"I Don't Mean to be Racist, But..."

I get an occasional glance on my blog from my own church members and I appreciate you out their. Over my short term in ministry, every church I have been in has either directly or indirectly had problems with racism. To set the record straight...I am not racist, prejudice, or think I am better than any other ethnicity in the world. After all, Jesus was not a "white male" either. Growing up in a growing city in south Florida, I have been accustom to all kinds of races at school, work, and church. When I moved into the "Bible Belt" this all changed.

While serving in one particular church, my wife and I were victims of a road rage and shooting...no bullets hit us...Of course the gossips started flying through church and almost everyone who came up to me and asked me questions about it first started off by asking..."Were they black people?" "Nope! They were as white as you and me" I responded watching the shock on their faces that a crime was committed by one of their own kind and not a black person.

I have also heard horror stories of churches in the Bible Belt telling a black person to go worship down at the "Black Church" That enrages me to no end. How can "Christians" do this?

The Church I serve in now is different, there are many different races and ethnic backgrounds represented in Worship. We have Haitians, Greeks, English, Canadian, Chinese, African American, Romanian, Hungarian, German, as well as Anglo-American. It's awesome to see so many types of people joining together as one. I want to list some of my "pet peeves" of how Christians show direct or indirect racism:

1. Don't Call it "The Black Church" - They are a church...I'm sure white people are welcome
2. Don't say "I don't mean to be racist, but..." - If there is something that might sound racist or
stereotypical, than it doesn't need to be said.
3. "Them Mexicans" - not all Spanish speaking people are Mexican. If you are white and speak
english does that make you British?
4."Don't Judge Interracial Marriage" - I believe we humans are all one race bonded together by
one faith in one God. How could skin color break that apart? We have a couple of bi-racial
marriages in our church and they are the sweetest people.
5. (this one's left blank for your examples...let's stop this nonsense of racism)

Joel Osteen

Hey readers...I recently have been preparing to study about this whole Joel Osteen controversy thing going on in the Christian circles. First and formost...I don't preach "Prosperity Gospel" but have been faced in my church, friends, and other bloggers about whether Joel is a pastor or not. There is an excellent article on Colossians3:16 blog about this so I figured it appropriate to link it here. It definitely is worth your time as you know I don't link posts that often on this blog. To read it...Click Here