God’s “Alleged” Mistake

Sometimes it’s good to look back. If anything, to remind yourself that God does not make mistakes. 

When I was five, I remember sitting quietly in the bathtub as my mother ran to get a towel. I caressed my soft arm and studied the mocha color that reflected back at me. Silently, I grabbed the washcloth that was sitting in the murky water, and slowly began to scrub away at my arm. “Surely this color can come off,” I thought to myself. But to my dismay the mocha only turned a brownish red.

This was the beginning of a long journey. Through elementary school, middle school and high school, I struggled to see my identity, significance and value; in large part, but not limited to, the color of my skin. Although rarely spoken, my brown skin felt like an unfortunate mistake that God made while He created me. God’s alleged mistake seemed to me an unlucky liability.

Like many teenagers, I wanted desperately to fit in. My desire to quietly walk through life unnoticed seemed impossible as my blackness stood out impeccably in a sea of white that was my classroom and extra curricular activities. I hate the reality of the matter, but I carried on my shoulders much shame for my heritage. I often went to bed wondering why I was the offspring of an ostracized and splintered people who did much to build this nation (literally and figuratively) but received so little credit. I was contented to hide quietly behind a wall of complacency. 

I’ve later realized that I was never created to hide behind the walls of mediocrity or complacency. I was created to reflect the beauty of my Maker. We were created to reflect the grandeur of the King. My inability to look at myself and see something more was in direct correlation with my inability to understand that I am created in the image of God. By the very nature of my human existence, I am endowed with dignity because God created me in His image. 

The same is true for every human; for every human is a fellow image bearer of God. This means, every person you see today— in the grocery store, at your job, in the class room, running past you on the sidewalk, in the car— is a fellow image bearer of God and has intrinsic significance, dignity and identity. Perhaps if we viewed our fellow mankind in such a way, it would transform our relationships; and if it transformed our relationships, it could transform the world. 

SharDavia Bell graduated from Radford University in 2011 with a Bachelor’s Degree in English. She now lives in Lynchburg, VA where she works full-time with Campus Outreach, a college ministry that is passionate about “glorifying God by building laborers on the campus for the lost world”. 

Talking to our Kids About Race

I was in a bookstore the other day with my daughter and I stumbled upon a book I had read a long time ago. It’s written by Dr. Seuss and is entitled The Sneetches. If you’re not familiar with the book, I’ll give you a quick rundown. In the book there are two kinds of Sneetches, ones with stars on their bellies and ones without stars. Those with stars think they are better than those without and exclude them from everything. This obviously makes the starless Sneetches very sad. One day, a man shows up with a machine that puts stars on the bellies of the starless Sneetches for a small fee. Of course, this makes the Sneetches with stars upset since they are the real star Sneetches. So, the man says he can remove their stars. As you can guess, this removal and addition of stars goes back and forth for the entire day as each Sneetch desperately tries to distinguish himself from the others. At the end of the day, the Sneetches have spent all their money and nobody knows who is who anymore. It is only then they realize that it doesn’t really matter who has stars and who doesn’t. They can be friends with each other no matter what they look like.

As I reread this book as an adult, I realized what a great book this is for talking to our kids about race! It puts it in ways they can really understand and shows them how silly it can be to make distinctions about each other based on what we look like. At the end of the day, as the Sneetches found out, it really doesn’t matter at all. 

Chelsea Flowers Anderson is a Marine Corps veteran and current student at Liberty University. She is passionate about helping kids in need through foster care and community outreach. She is the proud mom of daughter RJ. 

A Glimpse at a World With No Walls!

This past weekend the No Walls Ministry hosted its most recent 2^nd Saturday picnic, but it was anything, but the same old, same old.  Those who were there were treated to a rare glimpse behind the curtain, at what a world with No Walls might look like.  People of all ages, backgrounds and skin colors celebrating as excited witnesses, to the exchanging of vows, between a young couple.  The No Walls family had been planning to host its monthly 2^nd Saturday picnic downtown, complete with a cake of Saint Patty’s day green; but when the word went out, just three days before the picnic, that a wedding might be in order, the body of Christ rose to the occasion.   

Enter, stage right a young couple, desiring to honor God, in obedience with their relationship.  They had little else to offer, but willing hearts and so presented themselves to their pastor for prompt consideration.  It was then that the Lord saw fit to unleash the flood gates of his grace upon them and mountains began to move.  The planned Saint Patrick’s Day picnic theme was scrapped in favor of wedding bells and white.  Chairs were set up and the tables cleared away so the community center would look every bit like the church it would soon become on this festive occasion.  The food for the reception kept coming; every time the side door opened, there stood another guest with a dish to pass.   

