Black History Special Issue

2010

Making Movies & Making History

www.mahoganyensembletheatre.org

It‘s Black History Month, y‘all! And as an entrepreneur I can‘t

help but check out the history of Black Entrepreneurship AND celebrate those MAKING history today! I love to see people

using the talents and gifts God has so graciously given. It is wonderful how we all have different gifts and talents, yet we

can come together for one cause.

Recently, I came across a wonderful

modern film twist based on the par-able of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11

-32). It‘s called Preacher‘s Kid. The

film stars R&B sensation Letoya Luckett. You may remember her as

a founding member of the super group Destiny‘s Child. (Read more of

her stepping out & making history story on page __.) She plays a 20

year old preacher‘s kid who dreams

of fame and fortune leaving home for the first time. Life is not all she

dreams and she learns a hard lesson before she finally returns home.

Read more about the movie on

page___. This movie is definitely a must-see!

If you missed it, you missed a treat! I‘m speaking of Gospel Café pro-

duced by my friend Kristi Woodard

of Mahogani Media. The 1st Gospel Café was held at Just a Little Café

(420 Marshall Street, Downtown Shreveport). The showcase featured

Crystal Cooper. >>>> Ms. Cooper

is definitely on her way to becoming the next great gospel star in her

own right!

And speaking of gospel stars, I have

been reading about

gospel star Kim Burrell and her weight loss.

Yes, that‘s right. Kim Burrell has lost 100

pounds! She is report-

edly working on anew album and a reality show. Kim is

ready for new challenges, new life, and world domination. However she

still feels like herself, but an upgraded version of Kim. She said, ―It‘s not so

much that I am new. I‘d say that this

is the real Kim Burrell. I‘m living as God intended: happy seeing new lev-

els of success, and empowered!‖ I think Kim look fantastic! Don‘t you?

Let me know what you think. Visit our

website, click on community.

All of this losing weight speak reminds me to remind you (and myself) to stay

healthy. Our bodies are the temple of God and we should treat them as

such. I visited the doctor recently

only to find I had not really made a change in my weight. There was a

time when I was the healthy eater. I have even worked as weigh loss

counselor at a popular weight loss

clinic. As of today, I am back on track! (Pray with me and paray for

me! ) Watch out Kim, here I come!

Until Next Time Be Unique. Be Bold

Gospel singer Kim Burrell after losing over 100 pounds.

Central Free Methodist

2755 Ashton Street Shreveport 71102

318-221-3063

Lane Chapel CME

1007 Norma Avenue Shreveport, LA 71103

318-424-7292

Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament 1558 Buena Vista Street

Shreveport 71103

318-22`-3791

Paradise Baptist 1706 Hollywood Avenue

Shreveport 71108

318-636-5356

Rhema Word Ministries

6056 Greenwood Road Shreveport 71119

318-683-1184

St. James United Methodist

850 Hope Street Shreveport 71101

318-425-0500

St. Matthew AME 1610 Murphy Street

Shreveport 71103

318=221-4593

List your Church or Ministry in this

Directory for just $10 per issue.

Call 318-655-2336

today!

How would you define “faith”? How would you know faith when you see it?

Though I think many people could give some general definition of faith, I think it remains a misty concept for many others. It’s an intangible. Most folks think you either have it or you don’t. Even though we may talk of lit-tle faith or great faith, do you feel that sometimes “little faith” is simply a nice pseudonym for “no faith in real-ity”?

Sometimes life is harder than steel. Sometimes life mangles and twists us like so many guard rails smashed by speeding, out-of-control vehicles. And in those times of hardship, we dis-cover what faith is and whether we have it.

I’m convinced that perhaps the great-est example of genuine faith in Ameri-can Christian history is the example left by African Americans who love the Lord. The situation most African-Americans live in now was the stuff of dreams just 50 years ago. Recede fur-ther into the history, past Jim Crow, past Reconstruction, past the aboli-tionist movement, on back to James-town and you find a people dragged into “history as terror” or “daemonic dread” as one author put it. He asked, “Who do you pray to in the bowels of a slave ship?”

It’s a good question.

In time, many Africans sold as chattel in the New World prayed to the One True God through Jesus Christ His Son and entered into eternal life. Howard Thurman, a famed theologi-cally liberal African-American pastor and educator, had it right when he pointed out that the greatest irony of American history was that the slaves should pray to the master’s God.

