Sharing Our Stories: My heart's cry

A Cry of Lament
A guest post written by Stephanie Bankhead

These past several weeks have been exceptionally difficult. It is easy to read the news and allow frustration and grief to settle in like a rock sinking to the bottom of a pond.

To make matters worse, I have had several very tense conversations with White friends. I want so badly for them to understand and acknowledge the cry of our fellow humans of color. But I walk away from those conversations feeling like the road ahead is steep and rocky. It feels monumental.

In an effort to deal with all the mixed emotions that have plagued me lately, I have written this cry of lament. I’m sharing it with you in hopes that it will help you too. That God’s love will settle over you and bring a peace that passes understanding.

This is my cry…

O Most High and Holy God,

There is a chasm wider than any canyon on earth between Your children this day.

We are so self-absorbed and self-protective that we can’t see our fellow humans

for the beautiful images of You that they are.

We are angry and always ready for a fight.

We are killing and maiming each other literally and figuratively.

Even though Your Word clearly tells us that there is no distinction of hierarchy in Your Kingdom,

we classify and label in order to elevate ourselves to higher status.

We stand in pride, refusing to see our brothers and sisters who are hurting and in pain.

Because acknowledging their pain and oppression would be admitting that we have done wrong.

Lord God, we need You.

We need You to change hearts and mindsets.

Help us to be gentle in our conversations with those who aren’t ready to hear and to ask more questions than to argue.

Give us a heart of humility and repentance. We have done wrong.

We have sinned against you and against our fellow human beings.

Please let our convictions show through our words and actions.

We need Your Holy Spirit to bring peace and open our eyes.

You, Lord Jesus, went around doing good when you walked on this dusty earth two thousand years ago.

Empower us to do good too. We want to be like You.

You are the lifter of the oppressed. You set captives free.

Jesus, You are our freedom. Your death and resurrection has saved us and set us free.

We want to live like we believe that with all our hearts.

No matter the crazy circumstances of the world, we trust You, God.

We put our hope in You. You saved us before and You will save us once again.

We will shout with joy the new song of freedom and love that You have put in our mouths.

We will sing of Your goodness and mercy all of our days.

Your grace is sufficient.

And we thank You. 

In Jesus’s Name I pray.

Amen.

~*~
Author Bio:

Stephanie Bankhead is a Bible teacher, mentor and author of several Bible studies. She has worked at a local church as the Women’s Ministry Leader since 2013. In 2018, she became an ordained Teaching Pastor. Before that, she worked as the director of a very successful youth volleyball club.

What both of these experiences taught her is that women are still little girls inside. Deep down we are all still asking the same questions, “Am I capable? Am I attractive? Am I enough?”

Stephanie delivers sermons and speaks at women’s events on a multitude of topics. Her favorite topic is teaching people what the Bible says about their own identity in God.

Stephanie lives in Amarillo, Texas with her husband of 32 years. They have a rescue pup who barks too much, and a bird abandoned when her two grown children flew the nest. Her four grandchildren are the apples of her eye.

Sharing Our Stories: Introducing the writers

Introducing Kai A. Pineda in her words:

In 2015, I participated in a private author network I did not feel qualified for when initially asked to join. In one of the first meetings with our coach, we discussed the necessity of a tagline. 

As I listened to what others who were more seasoned had come up with to describe their brand or their mission, I had nothing. A few days later, I began to see the burden God had placed within my heart for the church and our need to become the Bride He hoped we would become. I prayed, leaning into what God showed me. The following tagline emerged: Be The Church You Want To See.

Fast forward to 2021, the work I had been doing surrounding the racial divide within the body and our need to unify became even more apparent when 2020 hit the world in ways many were not ready for at all. I started to be called upon to speak and share with others who did not look like me to help organizations, leaders, brothers, and sisters who desired to help as the world’s racial injustices were presented before us in a way we could not ignore. I understood the hard conversations didn’t just need to happen; they must occur for the church to move forward.

