Heard In The Black Church Parking Lot: Attendance Is Down Saints. Way Down!!!

Novelist Anne Rice's surprise post last week on Facebook — she announced she had quit Christianity "in the name of Christ" because she'd seen too much hypocrisy — brought cheers and smug smiles from critics of institutional faith, and criticism and soul-searching among believers.

But there's something more at play here than one of America's most famous Catholics — Rice re-embraced the faith of her youth in 1998 and published a memoir just two years ago, "Called Out of Darkness: A Spiritual Confession" — walking away from the church.

Spiritual? Yes, Absolutely! Religious? Wait, Not So Fast!

Rice is merely one of millions of Americans who have opted out of organized religion in recent years, making the unaffiliated category of faith the fastest-growing "religion" in America, according to a 2008 study by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.

The Pew report found that 1 in 6 American adults were not affiliated with any particular faith. That number jumped to 25% for people ages 18 to 29. Moreover, most mainline Protestant denominations have for years experienced a net loss in members, and about 25% of cradle Catholics have left their childhood faith, the study showed.

And in a 2008 study by Trinity College researchers, 27% of Americans said they do not expect a religious funeral.

Black Churches Are Also Facing Declining Relevance And Influence In African American Communities. This Blog Post Explains Why.

American Christianity is not well, and there's evidence to indicate that its condition is more critical than most realize — or at least want to admit. Dr. Eddie Glaude found out the hard way when he declared that "The Black Church is Dead!"

Pollsters — most notably evangelical George Barna — have reported repeatedly that they can find little measurable difference between the moral behavior of churchgoers and the rest of American society. Barna has found that born-again Christians are more likely to divorce (an act strongly condemned by Jesus) than atheists and agnostics, and are more likely to be racist than other Americans.

And while evangelical adolescents overwhelmingly say they believe in abstaining from premarital sex, they are more likely to be sexually active — and at an earlier age — than peers who are mainline Protestants, Mormons or Jews, according to University of Texas researcher Mark Regnerus.

On the bright side, Barna's surveys show evangelicals (defined by Barna as a subset of born-again Christians, which he sees as a broader group with more flexible beliefs) do pledge far more money to charity, though 76% of them fail to give 10% of their income to the church as prescribed by their faith. Various studies show American Christians as a whole give away a miserly 3% or so of their income to the church or charity.

"Every day, the church is becoming more like the world it allegedly seeks to change," Barna has said.

Why Black Churches Remain Invaluable To African Americans

Barna isn't the only worried evangelical. Christian activist Ronald J. Sider writes in his book, "The Scandal of the Evangelical Conscience": "By their daily activity, most 'Christians' regularly commit treason. With their mouths they claim that Jesus is their Lord, but with their actions they demonstrate their allegiance to money, sex, and personal self-fulfillment."

How to explain the Grand Canyon-sized gap between principles outlined in the Gospels and the behavior of believers? Christians typically, and rather lamely, respond that shortcomings of the followers of Jesus are simply evidence of man's inherent sinfulness.

But if one adheres to the principle of Occam's razor — that the simplest explanation is the most likely — there is another, more unsettling conclusion: that many people who call themselves Christian don't really believe, deep down, in the tenets of their faith. In other words, their actions reveal their true beliefs.

The Black Church Is Dead
by Dr. Eddie Glaude Jr.

That might explain why Roman Catholic bishops leave predator priests in ministry to prey on more unsuspecting children. Or why churches on Sunday mornings are said to be the most segregated places in America. It also would explain why most Catholic women use birth control even though the practice is considered a mortal sin.

Culturally, America is still a Christian nation. The majority of us still attend church at least occasionally, celebrate Christmas and Easter, and pepper our conversations with "God bless you" and "I'll be praying for you."

But judging by the behavior of most Christians, they've become secularists. And the sea of hypocrisy between Christian beliefs and actions is driving Americans away from the institutional church in record numbers. In the African American community, the denial is both disturbing and eye-opening.

Some, such as Anne Rice, are continuing their spiritual journey on their own, unable to reconcile the Gospel message with religious institutions covered with man's dirty fingerprints. Others have stopped believing in God. Those with awareness who remain Christians are scrambling to find ways, like St. Francis of Assisi, to rebuild God's church.

