Real Open Talk For Life with WJC

The Future is honored to have Rev. Campbell as our spiritual contributor. His insight, wisdom and leadership are most helpful to the cluster of information that comes in and out of our lives everyday. In the past few weeks, we have received 45% more followers who joined The Future. We wanted to re-introduce the Rev. this Sunday.

This original message was posted on Sunday, October 11, 2009. Enjoy and read words from Rev. Campbell every Sunday on The Future. Also follow him on Facebook at Jeffrey Campbell.

REMIX - Real Open Talk For Life with WJC
By: Rev. W. Jeffrey Campbell, Houston, TX

Greetings Family! Welcome to Real Open Talk For Life

I am W. Jeffrey Campbell and I am so excited about this opportunity to spend the next 13 Sundays challenging and encouraging you through spiritual meditations that are being designed specifically for the Black LGBT community right here on Thefutureforward.net.

Like many other same-gender loving African American preachers, I spent a great deal of time struggling with my sexuality and my call to ministry. After many years of searching, praying, counseling, crying and my own personal study, I finally heard God say very clearly, “I love you and you are okay.” What a relief! But God had more plans for me. The next challenge that God placed before me was the call to minister directly to people who identify openly and privately as gay, lesbian, bi-sexual or transgendered. This is what brings me to you on today.

We will start our journey together taking a look at the prophet Nehemiah, one of the biblical loves of my life. In Nehemiah I see a man who has a passion for the well-being of his people. He weeps at the thought of their plight, but he does not resign himself to being a just a mourner. Nehemiah stepped to the plate and began to do the work necessary to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.

Beyond Nehemiah we will take a look at how rejection, abuse, internalized homophobia and many other ills have caused us great pain. We will not stop at discussing pain…we will delve into how we can overcome these pains of our past and present and live a liberated life in a fulfilling relationship with the Creator.

Let this journey of hope and healing begin!

HOW WILL YOU RESPOND?

In chapter 1 of Nehemiah, the prophet is exiled in Persia, working in the king’s palace as cupbearer. He receives word that the Jewish people who have returned to Jerusalem from exile are in great turmoil and disgrace because the city’s walls are destroyed, the gates burned, the city left in ruins. Nehemiah weeps, mourns, fasts and prays for favor in the king’s presence.

In many ways our Black LGBT community lies in ruins and our people in disgrace.

Ø LGBT Christians are struggling with spirituality and sexuality
Ø HIV cases continue to rise
Ø Our people are dying in unnecessary shame from the virus
Ø Black LGBT teens are being kicked out of their homes by parents

But, the good news is that God is calling US into service to rebuild a healthy Black LGBT community!

How will you respond to the plight of our people? Are you saddened enough to weep and mourn? Are you committed enough to make a sacrifice and pray for favor with the intent to rebuild our community?

Join me today on a journey of rebuilding, one life at a time!
If you would like to contact me via e-mail, please write me at realopentalkforlife@yahoo.com.

Until next week….ROTFL with WJC…

Miki Howard talks about Gays and The Church

By Clay Cane

On Monday, legendary R&B singer Miki Howard appeared on BET's The Monique Show. Howard sang (she still has that voice!) and discussed her autobiography, Always Had Shoes. During the interview Howard chatted about coming up in the gospel church.

Then, the "Love Under New Managment" hit maker brought up the gay community as it relates to the church -- and bringing up the late Rev. James Cleveland who was closeted but known to be gay, which is the story for many in the black church. Howard said, "One good thing that I really wanted to talk about in the book is the gay aspect of church that we don't talk about in our community. I grew up in the James Cleveland church and it was really gay." Howard continued, "We didn’t know that people thought that was bad. We didn’t know that outsiders thought that was bad."

Mo'Nique, who has been consistently supportive of the gay community added, "I applaud you for addressing because most times we run from it because, like you said, 'For all our gay brothers and sisters watching please know that you are always welcomed baby. We love you -- the no judgment zone!'"

