I am amazed at the number of pastors who have yet to embrace and appreciate the impact that social media can have on their ministry. You would think that in the 21st century at minimum embracing a synergistic approach and understanding the importance of “free” platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Blogs, PowerPoint worship services, Video Announcements, E-Mail Newsletters… ministries would be beating themselves up to employ these technologies.
On top of that, anyone who says “I don’t understand all of that computer stuff” is no excuse. Trust me, there is a young person sitting in your pews Sunday after Sunday who would love to get you started on exploring the technology frontier if you would simply ask.
Imagine the impact that your ministry could have for the Kingdom of God “IF” you would dare to try 21st century technology.
I will close with a very familiar hymn (Especially to AMEC ministers) “A Charge to Keep I Have”. I love the words to verse 2. “To serve the present age, my calling to fulfill, o may it all my powers engage; to do my Master’s will.”
Let’s face it, when President Barack Obama took office this nation was flat on its back gasping for oxygen.America was in the midst of the worst economic recession since the 1930’s. Foreclosures were through the roof. Unemployment was sky high. There were wars in three countries. Millions of people were locked out of health care. A certain news channel that starts with “F” and ends with “X” were and continues to perpetuate cynicism and uses racially suggestive language.
Look at car row in your city, at one time car dealerships were there, as a result of President George W. Bush many of them are now out of business, in addition to banks and finance companies.
Since President Obama has been elected the “Tea Party” which is a 21st century White Citizens Council from the Jim Crow era continues to spread fear, employ and spread divisive racial issues that are aimed to create wedges between Blacks and Whites, the poor, and working class people.
Since President Obama has been elected Republicans refuse to give any kind of support whatsoever other than marching under the banner of “Hell No” to every single effort that has been made to move America forward rather than backwards. Sarah Palin’s campaign to “Take Back America” (to where, Jim Crow and Jane Crow”) is based on nothing more than injecting lies, fear, and hatred into the veins of individuals who lacks the capacity to utilize critical thinking.
Let’s set the record straight and see why it is so important that you join me every Wednesday and Friday at 12:00 p.m. EST through November 2, 2010 Election Day as we lift our President in prayer.Please join me and many others as we gather on our phones and enter into prayer at one time lifting our beloved President and the elections that will be taking place throughout America.
Please see the list below at what our President has been able to accomplish as a result of a nation of like minded people continuing to keep our President lifted in prayer:
Please call in every Wednesday and Friday at 12:00 p.m. EST as we lift our President and nation up in prayer. Please call the number provided below:
(213) 289-5460 Access Code: 214 3083
1.Prevented economy from collapsing worse than when President George W. Bush was in office
2.Was able to pass legislation that prevented an even worse economic situation than we are currently in
3.Continues to advocate for unemployment benefits for millions of American who are still aggressively seeking employment opportunities during the worse economic down turn since the 1930’s
4.Has honored his commitment to end the war in Iraq
5.Has restored significant funding for life threatening diseases through embryonic stem cell research
6.Pushed for and passed health care for millions of Americans who are locked out
7.Has ordered the closing of Guantanamo Bay Prison where prisoners were incarcerated indefinitely
8.Is currently expanding vaccinations for millions of children whose parents cannot afford to do so
9.College grads who are being crushed by debt can now have student loans refinanced
10.Has increased focus on mortgage fraud
11.The Matthew Shepard Act, officially the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, is an Act of Congress, passed on October 22, 2009
God has something in store for you that is going to absolutely blow your mind. The question is will you trust God enough to do what is necessary in order to be able to walk in the destiny that God has designed just for you?
The sad truth is, God never makes the route to your destiny a bed of roses. As a matter of fact often times the bigger blessing God has for you the more challenging the road may be. However I like what Jesus says to Paul 2nd Corinthians : "My grace is sufficent for you" 2nd Corinthians 12:9
News flash. Satan’s primary job is to abort the destiny that God is pushing you to. Please do not fall victim to the redundant games of Satan. After all, Satan has only one tactic. The tactic is to cause you to doubt and lose faith that God will do what God said God will do.
The choice is yours. I can’t make you do it. Your pastor can’t make you do it. Your best friend can’t make you do it. Believe it or not, even God will not make you do it. You must have a made up mind that no matter what, you will pursue and posses what God has for you.
What are you going to do about it? May I suggest that whenever you begin to feel defeated and that God will not honor what God said would be done that you reflect on the scripture below:
And let us not be weary in well-doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. Galatians 6:9
When you begin to feel faint reflect on what the Prophet Isaiah records:
Do you not know?Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom.
