Building A Mosaic....

First off, let me apologize for not getting my blog done last week. About this time last week i was finishing up my time at an event called the North American Christian Convention in Kansas City, Missouri.

If you have never heard of the the North American Christian Convention (also known as the NACC), don't worry that's not unusual. The event takes place annually in different locations around the United States and has done so since the first part of the 20th century. It has been a sort of "unofficial" denominational meeting for a group of churches that consider themselves to be "non-denominational"... long story and too hard to explain right now....

i traveled there with my Senior Pastor and spent the week catching up with old friends from the around the country and Canada! We also had an opportunity to hear some excellent speakers as well. One guy from (of all places) Post Falls, Idaho was absolutely great!

The one thing that continues to be a bit of a bother for me for has been the fact that for as long as i have been a part of these convention gatherings, significant participation of people of color (and women as well) from the platform and as part of the convention leadership has been sorely lacking. This is not because we have a bunch of black people who are part of our churches who choose not to be part of this event we don't... and THAT is a problem too! It has been kind of amazing to see this event undergo significant transformation in terms of attracting younger leaders becoming more and more involved with the event but as far as African-American, Latino, Asian-American and women are concerned we have been in essence forgotten about or even more so probably, simply ignored.

That's why it was encouraging to be contacted several weeks ago prior to traveling to Kansas City and be invited to a meeting to begin an on-going dialogue about what needs to, or what should happen to encourage greater and more significant participation in particular of African -Americans not just with the NACC but within Christian Churches and Churches of Christ. While the meeting was necessary and produced what promises to be significant developments, the bottom line is what happens going forward. It is interesting to note as my Senior Pastor did that while the meeting was attended by mostly White leaders and several African-American pastors and leaders... there were only a few women there and there were no Hispanic leaders... but our hope is that at least this is a start!

Finally, this week Ruthie and Jonah along with 56 others leave our church headed to Mexico on a missions trip! This was not without drama even before they left! The whole process of getting a US passport (which you have to have per new State Department rules) is a bit of a nightmare... and another story for another week! Please remember this group of missionaries in your prayers, i know they would appreciate it!