Racial Reconciliation for the Body of Christ

I have been hit so hard lately by the Holy Spirit through my lead pastor, Bryan Loritts. At Fellowship Memphis Crichton location, the pulpit is shared. All of the pastors, except for Bryan, are white. I have grown so much, in the short time I have been at this church, from all the teachings of each pastor. But it is through some of Bryan's sermons that I have been spiritually gut kicked. And it is exactly what I have been praying for. I started listening to his sermons online quite a while before actually going to the church. I knew God was answering my prayer, and leading me down a path that I longed for so much, but knew I could never accomplish myself, in my own prejudice-prone heart. It is the path of racial reconciliation for His body, starting right here, for me that is, in my own heart and soul. Since my salvation almost 7 years ago, I have confessed my sin of prejudice on a regular basis. It is not a sin that I feel casual about. No sin is casual. EVERY SINGLE SIN cost God so very much! But I have some sins that I weep over more than others. Does that make sense? The sins that I know lead to so many other sins, and have the potential for so much harm to the body of Christ. The ones that hurt the name of my Savior so badly. They stretch so far and reach places that do tremendous harm, not only to the body of Christ, but to the unsaved, who watch us so closely to find fault in this "religion" we claim, to this Person we pledge to be devoted. We claim to love our Lord, yet our sins speak louder than our claims, and end up pushing the unredeemed away from Jesus, instead of towards Him. That is what I'm talking about. And my sins of prejudice fall into that category. They grieve, and I'm sure, anger my Lord tremendously. So I spend much time on my face, pleading for the grace of God to change my wicked heart. I call my prejudice what God does...sin. It is deep seeded and rooted from many years of going unchecked, not being dealt with or really even cared about. Going for years of feeling justified in my evil thoughts towards an entire race of people. But once the Holy Spirit came to live on the inside of me, He began to reveal that which Jehovah God calls sin.

I wasn't raised prejudice against African Americans. Black and white were equal in my family, as far as anything I heard and saw. But then again, I really wasn't exposed to black people. There were none in my church (Methodist) There were, I believe, only two black children in my grade in elementary. (Public school in the sixties) There were none in junior high (A private Baptist school) and only two, I believe, in high school (A private Catholic all-girls school). Not much exposure. Not much opportunity for me to develop a prejudice heart. But still, I never once, in all my childhood, heard my parents speak negatively about "African Americans", ever. I never once, my entire life growing up, heard a slang word used in my parents' home, for black people. Now that's quite an unusual thing here in the south! My entire life, every single time I have ever heard a white person use derogatory language against a black person, I shutter. I can't stand it, never have been able to hear it without a sick feeling in my stomach. That is the way my whole family was, and still is. In fact, a few years ago when we had someone else use that horrible word to describe black people, the shock wave went through my entire family. All of my son's cousins were talking about it because they were in complete shock that "the word" had been used in a Greenslade household! It just wasn't said in my family. We stayed away from talking bad about any race or nationality. Of all the things we talked about, different races just wasn't one of them. But of course, we weren't concerned with racial reconciliation either. It wasn't until on my job of 26 years that it started to develop. I was hired right before my 23rd birthday, and I'm still with the same company. Somewhere along the line, I started forming the opinion that some of the black people were lazy, and that they felt like they didn't have to work much for their money. The seed was planted. It wasn't as if I was outright against any black people, but my sinful assumption started thinking that if you're black at my job, then you're not going to work hard. But that was wicked and wrong. It was sin. It doesn't matter what color you are. Laziness comes in all colors!! Hard workers do too. But I took the actions of a handful and grouped an entire race into that category! It was such a horrible sin against a holy God first, and an entire race second.

After I was saved and started growing in the Lord, I also developed another sin against my God and the African American race. I was so surrounded by people who claimed the name of Christ, all of whom were black, living and proclaiming that the prosperity, word/faith gospel was the truth. They claimed the name of Jesus, all the while waiting for the wealth to fall in their laps. They wouldn't even speak the words of any type of sickness, because that would make it become a reality. And if they wanted money, or nicer cars and bigger homes, then all they had to do was believe and declare it so, and it was a done deal. It didn't matter that their lives were wicked. At work is where I got my first lesson on the word/faith movement, and everyone in it, at my job, happened to be black. That first glimpse of the reality of this heresy left a very bitter taste. It made me sick to my stomach. There's nothing about the prosperity gospel that I wanted any part of, and still don't. But the sin was not that I wanted nothing to do with this false gospel, the sin was in forming bitterness in my heart for the African American race. Once again, because of the actions of a few, I lumped the whole race together as heretics. I got so sick of people claiming to have a "word" from the Lord. I was even told by one lady that she saw Jesus on one of the street corners in Memphis, and proceeded to tell me what special revelation He gave her. I hear it all, such wickedness and sin against God. It just so happens that there's not a white person at my job who is into this false religion. But there are millions upon millions, black and white alike, who follow these false teachings. Because I wasn't exposed to any of the white people proclaiming the word/faith "gospel", I hardened my heart and considered that anyone who says that they are a Christian, and they happen to be black, probably follows the path of "name it and claim it" religion. Let me say right here that there were two white people on my job, before I was saved, that were "religious". In fact, they were very religious. They were so religious that they refused to even speak to me at all because they had heard the rumors of my grossfully sinful sexual lifestyle, and they wanted nothing to do with me! How's that for "Christianity"? But of course, they were white, so I gave them more of a break than I did the religious blacks.

