671. Social Justice: Why Christians Must Stand in Solidarity with Marginalized Communities

[00:00:00] You're on Pastor Phil. Welcome to Church on the Block. Real talk about hip hop, church and

[00:00:18] the streets with my great co-host Pastor Jay and Ruck Boy on Holy Culture Radio. Sears XM.

[00:00:25] All right everybody, it's your boy Pastor Jay. Welcome back to Church on the Block. Real talk about hip hop, church and the streets right here in Serious XM channel 140 Holy Culture Radio. I'm so glad that you could be with us. And all I'm asking is that you would stay with us just a little bit longer today we are talking to one of my good buddies Lorenzo Watson, the CEO of the Christian Community Development Association.

[00:00:54] Now you've heard us talk about CCDA a lot. Me, Pastor Phil, Terrence Foster, Dieter, Ruckets, all of us have talked about being a part of CCDA and what the principal's mean to us. So we had to bring our guy Lorenzo on so that you can get to know who he is and hear a little bit about it. So I'm going to introduce you first of all let me just say welcome to my buddy Lorenzo. Welcome to the show Lorenzo.

[00:01:16] Thank you sir. I appreciate it. It's good to be with you. Absolutely, absolutely. Well man, first of all just do me a favor. Tell the folks a little bit about yourself where you are, where you are, you know and the best of you and then we're going to live in about CCDA years. All right.

[00:01:33] All right. All made you say tell them about the best of me. That means you want me to start with talking about my wife's.

[00:01:40] Three out of charge of sanders. I believe that's the best of me. Yeah, I've been married for about 20 years. My wife and I moved from North Carolina to curvil Texas, which is a town.

[00:01:57] A town of about 25,000 people just about an hour outside of San Antonio. Like so we came here in 2019 living a beautiful town curvil and a neighborhood called the Doyle community.

[00:02:11] We absolutely fell in love with it. We love our neighbors. Just it feels it feels like home. So I enjoy it. I spend most of my days though probably in my office doing CCDA work.

[00:02:26] Yeah. But when I am able to escape that, I just enjoy getting out bed in the neighborhood doing things with my neighbors. Absolutely.

[00:02:36] Absolutely. So I want you all to hear the language. The Louisa one of us, right? You're here talking about being with his neighbors being in the neighborhood loving on people.

[00:02:45] You know, that's what we're talking about here. Man, the real talk about hip hop, the church, the streets. So we're talking about how faith intertwines with our neighborhood life every day and how we as both the Lord.

[00:02:58] Hens that don't love in people. So well, you keep talking about CCDA and spending your time doing that. Can you tell us a little bit about CCDA? What it is and why you know you've taken on this new role? What led you to that?

[00:03:14] Yeah. Well, CCDA is a national association or community of folks who believe that God is at work in the margins of society. These are individuals who are determined to identify that move of God and help their neighbors participate in it.

[00:03:36] You know, we are folks who like to sit on our front porch and just be with those that are around us loving God in the community and loving our community.

[00:03:47] Absolutely. Absolutely. What drew you to this role as the leader of this organization now? Is this new, y'all? He just, yes.

[00:03:59] I was last year fully and I was super excited about it. But what made you even decide that this was something that you could do with a one-a-d.

[00:04:08] Yeah, so I'm in love with the community and it really stems from some personal experiences I've had in my life.

[00:04:17] So really, really tough places that I found myself. I often share these two stories. One is I had the opportunity as my grandmother was transitioning for one life to the next to be able to sit with her and re-scripture.

[00:04:33] And so, you know, I consider it a privilege. It was a tough time because she was in the midst of transition. But as I re-scripture to her, I could see this just like emanating from her these moments of praise where she was still giving God like this complete, just sense of glory and sense of gratitude.

[00:04:57] And watching my grandmother go through this experience, it made me wonder what did she know and death that I did not know in life.

[00:05:05] And it has set me on this path of trying to discover what has got up to because it was obviously something that would cause my grandmother to use her final breaths to praise this God.

[00:05:21] The second experience I had was when I was a college student, I had the opportunity to sit down with a gentleman who I perceived to be unhoused to share a meal.