The bride was glamorous and blessed with makeup and hair professionally styled as though preparing the bride for a fashion shoot.  Her gown was white, long and flowing; her headpiece elegant and a simple floral bouquet completed the ensemble.  The groom sported a dapper white tuxedo, white shoes and a smile that lighted the room.  A wedding cake of white was delivered and decorated especially fine for the happy couple.  The bridal party was assembled and dressed in their finest white suits and gowns too.  This place, on this day provided an ideal setting for the co-laboring of God and man.   

As the wedding march began to play all eyes turned to the bride as she was escorted down the center aisle and handed off to her anxiously awaiting partner.  The vow exchange was short and to the point, the pastor shared a few words which reinforced the message that God’s plan included marriage as part of his way to protect families and children.  Marriage is his idea and is to be valued by all.  Then the groom kissed his bride as the two became one.  On this particular day, the value of marriage was evident as evidenced by the smiling faces of the recently joined couple, in a community where marriages are in short supply.  

Wedding gifts and cards overflowed the welcome basket, hinting at the love and support shared with this couple.  Holiday Inn’s bridal suite was arranged; dinner and breakfast were also covered by unnamed donors, ensuring that a memorable wedding day and honeymoon would be enjoyed.   

One of No Walls ten Core Values is that “We believe marriage and family are the foundations of a healthy society.”  We had been looking for ways to celebrate marriage and elevate the idea of marriage within the College Hill community and on this day that is exactly what happened.   

What was witnessed at this picnic/wedding was the body of Christ sharing with one another and pulling together so that a couple without financial means could enjoy the benefits of a Father that gives abundantly to the children he loves.  At a time when it would have been easy to settle for second best, God provided lavishly through the hands and hearts of brothers and sisters in Christ; ultimately bringing himself glory and allowing the rest of us the privilege of catching a glimpse at what a world with No Walls might look like, even if only for a short time.   

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Stephen C. Weaver Esq. is an attorney and President of the No Walls Ministry, Inc. located in Lynchburg Virginia, whose mission is to help churches work cross culturally and cross denominationally to address the needs of the local community.  He has been teaching, speaking, writing and engaging in inner city ministries for over twenty years with his particular interest and passion being in the area of race relations.

The Battle of Selma, 2015

The 50^th anniversary commemoration of the march on Selma, a watershed moment in the civil rights movement, has come and gone and, in my opinion, left debris in its wake like a summer thunderstorm. It’s clearer to me now than ever before that American society is not equipped for the task of racial reconciliation, and that it’s going to take the unified, Christ-committed church to lead us there.

There were some positive signs. Two Republican members of Congress, Rep. Tim Scott of South Carolina and Rep. Martha Roby of Alabama, were co-sponsors of the 50^th anniversary commemoration under the auspices of the Faith and Politics Institute, which has hosted the commemorative march in Selma since 1998. They aggressively recruited their Republican colleagues to participate in the event, and a record number of them showed up. Former President George W. Bush and his wife, Laura, were also there, reflecting what has been a conciliatory and charitable post-presidency for our 43^rd president.

But then the storm started.

POLITICO reported that, while Scott and Roby were co-sponsors of the event and former President Bush would be in attendance, no one in the House GOP leadership was planning to attend, nor was the Senate Majority Leader, Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH) from the Senate GOP leadership team attended and, after the story broke, Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), the House Majority Leader, said he would attend, and did.

The damage was done, however, and the reaction was swift and sharp. I know because I was one of the ones excoriating the GOP leaders for their failure to participate. The party speaks often of its desire to reach out to minorities and other constituencies that do not typically align themselves with Republicans or conservatives, but they then miss out on opportunities like this one to build bridges and tear down walls. In my book, I wrote about the political brush fire over the failure of the top-tier GOP candidates for president in the 2008 election to participate in a 2007 presidential forum on minority issues:

The men considered the four major Republican contenders at the time—former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, Sen. John McCain (AZ) and former Sen. Fred Thompson (TN) — had all declined to participate, citing scheduling conflicts. Some indicated that scheduling a forum in the last week of the fundraising cycle left them with a difficult choice between participation in the debate or raising desperately needed funds for their campaigns.