Churches Are Falling Apart, Literally!

But remember, St. Francis offered a radical example during a time when the institutional church had grown corrupt and flabby. He was a wealthy young man who took a vow of poverty and devoted himself to the poor. His motto: "Preach the Gospel at all times — and when necessary use words."

A well-informed hunch says American Christians aren't ready for the kind of reformation that will realign their actions with biblical mandates. And in the meantime, the exodus from the church will continue.

William Lobdell is the author of "Losing My Religion: How I Lost My Faith Reporting on Religion in America - and Found Unexpected Peace."

Source

Bishop Thomas Weeks' Church Evicted: Did The Prophetess See It Coming?

Jesus Take The Wheel

Bishop Thomas W. Weeks III, the leader of Global Destiny International Ministries and ex to Evangelist Juanita Bynum, held services elsewhere last Friday after his Duluth church was evicted from its campus.

Stephanie Friese, attorney for Grimes-Square Executive, Inc. said, “He hasn’t made any payments at all since July of this year. The landlord did try to work out something with him.”

Friese said the bishop owes more than $400,000 in rent and fees.

According to an article written by D. Aileen Dodd, eviction proceedings were initiated against Weeks in early October. According to court documents, Weeks tried unsuccessfully to delay the eviction. A sheriff’s deputy came to the church campus last Friday to carry out the eviction. The campus includes business offices and a sanctuary.

Church officials late Friday said Weeks was still planning to hold worship services later that night elsewhere.

Weeks has long battled financial problems since the demise of his stormy marriage to national evangelist Juanita Bynum. It was reported that he faced several civil lawsuits for past-due accounts —- including possible eviction from his church.

In February Weeks said that Global Destiny Church had lost 1,600 of its 3,400 members after he attacked Bynum in an Atlanta hotel parking lot in 2007, but membership was on the rebound.
According to Gwinnett County Civil Court records, Friese filed an eviction notice Aug. 23, 2007. Court records show Weeks owed $50,555 in back rent for his church. That case was later dropped after a payment arrangement was reached. This time, the landlord and Weeks could not come to an agreement.

"He never offered a set amount of money,” Friese said. “The possession is now with the Gwinnett County Sheriff’s Office.” Source

The View's Sherri Shephard Has "Had More Abotions Than I Can Count"

"I talked to God, I talked to Barbara. We good.”

Wednesday on “The View,” Shepherd clarified some statements that she made to a black Christian women’s magazine called Precious Times. In the article, she was quoted as saying that televangelists Juanita Bynum and Joyce Meyer would be good on “The View.” She said “they could lay hands on Barbara Walters and get her saved.”

Shepherd says she was joking and clearly it didn’t come off the way she wanted it to. She says she spoke to Walters, who is vacationing in France, and apologized for any offense. She says Walters laughed and shot back: “Sherri, I’m already in heaven. I’m in Paris.”

Shepherd also explained a statement she made to the magazine about having had multiple abortions in the past. She was quoted as saying “I’ve had more abortions than I can count.”

Shepherd says she carried a lot of shame and guilt about it, until a woman at a conference said “Sherri, when you get to heaven all your babies are going to be there.”

Shepherd says she was in no way trying to be flippant about abortions. MSNBC

Rev. Wright Holding On, Son David Wright Suffers "Mild" Heart Attack Over Mom's Death And Dad's Condition

(Rev. Timothy Wright and wife Betty being honored)

Rev. Timothy Wright remains hospitalized and alert after the horrific accident in route from a Detroit church conference. He was informed about the death of his grandson, D.J. Wright in the accident. However, the family is holding off telling the gospel artist and pastor about his beloved wife, Betty Wright, who also died in the weekend accident.

Betty Wright, was co-pastor with Rev. Wright, of Grace Tabernacle Church of God In Christ in Brooklyn, N.Y. She wrote the couple's latest gospel hit inspired by Hurricane Katrina victims, "Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.''