[00:05:33] And during that meal, this man just ministered to me about the necessity of the church and what according to him would cause the church to thrive.

[00:05:47] And so here again, this was an individual who historically traditionally is marginalized in society. But he was offering me a college student these jewels of life.

[00:05:59] And so you take these two instances together and it really set me on this path of like, what am I missing when I ignore significant parts of society?

[00:06:10] And it caused me to go into these places that are marginalized to see if I could figure out what God was doing there.

[00:06:19] And it's that that essentially had as like just kind of blown my mind, they end in day out because it's like God is here.

[00:06:29] You know, God is in these places doing amazing and miraculous things and I'm excited to be a part of it.

[00:06:36] And so when I was able to connect with the CCDA community around 2008, 2009, I discovered that there was like a nationwide group of people who were doing this just you know, just the same thing.

[00:06:50] And so I think this is like a group of people who have figured out well before I did that God was already at work and many of these places and that it's a privilege to be invited in by your neighbors to experience the move of God.

[00:07:04] And so I often point back to a Howard Thurman quote of you know, we don't need to ask what the world needs. We need to ask what makes us come alive and then go do that.

[00:07:17] Right because what the world really needs is more people who've come alive.

[00:07:21] And so I take all of these things together to say that my motivating question is how do I remove the systemic barriers that prevent people from becoming the fullest expression of themselves even in the darkest of places within our society.

[00:07:38] And that's what CCDA leaders are doing. They're living in places that are often neglected, but they're doing so in such a way that honors the dignity of the people who live beside them as well as recognizes the work that God is doing in those places.

[00:07:56] And I said solidarity. Yeah, oh good and I'm glad you snuck that word solidarity in there because a lot of times you hear people doing that kind of work like working with marginalized or people who society typically puts on the outside have a language like yeah.

[00:08:14] And they they use the word help right we want to help those people or well, I'll meet to be a missionary to those people or who God's taught me to go be a light in darkness. That type of thing what's the difference between you know because you used to wear solidarity, which is very different where what's the way CCDA operates in that way when we are in these communities versus the way that typical mindset will work about coming to go help people.

[00:08:43] Yeah, so we reject the deficit mentality that folks living in these communities are somehow in a league deficient and capable of supporting themselves or offering resources tools.

[00:09:01] You know, being an asset to society in general we go in with the idea with the understanding that individuals everywhere have something to offer.

[00:09:15] You know, they have these assets that God has blessed them with and it's our privilege to join with them not to save them but to join with them in the shared discovery of the beauty of creation of community.

[00:09:31] So it's about being together with people bringing community flourish together not on behalf of yes good is good that I have a line that I say all the time.

[00:09:45] I'm about the power of with you know, yeah, whenever you add the word with to a sentence that completely changes its meaning you know I can sell.

[00:09:53] You know, I want to serve or I can say I want to serve with and it is a different serve with automatically assumes that somebody already serving and I'm just coming along side of them.

[00:10:03] In the iron or when I learn with and assumes that people are already learning and I'm coming in to be a part of that learning.

[00:10:09] And I think that's what I love most about the Christian Community Development Association is it helped me reframe myself even as somebody grew up in a city neighborhood that most people looked at as neglected and only a place to escape never a place to invest in.

[00:10:24] Yes, when I when I got in my mind that there were already all these amazing people resiliently doing amazing work in the community it made me see my own neighborhood.

[00:10:37] Completely in a way I have my entire life and that was just about me changing my view and my real dreams around the way I saw my community.

[00:10:46] So I know that there's lots of language in CCD that talks about that and and our next section of them going to the philosophy and the way we think and all that stuff you'll I do want to ask you when you think of.

[00:10:57] CCD work who are your like immediate like I'll use the word heroes but who inspires you.

[00:11:07] Oh CCD work and why like what is it that inspires you as a CEO you get to be around people all the time.

[00:11:17] Okay, well are you talking more like person I can touch or just see the way.

