Tags
African-American preachers, Christianity, Juanita Bynum, religion and spirituality, the Black Church
As an ordained minister in an African-American Church from 1981-2004, I concur with the contents of this video. However, Creflo Dollar, Juanita Bynum and others are really not representative of the black church. From her book, “Come Out of Her, God’s People,” the author “goes a lot deeper.” Two words tell the tale: hirelings and sin. Here is a sample from this shocking book.:
The denominational ministers on the local district formed a fellowship group where the ministers sat around and talked church trash after eating a full course meal. At each of these meetings, I was always the only woman present. Having attended several of these exclusively Denominational meetings, one particular ‘gathering’ stands out prominently in my mind. One day, Rev. Keith McGillis, the President of the Alliance and the pastor of the largest church on the Albany district decided he would “school me.” He hollered across the room to me, “Pam, you need to have a gimmick.” When I looked puzzled, Rev. McGillis stood up to demonstrate.
“Girl, look here. The niggas ain’t happy unless we give them some entertainment. I remember one day, my niggas must a been out late Saturday night, cause when I looked around, half a dem niggas was sleepin. So I jumped up, ran down the aisle, swung my robe hard to the left, then hard to the right. Took my handkerchief and waved it in the air, then I threw it down hard to the floor. Twirlin around real fast, I ran out of the sanctuary, went into my office and slammed the door. Girl, them niggas started to shoutin and screamin, some of dem jumped up and did the Holy Ghost dance. That’s what I mean Pam. You got to have a gimmick.” The rest of the ministers laughed in agreement. Rev. McGillis has since moved up to bigger and better things on the national level of the Denomination.
I never took his advice. I never found a gimmick. Perhaps this is the reason why I could never preach the congregation into a frenzy. In fact, on various occasions, my sermons were so poignant that some have jumped up out of their seats and showed me their backs as they were running out of the door while others defiantly sat right In front of me completing a cross word puzzle. The word I preached was a two-edged sword. For even when my own garment was soiled or spoiled, I still preached holiness.
Come Out of Her, God’s People” is a shocking, yet powerful book. Click the title for the softcover.