Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Meet Author Gayle Woodard
Lady Gayle, you married into a well known ministerial family. What was that like for you?
When I married, it was good, but overwhelming. My husband's dad was the Pastor and my husband was the Minister of Music at that time, so he was very active and busy. The fact that my father was a Minister also helped a great deal as well because I already knew what it meant to be very active in ministry.
Considering where you are now, when you look back, did you have any idea that you would be affecting so many people's lives?
No, I had no idea. But I knew that God had a plan and purpose for my life. I never thought it would be a Pastor's wife, but, I love seeing the transformation in the lives of people.
I am a PK (preacher's kid) so I know what it's like to share your loved one with an entire community. How do you cope with sharining your husband with the world?
We both love people. I know he's touching many lives.
Being a First Lady requires that you wear many hats. What do you do to find balance in your life?
I make sure that I always have family time and me time. From that me time, I consecrate and pamper myself and spend time with God so he can refresh me.
In the past, First Ladies have been quiet, demure, pristine role models relegated to working behind the scenes. Give us your thoughts about the new role more public role that First Ladies are taking in the 21st century church.
When you are a member of a ministerial family, all eyes are on you. What advice would you give other First Ladies dealing with the pressure of being under such scrutiny?
I try to remember that it's still ministry and that the pressures and the scrutiny are a part of ministry. I would tell any first lady to be yourself, but also remember you are an example to others and all eyes are on you. When people watch you it's about ministry also.
Many people believe that when you're married to a pastor, your only choice is to be a First Lady, but your debut book It' s My Prerogative seems to say that being a First Lady is very much a choice. Explain this outlook.
I believe that you have the choice to reject the call by not supporting your husband. You can choose not to walk in the call, not to be a leader, and not to be in submission to leadership. You can be in wrong character and not work with him as a team. When you accept the call, you both work together as a team and you stand beside your husband in ministry and support the vision that God has given to him.
Also, God gave me the title"It's My Prerogative", so I could address some issues in this book from past experiences and from research with other first ladies. I felt I had the right to say what I wanted to in order to encourage other first ladies that walk in the call.
What message do you want readers to gain from It's My Prerogative?
I want the message of the book to be empowerment for the body of Christ, Pastors and their wives as they accept the call, to walk as an incredible team together. I want every Pastor's wife to know that it is an honor that God has chosen her to walk alongside her husband in ministry.
What are some of the challenges that are addressed in the book?
Challenges addressed in the book include the secret places of the first lady. There are many places in the lives of first ladies that sometime cause us to have to walk along in the call of ministry. I also address issues such as how to minister to your husband, how to wear the many shoes of a first lady and how to seek guidance and direction when become a first lady. Finally, I address being yourself and praying for directions and coming together with your husband to discover the best ministry for your lives.
What lies ahead for Lady Gayle?
I want to continue to say yes to the call of ministry and support my husband. I think God has placed in me to write more for the body of Christ. I want to make a difference in the lives of first ladies, women and girls. The First Ladies Support Group just kicked off. This is my way of building up the first ladies as we continue to make a difference for so many people. I also plan to continue standing with my husband as we embark on a great endeavor to build a 3500 seat cathedral at our Houston location.
How can one purchase a copy of the book?
www.amazon.com, http://www.barnesandnoble.com/ and Koininia Christian Bookstore located at the Houston campus. For any first ladies interested in becoming part of the First Ladies Support Group, email us at firstladiesgroup@yahoo.com
Monday, February 4, 2008
The Miseducation of African American Children
Nothing saddened me more than the fact that three of my African American female students had no idea what the term “lynching” meant. These were otherwise, decently educated young black women seeking a career in the medical field.
During our exploration of medical ethics, we were watching a film about the “Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment” which took place in the 1930’s. This experiment was responsible for the spreading of syphilis to thousands of African American people in Tuskegee, Alabama.
During the course of the film, the main character suggested that his brother had been killed by lynching. The students turned to me and asked what it meant. My heart fell to my knees at the thought that any African American child in the United States would not recognize what this term meant.
With a lack of understanding like this, it’s no wonder that Tiger Woods was able to blow off the comment made by the news reporter some weeks ago.