[00:11:25] Yeah, well it's one that's the one that I already mentioned it's how it thermon that really that that quote is truly profound for me because it forces the paradigm that everybody has something to offer that everybody has this light that they can offer to the you know to the grander society.

[00:11:50] It just so happens that sometimes we become preoccupied with looking outside of ourselves right I think communities tend to do that as well sometimes we you know our our communities.

[00:12:06] Even we looked out on ourselves and we don't see the beauty that's within our own neighborhoods right and so the question then be you know taking this this German quote the question not is not really.

[00:12:19] What outside of my neighborhood what outside of my community will calls us to flourish or to prosper whatever language you prefer but is what's within us like what is within our neighborhood that's already beautiful that we can tap into as a group of individuals.

[00:12:38] And they collectively witnessed that beauty of God so that how would thermon in the way that he approached the world is truly inspiring to me and then you know I'm pretty typical I mean I look to my my parents as examples of folks who just kind of just loved people.

[00:13:01] You know my I grew up you know following my dad around at church and going to the mother's house cutting grass and getting paid with sleep potato pie and.

[00:13:16] But you know so that that was my upbringing we wouldn't we never were in a position where we felt like.

[00:13:25] We were better than anybody but we were also taught that we were always just as good as the next yeah you know and my mother is the same way you know she's you know caring for folks you know she was in the kitchen ministry at church and you know so serving I

[00:13:45] did that too but I remember going with my parents like we would we drove it was like to a whole nother state to just sit with somebody to do communion right so like things like doing things like that and just where you just go out of your way because you recognize that each person is is worth your time each person is worth being with.

[00:14:13] I don't know those are my examples yeah so those are first week right like and I think that that's what.

[00:14:21] In tears me to you to CCDA to my family over there is that there there is this innate connection as I say especially as those of us grew up in like in black church as kids.

[00:14:36] There's this innate connection to a CCDA saying because we can look back at the way we were raised ago.

[00:14:44] These folks in the house college education these folks in the house degrees they don't have a lot of these they don't have anything barely read their Bibles and yet they got this stuff that we had to be taught.

[00:14:55] And so I'm just really thankful that like I would say the same those heroes are people that I'll just seen every day y'all this is what we talking about I'm so glad to have my man Larissa along with us y'all we will be right back.

[00:15:05] He go keep talking to us about CCDA into the philosophy and get into what is hopes and dreams out for the association as we move forward.

[00:15:13] This is Churchill and the block real talk about hip-hop the church in his treats right here serious XM channel 140 will see you all in a second.

[00:15:20] Welcome back to church on the block here holy culture radio with your boy pastor Jake got my man Lorenzo in here the CEO of CCDA the Christian community development association.

[00:15:42] We've been talking a little bit about CCDA's principles and core values and why we think the way we think in what CCDA is about okay do you talking about power structures and and you know and race and gender and all these things but man.

[00:15:57] You know y'all said got a Christian community development association right like what have just got to do with Jesus and Christ man like can you help us bridge that gap.

[00:16:06] It has everything to do with Jesus right so that was Jesus's mission I mean in the grand scheme of things we were the marginalized group right we can't we were the ones that were lost to sin and Jesus came into feed the

[00:16:22] Dimerization so that we could be empowered into to be one but this is also the life and ministry Jesus spent time with the poor with the outcast you know that's

[00:16:33] That's where Jesus spent his time the Bible specifically within the prophets if you read the prophets in the Bible it's talking about you know not exploiting people you know not stealing from the

[00:16:46] Poor or taking care of the widows taking care of the orphans so there are these groups that the Bible just outright states you need to take care of these these individuals so it's a it's the main part of what we do as Christians.

[00:17:00] I love when I hear like folks seeing that lens or seeing scripted through that lens of you know like that's Jesus' life and ministry you know Jesus gets in trouble with the religious leaders because they're like he's always at the sit like with the sinners at the table like they wash their heads.