Mr. Smiley wasn’t buying it and neither were the Republicans who worked with him to arrange this forum. Michael Steele insisted that the GOP frontrunners come to the table, saying “I think it’s an important opportunity for Republican candidates to put up or shut up, when it comes to minority communities in the country.” Former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Jack Kemp, a Republican with a notable track record of outreach to minority voters since his days as a U.S. congressman from Buffalo, said, “[W]e sound like we don’t want black people to vote for us. What are we going to do — meet in a country club in the suburbs one day? If we’re going to be competitive with people of color, we’ve got to ask them for their vote.”

Newt Gingrich, in my opinion the greatest thinker and intellectual force in the conservative arena today, was direct and unflinching in his criticism:

“For Republicans to consistently refuse to engage in front of an African American or Latino audience is an enormous error. I hope they will reverse their decision and change their schedules. I see no excuse — this thing has been planned for months, these candidates have known about it for months. It’s just fundamentally wrong. Any of them who give you that scheduling-conflict answer are disingenuous. That’s baloney.”

I acknowledged in my book that a number of Republicans, including the man who would emerge months later as a primary contender for the GOP nomination, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, chose to participate in the forum, just as a number of Republicans joined the 50^th anniversary commemoration at Selma this past weekend. As my pastor likes to point out, however, using a key leadership proverb that he has adopted as one of the core values of our church, “the speed of the leader is the speed of the team,” and the leaders set the pace, cues and focus for those they lead. Thus, it sends a powerful message to advocate and adversary alike when the leadership takes a pass on visible and historically meaningful events such as this.

The reaction of political partisans was predictable and sad. If there were such a thing as a kindergarten translator to take their comments and convert them into language a five-year old would understand, the main arguments went something like this:

• “Why should they go somewhere where everyone’s going to be mean to them?”

• “See, I told you they don’t like black people!”

• What’s the big deal? They’re just marching – it’s not like they’re doing anything that really helps people!”

• “I don’t want to them to come – I don’t like them anyway!”

Certainly, not everyone was on their best behavior. There was a heavy dose of politics at the event, to be sure, practically all of which was counter to the GOP agenda. One activist refused to march because former President Bush was marching. Conservatives accused the New York Times of cropping President Bush out of a picture showing the lead line of marchers, a charge the paper vehemently denied.

The problem, you see, is that no one can get past their political tribes or their political idolatry to acknowledge our shared humanity in all its glory and scandal. No one is willing to acknowledge that, “from one man He made all the nations” (Acts 17:26), making us one blood and one race, and no one is willing to concede that there is no human being within the realm of our senses that isn’t made in the image of God. Politics seeks to divide rather than unite, and it is ill-suited for the racial healing that must take place if we are to remain one nation. Politics at its core is all about seeking, acquiring and holding power, and anything that lessens one’s power is without value and discarded. Politics causes one to hold to the delusion that because they are in a particular political tribe or hold a particular position on a political issue, they are pure and their opponent is evil. This delusion makes it easy to dismiss those who disagree with you, and it is a poison that seeps deeply into the grass roots of our culture, as any length of time spent scanning social media sites will tell you right away.

Well, to paraphrase and sum up Romans 3:9-19, the apostle Paul says, “Get over yourselves! Not one of you measures up!” There are no qualifiers in that statement, either. Whether you are the oppressed or the oppressor, the standard is the same, and we have failed to meet it.

When your idol is politics, you are unable to do one thing that is essential to the Christian life – humble yourself. Politics is not interested in humility, but rather humiliation. In order to win, someone has to lose, and there is no room for compromise. That means no confession and repentance for the sin of racism, and no forgiveness for those who have wronged you, and therefore no reconciliation. If you are not willing to deny yourself and pick up the cross, even if it’s not a cross of your making, because you desire to be reconciled to your brother or sister before you make your offering to the Lord (Matthew 5:23-24), if you are not willing to forgive as you have been forgiven (Colossians 3:13), if you are not willing to, “as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone” (Romans 12:18), then you will reap what you have sown, and you will never know peace.

If you are not a believer, then my words will be foolishness to you. If you are a believer, however, my admonishment to you is to take the Lord at His word, and surrender your desire to be more righteous, because you are not. Surrender your fear of being hated for being a peacemaker rather than just a peacekeeper, because yours will be the Kingdom of Heaven. Surrender your desire to have dominion in this world, because “What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?” (Mark 8:35). The church is in the world, but not of the world, and we need to discard the ways of the world, and adopt the ways of Christ if we are to build a bridge that will stand long after the bridge at Selma has crumbled to the ground. The politicians and those for whom politics is their idol will fail; that’s not a threat, but a promise. Only the church has the transparency, humility and grace to reconcile us to one another, as the Lord reconciled Himself to us:

Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross (Philippians 2:5-8).