According to blackvoices.com, 29-year-old David Wright, one of the couple's five sons, suffered an apparent mild heart attack after learning the news. Source

Reverend Jeremiah Wright Speaks For Himself Outside A Quick Youtube Clip

Tamar Manasseh Is Poised To Be One Of The First Black Female Rabbis In The Nation

"As if African-American women don't have enough challenges already, why would you want to go ahead and do something like this?" Tamar Manasseh says, asking the question that others have posed. "You don't make the decision to do it. It kind of comes to you."

The Chicago-born mother of two has four years to go in the five-year rabbinic master's program at the African-American-founded Israelite Academy. Raised by her mother in the Jewish faith since youth, Manasseh, 30, is a lifelong member of Beth Shalom B'Nai Zaken Ethiopian Hebrew Congregation.

The congregation, which is largely black, was founded in 1915 and moved to its current location -- the former Lawn Manor Hebrew Congregation on South Kedzie in Marquette Park -- in 2004, from the Southeast Side.

But she faces challenges, Funnye says. Among them: critics in the black Jewish community. Funnye says many of his colleagues are against women being ordained. Manasseh and her family say she has been dealing with naysayers her whole life.

"She did face some challenges," says her mother, Everloyce McCullough, who "reverted" from Catholicism to Judaism before Manasseh was born. "I don't think that she ever said, 'I don't want to do this.' But it was difficult for her, and we talked through it, and she managed to do some introspection. And she realized that this is who she is, and this is where she belongs."

'Fought to defend who I was'

Still, especially as a teenager, it was hard to blend in as a black Jew.

"At some point, every kid feels like they're a freak," Manasseh says, "but it makes so much sense to me now.

"I couldn't wear my star of David because it was too gang-related," she says, noting that the religious symbol was also the sign of the Gangster Disciples gang. "I've never understood that. Sometimes, people will still kind of look at me funny."

Continued with the Sun Times piece...

White Mainstream Media Gets It Wrong About The Black Church, And Don't Even Get Me Started About Rev. Jeremiah Wright

Not So Fast On Making Brotherman The Bogeyman

With the continued hand-wringing over the "explosive, controversy" remarks Jeremiah Wright made on the pulpit to a chorus of "Amens" and "Preach Pastor," a backlash of humongous proportions is beginning to surface.

The sermons courtesy of Youtube by Senator Barack Obama's former pastor have critics charging that the US mainstream media have distorted Wright's comments, failed to understand the African American church, and sought to punish the Democratic Party presidential hopeful through "guilt by association" while ignoring equally incendiary remarks made by white clergy on the religious right.

At the center of the storm that engulfed Barack Obama's presidential campaign is his spiritual mentor, the reverend who once presided over Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago's south side. Someone who married Barack and Michelle Obama and who baptized his two little girls.

Wright's comments prompted Obama to give a groundbreaking speech on race in the United States - the first time in decades that this issue has been addressed by a candidate for the presidential nomination. In the speech, Obama said he rejected Wright's more inflammatory statements, but refused to disown his longtime spiritual advisor.

Among the former US Marine's remarks: The government gives them [African Americans] the drugs, builds bigger prisons, passes a three-strike [felony] law and then wants us to sing "God Bless America". No, no, no, Goddamn America, that's in the Bible for killing innocent people. Goddamn America for treating our citizens as less than human. Goddamn America for as long as she acts like she is God and she is supreme.

We have supported state terrorism against the Palestinians and black South Africans and now [post 9/11] we are indignant because the stuff we have done overseas is now brought right back into our own front yards. America's chickens are coming home to roost.

Both have other pastors been given a free pass? Dr George Hunsinger of Princeton University, an ordained white Presbyterian minister, believes the mainstream US media has distorted Wright's remarks.

"I think we are looking at some basic questions of fairness," he told Inter Press Service. "Is it really fair to take a minister's remarks, no matter how provocative or ill-advised, out of context and to broadcast them incessantly, as if they were the only thing that minister ever said or believed? What purposes are served by this sort of propaganda?"

Another prominent theologian, Reverend Martin Marty of the University of Chicago Divinity School, said he "does not excuse some of the indefensible comments of Wright that have now been bludgeoned into our consciousness to the exclusion of all else.

But he says, "The four s's charged against Wright - segregation, separatism, sectarianism and superiority - don't stand up." He said Trinity "has made strenuous efforts to help black Christians overcome the shame they had so long been conditioned to experience. People do not leave Trinity ready to beat up on white people; they are charged to make peace."

