Monday, September 27, 2021

Sharing Our Stories: Series Cancellation


Dear Blog Readers,

I decided to cancel my blog's "Sharing Our Stories: Being the Change We Seek" series, effective today (Sept. 27, 2021).

I am sorry for any disappointment this decision may cause.

All of the previously published posts for this series will remain on this blog, always available for you to read and share at your convenience. 

I hope that you will continue to work on being the change you seek in this world.

Take care and God bless you!

Sincerely,

Alexis A. Goring, MFA
Founder of "On My Heart" (blog)

Sunday, September 19, 2021

Sharing Our Stories: Pushing Past Despair


Goodness is Coming
A guest post by Amber Hoopengarner

“I would have despaired had I not believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the Land of the Living.” – Psalm 27:13 (AMP)

When reflecting on my children’s school year thus far, it causes me to become saddened.

My heart hurts for them.

While it has been trying due to the pandemic, my children have been dealing with other factors such as racial slurs from classmates or racial jokes that are delivered by so called “friends”.

I remind myself that these children are just children and that it is probably what they are learning at home that causes them to say such things. But that does not change my feelings about the fact that it is not something I want my children to experience.

As a minority family we have experienced our share of racial incidences that prove to me that racism is still alive and well. I am thankful that I have a hope who I can lean on (Jesus Christ).

Like David in the scripture above (Psalm 27:13), I must believe that I will see goodness and that my children will see change. I must hope beyond hope and minister to my own soul that God will allow us to prevail. We will not be defeated; we will be made better.

I pray that we as people—especially those of us in the BIPOC community—can gather our emotions, our outrage, our tears, our fears, and bring them to God knowing that He has control of all things. We cannot control people’s actions or what they say or think. Nor can we change their perspectives.

However, we have the ability to hold on to the truth of God’s Word (The Holy Bible) that clearly states that if we keep hoping if we keep on believing in the God who has saved us and healed us so many times before…if we can just stay focused on seeing the goodness of the Lord in the Land of the Living in our own lives and experiences, then we will be strengthened day after day.

We will not despair though the circumstances may change and the battle rages on. The world may grow more violent, hateful and unkind. But we will rise up, push forward and focus on our Creator who is our Living Hope!

Let’s Pray: Dear God, You know what is going on in the Earth right now. You know the battles we have been facing and the injustices we are up against. Help us to believe that we will see Your goodness. Inspire us to believe that You will continue defending us and fighting for us. We thank You, dear God, for everything You do for us. We commit to pressing on because we know that we are victorious through Jesus Christ. In Jesus’s Name I pray. Amen.

~*~
Author Bio:

Amber Hoopengarner is a writer and self-published author who is also a Certified Life Coach working with women who suffer from PMADs and children who suffer from mental health disorders.


She is a Maternal Mental Health Advocate and works to help raise awareness within the church of mental health disorders especially among BIPOC women.

Amber graduated in 2016 from the University of Phoenix with an Associates in Human Services Management and is currently in the process of obtaining her bachelor’s in psychology. She also has certificates in Mental Health Coaching, Bibliotherapy and CBT as well as in Perinatal Mood Anxiety Disorders.

Amber loves God and people! She enjoys making a difference through bringing up issues and challenges that sometimes would not otherwise be addressed. She believes that God wants His people to be loved where right where they are while they are working on who He has called them to become.

Sunday, September 12, 2021

Sharing Our Stories: A Defining Moment in Time for All of Us


A Defining Moment
A guest post by Rev. Dr. Angelle M. Jones

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind; and, love your neighbor as yourself.” –Luke 10:27 (NIV)

Reflecting on the happenings of 2020, we all probably have a few memorable moments that will forever define the year as one like no other. 

Call it spiritual, an instinct, or maybe even intuition, but from the very onset of the pandemic, I knew that this unknown phenomenon would be different.

As a minister open to divine movements that sometimes turn into defining moments of the Spirit, I felt a shift was taking place. It was as if the challenges of life and the unseen nature of things in the universe were in some way spiritually and physically aligning. In a new way it seemed that even though nothing was happening as I wanted it to in my life, there seemed to be something monumental happening in the spirit realm. As news of the pandemic began to unfold, instead of resisting the unknown, I immediately found myself working to embrace what has become for me and others as a defining moment.

Before the media started sharing that an unknown virus was attacking the world, a friend in high places warned me that life as we knew it was going to take on a sudden change. I knew instinctively not only was life-changing in the present, but things were forever changing. I felt that whatever was taking place would have much more of a long-term effect in a way that I couldn’t explain. I believe the Holy Spirit chose to use the time to make a demarcation in the world. This time of uncertainty, including the racial unrest in America, became a defining moment for those who may be uncertain whether there was a God.