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Ron Miller of Lynchburg, Virginia is an associate dean and assistant professor of government at Liberty University, a commentator and author of the book, SELLOUT: Musings from Uncle Tom's Porch.

The Voice of the Faceless

With the influx of black experience movies that have come out in the past few years, I’ve come to realize that it’s imperative that some stories be told. Unfortunately, many of the stories that need to be told are untraveled journeys, lost in the depths of uncharted territories. The lives of faithful minority saints that precede us get forgotten in the shadows others. 

Until a year ago, I wasn’t aware that black missionaries existed. I hoped they did, but they were faceless and nameless in my heart and mind. 

In the grand narrative of the gospel story, these vantage points of the drama that continues to unfold before us will give us a more comprehensive view of our Savior. The life of Betsey Stockton is one seat in the auditorium of those watching the awe-inspiring narrative of the gospel transpire.  

Born A Slave

God knew Betsey Stockton before she was born, and her being born a slave was no accidental mishap or typo by the Author.

She was born a slave in 1798 in Princeton, New Jersey. Her owner, Robert Stockton, was a well-known and respected attorney in the Princeton area. When Betsey was young, Robert gave her to his eldest daughter Elizabeth and her husband Ashbel Green, a Presbyterian Minister.

Records indicate that Ashbel Green, was quite fond of Betsey. She was included in the family prayers and was educated by Dr. Green, which was unusual of this time. It was in Green’s living room that Betsey first began to hear the truth of the gospel. 

When Betsey was 14 years old, Dr. Green became the eighth President of The College of New Jersey (now known as Princeton University).  During Green’s tenure, there was a spiritual revival at the college, influencing many of the students. One student, Eliphalet Gilbert, began sharing his faith with Betsey. As a result of Gilbert’s faithful labor, Betsey was born again at the age of 18. She was publically baptized, admitted to the Lord’s table and became a member of The First Presbyterian Church (today known as Nassau Church Presbyterian Church). 

Soon after coming to faith, she was legally manumitted by Dr. Green. 

“They are men and have souls…”

As Betsey walked with the Lord, she developed a heart for the nations. She first heard about the opportunity to labor for the gospel in Hawaii (then known as The Sandwich Islands), from Princeton seminary student, Charles Stewart. Charles was converted during Green’s tenure at The College of New Jersey. 

On September 3, 1821, when Betsey was 23 years old, Dr. Green wrote to the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM)—the first North American Christian missions organization— recommending Stewart and Betsey as missionary candidates. They agreed that Betsey would join the Stewart family; however, her role on the team, as stated in the ABCFM records, was quite ambiguous, as she was joining the team “neither as a servant nor an equal, but as a humble Christian friend.” 

Although her title was obscure, on November 19, 1822, Betsey, Charles and Harriet Stewart, eleven other missionaries and four native islanders set sail for Hawaii.  Five months later, in April 1823, after a long and difficult journey, the team settled on Maui. Upon arriving to Hawaii, she quotes in her journal: “Are these, thought I, the beings with whom I must spend the remainder of my life? They are men and have souls-- was the reply of my conscious.”

Betsey’s greatest contribution was as a teacher. She helped open the first school on the island for commoners, who were predominately farmers. She learned their language and taught English, Latin, History and Algebra. 

The Return Home

Due to Mrs. Stewart’s poor health, Betsey returned to the U.S. with the Stewart family in 1826. In 1829 (age 31), Betsey spent a few months teaching at a school for Native American children in Canada with a Methodist missionary, Mr. William Case.

In 1833 (age 35), Betsey moved back to Princeton, NJ. In the mid-1830s, First Presbyterian Church, Betsey’s first home church, experienced much racial tension. This caused the black members of the church to separate and form a new church a few blocks away called Witherspoon Street Presbyterian Church. 

One of the first woman teachers at Witherspoon, Cecilia Can Tyne, went to Rio de Janeiro in 1848 having been influenced by Betsey. After finishing the race, Betsey was called home October 24, 1865 in Princeton, NJ.

Consider the Saints of Old

1. How is God's sovereignty over Betsey's life evident in her story?

2. What do you learn or are reminded of about God's character from Betsey's life?

3. What is a theme verse you would use to sum up the life of Betsey Stockton?

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SharDavia Bell graduated from Radford University in 2011 with a Bachelor’s Degree in English. She now lives in Lynchburg, VA where she works full-time with Campus Outreach, a college ministry that is passionate about “glorifying God by building laborers on the campus for the lost world”.