In his March 18 speech, Obama called on the country to begin a national conversation on race and ethnicity. Most polling data suggest that the Wright controversy has not damaged Obama's presidential bid.

But Harold Ickes, a senior advisor to Senator Hillary Clinton, his competitor for the Democratic Party nomination, is quoted as saying that the Clinton campaign would use it as a way of persuading party insiders - known as superdelegates - that Obama is not electable. And this is why Hillary is losing and has completely lost any hope of connecting with African American voters.

Meanwhile, theologians in Texas expressed support for Wright at a symposium last weekend on the "State of the Black Church". Dr Stacey Floyd-Thomas, associate professor of ethics and director of black church studies at the Brite Divinity School at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, said, "What is eminently clear is the degree to which the black church is still largely misunderstood and routinely caricatured in US popular culture."

In contrast to the Wright-Obama furor, criticism of right-wing clergy has been muted or nonexistent. For example, Mike Huckabee, a former candidate for the Republican nomination for president and an ordained Baptist minister, has said, "I got into politics because I knew government didn't have the real answers, that the real answers lie in accepting Jesus Christ into our lives ..."

Also attracting little attention in the US mainstream press are endorsements by prominent conservative clergy of the presumptive Republican nominee for president, Senator John McCain of Arizona. One of them, Reverend John Hagee, has said Roman Catholicism is "A Godless theology of hate that no one dared try to stop for a thousand years." He said that the Catholic religion has "produced a harvest of hate". Hagee has confirmed that McCain sought his endorsement. McCain has said he was proud to have Hagee's support.

Another prominent McCain supporter, Reverend Rod Parsley, has said, "America was founded, in part, with the intention of seeing this false religion [Islam] destroyed, and I believe September 11, 2001, was a generational call to arms that we can no longer ignore." (Inter Press Service)

Jesus Take The Wheel: Pastor Creflo's Got Some Esplaining To Do!

Creflo Dollar Fails to Meet Tax Inquiry Deadline

Obama Wins Backing of 9/11 Commission Co-Chairman
Obama Casts Race Between Him, McCain Officially Wins Texas
Technology And The Miseducation of The Black Church
Lou Dobbs on Condoleezza Rice: Cotton... What?
Landmine Victims Star in Angola Pageant

Zimbabwe President Mugabe's Exit Now Less Likely

CNN's 'Black in America' Opens with a Look Backward
Black South Africans Optimistic About Future
Jamaican Charged with Trying to Board Plane with Bomb Parts
Diddy Signs Singer Janelle Monae to Bad Boy

40 Years Post King, Is This The Promise Land?

Are Religious Folks Riding Dirty, Or Is God Really In The Pulpit?

Praise The Lord... Just Not At Church!

Another year, another Easter.My, my, my, how I've spiritually evolved. After three years of not attending church -getting over the stuff I had come to know as church drama - I had had enough!

I chose to boycott church.

In those three years, I considered myself to be on a spiritual sabbatical. I took out the middle man I knew to be church. I went to church maybe 4 times in three years. I especially made it a point not to go on Easter and Christmas. I didn't want to be another hypocrite. However, there was a method to my madness.

Don't stop, keep going with MY BOYCOTT OF CHURCH AND MY EASTER BONNET

Finally the Black Clergy Speaks Out About Reverend J-Wright And The Chickens Determined To Roost At His Expense!

Time To Play Hardball Family!

I was wondering what was taking so long for Clergy to defend this great pastor. He was left out there alone for too long. Farrakhan too but I guess folks will only go so far.

"Bill [Clinton] did to us just like he did to Monica Lewisky, he was riding dirty." - Jeremiah Wright

The Rev. Jeremiah Wright's fiery commentary about America went beyond the usual political discourse but reflected long-held frustrations that African-Americans often release at churches and other social settings, local black pastors say.

It's those stark observations, created by generations of oppression and racism, that Barack Obama attempted to put into context Tuesday for Americans troubled by sound bites of Mr. Wright's sermons that "damned" the United States and blamed the nation's own actions for the terrorist attacks of 9/11.

