"To be young, gifted and black." These words were immortalized for my generation in the Season 3 finale of the television hit "Scandal" when Poppa Pope uttered them right before he killed the fan-favorite character Harrison played by actor Columbus Short. But long before they were borrowed by Shonda Rhymes and her team they were the words of activist and musical icon Nina Simone who wrote a song to celebrate the melanated beauty of her brothers and sisters who had been kissed

“I would rather teach one man to pray than ten men to preach.” Charles Spurgeon I’m learning that in my attempt to serve God there is nothing, and I repeat NOTHING, more important than engaging in intentional, focused and regular times of prayer. This may seem simple; or even like one of those statements that make you say, “Thanks Captain Obvious” but I’ve discovered that the importance of regular and disciplined prayer in our lives cannot be overstated. And as elementary as

Jesus IS a deliverer! No matter what your struggle may be, no matter how severe, I am grateful that there is POWER in the NAME of Jesus to break the chains of bondage, deliver us from our sin condition and transform our lives. And throughout my life, by the grace of God, I’ve seen so many people delivered in so many inexplicable and miraculous ways because JESUS IS A DELIVERER! Despite what skeptics and non-believers may say we serve a savior with unquestionable power to prod

I’ve been a basketball fan for a while now and when you think of great and successful players in the NBA, if you’ve been watching basketball for a while, you won’t just think of Michael Jordan or LeBron James but you’ll think of great names like Charles Barkley, Karl Malone, Reggie Miller, Dominique Wilkins even Dikembe Mutumbo but if you know anything about basketball and you start thinking about successful players you probably wouldn’t think about putting the name “Luke Wal