Real Inspiration Ministries (RIM) is a fifteen-year-old church that began as a worshiping community started by Bishop Sonya Williams. Bishop Williams and her wife, First Lady Regina Williams, birthed this worshiping community because there was no place in traditional African American churches for our LGBTQ+ siblings.
In today’s world, our congregations are increasingly filled with individuals carrying heavy burdens. A 2020 Barna Group study found that only one in seven pastors feels “‘very’ well-equipped to help with trauma.”
As worship leaders and congregants seek comfort and hope during periods of crisis, worship music emerges as a crucial element in navigating emotionally and spiritually challenging situations. The unprecedented tribulations of the 2020 pandemic, which disrupted communal worship, highlighted the importance of music in offering healing and hope.
Walking alongside college-aged young adults is a gift. It allows me to be present at their formational milestones. Getting a great GRE score, setting a date for marrying their person, planning their big move across country for that dream job, celebrating the joy of winning the conference championship in the sport they love.
Africans were brought to America in 1619 to be subjected to the cruel and evil institution of slavery. From 1619 to 1865, the brutal system of slavery was the law of the land, and then came years of Jim and Jane Crow. For African Americans, it was God and the church that fueled our imaginations of freedom.
Have you ever heard a technically beautiful sermon that impacted you more like a distant performance than an act of worship? An even better question: have you ever preached a sermon that felt that way to you? If I were in the room with you right now, I would have just raised my hand twice.
Many churches struggle to address the challenges of worship music in today’s diverse settings. As we move through 2024, congregations find themselves at a crossroads, grappling to reconcile the varying musical preferences across generations within their communities.
My job as a college chaplain involves quite a few public prayers at convocations, worship services, sporting events, and more. As I introduce myself to students or potential students, there is a running joke that I am the designated pray-er for our community. I am the one who shows up and has a word or two to offer for whatever we face as a community.
The work of artist Rachel Barnard titled Wisdom Pavilion is situated in a dreary office of the City of New York Department of Probation. In this unlikely location, she suspended hundreds of sparkly cobalt blue pinwheels from the ceiling of a meeting room for parole officers and young parolees. Barnard is also the founder of Young New Yorkers (YNY), an arts-based initiative for teens in the adult criminal court system.
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