In writing my book or speaking out, I have nor will I ever say I have all the answers. What I do have is The Way, and that way is the Word of God. I will not lean into my race over my faith, nor will I condemn anyone who disagrees. We all have a lot to learn, and my desire here on this beautiful blog is to bring forth biblical principles we apply to our daily lives. I desire to see us all heal together as one body, loving its many parts.

I hope you will share this adventure with me through comments that foster dialogue. If I know anything, I know this about the Word of God; it will challenge, convict, and convert us every time we read it. I know we can no longer stand apart and think we will get anything done. 

God created us to live and grow in community.

I pray this is where we begin to become the church we want to see!

~*~
Author Bio:

I am a fire-starter and a passionate student of the Bible who helps others discover their identity and the beauty within the Body of Christ by leading them into an encounter with the Word of God. 

I am married to a man I am madly in like with and love more than I can explain. Together we plant home fellowships within the U.S. and abroad.

I am an author who released her first book, Dear Church: Vol 1: The Beauty of The Body, in 2019, with the second volume to be released in 2021. I have recorded two praise and worship albums and love to travel.

I am an introvert who loves her family, people, rainy days, a chai latte from Starbucks, and my Maltipoo McLovin.

I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, nor challenging people to live lives based on a biblical standard and not personal preferences.

~*~
Connect with Kai:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kai.a.pineda
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iamkaiapineda/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Kai_A_Pineda
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/92920689-kai-pineda

Sharing Our Stories: Roseanna's Review of "How to Fight Racism" (book by Jemar Tisby)

Review by Roseanna M. White of Jemar Tisby’s book, 

How to Fight Racism: 

Courageous Christianity and the Journey Toward Racial Justice

I can honestly say that reading The Color of Compromise by Jemar Tisby had a profound impact on how I understand the history of racism within the American church. 

So when I saw that Mr. Tisby had a new book out, I was quick to order it—especially when I saw that this one was meant to be a practical guide to overcoming racism in one’s personal life as well as where it appears systemically.

Tisby approaches the question with what he has termed “the ARC of racial justice.” The book is broken down into three main categories to correspond with that ARC: Awareness, Relationships, Commitment. 

In the Awareness section, he leads the reader into methods of understand one’s own racial story—not only in terms of what one’s own race is, but in how one has interacted with the very concept of race from childhood on up. Those who are Black or people of color most likely have a very different story than those of the white majority, but everyone has lived with race. Becoming aware of how we were each taught—through others or through experience—to view race, how it has become part of our current understanding, is a crucial first step. Once we become self-aware, then we can take steps to move toward true equity and understanding.

While Tisby is careful to point out that relationships alone cannot solve racism—that it is bigger than individuals and must be addressed on a system-wide level—he knows that for most of us, true racial reconciliation begins with Relationships. It’s as we become friends with and come to care about individuals from other races that we can truly come to see what others suffer. With that empathy comes understanding and the desire to see change for their sake.

But from that first desire, we then must move to Commitment. We must take active steps on social levels to support or instigate change—in our churches, in our communities, in our businesses, and in our government.

Of the two books, I still prefer The Color of Compromise solely because it focused on history and the stories of people who lived it, and this is always how I’m best engaged.

How to Fight Racism was a more clinical, academic approach to the question of racism, which is no doubt preferred by others. The advice he gives is well rounded, and I was pleased to see that he addresses people in many different circumstances.

Coming from a rural community with a very un-diverse population, I’m often left feeling like all the opportunities and advice offered in books doesn’t apply to me, since those opportunities simply don’t exist where I live. Tisby actually addresses how people who live in areas like mine can still engage meaningfully with the question, which I really appreciate.

By the end of the book, I was left with a list of possible actions I, my church, and my community could take…and also with the heavy certainty that fighting racism could easily become an all-consuming task. Something so big, so engrained in our culture, can’t be undone by wishing or making a few friends. It must be dismantled with the same care with which it was built. That’s an intimidating task…but also one that so clearly needs to be tackled, especially by people of faith who should be seeking the good of their neighbor, loving their neighbor above all.

