Phillip Jackson, executive director of The Black Star Project, delivered the Men's Day message at First Wesley Academy UMC in Harvey, Illinois on Sunday, December 14, 2008, as the kick-off of "Take a Black Male to Worship" day. Please call Rev. Catherine Jackson at 773.285.9600 or email blackstar1000@ameritech.net if you would like for your church, mosque, synagogue or other faith-based organization to participate in this national effort to support Black males on or about March 1, 2009.
Phillip Jackson congratulates Rev. Charles Woolery on a great job of organizing the men of First Wesley Academy to work in the vineyards of young Black males in the city of Harvey, Illinois.
The churches listed below participated in The Black Star Project's "Take a Black Male to Worship" initiative on Sunday, December 21, 2008, or on their nearest day of worship. If your faith institution did not participate, why not?
City - Name of Church or Association - Pastor or Representative
Buffalo, New York - Zion Missionary Baptist Church - Gregory Brice
Chicago, Illinois - Pastors of the Englewood Community - Apostle Ulyesses Ruff, Sr.
Chicago, Illinois - Gospel Temple Church of God and Christ - Eleder Sidney Grandberry
Chicago, Illinois - True Vine of Holiness Missionary Baptist - Rev. Dr. Henderson Hill
Chicago, Illinois - Cathedral Missionary Baptist Church - Rev. Otis L. Anderson Jr.
Chicago. Illinois - God Seed Ministries - Pastor Glenn Bone
Chicago, Illinois - Cathedral of Love Church - Rev. Daniel Allen
Chicago, Illinois - Inspirational Deliverance C.O.G.I.C. - Evangelist Shirley Hughes
Chicago, Illinois - New Memorial Missionary Baptist Church - Rev. Roosevelt Walker, Jr.
Chicago, Illinois - St. Mark Church - Rev. Ed Harris
Chicago, Illinois - ABBA Church of Renewal Faith - Rev. Sharyon Cosey
Chicago, Illinois - Stone Temple Baptist Church - Rev. Derrick M. Fitzpatrick
Chicago, Illinois - New Pentecostal House of Glory - Pastor Lafayette E. Young Sr.
Cleveland, Ohio - St. James AME Church - Mr. Steven Sims
Detroit, Michigan - Liberty Baptist Church - Rev. Steve Bland
Harvey, Illinois - First Wesley Academy UMC - Rev. Charles Woolery
High Point, N.C. - Temple Memorial Baptist Church - Rev. Thomas A. Bannister
Kansas City, Kansas - Cross Roads Christian Cathedral - Pastor P. T. Hood
Los Angeles, Calif. - Higher Order of Discipline Ministries - De'Niece Williams
Mooresville, N. C. - St. Paul United Methodist Church - Rev. Donald McCoy
Rockford, Illinois - Liberty Baptist Church - Rev. Herbert Johnson, Jr.
Take a Black boy or a young Black man between 2 and 32 years old to worship on Sunday, March 1, 2009. Take them to any service--morning, afternoon or evening, to your church, mosque synagogue or preferred place of worship because the battle to save Black boys is also, and especially, a spiritual battle. This is a national program open to all faiths and denominations.
We have been told that some men and some faith leaders do not know where to find Black boys. Too many Black boys are on street corners, at night clubs, affiliated (rolling) with street organizations and in prisons and jails. Many others are struggling in elementary and high schools or are working low-wage jobs.
It is easy to find Black boys who need guidance and support, but it is hard to find Black men who will take an interest in these Black boys. The harvest of Black boys in America is plentiful, but the laborers--Black men who are willing to work with these boys--are few.
Please ask your faith leader to ensure that your faith-based institution participates in this event. If you wish to participate in or lead the effort in your city or at your faith-based institution on Sunday, March 1, 2009, or your day of worship near this date, please call Rev. Catherine Jackson at 773.285.9600 for an organizing kit.
For those who worship, fine. However I would caution against using events like this to "convert" people like me who are atheists. There need to be more secular spaces available to discuss issues.