Many black Dallas pastors view Mr. Wright as a longtime hero and mentor, defending his message and bridling at what they call media misrepresentation of it.

Analysis: Barack Obama takes big risk by addressing race conflict

"I have preached at Trinity [Mr. Wright's church in Chicago] and he has preached here," said the Rev. Tyrone Gordon, pastor at St. Luke Community United Methodist Church in Dallas. "One thing I said to the church on this past Sunday is that a lot of us are taking it personally because it is an attack on the whole black prophetic experience."

But for whites who have never been in a black church, Mr. Wright's words could have seemed extremist and even bizarre.

"Trinity's services are full of raucous laughter and sometimes bawdy humor. They are full of dancing, clapping, screaming and shouting that may seem jarring to the untrained ear," Mr. Obama said Tuesday. "The church contains in full the kindness and cruelty, the fierce intelligence and the shocking ignorance, the struggles and successes, the love and, yes, the bitterness and bias that make up the black experience in America."

Supporters acknowledge that the Wright controversy could be difficult for Mr. Obama to overcome, but they say he made a good first step by introducing Americans to the black church experience.

Former Dallas Mayor Ron Kirk, an Obama supporter, predicted that some voters will abandon Mr. Obama because of the presidential contest's sudden racial tone.
"There's a segment of the voting populace with folks looking for an excuse to be against him," Mr. Kirk said. Many black Dallas pastors say Mr. Wright's comments have been misinterpreted by whites unfamiliar with the black experience in America.

"There is a huge disconnect that is rooted in ignorance," said the Rev. Frederick Haynes III, pastor of Friendship West Baptist Church in Oak Cliff. "Unfortunately, it took the media lynching of Jeremiah Wright for us to once again deal with the unresolved issue of race in this country."

Dr. Gordon, who said he counts the pastor he calls "Daddy J" as a spiritual mentor, rejects any suggestion that Mr. Wright is himself racist.

Traditional black preaching -- particularly from men of Mr. Wright's generation -- carries a style and cadence far different from that found in most white churches. It is frequently delivered in Old Testament prophetic style, in which sins are recounted, punishment promised, repentance called for -- with emotion and entertainment value at a premium.

"Black preaching is provocative and steps on everybody's toes," said the Rev. Sheron Patterson, senior pastor at Highland Hills United Methodist Church in Dallas. "Black preaching is cathartic for the preacher and for the congregation."

Black audiences familiar with the style probably hear a more nuanced theology in some of Mr. Wright's quotes than what comes across from the videos filling the newscasts and Web sites.

Take the sound bite that is getting the most play, the 2003 sermon in which he repeatedly said: "God [condemn] America." It's part of a longer passage that condemns the U.S. government for a number of transgressions against blacks, including "treating our citizens as less than human."

And that, some other black pastors say, is a traditional use of the prophetic voice by a preacher named after the Old Testament prophet who condemned the nation of Israel in the name of God.

"Shall I not bring retribution on a nation such as this?" Jeremiah says, speaking for God. "They shall become as dung on the face of the earth. And death will be preferable to life for all that are left of this wicked folk." But both the contemporary and biblical Jeremiahs are the truest of patriots, Mr. Gordon said.

"They preached it because they did love their country and wanted their country to be a spiritual leader in the world," Mr. Gordon said.

But what about the controversial claims by Mr. Wright that have nothing to do with theology: that the U.S. government distributes illegal drugs to blacks and that the government created the AIDS virus as a means of genocide against people of color?
"I don't have the facts to address that," Dr. Gordon said. "I have heard that, and not only from him."

Mr. Haynes said some in the media are distorting Mr. Wright's overall message.
"They have yet to play the sermon in its entirety," Mr. Haynes said. "Anytime you take a text out of context, it's for your own pretext and you end up conning people."
Mr. Haynes said the country must be honest about its troubled past.

"Dr. Wright has said all the time, you cannot fix what you will not face," he said.

Bishop Thomas Weeks Mans Up (Finally) And Tells The World The Truth: Yeah, I Beat Her!

You Know The Prophetess Saw This Coming

The husband of televangelist Juanita Bynum pleaded guilty yesterday to assaulting her, was sentenced to three years' probation and then turned to her and apologized.