How to Fight Racism invites the reader to be well versed in why this is a fight we all must take on…and then equips us to determine how best to do it wherever we are.

~*~
Reviewer’s Bio:

Roseanna M. White is a bestselling, Christy Award nominated author who has long claimed that words are the air she breathes. 

When not writing fiction, she’s homeschooling her two kids, editing for WhiteFire Publishing, designing book covers, and pretending her house will clean itself. 

Roseanna is the author of a slew of historical novels that span several continents and thousands of years. Spies and war and mayhem always seem to find their way into her books … to offset her real life, which is blessedly ordinary.

You can learn more about her and her stories at www.RoseannaMWhite.com.

~*~
Connect with Roseanna:
Blog: https://roseannamwhite.com/blog/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RoseannaMWhite/
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/roseannamwhite/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/roseannamwhite/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/RoseannaMWhite
Website: https://www.roseannamwhite.com

~*~
Blurb for How to Fight Racism:

Racism is pervasive in today's world, and many are complicit in the failure to confront its evils. Jemar Tisby, author of the award-winning The Color of Compromise, believes we need to move beyond mere discussions about racism and begin equipping people with the practical tools to fight against it.

How to Fight Racism is a handbook for pursuing racial justice with hands-on suggestions bolstered by real-world examples of change. Tisby offers an array of actionable items to confront racism in our relationships and in everyday life through a simple framework — the A.R.C. of Racial Justice — that helps readers consistently interrogate their own actions and maintain a consistent posture of anti-racist action. This book is for anyone who believes it is time to stop compromising with racism and courageously confront it.

Tisby roots the ultimate solution to racism in the Christian faith as we embrace the implications of what Jesus taught his followers. Beginning in the church, he provides an opportunity to be part of the solution and suggests that the application of these principles can offer us hope that will transform our nation and the world. 

Tisby encourages us to reject passivity and become active participants in the struggle for human dignity across racial and ethnic lines. Readers of the book will come away with a clear model for how to think about race in productive ways and a compelling call to dismantle a social hierarchy long stratified by skin color.

~*~

Buy How to Fight Racism on Amazon or Barnes and Noble

~*~
Author Bio:

Jemar Tisby is the author of the New York Times bestseller, The Color of Compromise, president and co-founder of The Witness: A Black Christian Collective, and co-host of the podcast, Pass The Mic.

He grew up just north of Chicago and attended the University of Notre Dame. He went on to join Teach For America and was assigned to the Mississippi Delta Corps where he taught sixth grade at a public charter school and later went on to be the principal. 

He received his MDiv from Reformed Theological Seminary and is presently working toward his PhD in History at the University of Mississippi studying race, religion, and social movements in the twentieth century.

Jemar and his family call the Deep South home and especially love the weather, people, and food! His new book, How to Fight Racism releases in January of 2021 and is available for pre-order now.

~*~
Connect with Jemar:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JemarTisby1
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jemartisby/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JemarTisby
Website: https://jemartisby.com

Happy New Year 2021!

 

Merry Christmas! God bless you!

 

Sharing Our Stories: Roseanna's Review of "Wings Like a Dove" (book)

Roseanna M. White’s review of the book Wings Like a Dove by Camille Eide:

“Any town that is predominantly white could not possibly be so by accident.” 

This is a line and indeed an idea that I first encountered in the author’s note of Wings Like a Dove, which is in turn quoted as the premise of Sundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension of American Racism by James Lowen, which in part inspired Camille Eide to write her novel, Wings Like a Dove. Until I read this masterfully written historical by Eide, I’d never heard of “sundown towns,” where people of color were not allowed to remain after dark. Coming from a town and county with an extremely low minority rate, this statement made me open my eyes in new ways to my own community and wonder what it would have been like a hundred years ago.