You see, the problem is that our children are sitting in classrooms with people who either don’t care that they learn or who have their hands tied by the system when it comes to how and what they teach.
In Texas, teachers spend a disproportionate amount of their time teaching to a standardized test. How on earth do you standardize one’s education? Every person learns in a different way and at different speeds. Some learn by seeing, some learn by listening, and some learn by doing. There are also those people who have testing phobias that prohibit them from doing well on any test. Yet the powers that be have deemed it necessary to gauge a persons intelligence using these standardized tests. They have even gone so far as to connect the teachers ability to get a bonus with the success of the students on the standardized test.
Field trips to the museum, symphonies, and other cultural outlets are few and far between because teachers are in constant fear of losing their jobs if their students don’t perform well. Therefore, many of them don’t even bother addressing a wholistic approach to learning which would include learning ones history, culture, and background.
It’s no wonder that these three young ladies had no idea what lynching meant. The issue here is that if we forget our history, we will be doomed to repeat. When the atrocities that were inflicted upon African Americans is all but forgotten, a new reign of terror is bound to come about: Jena 6, nooses hanging at prominent fortune 500 companies, a man dragged to death in Jasper, Texas.
We must begin to teach our children about their history and make it relevant for them today. If the schools won’t do it, we have to. We can no longer afford to relegate this most important task to people who could care less if we know what has happened to us in the past.
THis Black History Month, let's make it our business to learn all we can and share it with everyone we know.
During our exploration of medical ethics, we were watching a film about the “Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment” which took place in the 1930’s. This experiment was responsible for the spreading of syphilis to thousands of African American people in Tuskegee, Alabama.
During the course of the film, the main character suggested that his brother had been killed by lynching. The students turned to me and asked what it meant. My heart fell to my knees at the thought that any African American child in the United States would not recognize what this term meant.
With a lack of understanding like this, it’s no wonder that Tiger Woods was able to blow off the comment made by the news reporter some weeks ago.
You see, the problem is that our children are sitting in classrooms with people who either don’t care that they learn or who have their hands tied by the system when it comes to how and what they teach.
In Texas, teachers spend a disproportionate amount of their time teaching to a standardized test. How on earth do you standardize one’s education? Every person learns in a different way and at different speeds. Some learn by seeing, some learn by listening, and some learn by doing. There are also those people who have testing phobias that prohibit them from doing well on any test. Yet the powers that be have deemed it necessary to gauge a persons intelligence using these standardized tests. They have even gone so far as to connect the teachers ability to get a bonus with the success of the students on the standardized test.
Field trips to the museum, symphonies, and other cultural outlets are few and far between because teachers are in constant fear of losing their jobs if their students don’t perform well. Therefore, many of them don’t even bother addressing a wholistic approach to learning which would include learning ones history, culture, and background.
It’s no wonder that these three young ladies had no idea what lynching meant. The issue here is that if we forget our history, we will be doomed to repeat. When the atrocities that were inflicted upon African Americans is all but forgotten, a new reign of terror is bound to come about: Jena 6, nooses hanging at prominent fortune 500 companies, a man dragged to death in Jasper, Texas.
We must begin to teach our children about their history and make it relevant for them today. If the schools won’t do it, we have to. We can no longer afford to relegate this most important task to people who could care less if we know what has happened to us in the past.
THis Black History Month, let's make it our business to learn all we can and share it with everyone we know.
Friday, February 1, 2008
Can Hip Hop Be Holy?
A few weeks ago I spoke with Saideh Brown, author of "Can Hip Hop Be Holy?
Much to my surprise she was emphatic about the fact that Hip Hop can never be considered holy. It must be said that Saideh Brown came from a Hip Hop background. Not only did she make a career out of Hip Hop, but she is a native of New York which is where Hip Hop was born.
In my research for this particular show, I learned alot about what Hip Hop is and what it isn't. Contrary to what I first believed, it is not a genre of music. Instead it is a cultural movement that was started by Afrika Bambaataa. It was his response to the ills of society that plagued African Americans that lived in poverty in the city of New York. It was merely an afterthought that rap, (a musical genre), became associated with the movement.
The Hip Hop movenent lifted up pimps, prostitutes, and drug dealers, as the people to whom one must aspire to become. Hip-Hop has changed the very appearance of its followers by creating a look, a way of governing yourself, and a language that should be spoken.