On Monday, the couple saw each other for the first time in months, when Bynum appeared at Weeks' divorce lawyer's office to be deposed in that case. She said the meeting was emotional."When I saw him, it allowed me to reflect on the first time we got married," Bynum said. "I thought about the time wasted and the time lost, and I said, `This has got to stop.'"

Thomas W. Weeks III, a minister known to his followers as Bishop Weeks, turned after his sentencing to address Bynum, who sat in the second row of the Fulton County courtroom gallery."I want to apologize to my wife for all she's had to go through," he said.Bynum nodded in response and quietly thanked him.

Weeks must undergo violence and anger counseling and complete 200 hours of community service that cannot be church-related. He had been barred previously from communicating with Bynum, but that restriction has been lifted. His record will be cleared if he completes the terms of his sentence.

"I don't believe my husband is a criminal," said Bynum, a former hairdresser and flight attendant who became a Pentecostal evangelist, author and gospel singer. Weeks is the founder of Global Destiny churches.

The couple wed in a million-dollar, televised ceremony in 2002 and together wrote "Teach Me How to Love You: The Beginnings."Bynum filed for divorce from Weeks a month after the attack, citing "cruel treatment" and saying the marriage was "irretrievably broken." Since then, the two or their lawyers have issued a series of conflicting statements about the initial incident and the couple's travails.

Details continue at BISHOP WEEKS PLEADS GUILTY TO ASSAULTING WIFE JUANITA BYNUM

Is Reverend Jeremiah Wright Helping Or Hurting Barack Obama's Presidential Bid?

CONTENT BLACK WOMAN COPES WITH THE DAY TO DAY

In spite of the great country we live in, people are dealing with very tough stuff. In the midst of it all, we find ourselves in trying to find the best person who will lead us for the next eight years as President of the United States.

Yes, a lot is going on. More people are on medication designed to help us cope mentally. The number of people taking such medication has grown exponentially over the years.

With all of this, how does one cope? Click here for her answer and read IT TAKES COURAGE TO HAVE COURAGE

Black 70's Actress Sheila Frazier Holds Out For Love, And Finally Gets Her Superfly!

Mr. John Atchison, hair stylist to the stars who was seeing clients in Los Angeles, charmed her with his bright smile and formal Southern manners. I thought he was gorgeous, Ms. Frazier said.

But Sheila Frazier of "Superfly" fame was not a typical Hollywood star. When Mr. Atchison, put down the curling iron and leaned in to chat, she pulled out a small Bible that she always carries with her.

The next thing you know we're talking about Scripture,remembered Mr. Atchison, 67, sounding both amused and inspired. People didn't believe it, he said. Sheila Frazier's in your hotel room for a haircut, and you're saying you're just reading the Bible?

Ms. Frazier, now 59, said she was looking for a spiritual connection, not a romantic one. A recently divorced mother of a 3-year-old, I was trying to pick up the pieces, she recalled. Her priorities were taking care of my son and finding work.

Mr. Atchison admired her fortitude and especially her faith, since he was in the process of rediscovering his own.

He had transformed himself from being a subway token clerk, redesigning women's hairdos in his head, to a top stylist at Vidal Sassoon in Manhattan in less than two years. And it was only another four years before he opened his own Manhattan salon in 1976, attracting clients like Dionne Warwick, Cicely Tyson and Bill and Camille Cosby. But along the way Mr. Atchison's first marriage unraveled, and he became discomforted by the superficiality of his growing fame.

So he tried joining the EST movement (it was the 70s). Then he tried meditation. I went to some session upstate where they were chanting and carrying on, he recalled. Yet he inadvertently found the solace he was seeking while at a church service with his daughter at an A.M.E. church in Jamaica, Queens, which he began attending regularly.

But his friends in New York City were not churchgoers. They thought it was a phase I was going through, he said. So he looked forward to spending time with Ms. Frazier when in 1980 he opened a second salon, in Los Angeles, where he had occasionally operated from hotel rooms and client's homes.

His feelings for her soon deepened, which he repeatedly told her. But she didn't believe him. In Hollywood everyone says they love you, she said. It's like saying good morning.

He might have been more convincing had he not been dating other women.

