AWAKEN, Day Three

Yesterday morning, I, Jumaine, and our fellow panel guests were first up on the agenda at 9am... the topic of the discussion was "Where Do African-Americans Fit In to the Metanarrative (Big Picture) of the Gospel?" Honestly, the question needs to be tweaked, b/c we (African-Americans) are like Baskin Robbins ice cream... there are alot of different flavors, as was even depicted by the panelists: Yvonne Latty, an NYU professor; Marlon Hall, Cultural Architect of the Awakenings Movement in Houston, TX; Jumaine Jones, Lead Pastor of The Bridge in Silver Spring, MD; and moi. Yvonne came from her experience as an African-American writer/journalist, and the pain that has sometimes brought her... Marlon's movement in Houston (and now Detroit) is a very hip, urban, predominantly African-American gathering... Jumaine is a Caribbean-American, planting a multi-ethnic church in a very eclectic area of Silver Spring/DC... and I'm a Worship Leader-turned-Church Planter, planting a Mosaic Church in College Park, MD... whom God has called to be a catalyst to bring people of different races/cultures to learn to follow Jesus together and build strong, healthy relationships with one another.

It was definitely a great experience... and glad Ju and I got that type of exposure! It felt like we were celebs (lol!), because after the panel so many people were coming up to us after the session saying, "I think that was the best panel discussion of the conference!" I don't know if I'd go that far... but it was cool, still. ;-)

Special thanks to my good friend, Marcus "Goodie" Goodloe, for making that panel happen. You're an awesome mover and shaker, man! Keep living your story!