This was a time, especially after the riots incited by the killing of George Floyd, that Americans knew we were being defined. The racial differences we’d all allowed to become the norm were now placed on display for the world to see as anything but genuine. The restrictions between living in the uncertainty of COVID-19 and now the truth of racial injustices and disparities became an everyday disruption.

A few months in, the attention of the world was suddenly turned toward America’s original sin of racism and the continuous cry for racial and social justice. With heightened racial tensions, even Black Americans who had lived through the racial unrest and riots of the sixties, or the elders who lived through the Jim Crow era, were hypersensitive to these new restrictions. Never before in America, the land of the free, had we ever felt restricted to come and go as we pleased. Our country and the entire world seemed frozen in time.

With every new bit of news came new changes. With every change, I found myself embracing this as a defining moment. As the world found itself fearing an unknown virus that had quarantined what seemed to be the entire universe, I found myself being asked by the Lord, “Can you trust Me?” As I wrestled with what seemed to be the obvious answer, I realized the question at hand was really, “Do you love Me enough to trust Me?”

As the eyes of the world were shifted interchangeably between the pandemic to the ongoing fight for racial equality, there was an obvious fear by Blacks and Whites. Not since the sixties and the death of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. had life in America been disrupted in such a way that everyone knew this would become a defining moment; a moment of change. With trepidation, I took to writing and to sharing my passion for social justice. This became my opportunity to share how the intersection between the scriptures and the face of justice revealed my answer to God’s question. I propose that this was a defining moment.

I recognized that by entering the fight for the struggle for the whole of American humanity to live in the equality we have so long fought for, my love for God was revealed. As an activist, I knew I had a part to play.

I realized as difficult as the time was, in the midst of it all, the timing was my defining moment. It was my time to use my voice as a minister and my writing to help eradicate racism.

As an oracle of God, I found myself using the words of scripture intersected with those I penned to fight for justice and equality. My love for God serving as my foundation, I used everything within my heart, soul, and strength to speak truth to the powers that be.

This was the time that God had ordained from the very beginning of my existence for me to use my pen to speak. I took to social media, blogging, and writing for publications and anyone who would listen. I preached a message of justice seasoned with God’s love for my neighbor.

How will I show that I love God with my whole heart, soul, and mind in this defining moment?

I will show the world my love for my voiceless neighbors. I will write the story of those I love as my neighbor who has been born in pain. I will recite the narratives that have been painted by the trauma inflicted upon the ancestors of those still struggling to overcome. I will pen the anecdotes of my neighbors from the past with hopes to change the history of their present and their tomorrows.

I will write to break the chains of the emotional scars placed upon my ancestral brothers and sisters. I will chronicle a message of hope to shine God’s love onto this defining moment.

But I cannot do this alone. Therefore, I ask you, my friend, “How will you define the moment?”

~*~
Author Bio:

“Inspiring and Motivating With the Power of Words”  


Dr. Angelle M. Jones believes that the power of words inspires, and motivate to bring about transformative change individually and collectively.

Angelle originally hails from Cleveland, Ohio. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in African-American studies from the University of Cincinnati. Angelle has a master’s degree in Theological Studies from Columbia Theological Seminary in Atlanta, Georgia and an earned Doctorate in Ministry on the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, and his philosophy of The Beloved Community from United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio.

Her ministry career began as a staff member of the Northeastern Ohio Billy Graham Crusade in 1994. For twenty years, as founder and director of In The Spirit Ministries, Inc., she led teams on mission outreaches throughout the world. From 2007-2012, Angelle served as Missions Director of New Salem Missionary Baptist Church in Columbus, Ohio where she currently resides. Angelle is founder and director of GlobaLife Coaching and Consulting serving as a Life and Transformation Coach and Church Consultant.

In 2016, Angelle authored and self-published her first book, Happily Never After. Along with sharing words of hope by sharing her writings on her social media platforms, she has been published in Vantage Magazine which is a literary source for faculty, students and alumni of Columbia Theological Seminary, and Ready, which is a cutting-edge online magazine addressing current events and trending socially relevant topics for women.

Angelle is the mother of an adult daughter. She is a grandmother and great-grandmother.

~*~
Connect with Dr. Angelle:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/angelle.m.jones.5
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/abundantgrace1/
Email: globalifeconsultants@gmail.com

Sunday, September 5, 2021

Sharing Our Stories: Kristen's Review of the book "White Lies" by Daniel Hill


Kristen Terrette’s review of Daniel Hill's book 
White Lies: 
Nine Ways to Expose and Resist the Racial Systems That Divide Us 

When considering curriculum for a church small group, my friend and fellow small group facilitator recommended I read White Lies: Nine Ways to Expose and Resist the Racial Systems That Divide Us by Pastor Daniel Hill of River City Community Church in Chicago. 