He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall;
but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. Isaiah 40:28-31
How bad do you want what God has in store for you?
-Be Empowered
Rev. Carlton Worthen, M.Div.
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I've only just a minute,
Only sixty seconds in it.
Forced upon me, can't refuse it,
Didn't seek it, didn't choose it,
But it's up to me to use it.
I must suffer if I lose it,
Give an account if I abuse it,
Just a tiny little minute,
But eternity is in it.
The Church for too long has been silent on slavery that continues to exist to this very day right here in The United States of America. Who would have ever thought that in the year of 2010 that slavery still exists? What is even more alarming is the people who actually benefit from this slavery are some of the very companies that many people patronize on a regular basis. Slavery in 2010 is perpetrated through what is called The Prison Industrial Complex (PIC).
Slavery is made legal through the 13th amendment in the U.S. Constitution. Now I must admit, the way this amendment is taught during Black history month in grade school is that the 13th amendment abolished slavery. This is true. The 13th amendment did abolish slavery; however the 13th amendment has a very special loop hole in it (I submit specifically tailored for poor people and especially for Blacks). Read what the 13th amendment section 1 says: Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.
Roughly one in 10 black men will be in prison - a statistic with major social implications because prisoners don't have jobs, pay taxes or care for their children at home. And because many states bar felons from voting, at least one in seven black men will have lost the right to vote.
Why blacks contribute about half of all prison inmates when they are only 13 percent of the U.S. population is subject to much speculation. Some specialists blame poverty or lack of opportunity. Over the past five decades, the disparity between races has widened dramatically as minorities have replaced whites in the prison population, according to the center.
In 1950, whites made up about 65 percent of all state and federal inmates, white minorities made up 35 percent. Today, the opposite is true, with 35 percent of the prison population made up of whites.
"The face of crime to white Americans is now that of a black man," said David Bostis, senior political analyst at the Center for Political and Economic Studies, a think tank that specializes in black community issues.
According to an October 1998 report by The Sentencing Project, a Washington-based legal research and services organization, in a dozen states, 30 percent to 40 percent of the next generation of black men will permanently lose the right to vote if current trends continue. In nine states, one in four black men can never vote again because they were convicted of a felony. This is most definitely disenfranchisement.
Criminologists such as William Chambliss, professor of sociology at George Washington University and past president of the American Society of Criminologists, point to law enforcement.
Police, he says, admit that they focus their resources on black communities, particularly when enforcing drug laws and despite studies that show whites consume more drugs than blacks. "It is much easier to go into black community and pop someone selling drugs on the street corner than to go into a suburb where drug use happens behind closed doors," Levensen said.
Blacks are also more frequently viewed as suspects, pulled over and targeted by raids, Chambliss said.
A survey of traffic stops in Volusia County, Fla., for instance, showed nearly 70 percent of those stopped were blacks or Hispanic, according to Georgetown University Law Professor David Cold, author of "No Equal Justice."
Police look for crimes in the ghetto, and that's where they find them," Chambliss said.[1][1]
WOW!!!! So why am I blogging about this? There are many people who may feel that if a criminal commits a crime against society they should be required to pay their debt back to society. If a criminal has committed a violent crime against an individual and or against their property the criminal should be required to make restitution. Guess what, I agree. However, let’s examine the inherent flaw with the 13th amendment and explore its limitations.
Would you be surprised that in the State of Florida Pride Industries forces inmates to construct furniture, grow foods, dentures, orthodontics, restorations, veneers, pants, sheets, socks, sweatshirts,…cosmetic products that are all sold on the open market at astronomical prices. This is PIC.
Would you be surprised that when an inmate makes a collect call to their loved ones often times phone companies such as A T&T, and Sprint charge 23 times a higher rate for the collect call than they would for anyone else. This is PIC.
Would you be surprised that Victoria’s Secret has a secret that they do not want you to know? Inmates conduct data entry for Victoria’s Secret behind prison walls. This is PIC.
The challenge with the above examples is that major corporations (who already ship jobs across seas for lower labor rates while maximizing profit margins through the exploitation of children) should be required to pay fair market wages and salaries but instead they are utilizing the PIC all in the name of PROFIT. This is wrong. This is wrong morally. This is wrong ethically. This is wrong spiritually.
[1][1]By: Louise D. Palmer, The Boston Globe. This article includes information from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer Staff. This article appeared in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer Tuesday, March 2, 1999. Pages A-1 & A-4.