But that irony is why the African-American church’s legacy of genuine, biblical, God-centered faith is so rich and necessary to recover and esteem. Read slave conversion testimonies in a work like Clifton Johnson’s God Struck Me Dead, or the poetry of Phil-lis Wheatly, and all you find is soul-deep, God-longing faith in the face of

life as hard as steel, as stinging as the lash, as cruel as pregnant bellies ripped open, as horrendous as black bodies burned and swinging from trees, as tragic as young men hobbled and amputated, as wrenching families split and wives raped.

How do you survive such an exis-tence? How do you survive such an existence without checking out of real-ity? How do you survive such an exis-tence without checking out of reality while knowing that “trouble won’t last always”? How do you survive such an existence without checking out of real-ity while knowing that “trouble won’t last always” and simultaneously work-ing for a better day? How do you en-dure such an existence without ex-ploding in hate toward others? How do you endure such an existence and make any sense of “love your ene-mies”? How do you endure such an existence and sing and dance and love and create and laugh?

Only by believing that God is good, that He controls all events, that His justice will prevail, that vengeance belongs to Him, that He hears the cry of the oppressed, that social standing is no proxy for God’s love, that life in His image is infused with dignity even when others don’t think you’re hu-man. Only by believing those things and trusting God himself do you sur-vive such atrocities, and not only sur-vive but thrive and contribute.

It was faith in God through Jesus that sustained the African-American church. I sometimes think we don’t know how to trust God deeply because we’ve not suffered deeply. In fact, God thinks that of us. That’s why suffering is such a central part of the Christian experience. It breeds trust in God and distinguishes genuine faith its superfi-cial counterparts.

So where does a rich and largely suf-fering-free generation like ours look for instruction in persevering faith? We have to look to those who have suffered horrifically yet trusted God implicitly. Modern examples exist. But as the U.S. celebrates African-American history month, the domestic

parable so glaring and glorious is that of the African-American church which by faith endured bombings, lynchings, cross burnings, sharecropping, Jim Crow, Bull Connor, the Ku Klux Klan, chattel slavery, disenfranchisement, Black Codes, auctions, marches, sit ins, ghettos in the north, plantations in the south with no visible means of support, only a sometimes quiet, sometimes singing, sometimes mourning, sometimes active, some-times ridiculed, sometimes shut out, sometimes demonstrating, all the time preaching faith in God.

If Hebrews 11 were still being written today, the chapter would be twice as long for its inclusion of now forgotten black faces that would have to be in-cluded for their heroic faith in God. What did Moses have on Harriet Tu-man, Abraham on Jupiter Hammond, Gideon on Nat Turner, Isaac on Den-mark Vesey, or Sampson on George Liele? Nothing.

At her finest, the African-American church offers the most compelling example of centuries-long persecution-triumphing trust in God. May we learn from her and live like her.

Thabiti Anyabwile is Senior Pastor of First Baptist Church of Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands. Thabiti previously served as an elder/assistant pastor at Capi-tol Hill Baptist Church (Washington, DC) and as an elder at Church on the Rock (Raleigh, NC). He is the author of three books: The Faithful Preacher (2007); The Decline of African-American Theology (2007); and What Is a Healthy Church Member? (2008).

Talk about stepping out on faith. LeToya Luckett, a founding

member of Destiny's Child, saw her life change when she and group member LaTavia Roberson were ousted from the group

in 1999 while promoting their chart-topping CD 'The Writing's on the Wall.'

Destiny's Child continued with Beyonce Knowles and Kelly

Rowland, and the group's manager, Matthew Knowles, re-placed Luckett and Roberson with Michelle Williams and Farrah

Franklin (who only lasted five months).

Things weren't easy following the fallout from Destiny's Child –

there was a media firestorm, lawsuits and a whole lot of back-lash – but the 28-year-old singer said it was her faith that

helped her overcome the tumultuous time in her life.

After a failed attempt at launching a new group called Angel, Luckett landed a solo deal of her own in 2003 and released her

debut CD, 'LeToya,' on Capitol Records in 2006.

With one platinum-certified CD under her belt, the Houston-

based singer is back with her recently released sophomore opus, 'Lady Love' and she has the lead role in a new movie,

Preacher‘s Kid (Read more about the movie on page 6).

Luckett says she doesn‘t mind being the poster child for sec-ond chances and overcoming adversity. ―The are so many

people out here in this world we that type of story that we never hear about because they are different corners of the earth. I am pretty sure they have probably been through

worse than I‘ve been through and achieved it.‖

A member of Lakewood Church in Houston, where Joel Osteen is pastor, Luckett says it is important to make people aware of

how significant her faith is to her. She even tweets about it on

twitter. ―Everybody always wants to talk negative about

things, but that is real. I watch Joel Osteen online. I also get his podcasts so I can get video from iTunes. When I am on

the road, and it‘s Saturday, I‘m either leaving Saturday night to get to Houston, or getting on a 6 a.m. flight to get back to

church. It is a must.‖

When going through trying times, Letoya relied on her faith in God. ―If I didn‘t have my faith I wouldn‘t be anywhere.