[00:17:21] They're not doing any of this ceremony stuff is supposed to do and Jesus responses like sick people need a doctor not like healthy people so I'm good and so I think we'll 100% get a man's from people but then the question becomes but like this not just about like y'all sitting with people who we get left out like you would you do just talking about like fighting structures and like I want to stand with the hats to do like with Jesus and all that stuff

[00:17:50] and so I love be with my CCDA folks because we have a lens for for justice but also don't leave out right just as can you talk a little bit about why justice is core to what we do and yet why the righteous is lent is also super important for us as as Christian community developers.

[00:18:08] Yes so that justice aspect is critical to to live in a faithful Christian life right and so I guess what I would say there is that we are supposed to stand up for those who are oppressed right so the ones who may not be able to to fit for themselves.

[00:18:32] That's where we are to stand in the gap for those individuals that is that justice component to it right that is that is our righteousness our expression of love and liberation from Jesus Christ.

[00:18:48] Yeah I love that too and I think when we stand up and say they're like we're distinctly Christian about this because you know obviously we're not the only people in the world doing community development or that love justice when we say we're distinctly Christian what separates us from someone doing community development

[00:19:12] or working in justice or working in a neighborhood as marginalized that might be doing it just because it's a good thing to do versus us doing it from a Christian lens.

[00:19:22] So what would make people you know who don't understand this thing from that lens really see the distinctiveness and what we do versus somebody who just says I work for a community development organization not do this.

[00:19:37] These are the good questions these are the these are the profound questions I think when you begin to look at you know Christianity what this what ask for is an examination of the church right and the necessity of the church as an institution in this work right and so we look at the church as it is designed in you know this commission that we have from Jesus it's all about building

[00:20:06] community right about being together being one and so the the Christian call is for us to build community with each other to serve one another right we can we can even take example from the day of pinnacles where they were they sold everything that all things common with each other right so there's this there's this idea that my spirituality my community

[00:20:36] Christianity is calling me to be one like intimately one with my neighbor to the point where I am selling my things to make sure that you have what you need it's a part of my faith mandate to ensure that you survive right Jesus is prayer was father make them one as we are one so there's this unity in the early we were talking about the beloved community right and so

[00:21:05] within that is the is the idea that we need each other to survive right there's this it's not just a desire it's a necessity you know our Christians faith necessitates that all people are will the all things are will right when when God was creating the universe God would stop and say that it is good all things were

[00:21:34] well not just in and of themselves but as they related to the other right until when we look at when I do and I think you and I've talked about this before as we look at life and existence all things that are living

[00:21:51] are dependent on something outside of themselves to continue existence we see that so read it throughout the Christian faith right that where two or three are gathered right there is in the base unit of existence when God said let us create

[00:22:10] create there is this there is this intimate necessity for well being across the community that is my Christian faith and so the more I begin to seek the well being of my neighbor the welfare of the city the more I'm leaning into the original design right

[00:22:33] where it's like when I you know close my door at night or layman head down to sleep I should be able to dream of my community and say it's well right when we get together when when two or three of us gather in my community and we create right we can stop and we can say it is well and so that because that is our faith that is our Christian mandate

[00:23:00] that compels us to do everything that we do as CCD at

[00:23:05] yeah I hope you only missing this Louisa was preaching right now that was dope like this even is the in the name is even way back to creation like at the very beginning it's about community

[00:23:16] it's about more than one right and so I think one of the things that I run into I know my neighborhood is is that you know my church is longdale Christian community church and we have a health

[00:23:28] and a lot of Christian health center to develop a lot of Christian development corporation and there's lots of people who see the good work we do and see us tie Christianity to it but then they wonder if I'm not Christian

[00:23:39] if like you will work with me or if or if I'm able to work and so even though we're distinctly Christian how do we respond as an association to other people doing good work in the community that may not be Christian whether that's

[00:23:51] you know not faith connected at all or whether of a different faith well we can thank brother Frederick Douglass for the quote we'll work with anybody to do good nobody to do wrong

[00:24:03] so if if you're committed to the principles of justice for all the well-being for your neighbor yes we can we can partner we will remain unapologetically Christian right and in what we do and what we bring

[00:24:19] to the table but we can work together you know and oftentimes we we do forget that this the spirit I don't want to go too far on the show I don't know how much you say smile as you go baby not a judge of the black