I have developed some very close working relationships with some black people that I care for very much, even to this day. There are so many that I pray for fervently, daily. I would say that I love these people but I would be a hypocrite. Although I feel like I love them, how can I truly love, with the love of Christ, when I feel like their salvation would never be real if they told me that they had been saved. And how can I truly love some of them that I know are steeped in the word/faith movement, when I've never even tried to lead them to the true gospel of Jesus Christ? I've never taken the time to plead with them to let us search the scriptures together and see that word/faith doesn't line up biblically. So how could I make a claim to really love them, even this very day?

There is a preacher by the name of Crawford Loritts. I had, for quite a while, heard some of his teachings. I thought he was right on in his preaching. Everything I heard was lined up with the bible, and he was obviously filled with the Holy Spirit. Then, as God would have it, I found out that he's black. I was shocked, to put it mildly. How could this be? I had, every time I heard him, proclaimed that he was preaching the Truth, the true gospel of Christ. But I thought all black people were word/faith, and all headed down the wrong path. I had never had any contact with any religious black person who didn't hold to that false doctrine. Every single black person I had contact with, who I talked to about Jesus, had ended up talking so highly about Creflo Dollar and others like him. Someone always wanted to give me their own special "word" from the Lord. Or else they would forbid me to say in their presence that it sounded like they were coming down with a cold. So how could it be that this black preacher, Crawford Loritts, was actually preaching the Jesus of the bible? God really knocked me off my feet that day. And I am so extremely grateful that He did! How merciful He was to me when I was so very wicked and prideful. Oh how He could have punished me for such horrible sin against Him and against the African American race!

Fast forward a few years, to today. I am now attending the church planted here in Memphis by a handful of pastors who have a heart for reaching the world, here in Memphis, for the gospel. They have such a heart for racial reconciliation. And the lead pastor is the son of Crawford Loritts. Isn't God so cool? Isn't He awesome? I stay on my face pleading at the throne of all grace and mercy for God to continue to change my heart. I don't want any part of prejudice in my heart or in my life. But I still struggle so much. Jesus has won the victory, but I am still fighting the everyday battle, with the help of the Holy Spirit. I pray for the day when I am not amazed when I meet an African American who is not part of the word/faith movement. I plead for God to rip that sin right out of my heart, and give me His heart for ALL people. And He is faithful! He answers my prayers and He has lead me to some very Godly black Christians, who are my brothers and sisters in Christ! He has shown me that the kingdom of God is for all races. Revelation 5:9 and 7:9 tells us so. Hallelujah!!

It's hard, in a way, to write this blog. It's an ugly, sinful, extremely prideful and wicked side of me that I'd much rather leave unrevealed. But it is sin; and it is pride that would have me keep it concealed when my Master is wanting it revealed. God hates pride! I get so sick of myself when I let pride lead me into sin that I no longer want in my life. I don't want to continue in my old ways of thinking! I don't want my heart and mind. I want the heart of God. I want to be like Jesus! And I want God to break me in whatever way He has to, to accomplish it. God has blessed me so much to lead me to this church! There has always been a joy, since getting saved, every single time I walked into the doors at church. I come from a wonderful church with a pastor who loves the Lord tremendously. But since being lead to Fellowship, I have a joy and peace like I have never known before. And the coolest thing is that I didn't expect it. I didn't know what to expect, but I didn't even know that I could have such a joy. If you would have told me, even a year ago, that I would have more joy than I have ever known, worshipping side by side with as many blacks as whites, I would not have believed it. I would have thought it was not very likely. If you would have told me that I would be praising God with all my heart for putting me under the leadership of an African American pastor, I would have told you that you were crazy. But it's joy unspeakable! Truly! The Lord has lead me to many Godly black people, and this man is being used in a powerful way by the Holy Spirit. I am growing so much in the Lord, being under his teachings. FOOD! SOLID FOOD! Spiritual food for spiritual growth, and growing with all my heart! So, instead of God striking me dead for my wicked prejudice, He was merciful to me. And on the path that He leads me in my walk with Him, He lead me to this church, to this body of believers, and the desire for racial reconciliation. And He has lead me to write about this for some reason, His reason. He is working. He has a plan. He wanted me to speak out about something that is critical in the heart and mind of Jehovah God. Maybe today, He even wants to speak to you! (Please read parts 2 & 3)