VX Church: An Emotionally Healthy Close Pt 4

The one thing that has been highlighted to me the most about our church closing is the 5th principle of emotionally healthy churches: Receiving the Gift of Limits. I believe our whole society is in need of embracing this principle. We have been saturated with the ideals of “bigger is better”. From supersized value meals [...]

Black People are Too Nice…and Eddie Long Knows It!!!

I have been busy with a crazy spring quarter but well…I had to say something. I am sure you are aware of the Eddie Long fiasco and his $25 million out of court settlement. Guilty. Obviously. The thing is I was sitting and thinking about how leaders keep falling in the Christian community and especially [...]

Why did you choose your church denomination or did you choose it at all?

I just came back from the Vineyard National Leadership Conference and I have to admit that I have been struggling about my church affiliation. To be a part of the Vineyard as an African American man almost feels like treason to my race and also a long distance trip to Mars: very lonely. But as [...]

Ten years ago in Whittier….

Ten years ago I experienced something that changed my life. Right about this time I would have been reeling from it and trying to process what I had just experienced. I had just returned from my first short term mission trip. Before this trip I had never been out of the country and only a [...]

Christians and Immigration

While there is controversy going on over the Arizona immigration bill I want to ask the question: What is the Christian response to immigration? It is definitely a huge issue and touches on economics, language, culture, national identity and history. Some would actually say that they are followers of Christ and promote some of the [...]

Prayer in a Multiethnic Church

One of the things that we are trying to navigate as a community is how to effectively represent the different styles and ways that we express spirituality since we come from so many different cultures. It has not been easy as there are so many to choose from across the spectrum of the different races [...]

Why I am still part of the black church

Yes I said it. I am still a part of the black church. But first I want to clarify what that means. I do not mean the black church in a local church sense but the black church in a philosophical/ideological sense. The black church was started as a way to affirm the culture and [...]

Why I am not part of a white church

Many people have come to believe that I myself am the pastor of a white church. I am a part of the Vineyard movement but that doesn’t mean that I am a part of a white church and I will give you three reasons why: -If I am the pastor then how could it be [...]