[00:24:33] so Christian is our attempt to explain our characterization of God right and so I'm not I'm not going to limit God to my character my characterization it's of God right and so however God decides to show up for someone

[00:24:53] a guy just decides to show up in that way but what will be similar is that the character of God will remain right and so I think we oftentimes lose ourselves in the dogma of our explanation of God because that's where we're comfortable we can go back to the previous conversation about power right religious power dynamics with the United States dictate that you know Christianity is the dominant religion here right and so

[00:25:21] with that being said we sometimes marginalized other people's understandings and appreciations of what God is doing and I just say I'm leaving that up to God as long as as long as God's character doesn't change I'm cool with it that's good that's good that's good man I think that if

[00:25:42] if more Christian spaces held dogma creed and things like that a little looser and I know I know why they value don't get me wrong y'all like I understand like the unity they bring

[00:25:54] they express like they help people kind of put things in categories for themselves as they walk their own favor journey but I think if we could hold stuff like that looser like one of my favorite little quotes is a good little Christian quote is you know and all the um you know I think it's like and all the essentials

[00:26:12] we find you know unity but in the not essential we find liberty you know what I mean so it's like if we might disagree but that you got to

[00:26:20] liberty to do that you're on seeing but in the things we agree on we get to find unity and we get to work together and essentially what you're saying is our essential is the character of God you know what I mean and so as long as God's character remains the same has the same passion for those who have been left out

[00:26:34] to let down and and wants to see neighborhood and communal growth happened we doubt for whoever yeah in my neighborhood a bully dog don't have a name or religion agenda nothing so we just trying to stop all the bullets yeah I mean no matter where they're coming from so that's good stuff man that's

[00:26:51] good stuff I'll ask you one more before we get off of this section man just quick question about like some of the like nuts and bolts or groundwork or CCDA like what what

[00:27:04] does it look like to be doing like CCD ministry like what give me an example of something like that yeah so it's it's probably what a lot of your audience is already doing is being with with people right so uh doing CCDA in a very tangible way is sitting on the porch with your neighbor um share in a meal perhaps or talk from about how their day is going it is um you know coming together maybe in a local community center

[00:27:34] to talk about all the great things that are happening in the community or to strategize on how to support the youth uh and you know through education or something like that um

[00:27:46] it is maybe having a game night um for for the elderly in the community to come together it is being with people in the mundane parts of life and then also in the special parts of life

[00:28:00] so you don't have to be like a pastor or like the allogen or somebody like a bit of big title to do this like is this for anybody it is for anybody and everybody and sometimes being those things as an endurance more than a help um but but the bottom line is just being with each other um in whatever you bring yeah

[00:28:20] yeah no we now you'll see why we love like being a part of the Christian Community Development Association and it makes sense when you've listened to this show at all

[00:28:30] like why this would be our people like the folks that we would like to spend our time with but um before we get off of here real quick man I just want you to tell people how they can connect with you

[00:28:40] I didn't connect with CCDA whether that's a line or whatever and then uh you know what it looks like to get connected with the Christian Community Development Association

[00:28:48] anybody looking to connect with me you can feel free to send me an email um I'm happy to get it it's Lorenzo that's L-O-R-E-M-Z-O as ccda.org

[00:29:00] and then if you want to just learn more about the organization go to ccda.org and check us out we would love to have you join

[00:29:08] uh and when you do join you're going to get connected to uh at last time I checked around 3000 other people who are dedicated to the same thing that you're dedicated to

[00:29:18] so like I said in the beginning essentially this is the home you've been looking for if you're dedicated um to loving your neighbor

[00:29:26] and to loving God with everything that you got then where are your people? Absolutely absolutely so once again make sure

[00:29:34] that you connect um like I said you get connected to the ccda this is our family too man so you know we if you got

[00:29:41] questions hit us up on social media church on the block um checking us check us out you know how to get

[00:29:47] to us me at at Laundale pass a fill up at the firehouse and uh and DJ Ruckus there as well any ways

[00:29:54] that you want to connect we want you to connect to a ccda because it is a great association and he said 3000

