Time to Re-Engage!

Well, I suppose nearly a year is more than enough time to sit on the sidelines and watch others pursue a clear statement on the need for reformation within in the African American Christian community, and indeed a lot has happened since I last blogged.

Barack Obama has been elected president!

Anthony Carter's church plant in Atlanta has really begin to take off!

Another Miami Pastor's conference has come and gone without my attending it.

I have begun to work deeper into my MDiv program and spending more time interacting with other students in the African American Imagination Theology project at Reformed Theological Seminary - Orlando...

There's been a lot to reflect on and I have reflected on absolutely none of it on this blog! Which means there are probably no readers out there tracking these thoughts any more, though it was a fairly paultry lot to begin with...even still, there is much to prayerfully consider, and I would like to follow the divergence of paths I had in my most recent post back in August 2008. Namely:

• This site will focus on pastoral, devotional and church items, in other words, the basic and braod call to discipleship is what will be in view on this blog, and considering that in relation to the our surrounding community.
• I will soon launch another site on Wordpress that will focus on more rigorous theological considerations, especially as they deal with the pursuit of a reformation movement in the African American church

I expect to speak less from a cultural and ethnic viewpoint on this site, at least I will not intend to do so, though who can separate themselves from their heritage and experiences? All we do is informed by those experiences that shape not only our understanding of the world but indeed serve as our literal interface to the world! But, I become more and more convinced that reformation in the African American church will only occur as we become increasingly multi-cultural and experientially plural in our congregations...don't yell at me Xavier! I'll flesh this thought out more on the Wordpress blog soon...

My current plan is to resume this blog by working through themes from a current sermon series I have begun at Living Faith Baptist Church, though I know this discussion for now is likely to be a monologue. Nevertheless, I believe the Lord wants me to pursue this medium again...whether he really does will be borne out by my actually sustaining the effort. We'll see.

Anyhow, I will post twice before the end of the week on two thoughts:

First, to simply outline the series we have begun on "The Church" and I'll share the objectives and desired outcome of that series. Moreover, if we can get the audio working right at our church, I will attempt to post the audio for these messages online via this blog.

Secondly, we'll dive into the first item in the outline, and begin what will hopefully be a lively discussion and/or debate: Why the Church?

Darryl