Answering the Call

For as early as I can remember, I have loved to perform.  I sang and played the piano.  My parents recognized that I was blessed with many gifts and a big personality to match.   They, along with my great-grandmother, cultivated those gifts by enrolling me in piano lessons, purchasing microphones, and easels—anything to enhance what God had so generously placed in my spirit. It was paying off.  By the time I was a teenager, I was the lead singer in my church choir for many songs.  In addition, I did back up vocals for local New York City rap artists and continued to audition in hopes of becoming apart of group. Even today, I still can’t figure it out, but I never wanted to be the lead.

Putting Out The Plea For Haiti

Started in Oakland, CA, by Rev. Joseph and Bertha Wigfall, Equator Faith Mission has been carrying God’s word to Jamaica and Haiti since 1949. Their efforts have resulted in over 23 churches established in Haiti alone. Sister Vaughn joined forces with the Wigfall’s in 1976 and has been a faithful, steadfast and reliable soldier in the war against poverty and ignorance ever since.

"It was God’s call for me to go to Haiti", says Sister Vaughn. "I loved to travel and considered myself a tourist. God came to me in a dream and told me that I would be travelling but not as a tourist. He told me first to go to Jerusalem...

No Ordinary School Yard Brawl

It’s been the kind of story that makes most of us, as African Americans, stop and ask the question, "This is still happening in 2007?" Yet it is happening and probably in more places – large and small- than we would like to think about until it impacts us – our children, our community. "It" is the inequity of the justice system within our country – especially when it is applied to African American males. True, this is not a new story. In fact, there are too many stories, examples, history, etc. of such inequalities however, a story out of the small town of Jena, LA, has fired up and re-invigorated a civil rights issue too long dormant.

In brief, in December 2006, six young black male high school students were charged with attempted second-degree murder and conspiracy to commit second degree murder as the result of allegedly beating a white male classmate.

A Church that Walks Together

All our lives we have heard: “A family that prays together, stays together!” There was something special about sharing intimate thoughts together with God. Those moments of prayer over the years would provide not only a healing balm for the family but also a spiritual “glue” that sealed the “cracks” of hardships and difficulties. Such prayer gave them the strength to persevere even through the toughest of times they might face.

The Impact of Leaders: Economic Crisis

The Debate: How did we end up here?  America, one of the world’s greatest and richest countries is on the verge of financial ruin; it would be nice to know what happened?  It would also be comforting to know who is to blame.  At least that way we could try to figure out what went wrong, fix it, and devise a strategy that would prevent this kind of travesty from ever happening again.  With a national deficit of over $10 Trillion dollars and climbing, budget overruns now approaching $500 Billion annually, and a stock market that is seemingly tumbling out of control daily, I ask, “Where are the leaders?” and “What did they do or not do?”

F.O.C.U.S.

College is a time of transition where one only begins to understand who they truly are. Issues about themselves begin to unfold before their eyes and family problems that were hidden for years suddenly begin to appear. It’s a time where experimentation is encouraged and exposure to different worlds is granted. Though college can be a wonderful time, it also can be one of great trials. As the years go on the dropout rates of college students increase along with those for pregnancy, and violence.

Consecrated by God

Should a Baptist preacher be called “Bishop”?  That is, perhaps, the burning question of the day in Baptist church circles.  In a society where many members of the clergy are arbitrarily giving themselves titles of choice, such as elder, reverend, prophet(ess), evangelist, pastor, and bishop, many wonder just what is the true title of one who leads a Baptist congregation. Why is there a need for change?

Curtis Eugene Edmonds, newly consecrated bishop of Saint Mark Missionary Baptist Church, Portsmouth, VA, has a stellar reputation that precedes him.He is well-known, well-respected and held in reverence in ministerial circles.

Hip-Hop-Church

He has a series of “firsts” in his resume’ as a rapper, thus, no one should be truly surprise that Kurtis Blow is regarded as the Godfather of Rap.He was the first rap artist to be signed to a major record label (Mercury Records), become a millionaire, be presented with a gold album (The Breaks), have a gold single (Christmas Rappin’), and the first rap producer to be nominated for a Grammy.However, the “first” of which he is most proud is God being first in his life, and he makes no secret of the fact that his life is dedicated to Christ and that his mission is to bring others into the Kingdom.