Wings Like a Dove is by no means a non-fiction treatise though—it’s an engaging, soul-piercing work of historical fiction that lingered with me for months after reading it. Have you ever read one of those books that’s so packed full of spiritual and emotional truths that you want to bring it into nearly every conversation while you’re reading it, and long after? Yeah…that’s how this book was for me.

The story is about Anna, a Jewish immigrant from Poland who finds herself in a terrible predicament. She’s pregnant, and she’s unmarried. Her mother gives her an ultimatum: go to a home for unwed mothers and agree to sign her child over to the institution or be disowned. Anna, however, can’t comply when she sees some of the shifty things going on at the home. So she does the only thing she can think to do: She packs a bag and heads west, determined to track down her father, who none of them have heard from in years.

Her path leads her to a small Indiana town, where a passel of orphan boys—and the former minister who is in charge of them—are in rather desperate need of help. One of the boys, Sam, was told he couldn’t attend the local school because he’s Black…and so, all the boys quit with him. Which means they’ll all be in hot water unless they can pass the tests for their school years. Rather desperate herself, Anna agrees to tutor them and cook and keep house—for a while. But she knows she can’t stay long or her shameful situation will become known.

Tossed straight into a town fully in the clutches of the then-newly-revitalized KKK, Anna experiences what too many of us have chosen to forget or not teach our children about: the terrors of a white supremacist culture, where the supposedly upright, moral citizens were willing to stoop to terror to preserve what they called the “pure American” lifestyle. Anna, being Jewish, learns firsthand about this hatred; and feels it all the more keenly for Sam, the sweet-natured boy who is clearly hiding an inner agony. Also in the crosshairs of the Klan are the Catholic nuns who are the only ones who will bring aid to the group of orphans and their guardians.

What I love about fiction is that it can ask the hard questions in ways that truly touch our hearts. Wings Like a Dove asks questions about how we can tear down the invisible walls between us. How we can choose to walk a different path. How we can open our eyes to what makes our hearts the same and be blind only to what would drive us apart. How we can love, forgive, and embolden others to do the same with our actions.

As a novel, Wings Like a Dove is riveting and so very impactful that it will forever remain one of my favorite books. As a glimpse into our nation’s shadowy history, it’s a heart-wrenching portrayal of an era that was filled with terror for anyone who was a minority in race or religion of which I’d known far too little before reading this. As a faith-filled work, it’s a reminder that God and His love are bigger than all the walls we build. Bigger than all the hatred we stack up. Bigger than all our excuses. And it challenged me to look deeper at my own heart, my family, my church, and my community.

Because those invisible walls that separate us can be torn down—but only if we put in the work to do so.

~*~
Reviewer's Bio:

Roseanna M. White is a bestselling, Christy Award nominated author who has long claimed that words are the air she breathes.  

When not writing fiction, she’s homeschooling her two kids, editing for WhiteFire Publishing, designing book covers, and pretending her house will clean itself.

Roseanna is the author of a slew of historical novels that span several continents and thousands of years. Spies and war and mayhem always seem to find their way into her books … to offset her real life, which is blessedly ordinary.

You can learn more about her and her stories at www.RoseannaMWhite.com.

~*~
Connect with Roseanna:
Blog: https://roseannamwhite.com/blog/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RoseannaMWhite/
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/roseannamwhite/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/roseannamwhite/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/RoseannaMWhite
Website: https://www.roseannamwhite.com

~*~
Book Blurb for Wings Like a Dove:

Can the invisible walls that separate people ever come down? 

In 1933, Anna Leibowicz is convinced that the American dream that brought her Jewish family here from Poland is nothing but an illusion. Her father has vanished. Her dreams of college can’t make it past the sweat-shop door. And when she discovers to her shame and horror that she’s with child, her mother gives her little choice but to leave her family. Deciding her best course of action is to try to find her father, she strikes out…hoping against hope to somehow redeem them both.

