the photo above courtesy of CBN

So, I’ll just hop right into this one – in case you hadn’t heard or maybe you’ve banned yourself from the news and social media altogether (in which I don’t blame you). Some of America’s most prominent Inner-City African-American pastors all met with President Donald Trump a.k.a #45 to some; on August 1, 2018, to discuss Criminal Justice Reform and how the church can play a role in helping non-violent offenders get back into the workforce.

President Donald Trump and Prominent African-American Inner City Pastors (R: Pastor John Gray)

I’m not sure what other in-depth conversations took place within that meeting as I’m really not a political person, I mean I do vote but I hate the political games of it – if that makes sense; however, this post is not so much about politics but instead, how we can look at a picture of something and run with it without getting the full details of what’s really going on. Now don’t get me wrong – I’m nobody’s saint because I surely have judged many conversations, pictures and etc based off of what I either saw at first glance or heard.

I’ve also been critical of others without giving them a shot to speak their peace. My point in saying all of that is while all these prominent pastors were at the roundtable – there was one pastor that seemed to suffer the biggest blow of being in the midst of the rhetoric and that was Pastor John Gray. If you don’t know Pastor Gray, he’s the pastor of ‘Relentless Church’ in Greenville, South Carolina. Gray is a very inspiring, encouraging and uplifting preacher who basically tells it like it is but in such a way that it’ll make even a non-believer shout AMEN!

However, after the meeting with Trump; Gray traveled back home to find that his cool points with many churchgoers had gone out the window.  He received thousands of negative FB messages about his trip and while Gray may have thought to go was a message from God, church members, fellow Christians and other prominent leaders disagreed; including Pastor Jamal Bryant – who took to FB Live to call Gray out. To hear what he had to say as well as Gray’s rebuttal for his part in the meeting, you can view that here: Lailah Lynn TV via YouTube 

Bryant, who proclaimed a great love and admiration for Gray went on to tell viewers that the bible says. “If you have an alt against your brother, you should go to him and tell him” (Matthew 5:23-24 & 18:15-17)  Bryant, stated that he felt as though he had done that by sending a text to Gray but when he didn’t get a response – that’s when he got on FB and decided to call Gray out. In my opinion, I felt like Bryant’s statements about Gray should’ve been kept secret until he was able to get him face to face behind closed doors. Now, if I read the Word right – it gives us four steps to do when you are disgruntled with your brother or sister or if you both have some sort of miscommunication issues:

1. If a fellow believer hurts you, go and tell him—work it out between the two of you. If he listens, you’ve made a friend.
2. If he won’t listen, take one or two others along so that the presence of witnesses will keep things honest, and try again.
3. If he still won’t listen, tell the church.
4. Then if he or she won’t accept the church’s decision, treat that person as a pagan or a corrupt tax collector.

Now, I’m unsure if Bryant followed those complete steps and I don’t want to judge and say he didn’t but from his conversation; it sounded like he didn’t give Gray an opportunity to explain his reasoning before taking to social media.

But out of all of this, I was pleased to hear what Willie Moore Jr. had to say about the situation and the thoughts he shared, including how he too had a couple of things to say about the issue (at first glance) but decided to take it to the Lord in prayer. In which he explains in the video below.

 

Are you finding yourself criticising a conversation or a picture before you find out the truth? It’s so easy to get caught up in the referendum of things because “he said” or “she said” or “they did” or “Gurrlllll, did you hear or see?” those conversations could easily get turned into something terribly wrong and lead to a serious miscommunications because we’re choosing to look from a half-full glass.

We should take everything to God in prayer – even the things we don’t understand. Before you talk about it or criticize it, take it to God and let him work it out – if that person or people are doing wrong? Let him handle it – Why?? Because, he’s ALL knowing, ALL powerful and handles EVERYTHING MISUNDERSTOOD.

 

 

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