[00:30:00] but that's like the members but there's like way more people than that than just people who uh official members

[00:30:08] there's a bunch of folks who just just call it family so we want you to be connected with good folks doing good

[00:30:13] work on the ground please visit ccda.org check out the Christian Community Development Association

[00:30:19] and uh and even if you're not able to get like officially connected with us like keep doing the good

[00:30:25] work on the ground keep sitting on pushes talking to folks keep helping the young people you know

[00:30:30] find their identity help working out your local school volunteering doing whatever you do even if

[00:30:34] that's just waking up in the morning going outside and picking up some trash off the ground like be

[00:30:39] the change you want to see in the world because that's what we believe at the Christian Community Development

[00:30:43] Association yeah so while we talking a little bit about what it means to be or do ccd we're

[00:30:49] gonna come back in this next section and have Lorenzo kind of break down the philosophy of Christian

[00:30:54] Community Development for us so that if you want to actually start practicing this you have

[00:30:58] like a starting point and you can also you know check out more at the place he gave us earlier

[00:31:03] we'll be right back serious xxin holy culture radio church on the block baby

[00:31:18] all right y'all welcome back church on the block series xxin your boy pastor Jay

[00:31:23] uh we missin our boy pastor Phil Jay and the boy DJ Rutgers but they hear in spirit

[00:31:27] and i got somebody even better we've been on here with my man Lorenzo Watson who is the CEO of the Christian

[00:31:32] Community Development Association dropping knowledge so we've been talking a little bit about what

[00:31:37] the association is why we think consider ourselves distinctly Christian what it looks like to do

[00:31:42] the work and we thought we want to talk through the philosophy a little bit of Christian Community Development

[00:31:47] so that you know if you actually are interested in engaging you might have a starting point so

[00:31:51] i'm gonna hand this over to Lorenzo he's gonna talk to us about the eight key components of Christian

[00:31:56] Community Development and give us some background all right here you go Lorenzo thank you sir so

[00:32:03] the the CCDA philosophy is just that of philosophy one of the one of the things we always get asked

[00:32:11] is you know what does it look like to you know to actually do this stuff you know when i start

[00:32:17] you know living a CCD lifestyle like what is that going to actually look like and the truth is

[00:32:24] it just depends it really depends on your neighborhood your context you know what what's

[00:32:30] happening around you the philosophy was never intended to be a model that he replicate but it

[00:32:36] was intended to be a philosophy that inspires you to create with those and are around you

[00:32:42] and so we know that our CCD philosophy or Christian Community Development philosophy is made up of

[00:32:49] eight principles that are all intersecting in various ways right but all of these things come

[00:32:55] together to create this opportunity for engagement with our neighbor so they started off with

[00:33:03] uh the first three that we often refer to as like just the three ours so it's reconciliation

[00:33:09] redistribution and relocation all right so what are we talking about there we're talking about

[00:33:15] being reconciled to one another and to God right so that means so earlier we've talked about this

[00:33:21] probably in quite a link you know what does it look like to be well like to have well-being

[00:33:28] uh with the person that's beside me and also well-being with my creator as well redistribution

[00:33:35] right for some people that's the dirty word right but what we're really looking at here is uh

[00:33:40] we're looking at power structures right how do we ensure that the systems that are responsible for

[00:33:46] distributing resources are doing so in an equitable fashion right and so that is a part of Christian

[00:33:53] Community Development relocation or being proximate right so we're not we're not telling all of you

[00:34:00] right now to leave your homes and to move in another community community and gentrified

[00:34:05] we're not telling you to do that but what we're telling you to do is to operate in true solidarity

[00:34:11] with those on the margins to be uh proximate uh in those spaces in as much as you are welcome and

[00:34:19] able um can I get a word welcome I like that word yes then there's leadership development right so

[00:34:29] we've all been uh you know given these leadership abilities by God right different capacities but

[00:34:37] we we all can lead in some way so the idea here is when you began CCD work right you're not a dictator

[00:34:47] it's this is a shared leadership model right how were you helping those that are coming after you

[00:34:52] to assume leadership uh and so then also not just assume leadership in the future