Big kudos to Miki Howard for bringing up the other side of the black church. These insecure power bottoms who laughingly fail at being hetero are extremely self-destructive to the black community, especially when they are getting their colon reconstructed at gospel conventions but have magic potions for "conversion." These "preachers" are claiming to be historians and psychotherapists on sexuality and gender when they have no training or education (some haven't even graduated from high school!). It's refreshing to see someone like Miki Howard, born and raised in the church, explain a different side. I will have to purchase her autobiography!

Real Open Talk For Life with WJC

God: A Priority and Not an Option
By: Rev. W. Jeffrey Campbell, Houston, TX

I shared with readers on last week how I spent New Year’s Eve in church and the first 12 hours of 2010 with my some of my best and close friend crew. We sat at a round table eating a hearty breakfast and talked about the goals that we had achieved in 2009 and the goals that we have set for ourselves for 2010. It was a gay, gay, gay time as we shared our thankful moments, talked about the future and of course came for each other in the early morning hours as only friends can do.

As 2009 was coming to a close, I realized that I had spent most of the year in a spiritual daze. Yes, I had utilized my spiritual gifts of preaching, teaching, exhortation and administration to bless others. But, I knew that I had been walking around in a fog for most of the year and had not really focused on my own personal spiritual growth. (Anybody feeling me?)

I had decided that I would open up the New Year with a 40-day Daniel Fast in hopes of coming out of the fog. The Daniel Fast is a fast where you eat only fresh fruit and vegetables. You cannot consume any sugar, salt, caffeine, white flour, desserts or fried foods. That’s right, all the GOOD stuff.

In his book, “Fasting for Spiritual Breakthrough”, Elmer Towns writes that the Daniel Fast focuses on health and physical healing. I will tell you now that although I am closely following the dietary guidelines of the Daniel Fast, I am praying about and meditating on a plethora of subject matters for my personal life and ministry while I also intercede for others. As a matter of fact, I had to pray about what I was going to pray about during my fast. My answer came as I was reflecting upon a posting that I had read while attending Facebook Church…yes, Facebook Church! If you are an avid Facebooker you know that you really can run across some postings that can be quite beneficial to one’s spiritual growth.

The posting that opened my eyes said this, “Never make anyone a priority that makes you an option.” Wow! I read that posting back in October. In that moment it spoke to a potential dating situation that I was in that was showing signs of failure before it even got off the ground. However, as the year came to a close and I was in prayer about what I needed to do in order to come out of the 2009 fog, I realized that the root of my issue was that I had allowed God to become an option in my life as opposed to a priority. I had been active in ministry all year. I had been in church on Sundays and during the week. I had prayed for others. I had preached sermons and taught lessons but, I again I say I had not taken the time to do anything to enhance MY OWN personal relationship with God.

As I gathered with my friends in the early hours of 2010 I didn’t have a list of things that I wanted to accomplish in this New Year. When it was my turn to share I simply said, it is my intention to make God a priority in my life and not an option. I knew then and know in this moment of writing that that goal included the fast that I would embark upon on January 5th as well as focused prayer and personal worship times. I knew that making God priority meant more times of study of not only the Bible but other forms of literature that support spiritual growth. And, I knew that it meant spending some alone time with God so that we can really reconnect.

I am thankful to say that I am on Day 11 of my period of fasting a praying and I have already experienced God’s movement in my life. It has not come without challenge however, I am much stronger to face and overcome the challenge because I am intentionally making God a priority and not an option.

As you do self-inventory I encourage you to ask yourself the question, “Is God a priority or an option in my life?” It is so easy to get caught up in taking care of the spiritual needs of others but, if you are not dually doing the work of pouring into yourself, you run the risk of winding up in the same fog that I have been living in for the past year or so. What you may be led to do may not look like what I am doing. That’s perfectly okay. My desire and I certainly believe that God’s desire is that you be closer to God today than you were on yesterday. Join me on this wonderful quest. You will be glad that you did!

Until next week…ROTFL with WJC!

Please contact me at realopentalkforlife@yahoo.com for further discussion.

Real Open Talk For Life with WJC

The New Year’s Round Table!
By: Rev. W. Jeffrey Campbell, Houston, TX

The year 2010 has arrived! A new year and a new decade!