Mr. Atchison was living a bifurcated life: devout in California but frequenting Studio 54 back East. His partygoing with models was only to promote his salons, he said.

Despite having developed strong feelings for him, Ms. Frazier had her doubts. I've always been taught to listen less to what a person says and watch more what they do, she said.

In 1993, when a man Ms. Frazier had been dating on and off for nine years proposed marriage, she accepted. John could have scooped me up and taken me away from the guy, she said, describing what she had hoped would happen. Instead he withdrew.

Her engagement was called off after nine months, but Mr. Atchison kept his distance for several years.

Ms. Frazier focused on her career, which has included television shows from The Love Boat to The West Wing. By 1990 she was also producing a talk show in Los Angeles for Black Entertainment Television, for which she eventually became the director of network talent, booking celebrity guests and training new hosts, work that she continues to do as a consultant.

Meanwhile, Mr. Atchison enrolled in correspondence courses to become an evangelical minister and started offering Bible study classes to stylists and clients at his salon. Since Ms. Frazier also led a Bible study group, it gave him an excuse to re-establish contact and compare notes.

Then last February, unable to fall asleep one night, I poured my heart out to God about the kind of woman that I want, he said, and recalled that he heard a voice respond: God said, Sheila. She's the one.

It was 4:30 in the morning, but he picked up the phone and called her. I asked "May I have permission to date you?" he said.

Cards and flowers followed, as did late-night phone calls exploring liturgy and love. I was no longer straddling the fence, he said. He invited her to New York for Easter and included an after-hours candlelight dinner at his salon, providing a cappella musical accompaniment with a song he had rehearsed for the occasion, I'm Glad There Is You.

She had been uncertain for so long about the depth of his feelings. But no longer. Consistency is what gets me, she said before the wedding. No one holds me like John does. Although we are celibate, I love his kisses.

On Feb. 2, gentle R&B music pulsed through the barrel-vaulted sanctuary at the Crenshaw Christian Center East in Manhattan, as Mr. Atchison and the couple's 160 guests waited for the bride's arrival.

Looking svelte and serene, Ms. Frazier floated down the aisle in her strapless champagne-colored gown, gathering calla lilies and blessings from her nine bridal attendants.

Billy Brown, from the musical group Ray, Goodman & Brown, performed a song for the couple, and the Rev. Terry Starks, an evangelical minister, led them in their vows as they beamed at each other.

But it was not until the reception that Mr. Atchison could fully express his joy by serenading his new wife. I'm glad there is you, he crooned. She swayed and snapped her fingers as she had done in his salon. Then they moved together and melted into each other as the music played on.

By NY Times Writer Robert Stolarik

HAVING MARITAL PROBLEMS? JUANITA BYNUM HAS ALL THE ANSWERS... JUST NOT FOR HERSELF!

Searching On The Internet For A Vision From God About Your Life? Look No Further!

By Cousin Kim

Some people spent this past summer vacationing to tropical locales. Some worked straight through the summer and are working through fall just holding on until Christmas vacation.I spent the summer taking a course called Visioning.

No it's not what you think. I did not sit around for five weeks imagining all the material things I wanted. Instead, I spent five weeks learning to allow God to reveal to me His vision for my life.

So much was revealed to me, that I enrolled in the course for an additional eight weeks this fall.So what is the difference between visualization and visioning? Visualization is about putting your imprint or ideas of what you want into the Universe. Visioning is about allowing the Universe/God to put Its imprint on you. Visioning is an inspired process. It is much like being an overhead projector for God. You do not control the images or ideas that are placed in you, you simply receive them and then choose to live the vision.How do we open up and allow God to use us like an overhead projector? First, you must become still. Center yourself in God recognizing your oneness with Her. Next...

Continue reading Visualization Versus Visioning>>>

Juanita Bynum Can't Just Dog Bishop Thomas Weeks In Essence Without Him Having Something To Say About It... Unfortunately!

Bishop Weeks Goes Head Up With Soon-to-be Ex, Juanita Bynum

No Cream has what got Weeks so riled. We really wish both of them would just shut their mouths like Randy and Paula White. Instead, this he-said, she said crap is making them both look like idiots.