Whenever I‘m going through that moment, I call up my prayer

sisters. At the end of the day, it‘s not that bad.‖

Luckett continues: ―Everyday that you have a chance to wake up and breathe and have another opportunity at life, nothing

that comes against you can be that bad. You just have to be able to pray your way through it and ask God for strength and

wisdom and knowledge to move forward. It happens when people allow wordly things to make them happy. It‘s like is

that the epitome of success because you have that kind of car?

What if you don‘t have any love or there is no faith? That‘s not real happiness to me.‖

On being cast in the film Preacher‘s Kid: ―It was my first fea-

ture film and I didn‘t know what to expect. I got cast for the role four days before we actually started filming and I actually

studied for another character. I had gotten the role of ―Desiree‖ who is not friendly at all and four days later I get

cast for the sweetest thing in the movie! It was an amazing experience and I worked with some amazing people; Troy Rowland, who is my acting coach, and Stan Foster, who is the

director, and all my co-stars were so cool!‖

The Preacher’s Kid: A Must-See Film!

The ageless parable of the 'Prodigal Son' is cast in a 21st

century urban setting in the new Warner Bros. Premiere/Gener8Xion Entertainment feature, the Preacher's Kid. The

Stan Foster written and directed project opens on January

29, 2010 in select theaters across the country.

Preacher‘s Kid stars platinum-selling Capitol Records artist, Letoya Luckett, as ―Angie King,‖ a 20-something daughter

of a minister who, longing to experience more of life—and

with dreams of fame and fortune in her mind, strikes out on her own for the very first time, joining a traveling gos-

pel show. She soon discovers, though, that life on the road is touch; but even more, she fears going home with

nothing to show for herself, or worse, to a father who might no longer lover her.‖

This movie, filmed in Atlanta, GA and New York City, in-cludes key performance segments shot in the world famous

Apollo Theatre. It is also the film debut for Luckett, a co-founder of the R&B super group, Destiny‘s Child. Luckett

has rapidly become a solo star with her recent #1 selling album, ―Lady Love,‖ which generated AOL Music‘s #6 song

for all of 2009, ―Regret.‖

Written and directed by Stan Foster, whose credits include

Bishop T.D. Jakes‘ Woman Thou Art Loosed major film. Preacher‘s Kid also stars Grammy® nominee Trey Songz,

R&B singer/producer Tank Babbs, Sharif Atkins (currently appearing in ―White Collar‖ on the USA Network), Gregalan

Williams (who played ―Coach ‗Doc‖ Hines‖ in Remember

the Titans with Denzel Washington), Essence Atkins (soon to be seen in Are We There Yet? On TBS), and EMI gospel

recording artist Kierra ―KiKi‖ Sheard.

What People are Saying

"I love this movie! Stan Foster is born as a filmmaker.

"ThePreacher's Kid" is filmmaking at its best - well written, well

directed, and the performances are top notch. It touches your

heart,breaks your heart and puts it back together again. A new

American classic is born."

Robert Townsend

Director Hollywood Shuffle, The Five Heartbeats

Easily the best Christian drama since “Fireproof.”

Roger Moore

Orlando Sentinel

Crowd-pleasing, heartfelt and inspirational. It’s a wonderful, up-lifting, and life-affirming movie.

Avi Offer NYC Movie Guru

For more information about this film, contact Robinson Film

Center, Downtown Shreveport.

Photos by Mahogani Media. www.mahoganimedia.com.

Every Last Sunday of Every Month At Just a Little Café

Downtown Shreveport

Urban Faith Business

& Web Directory

Around the SBC www.aroundtheSBC.com

Robinson Film Center of Louisiana www.robinsonfilmcenter.org

The Light 980 AM KOKA www.koka.am

Wiley College www.wileyc.edu

Mahogani Media www.mahoganimedia.com

Henderson Dentistry, LLC 9096 Walker Road Shreveport 71118

318-687-6453 www.hendersondentistry.net

Brother‘s Seafood 5205 Monkhouse Drive

Shreveport 71109 318-636-3663

Mahogany Ensemble Theatre www.mahoganyensembletheatre.org