Now this movement is beginning to pop up in church services all over the country. The belief is that you can still walk the walk , talk the talk, and dress the dress of a Hip Hopper and still be holy.
The question that many in the church are asking is, "Where's the change? Isn't it when people see the change in others, that they see that change is possible for them?
The Bible says, "If any man be in Christ he is a new creature." Why try to redeem something that was birthed out of lack, poverty, rebellion, and ethnocentricity? Why not allow God to gift you supernaturally to deal with the spirit in the youth that is pulling them to Hip-hop in the first place?
Should we allow a man that looks thugged-out, and gangstered-up, to get up and validate the Hip-hop lifestyle in church? Many of our youth cannot get decent jobs or even finish school because they refuse to change their look for our society. They want to look gangster and thugged-out like the Hip-hop artists they see, but those artists are paid for looking like that, and our kids can't get ahead looking like them. And now, there are Christian versions of these thugs and gangsters? Shouldn't we reach out to them with an example of how the power of God changes a person rather than how your insides can change, but it does not affect the outside?
Do effective youth ministries really need gimmicks? Are we diminishing, watering down, altering, and apologizing for the Words of God when we try to include Holy Hip Hop in today's church? Are we saying that the church needs to become worldly in order to attract the attention of today's youth?
Or is the opposite true? Is this really a viable way to reach our youth? Is it okay as long as we quote scripture and tell the good news?
I realize that this is probably one of the first unchurched generations. We need to find ways to reach them and bring them to the body of Christ. It is the hypocrisy that exists in some churches that has turned many of them away, but is Holy Hip Hop a viable solution? Some would argur that God would want us to be all things for all men.
What do you think?
Much to my surprise she was emphatic about the fact that Hip Hop can never be considered holy. It must be said that Saideh Brown came from a Hip Hop background. Not only did she make a career out of Hip Hop, but she is a native of New York which is where Hip Hop was born.
In my research for this particular show, I learned alot about what Hip Hop is and what it isn't. Contrary to what I first believed, it is not a genre of music. Instead it is a cultural movement that was started by Afrika Bambaataa. It was his response to the ills of society that plagued African Americans that lived in poverty in the city of New York. It was merely an afterthought that rap, (a musical genre), became associated with the movement.
The Hip Hop movenent lifted up pimps, prostitutes, and drug dealers, as the people to whom one must aspire to become. Hip-Hop has changed the very appearance of its followers by creating a look, a way of governing yourself, and a language that should be spoken.
Now this movement is beginning to pop up in church services all over the country. The belief is that you can still walk the walk , talk the talk, and dress the dress of a Hip Hopper and still be holy.
The question that many in the church are asking is, "Where's the change? Isn't it when people see the change in others, that they see that change is possible for them?
The Bible says, "If any man be in Christ he is a new creature." Why try to redeem something that was birthed out of lack, poverty, rebellion, and ethnocentricity? Why not allow God to gift you supernaturally to deal with the spirit in the youth that is pulling them to Hip-hop in the first place?
Should we allow a man that looks thugged-out, and gangstered-up, to get up and validate the Hip-hop lifestyle in church? Many of our youth cannot get decent jobs or even finish school because they refuse to change their look for our society. They want to look gangster and thugged-out like the Hip-hop artists they see, but those artists are paid for looking like that, and our kids can't get ahead looking like them. And now, there are Christian versions of these thugs and gangsters? Shouldn't we reach out to them with an example of how the power of God changes a person rather than how your insides can change, but it does not affect the outside?
Do effective youth ministries really need gimmicks? Are we diminishing, watering down, altering, and apologizing for the Words of God when we try to include Holy Hip Hop in today's church? Are we saying that the church needs to become worldly in order to attract the attention of today's youth?
Or is the opposite true? Is this really a viable way to reach our youth? Is it okay as long as we quote scripture and tell the good news?
I realize that this is probably one of the first unchurched generations. We need to find ways to reach them and bring them to the body of Christ. It is the hypocrisy that exists in some churches that has turned many of them away, but is Holy Hip Hop a viable solution? Some would argur that God would want us to be all things for all men.
What do you think?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)