Nancy Wilson recorded a song many years ago entitled, “What are You Doing New Year’s Eve?” What a wonderful song of romance and budding love. I remember making a cassette tape (yes, cassette tape) years ago for someone who I had fallen for. The tape included Nancy’s tune and other love songs and I wrote a nice little love note suggesting that we bring the New Year in together. I never mailed the tape or the letter and although our whirlwind two day romance was wonderful, it never moved past that point. No baby’s breath and no lace!

This New Year’s Eve found me in church, which is quite usual for me. I do think it is something quite awesome to ring in the New Year while singing God’s praises and in prayer and reflection. After church I gathered with 10 wonderful friends for breakfast and great conversation. This has become somewhat of a tradition for me and some of my in-town best and close friend circle. This year’s breakfast was held in the home of one of my best friends and his partner of 5 years.

Let’s take a look at what the breakfast crew looked like. The youngest guest was 31. The oldest 46. The relationship status of our breakfast crew included: two couples; one friend who just recently entered into a long distance relationship with plans of his boyfriend moving here later this year; 4 single guys; and then there was me and the great guy that I have been “talking to” for the past 2 months who lives in another state.

We sat at the round dining table and talked about a plethora of topics but we intentionally landed on two very necessary topics for an early morning breakfast on the first day of the New Year: What had we accomplished in 2009 and what were our goals for 2010.

During this time of the evening we gratefully poured our souls out detailing successes of 2009. One crew member began 2009 stating that he was going to lose weight. When by February he had not gone near a gym or cut back on any starches or red meats, most of the crew thought that he was not going to achieve his goal. I however, being one of the smarter crew members (LOL), remembered that this one was very goal oriented and very stubborn, so if he said he was going to do it, he would definitely accomplish it. (Five years ago he said that he was going to buy a home and get into a relationship. He has accomplished both!) So, I was not surprised when in November he had lost 25 pounds and by mid-December he had lowered his weight by 29 pounds. What was his secret? I suggested that he had gotten his stomach stapled but, in actuality he had used the Quick Weight Lose Center Program. He is now tucking his shirt back into his pants and sporting quit a waist line! Congratulations!

I had spent a great deal of New Year’s Eve day trying to remember what I had accomplished in 2009. Just about the time I was ready to throw in the towel and say “nothing”, I remembered the commitments that I had made during our 2009 New Year’s breakfast. I said that I would work more with my African American GLBT community, particularly Black gay men. Light bulb moment! In 2009 “Brothas Speaking I” and “Brothas Speaking II”, my idea to create safe and healthy spaces for African American same-gender loving men to discuss subjects live relationships, health and spirituality and sexuality came to life with great success. I had the opportunity to preach on the Ebony Pyramid Entertainment Cruise in October, yet another event for same gender loving members of the African American community. I also spoke during several events at the DFW Pride Movement and I was asked to serve as a contributing writing for The Future Forward. I am grateful to God for not only giving me these opportunities to connect with my community but also for bringing these achievements back to my memory when I was almost convinced that the year had gone by and I had done nothing.

I do not believe in a creature embodied in red skin with horns, a pitch fork and a spiked tail named the devil. I do however believe in the presence of evil in our world that sometimes attacks us and causes us not to be able to focus on what is important, to remember the things that we have accomplished and force us into a period of discouragement. It happens to all of us at some time or another. It is just something that we don’t like to talk about or that we discuss with no real idea of what is causing our struggle.

If the enemies of depression, low self-esteem and discouragement have caused you to not be able to recall your past accomplishments or have you stuck and not wanting to move forward into your present and future assignments, I encourage you to seek God for deliverance over these strongholds. You, my friend, are a gift to this world that is priceless. You are filled with potential much of which has gone untapped. Do not waste another minute wandering in the fog.

Begin to walk in your truth, your gifting and your call! Seek God for personal revival! Get focused or re-focused! We have goals to achieve, lives to touch, relationships to enter into, families to birth and nurture. 2010 is here let’s take it by storm!

Happy New Year!
Until next week…ROTFL with WJC!
Please contact me at realopentalkforlife@yahoo.com for further discussion.

