are judging the show. Grant it, I do recognize the difficulty of judging contestants because this is gospel music in which each person is singing about and to God who is worthy of our song of praise. Yes, I recognize the difficulty of judging the show because of our personal preferences of gospel music and for those who sing it. For instances, I’m not a big fan of Mary Mary nor Kirk Franklin. I can listen to the music but it does not invoke the presence of God into my life in most cases. Their music actually creates a party atmosphere that makes me want to dance (and I’m not talking about Holy Ghost dancing either). Much of their music, in my opinion, is not meant for worship service (maybe a concert but certainly not a worship service).

I, personally, don’t see how Mary Mary’s hit single “Walking” can be sung in a worship service preparing the congregation for hearing the Word of God. Now, I will agree that the Christian community does need some type of alternative music outside of R&B, Rap/Hip Hop, Jazz, etc. We do need something for us to listen to that is clean and that we can enjoy without feeling guilty of what we just listened too. But I also believe we need music that will point us to God even while we’re bobbing our heads to the beat. Unfortunately, I sometimes can’t hear the words without hearing the beat first.

I love me some Kim Burrell and her new single is killing! Tracy called me one day after hearing the song and asked if I heard. “I did”. She then asks me “what do you think about it? She’s not saying anything about God.” I told her “I love the song”. Then I said to her…”You know I haven’t paid much attention to the words.” The next time the song came onto the radio I listened very close to the words to see if God was mentioned in the song. Sure enough He (God) was mentioned in the song as Lord. I didn’t pay attention to the words because I was wrapped around the jazzy melody of the song and being able to distinguish the song from jazz and gospel was a difficult thing for me to do.

My thesis for writing this article is simple and clear….

Gospel music should point us to God and God only!

Many of you who are reading this article would/will say….”He’s traditional”. My response to you is “noooooo, I’m not”. I have a concern that gospel music is crossing over into secular music (in some cases) to reach a larger audience which anyone who is serious about ministry would love to do. And (let’s be honest) to make the almighty dollar of which every one of us as to eat. So why not make money doing what you love to do. I understand all of that! But, I believe the gospel is being taking out of Christian music.

I also believe that personal preference is also displayed in the judging of the show. For instances, last night, there were three ladies competing for the final 10th spot; Shanandolan Reynolds – Dallas, Texas, LaTrice Smith – Macon, Georgia, and Timesha Sampson – Memphis, Tennessee. In the end Timesha won the 10th spot….why??????

I think LaTrice out sung her for the spot. And even with Timesha’s opening song, Pastor Donnie commented that “they made the right choice”. How is that? Again, personal preference is my thought on the judging.

However, there is one other dislike for me that is much more important and possibly damaging to those competing for a recording contract. It’s the constant statements relating to the anointing. How does a person judge who has and/or has not the anointing? Is it based on if someone shouts at the end of their segment? Is it based on how the contestant reacts after they’ve song? Is it based on the audiences reaction after the song ends? Is it the antics of Kirk Franklin after each contestant? Is it emotional charge? Is it how they came onto the stage or left the stage? Does what they wear dictate how much anointing a person has during the competition? How do you judge the anointing?

Or, is personal preference basis for judgment of who has the anointing or not?

I think its personal preferences. We see the same anointing judging method of personal preferences in the life of the church. The choir wasn’t anointed because they didn’t sing our favorite song. The band was too loud so they weren’t anointed. The microphone system is this or that so the service wasn’t anointed. The deacons keep singing hymns each week during devotion. The pastor wasn’t anointed because he took a stand in a message on abortion, homosexuality, adultery, or some difficult topic that challenges us to stop a life of sin. Well, I believe a pastor/teacher who stands on the uncompromised Word of God is anointed because it takes the anointing to stand bold against issues that rub the congregation the wrong way in their sinful lifestyles.

Again, I say personal preference is the measure of our judgments. The church we attend, large or small. The preacher we listen too (I can/will write an article on this one soon). The people we hang out with. The topics we study in scripture. The money we give in worship services. And so many other choices and judgments we make based on personal preferences.

My exhortation to you is don’t be a Pharisee and allow your personal preferences cause you to miss out on the effectiveness of a person’s ministry.