When Anna stumbles upon a house full of orphan boys in rural Indiana who are in desperate need of a tutor, she agrees to postpone her journey. But she knows from the moment she meets their contemplative, deep-hearted caretaker, Thomas Chandler, that she doesn’t dare risk staying too long. She can’t afford to open her heart to them, to him. She can’t risk letting her secrets out.

All too soon, the townspeople realize she’s not like them and treat her with the same disdain they give the Sisters of Mercy—the nuns who help Thomas and the boys—and Samuel, the quiet colored boy Thomas has taken in. With the Klan presence in the town growing ever stronger and the danger to this family increasing the longer she stays, Anna is torn between fleeing to keep them safe…and staying to fight beside them.

Oh, that I had wings like a dove! for then would I fly away, and be at rest…

~*~
Author Bio:

Camille Eide writes more than a romance with her tender tales of love, faith, and family for those who enjoy inspirational romance and women's fiction. 

Her novel, The Memoir of Johnny Devine, was awarded 5 Gold Stars/Top Pick, Best Inspirational Romance, the December Seal of Excellence from RT Book Reviews, and Oregon Christian Writers' Best Historical Fiction.

Please visit my website at www.camilleeide.com

~*~

Connect with Camille:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CamilleEide.Author/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/CamilleEide
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5356695.Camille_Eide
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/Camille.eide/

Merry Christmas 2019: An e-card for you! :)

Happy New Year 2019!

Honoring A Man of God (Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.) today, and celebrating his legacy

Merry Christmas! :)

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A Call-to-Action for Racial Reconciliation and Agape Love

A Message for you on this Easter Sunday

The Cross of Christ can also be referred to as the "Mercy Tree." God is REAL. His Son JESUS Christ is ALIVE and He loves YOU with His very Life! Read John 3:16-17.

I hope that you and your loved ones will have a joyous Easter Sunday as we celebrate God's heart of Love and Jesus Christ's sacrifice that He did for us to have the hope of eternal life.

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A Must-See Movie that May Change Your Mindset...for the better! :)

This movie, ya'll, breathed LIFE into me tonight! You need to watch it. Turn OFF the NEWS on TV, put down the newspaper, take a break from social media and watch this movie!

Zootopia is a movie made by Disney and I do believe it is their most genius, culture-changing, call-to-action, creative and clever production! Seriously, this one needs to go down in the history books!

The acting, music, storyboarding, plot and voice overs in this animated film were second to none. The comedic timing of the lines was perfect and best of all, this film's power to galvanize generations of old and new is just...brilliant!

We're living in crazy, unpredictable times and people are on edge. People are scared of each other, they're judging each other unfairly, they're taking in all of the news that's negative and not digesting enough positivity and hope is feeling like a foreign concept.

But this movie, Zootopia, will remind you that we all belong to ONE race...the HUMAN RACE and We are ALL better TOGETHER.

This movie will encourage you to NOT judge people based on their skin color, beliefs and style. It will inspire you to live out The Golden Rule which is to simply "Treat others how you want to be treated."

It will make you laugh out loud, cry (happy tears), touch your heart and make your mind believe that despite our hostile times, there still are good people in this world and together we can fight for justice and together, we can make the world a better place.

So what are you waiting for? Go watch the movie! It's available on Netflix. :)

Happy Valentine's Day! An e-card for you :)

Let's leave this world better than we found it!

Hope for your heart is right here in this beautiful call-to-action song performed by Danny Gokey and Kierra Sheard. It encouraged and inspired my heart. 

Would you please listen to it?



Great song, eh? It really opens the conversation to talk about injustice in our world today and inspires people to want to make a change. 

But let's not stop the conversation for change there! Let's do more than talk about making a change to fight against injustice and oppression, let's DO something about it by following the example of the late Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King. We need leaders like him today. People who are NOT afraid to speak against wrong and help people make the right decisions. 

God loves us ALL. It's time we do too.

A Message from Pastor Charles A. Tapp about racial tensions in America

Bigger than Black and White from Sligo Church on Vimeo.