[00:34:57] but how are you making space for them to embrace their leadership today right that's a part of

[00:35:02] leadership development and then sort of coupled with that uh as this next component of empowerment now

[00:35:09] we're not asking you to get people power because you can but what you can do is recognize the power

[00:35:15] that God has already placed within them and then you can get out of the way so that they can express

[00:35:20] uh the authentic uh authority that God has placed within them that's that's what

[00:35:26] empowerment is in this in this philosophy and that we believe that these things operate

[00:35:32] and revolve around the church that the church is the institution that God has established to um

[00:35:39] to bring salvation to the world and also to bring wholeness and wellness to the neighborhoods

[00:35:44] in communities that we live in and so we are asking that you you find the local congregation now

[00:35:50] that can take different forms I'm not telling you that you have to dress up in a in a suit and tie

[00:35:55] stay in the pew and Sunday morning but what you do need to do is on a consistent basis is have some

[00:36:01] sort of spiritual fellowship with those of of like mind right you need to be held accountable um

[00:36:08] to uh by your sisters and brothers uh who are of of like mind um and that could be a fellowship church

[00:36:16] it could be an abacement it could be um on somebody's porch like we've talked about just kind of

[00:36:22] talking about uh where you're seeing the spirit move and testifying it to each other

[00:36:27] and those testaments testaments can take all sorts of shapes through music dance

[00:36:33] so don't get caught up on the fact that it says church but do get hooked up on the fact that it's a

[00:36:39] call to community and they call to a faith community then there is listening in the community right

[00:36:48] we can't do this work without first listening to the people that we call ourselves trying to serve

[00:36:53] right we must listen and we must hear and we must be instructed uh before we can do anything else

[00:37:00] right and then lastly uh christian community development is holistic in its

[00:37:05] brooch in other words there is no silver bullet there is no one thing that's going to solve

[00:37:10] everyone's problem it's going to take everything coming to bear to create wholeness and wellness so

[00:37:17] that's that's a very quick overview and high level um you know just uh conversation about

[00:37:22] the eight principles of Christian community development thanks for sharing those and you know

[00:37:27] i think you can even in our conversations and dialogues in this radio show you can hear how we

[00:37:32] try to live those out like uh we you know where radio show where it could just be us three on here

[00:37:38] talking all the time me feeling and and and rockets but what we try to do is we try to bring people

[00:37:43] along like when we talked about oh we did our shows on uh women preachers right we didn't

[00:37:48] three guys said here and talk about or we we invited women preachers from our contacts on to

[00:37:54] understand so we can hear their stories and narratives and their theological underpinnings that

[00:37:57] helped them to understand why they're walking to life the way they do when we had a conversation

[00:38:03] on the LGBTQIA plus community and Christianity we had LGBTQIA plus people on you know our own children

[00:38:11] me and DJ rockets right so it was this idea of making it personal all of those things are part

[00:38:16] of Christian community development right we're approximate like we live in proximity to people

[00:38:22] and then we bring them on and allow them to lead us into greater understandings of of spaces where

[00:38:29] they're marginalized or or or or or feel like they've been oppressed it and i i really like i

[00:38:35] credit ccd the philosophy and ccd8 the association for those type of understandings because now

[00:38:43] they're not even things i try to do like those those eight principles he just read like

[00:38:49] they're like one big lifestyle for me versus like oh let me go down the list and do my my eight

[00:38:55] things and so i think i'd love for you to talk just a little bit about if you can give us some

[00:39:01] stories or like a testimony like when you've heard whether it be from a nut from an organization that's

[00:39:06] a part of the association but ways that those things are lived out that you see because sometimes

[00:39:12] people hear like these these bullet points or these like principles but they're not able to actually

[00:39:19] put any like meat on those skeletons and you give us just like one or two stories that you could

[00:39:24] think of of great organizations or things that happen in communities well that's that's

[00:39:31] good so i would love to start with just a personal story of what when i was in college i always go

[00:39:38] back to this this particular story because for me it represents uh what ccd is and so when i was

[00:39:47] in college you know i was typical college student um i didn't have a lot uh in a lot of resources