This sounds like they have good intentions but have chosen the wrong venue. It is white religion that put the emphasis on race with the fake Hamite theory of Blacks being cursed of God to be servants. Certainly our lives should be centered on God. However the god of Christianity is an idol god. God is a spirit not a man. Read Deut. 5:6-8, Psalms 96:5 and 97:7. There is no way of getting around these scriptures if you are a Christian. Any image you can make of anything becomes a graven image of an idol if you worship it as God.
Black people repent from the worship of white idol gods; it is the reason we have not progressed since slavery as a nation of people because they put the shackles on our minds after they took the physical chains off by indoctrinating us into their religion. Remember this was done after they beat out of us our culture and spiritual knowledge.
This is the most critical issue we face in this century; it is perhaps more important than fighting for our civil rights. Because of it we are so heavenly bound it makes us often no earthly good to ourselves and our people. I know this is a sticky subject but I was once a Baptist preacher untill I discovered the facts and evidence of Christianity's real history and origins.
I would like to share what I have discovered and suggest that we as African Americans embrace an African Spiritual frame of reference. This simply means that we should recognize that God is not a man but the Spirit that inhabits every man, women and thing on earth. The Truth will indeed set you free. Visit http://www.blacksalvation.com"> and view my tell all books; The Liberation of the African Mind: The Key to Black Salvation and Repent: From Jesus Back To God
I recognize the value of the Church. It is not my intentions to destroy our largest and most influential institution but to point to the necessity of the need for the Black Church to be spiritually transformed to reflect the wisdom and spirituality that we once had before the advent of Christiantity. Have no Fear, God will not judge you for rejecting the false god! We are free to think for ourselves; we do not have to settle for their opinions and interpretations of what they discovered in Africa.
Peace and Love Family,
Adisa Franklin Spiritual Abolitionist
This sounds like an excellent idea because far too often it is women and children that regularly attend worship services. However if this is truly designed as an inter-faith initiative then it would best be served as being identified as a "weekend" and not just merely a "day" to do so.; otherwise it will continue to only be churches (meaning Christian and those that accept Sunday as the sabbath) that will ever participate and all others will be viewed as being uncooperative when the reality is they simply feel left out of the "official" designation.
Sadly also it is only among certain religious groups that emphasis is placed on race and thus a racial divide exists whereupon you will not find those not of that race because they feel (and sometimes experience) that they are not welcome. This does not speak well of us as a society and no advancement can ever truly be realized until the emphasis on race is eliminated. God did not set one race above another; man did that and man continues to promote that awful ideal yet continue to claim that they are "of God".
Comments
Black people repent from the worship of white idol gods; it is the reason we have not progressed since slavery as a nation of people because they put the shackles on our minds after they took the physical chains off by indoctrinating us into their religion. Remember this was done after they beat out of us our culture and spiritual knowledge.
This is the most critical issue we face in this century; it is perhaps more important than fighting for our civil rights. Because of it we are so heavenly bound it makes us often no earthly good to ourselves and our people. I know this is a sticky subject but I was once a Baptist preacher untill I discovered the facts and evidence of Christianity's real history and origins.
I would like to share what I have discovered and suggest that we as African Americans embrace an African Spiritual frame of reference. This simply means that we should recognize that God is not a man but the Spirit that inhabits every man, women and thing on earth. The Truth will indeed set you free. Visit http://www.blacksalvation.com"> and view my tell all books; The Liberation of the African Mind: The Key to Black Salvation and Repent: From Jesus Back To God
I recognize the value of the Church. It is not my intentions to destroy our largest and most influential institution but to point to the necessity of the need for the Black Church to be spiritually transformed to reflect the wisdom and spirituality that we once had before the advent of Christiantity. Have no Fear, God will not judge you for rejecting the false god! We are free to think for ourselves; we do not have to settle for their opinions and interpretations of what they discovered in Africa.
Peace and Love Family,
Adisa Franklin
Spiritual Abolitionist
Sadly also it is only among certain religious groups that emphasis is placed on race and thus a racial divide exists whereupon you will not find those not of that race because they feel (and sometimes experience) that they are not welcome. This does not speak well of us as a society and no advancement can ever truly be realized until the emphasis on race is eliminated. God did not set one race above another; man did that and man continues to promote that awful ideal yet continue to claim that they are "of God".