Heard In The Church Parking Lot: Black Pastors Are Not The Only Ones Suffering

Hey Pastor, Where's Your Bentley?

1500 pastors leave the ministry each month. 4,000 churches begin each year. But 7,000 close each year.That's a deficit of 3,000 churches each year! 50% of all pastors marriages end in divorce. 70% of all pastors constantly fight depression. 80% of pastors feel unqualified and discouraged in their role as pastor.

50% of pastors are so discouraged by their role as pastor that they would leave the ministry today if the could. 70% of pastors do not have a close friend, a confidant, or a mentor. 80% of seminary and Bible school graduates who enter the ministry will leave the ministry in the first five years. 90% of pastors say that their seminary of Bible school training did only a fair to poor job in preparing them for the ministry. 85% of pastors said that their greatest problem is that they are sick and tired of dealing with problem people such as: disgruntled elders, deacons, worship leaders, worship teams, board members, and associate pastors.

75% of Pastors are bound by Internet pornography. 90% of pastors said that the hardest thing about ministry is dealing with uncooperative people. 90% of pastors said the ministry was completely different than they thought it would be when they entered it. 70% of pastors felt God called them in to the ministry before their ministry began, but after only 3 years of ministry now only 50% of pastors believe that God had anything to do with calling them into the ministry. 80% of pastors wives wish their husbands would choose another profession. A majority of pastors wives said the most destructive thing to ever happen to their lives was the day their husband entered the ministry.

Would you want to be the Apostle Paul's armorbearer? How about a member in his church? Or would you ask where's his blessing? Where's his favor? Where's his Bentley? Where's his mansion? Where's his book deal? Where's his church's CD music project? Where's his TBN television broadcast? Where's your annual who's who conference? Too many so called Christians would never have the Apostle Paul as their pastor, because today the so called Church sees the things that the Apostle Paul experiences as a sign of weakness!

Why? Suffering ain't chic and it certainly ain't easy. The Apostle Paul was put in jail for his ministry. He was beaten up for his ministry more times than he could count. He was at death's door time after time, because people were trying to kill him and his ministry. He was beaten five times with the thirty-nine lashes for his ministry. He was beaten by Roman rods three times and pummeled with rocks once for his ministry. He was shipwrecked three times, and immersed in the open sea for a night and a day for his ministry. His ministry was a hard ministry. He had to ford rivers, fend off robbers, struggle with friends, struggle with foes, he was at risk in the city, at risk in the country, endangered by desert sun and sea storm, and betrayed by those he thought were his brothers in Christ.

He knew drudgery and hard labor, many a long and lonely night without sleep, many a missed meal, being blasted by the cold, and naked to the weather. And after all that, he had to face the daily pressures and anxieties of church folk.

This Thanksgiving be thankful for your pastors and do your best before the Lord to make their jobs easier, not harder. [Source]

You Can Only Keep What You're Willing to Give Away

Don't Trip, It's Only A Test!

By Cousin Kim

A few days ago, I woke up grateful for another day. Within seconds, however, gratitude turned into worry. I had been working a consulting job for two months and had not yet been paid. I had also been expecting another check for over a month that had not yet arrived. All that I could do on my end had been done. I had made the appropriate phone calls, "dotted my i's" and "crossed my t's". It was a "hurry up and wait" situation.

The facts were that I hadn't yet paid the mortgage, I had ten days until the grace period ended, and just a few dollars in savings. But what was the truth? To read more, click here.

Bishop Eddie Long Joins Juanita Bynum In The "Heard In The Church Parking Lot" Internet Drama Series

Bishop Eddie Long, one of several ministers targeted by a Senate investigation into possible financial wrongdoing, called the request for records unjust and intrusive.

In a brief address to his congregation at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia during a Sunday service, Long called the request by Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa)"intrusive," and "an attack on our religious freedom and privacy rights," during a brief address to the congregation during a morning service.

A guest minister was in the pulpit, so Long did not preach. Other than releasing a statement last week, saying he would cooperate with the request, Long had been quiet -- absent maintaining that the investigation is nothing more than a straight out attack. "[Grassley] wants to impose the will of government on our religious rights," he said.

Keep reading Eddie Long Responds To Investigation In Sunday Service