She said she probably preferred Hill’s book over Be the Bridge by Latasha Morrison. This was kind of a shock, since I love Morrison’s book and its group curriculum! It’s one we’ve used at our church before. But after reading White Lies, I know exactly why she made the claim.

She and I are both White Christian women, currently living in the suburbs. We both are on a spiritual journey, as Pastor Hill calls it, learning and growing in knowledge of the reality of White privilege, White supremacy, and race divisions. We both have a strong desire for racial reconciliation and unity, and to see the world and especially the Church, awaken to these systems. And yet, she and I attend a (lovely) church whose desire is to be multicultural, but at the moment still very White.

This book, like the other ones I’ve read, challenges White supremacy in a want for reconciliation and speaks directly to me as a White Christian. But where this book is different (for me) is that it’s written by a White man. Being a White male, Pastor Hill has the backing to be brutally honest with his audience, because he is the very audience he’s speaking to.

Though the books I’ve read by Black authors gave unique insight to their struggles and heartache—pains and hardships that I cannot fully understand—reading a book on White supremacy written by a White man is very different because there is no sugarcoating. Even still, I must mention Pastor Hill does wrap is challenging words with love. He is very good in helping the reader take next steps on their journey.

Pastor Hill has written a book that, though its more intellectual in scope, was hard to put down. And it is the perfect book for the churches like mine (and like my White friend and I) to read and discuss. Every page’s depth, scope, and theology challenged me to process the ideas, claims, and resolutions proposed and taught. This meant it was not an easy, leisurely read for me. It was one where I had to sit down with intentional focus and quiet surroundings to fully understand Pastor Hill’s message.

I cannot accurately explain the impact this book has had on me, and I can’t wait to get going on a small group in my church with this curriculum. I already have the discussion guides! 

If you want to be challenged and grow, this book is for you. I give it 5 of 5 stars!

~*~
Reviewer’s Bio:

Kristen is passionate about storytelling and helping people take their next steps in their relationship with Jesus.

She lives forty-five minutes outside of Atlanta, GA. where she served as a Children's Ministry Director for many years. With the support of her husband and two children, she now stays home writing fiction and non-fiction.

She also serves on the women’s leadership team at her local church and writes for Crosswalk and Wholly Loved Ministries. You can check out her articles and novels at www.kristenterrette.com.

~*~
Connect with Kristen:
Website - www.kristenterrette.com
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/authorkristenterrette/
Twitter - https://twitter.com/KTerrette
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/kterrette/
Goodreads - https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/16252020.Kristen_Terrette
BookBub - https://www.bookbub.com/profile/kristen-terrette
Pinterest - https://www.pinterest.com/kterrette2/

~*~
Book Blurb for White Lies:

What can you do to be a force for racial justice? 


Many White Christians are eager to fight against racism and for racial justice. But what steps can they take to make good, lasting change? How can they get involved without unintentionally doing more harm than good?

In this practical and illuminating guide drawn from more than twenty years of cross-cultural work and learning from some of the greatest leaders of color, pastor and racial justice advocate Daniel Hill provides nine practices rooted in Scripture that will position you to be an active supporter of inclusion, equality, and racial justice. With stories, studies, and examples from his own journey, Hill will show you:

· How to get free of the impact of White supremacy individually and recognize that it works systemically

· How to talk about race in an intelligent and respectful way

· How to recognize which strategies are helpful and which are harmful

· What you can do to make a difference every day, after protests and major events

We cannot experience wholistic justice without confronting and dismantling White supremacy. But as we follow Jesus—the one who is supreme over all things—into overturning false power systems, we will become better advocates of the liberating and unconditional love that God extends to us all.

~*~
Author Bio:

Daniel Hill is the author of White Lies, White Awake, and 10:10: Life to the Fullest


He is the Founding and Senior Pastor of River City Community Church, located in the west Humboldt Park neighborhood of Chicago. The vision of River City is centered on the core values of worship, reconciliation, and neighborhood development. 

Formed in 2003, River City longs to see increased spiritual renewal as well as social and economic justice in the Humboldt Park neighborhood and entire city, demonstrating compassion and alleviating poverty as tangible expressions of the Kingdom of God.

Prior to starting River City, Daniel launched a dot.com in the 90's before serving five years on the staff of Willow Creek Community Church in the suburbs of Chicago.

Daniel has his B.S. in Business from Purdue University, his M.A. in Theology from Moody Bible Institute, his certificate in Church-based Community and Economic Development from Harvard Divinity School, and his D.Min. from Northern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Daniel is married to Elizabeth, who is a Professor of Psychology, and they are the proud parents of Xander and Gabriella Hill.

~*~
Buy Daniel’s book on Amazon, Barnes and Noble or Walmart

~*~
Connect with Daniel:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pastordanielhill
Twitter: https://twitter.com/danielhill1336