[00:39:53] a lot of money um and i recall one particular day where i was heading back to my my dorm room after

[00:39:58] class and there was a gentleman who was unhoused who stopped me and uh was asking me for something

[00:40:04] right and so i was like you know i don't really have a lot so i didn't want to make time but i felt

[00:40:10] moved and inspired by the spirit to actually have lunch with this gentleman and so um i stopped

[00:40:17] what i was doing and had lunch with him and uh i felt the spirit just telling me to be quiet and to listen

[00:40:24] so i just sat there um he ate i didn't have a lot like i said so i didn't actually have enough

[00:40:30] money to buy both of his food so i did buy something from him and um at he ate and then at the end

[00:40:37] of the meal he looked at me and said you know what the church needs the church needs my loves

[00:40:42] right and so here i am you know i'm on this path of education you know upwardly mobile

[00:40:50] you're young black man you know in college you know trying to do all the the good things that

[00:40:55] you're told to do and yet i'm being given this transformative life lesson from an unhoused

[00:41:03] individual who was asking me for uh money to pay for his meal to me this exemplifies what

[00:41:11] Thithi D is right we don't get understanding from our positions in life right so like me going

[00:41:20] to college didn't teach me that but what did teach me that was this unhoused individual with

[00:41:28] tatter clothing who had been through life and had learned that this is what's needed so like

[00:41:35] you were saying right um when we find ourselves in marginalized spaces the greatest lessons that

[00:41:43] we will learn are from those who have been in those spaces now hear me when i say that

[00:41:52] i'm not ignoring those of you who are doing this work who are all who grew up in these spaces

[00:41:59] right and so it's it's not to say that everyone who does this is coming back but even if you

[00:42:06] have remained in your community you cannot neglect the things that can only be learned from the

[00:42:13] community right none of us know it all like we said before God said let us i mean i don't say

[00:42:24] there's no one among us that would deny that God has the power right to create by God's

[00:42:29] self but in the moment of creation God said let us and so no one person no one being has all that

[00:42:37] they need in and of themselves and so even if you remained or you went to a different community

[00:42:45] everything begins with listening and then co-creating life together so that's what i began to think

[00:42:52] about as i imagined ccd being expressed and there are hundreds of organizations thousands of

[00:42:58] organizations around the us that are embodying this in a real practical way um you know day in

[00:43:08] day out your very own congregation right one del christian community church is doing this in

[00:43:14] a truly powerful way um i love to think about um you know the the church that that we attend

[00:43:22] uh even in um uh the doiled community are doing ccd beings if we ask them if it was ccd would they

[00:43:30] say it it probably wouldn't say that it's ccd um you know because not everybody has that language

[00:43:36] but what does it look like there it looks like you know um we're gonna have a game night where

[00:43:45] everyone in our community can come because we're not always welcoming the other spaces around

[00:43:49] the city even if we do show up in those spaces we're not you know necessarily sure how we'll be

[00:43:55] received but we create our own spaces it looks like a gentleman um in my community um who was

[00:44:06] a former drug dealer who wasn't incarcerated uh for for dealing drugs but they came back

[00:44:13] and decided that he wanted to use his life to better his community and so now all the entrepreneurial

[00:44:18] spirit that he has he's using it to start multiple businesses and to have um an easter egg hunt for

[00:44:25] the the kids uh every year to do uh a basketball tournament for the youth in the community that is

[00:44:32] ccd it is the everyday person uh living in community learning and loving with each other

[00:44:44] beautiful man this is this is why we want to judge a meatler in zeal this is why we want to make

[00:44:50] sure that you understand from Christian Community Development Association is and what Christian

[00:44:55] Community Development the philosophy is so y'all we appreciate you listening in once again

[00:45:01] every time on Sunday mornings right here on channels 154 series xm uh church on the block real talk

[00:45:10] about hip hop the church at the streets we will see y'all next week we appreciate you and a

[00:45:16] whatever you are be the change you want to see in the world and you'll be doing Christian Community

[00:45:20] Development and following Jesus there we'll see you next time we up thank you for listening to

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