The Great Commission

Why do I feel like I’m the only person in the office today? I got in a little late and it feels like I’m super early. Anyway……………… I got something on my mind today. And the timing couldn’t be more perfect. Actually, this thing has been on my mind for a long time, but it didn’t come to the forefront until a couple of weeks ago.

Ok, so a couple of weeks ago I stumbled across some recent photos of Kim Kardashian and her beau Reggie Bush doing their version of “see we love and support Africa too” on their recent trip to the Motherland. Ok, all I can say is……..WHY??????? Other than the fact that this chick told the media that she was in South Africa when in fact she was in Botswana, I knew the trip was “one of those”. One of those…… “I want people to think that I have a heart and truly care and understand issues other than my personal issues”. All the celebrities want the Angelina Jolie image. But not everybody wants to put in the real work. The real work that’s off camera. Kudos to Angie!!!

(Deep breath). Can I just ask a simple question? Thanks. Ok, if the media is recording your philanthropic efforts, does it count? I mean, is it really genuine? Is it really real? Are you really doing good will for others or are you showing good will of yourself? Working in public relations for so many years, as well as studying it in undergrad……I know first hand how the publicity/spin thing goes. Soliciting the media while doing good works sends a huge message. It’s all about image and perception. PR is definitely an art and a science.

I remember a couple of years ago a famous local church pastor and his wife, who just happens to have a huge billboard on one of PG County’s most busiest avenues (I might add--lol), was surprising folk at a local grocery store by paying their grocery bills during the Thanksgiving holiday. The pastor and first lady were randomly walking up to customers at the cash register and telling them to keep their money in their pockets cause they were paying for their groceries. Yes, yes…….they made sure Fox 5 news was filming it. That’s how I saw it. It was hilarious. Very unorganized, but trying to show their media poker faces. They were walking up to folk like they had just hit the lottery. It almost looked like the 70s game show, “Let’s Make a Deal”.

Ok, when I first saw this…..the PR person in me came out. I was sitting there thinking……oh they don’t know what they’re doing. Cause why in the world would you target a grocery store in the hood when most of those folks are on food stamps????? The last thing we worry about in the hood is FOOD. We can take three dollars and feed a family for two days. Ask me how I know!!! We use to buy the store brand of the box mac/cheese that was 3 for a $1, plus a small pack of ground beef and season it up. We’d eat good for dinner and had some leftover for the next day. A lack of food ain’t the problem in the Black community. Trust me when I tell you---lol. But it just proves that we have become so self serving that we keep missing the point.

Last year this time, me and my girlfriend “E” went away to a spiritual retreat down in Virginia. I actually wrote an entry about the trip. It was an AWESOME experience!! I was so hungry for God. The way the retreat is set up, it allows for you to worship God in the rawest form---just you, God, and nature. But others are there too cause there are services all through the day. But I remember waking up to the birds chirping and the sounds of folk worshiping and praying as they walked around the acres of camp grounds. Beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. No cameras. No publicity. Only folk wanting to get away from all the hustle and bustle to worship God in peace. You won’t see an advertisement for this no frills place. No, no. They rely solely on the Word of God that says spread the Gospel. And so, others tell of their experiences of healing, restoration, and deliverance causing folk to want to go. Oh…..did I forget to mention….IT’S FREE!!! Lodging and meals are FREE!!!

Anyway, at one of the morning sessions of the retreat this couple got up to speak. They are missionaries who travel all over the world spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And so they told the story of one of their last missions to Nepal, which is located on the border of China and India. Ok, I was all ears. Cause I’d heard about spooky Nepal--lol. What they told us was that hinduism and buddhism are the practiced religions there. And so in a lot of parts, practicing Christianity is banned. Many of the folk there who believe in Christ will have to walk miles and miles up into discreet places in the mountains just to praise and worship God.

So their primary mission/ministry is to provide Christian literature and sometimes transportation via bikes to their places of worship for those who are Christians and those who wants to convert to Christianity. They were telling some stories that were blowing my mind. I remember them telling a story of how they received a warning from Nepal’s authorities to stop spreading the Gospel. They told how they were thrown out many times. So the couple told the congregation that if anyone was interested in helping with their ministry in any type of way that they not send them emails to their Nepal address which was actually printed on a handout given to us. I left there thinking……this is what you call MINISTRY!!!! This is the GREAT COMMISSION.

Ok, so I was watching one of my favorite morning inspirational shows this morning as I was getting ready for work. But this morning’s program was a little different. See, the tele-evangelist had taken her camera crew to Africa, yes you know how they do. They don’t show the richness, beauty, and thriving parts of Africa, they show the worst villages where a bed of flies are stuck on a baby’s eyelids. YES…..its real. I understand that wholeheartedly. I manage a marriage education program for refugees. I've studied many cultures and populations. So the situation is indeed real. But what I don’t understand is why are ministries giving social study lessons on third world countries, begging us for money to purchase a pack of pills that will last 30 days, and then come home to their luxury lifestyles in the states. I mean, WHY?????? Why aren’t we over there preaching healing and deliverance??????? The tele-evangelist spent a whole five minutes talking about some little blue pills that could cure a disease for three years. Three years???????? And then what???????

You know what I always wondered…….I always wondered how much it costs for a television crew to travel to third-world countries with tele-evangelists. Do you really realize how costly it is for a team of media locally and nationally????? Well just imagine…….internationally. Perhaps there are camera crews stationed in those lands, but I seriously doubt that Americans go that route. We’re too possessive for that. We want everything on our own terms---but by using others dollars. Umph. I mean, doesn’t it make more sense to cut the travel expenses and put it towards the actual need?????? I’m sure cutting out a camera crew could buy a whole lotta little blue pills—lol. Seriously, we have become so self-serving in ministry. We do very little wholeheartedly and by the perfect plan of God these days. We all want recognition and honor for the works we do. Proving that we’re good by our works. But that’s the world’s system. That’s how celebrities do it. Somehow they’ve become our model. Umph.

As I was watching the program this morning, the feisty tele-evangelist had the nerve to say that providing medication and meals is the great commission of Christ. No it ain’t!!!! The great commission is spreading the Gospel!!!! If I see another ministry filming themselves walking through Africa with a big bag of rice, a jug of water, or a bucket of shoes I’ma scream. Seriously. Why aren’t we studying the real need??????? Just like the local pastor and first lady was doing. In one land we’re dying from too much food and another not enough. You tell me why we keep thinking that feeding the natural is the answer!!!!!!

(Deep breath). It just goes back to what I was talking about last week. If we aren’t walking in vulnerable situations and healing and deliverance ain’t taking place…..then we need to check ourselves as so-called Christians. That’s me included (deep breath).

You know what we should do……we, the Body of Christ globally, should take one week of shut down—no media---just fasting and falling on our face before the Lord throughout the day for one week. Wherever we are. Just connecting in the Spirit. Do you know the impact we could have on this world????? Umph. I’m down for it.

………if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. --2 Chronicles 7:14

And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, all power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen. –Matthew 28:18-20