Arts.Advocacy+Wellness: "Black Gay and Lesbian Leaders in NYC take a stand""

Black Gay and Lesbian Leaders in NYC take a stand

The title of the December 4, 2009 Metro News article read: "Black and Gay is Beautiful."  

This ad was supported by a few of NYC's Black Gay and Lesbian leaders, who are taking a stand for equality and respect in the pulpit, which is so often denounced in the black churches in America.  

I want to thank Pastor Joseph Tolton of Rehoboth Temple Christ Conscious Church for organizing this movement, that I proudly admit, I was part of.  This is one cause I felt I needed to support.  It hits so close to home and after all the work I've been doing with FlagBoy and creating new artistic works that speak to the empowerment and progression of Black Gay Men, Black Men in general, and the Black family, I must continue to stand on my word.  

Here's what appeared in last week's Metro News, December 4, 2009, pg. 17.  

Black & Gay is Beautiful

LIVE!

God has promised us life, and life more abundantly. At this juncture in our global history, the tide is turning as God’s plan is unfolding for the inclusion of all people based on their divine design as gay, lesbian, straight, bi-sexual, or transgendered. God is by all means up to something, and the day of reckoning is here. The universe will not tolerate bigotry much longer as racism, sexism, homophobia, and ultimately patriarchy are being dismantled brick by brick. So God’s call for the non-straight oriented community is that we LIVE! LIVE truthfully! LIVE courageously! LIVE spiritually! LIVE emotionally! LIVE financially! LIVE romantically! LIVE fearlessly! So come out, come out wherever you are and LIVE. For God is great and life is grand. It’s our time.

We are FAMILY!

As gay black people - brothers and sisters alike - we are building strong families, strong churches, strong business and strong communities in ways that we never dreamed possible. Be encouraged and again we say LIVE! There is no need to be held hostage by fear. There is no need to live disconnected and in isolation. There is LIFE for us and it begins by US loving and supporting US.

Spiritual Violence

For those of us of faith who have always loved God and loved the black Church, the defining issues of our lives has been the church’s damning stance on homosexuality. As children, this condemnation shattered our spirit. As adolescents, this ridicule broke our hearts. As young adults, this disdain has attempted to drive us to the brink. Spiritual violence is wrong and it kills the spirit. The black Church must find new ways to talk about sex and sexuality. The noise around homosexuality in our community distracts us from confronting human sexuality in the context of the black experience in America.  And black America is afraid to confront human sexuality because it means dealing with these issues: 

·       What is the emotional legacy we bear as a result of the rape of our women and untold rape of our men in slavery?

·       Black men have been held captive to notions of manhood defined by hyper masculinity.

·       The high proportion of gay men in the church and the prospect of marriage between them is frightening in the face of a record number of unwed black women in the Church.

·       Fully functional (straight and gay I might add) brothers are hard to find when there are more brothers incarcerated than are in college.

·       The experience black men have with other men in prison and how we negotiate the bandwidth of their sexual proclivity upon returning home.

·       The silent grief we felt but publicly never discussed when our brother’s died in record numbers between 1988 – 1998.

Hypocrisy in the pulpit

Come on Bishops, Elders and Pastors, it is time to stop abusing your gay, lesbian, bi-sexual, and trans-gendered daughters and sons and deal with the real issue that drives your homophobia. White folks hid behind the bible - Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to win their favor, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord, Colossians 3:22 - and you were the ones who exposed them. Hypocrisy does not look good on you. Stop the spiritual violence NOW!

Pastor Donnie McClurkin

We love you brother and in ways the traditional church cannot because we understand your pain. You are not a man who loves men because of being molested as a child. That grave and despicable tragedy broke your spirit and damaged your mind; however, it did not have the capacity to change your DNA. There is so much love in our community for you. We want to see you healed and whole. Whenever you are ready, come home and we’ll love you until it doesn’t hurt anymore. That’s how we do!

Long Island, Rehoboth Temple, GayByGod.net, and our partners will be coming your way with an awesome crusade soon. Your sisters and brothers are concerned about you and we’re planning to bring a radically inclusive REVIVAL with a strategic plan for sustained support in your area. We love you. You are not alone!

Pastor Joseph W. Tolton &