BCNN1

Evangelical and Elite: What Happens When Christians Bring Their Faith Convictions to Corporate America or the U.S. Government?

2010-09-02T17:59:09Z

Evangelicals have become significant players on the national stage, so much so that the actions and statements of their leaders ripple across the political and cultural landscape. What happens when evangelicals bring their faith convictions to bear on corporate America or the U.S. government? In particular, how does an evangelical Christian who also leads a major American institution--such as Walmart or the National Institutes of Health--invoke his or her faith when making big decisions?

]]> Bradley C. Smith of Princeton University and I just published a study on this subject in the Journal of the American Academy of Religion. It emerged out of a larger study (first published by Oxford University Press as Faith in the Halls of Power) for which I interviewed 360 evangelicals who were top American leaders. These elites included former President Jimmy Carter along with 50 cabinet secretaries and senior White House officials from the last five administrations. I also sat down with 100 CEOs, chairpersons and presidents of major companies including New York Life Insurance, Johnson & Johnson, Tyson Foods, and JC Penney. To round out the study, I met with over 150 leaders from the worlds of nonprofits, the arts, entertainment, and the news media.

I wanted to uncover how these people bring their personal religious convictions to bear on their roles as public leaders. In other words, how does religion seep into their relationships, their work, and the decisions they make?

We found four kinds of evangelicals in the corner offices of major U.S. institutions--the pragmatic, the heroic, the circumspect, and the brazen.

Pragmatic evangelicals are serious about their faith, but they don't advertise it. In the words of Genworth's Chief Investment Officer, Ron Joelson, "You don't want to offend people who are not Christians. . . . [As someone] in a position of power and authority, I don't want people to feel uncomfortable. . . . [That's] not a particularly good witness." Joelson's sentiment was repeated by dozens of other leaders we studied.

Ed Moy, director of the U.S. Mint, takes a different approach. Early in his career, he worked in the private sector and was confronted by his boss after submitting his first expense report:

He shuts the door to his office, and says, "Let me explain something around here. We in sales management never believe that the company is paying us enough, and so...we measure the minimum amount of miles from home to work and back again, and that's personal miles. Everything else . . . gets dumped in the business column, and that way you get an extra 50 [to] 75 bucks a month. If I were to hand this in, accounting is going to ask some questions, and then there's a massive audit on everyone, and we can't have that kind of trouble. So I'm telling you that if you're interested in a career here, you're going to change this expense report."

The next week, when Moy submitted the expense report unchanged, his supervisor threatened to fire him (but, in the end, didn't). Moy refers to the event as a "seminal moment" in shaping his understanding of the relationship between faith and work.

Click here to continue reading.

SOURCE: The Washington Post | On Leadership

D. Michael Lindsay

WATCH: A New Spin on Pro-Life Billboards, "Black and Unwanted"

2010-09-02T13:00:25Z

A controversial topic has come to the Brazos Valley. There's a new spin on Pro-Life billboards. These target the African American community -- where statistics show mothers have a disproportionate number of abortions , as much as 2 times more than other races.

]]> Drivers along South College Avenue in Bryan can see a message on a billboard that's hard to miss. In fact it almost hits you between the eyes. Powerful words are written across the top "Black and Unwanted."

"I believe in going outside the lines," said Mary Broussard, Former College Station ISD Board member. "Sometimes you have to go with an 'in your face' approach," said Broussard.

A billboard campaign started in Georgia has come to Bryan-College Station. It is directed at the African American Community. The signs aim for the heart to try to reverse the high number of black women getting abortions.

"Abortion is a very challenging and difficult topic," said Broussard, is also an active member of Shiloh Baptist Church.

"The economic factor is the driving force and also the support of extended family." said Broussard. "Black people may not have the extended family to help them in the decision to keep their their children."

While, some simply pass by the message.

Click here to read more

Source: KBTX.com | Stephanie Palmer

Christian Medical Association Criticizes Obama's Appeal of Judge's Stem Cell Ruling

2010-09-02T12:55:03Z

The Christian Medical Association blasted the Obama administration Tuesday for trying to lift an injunction blocking the federal funding of embryonic stem cell research.

]]> CMA CEO Dr. David Stevens criticized the administration for its "irrational insistence" on channeling hundreds of millions of federal dollars toward "speculative" embryonic stem cell research rather than proven sources of cures that do not involve the destruction of embryos.

"The Obama administration should prioritize curing patients - not fighting the court ruling that has stopped their illegal funding of embryonic stem cell research," said Stevens in a statement.

Click here to read more

Source: Christian Post | Michelle A. Vu

WATCH: Music Minister, Delia Knox, Walks for First Time in 22 Years During Alabama Revival Meeting

2010-09-02T12:50:10Z

A music minister long known for belting out powerful worship choruses from her wheelchair stood up and walked Friday for the first time in 22 years during a revival service led by former Brownsville Revival leader John Kilpatrick.

]]>

Delia Knox, a popular singer who pastors Living World Christian Center in Mobile, Ala., with her husband, Bishop Levy Knox, had been paralyzed since a car accident on Christmas Day 1987.

But a YouTube video shot during a revival service Friday night at the Mobile Convention Center shows Knox telling British evangelist Nathan Morris that she can feel his hands on her legs. As he and other ministers continue to pray for her, she suddenly stands up from her wheelchair and later walks across the platform as the crowd leaps and screams. (Watch video below.)

Knox's healing, which has received more than 28,000 hits since it was posted on YouTube Monday, is one of dozens of miracles Kilpatrick said have been reported since revival broke at his Mobile-area church, Church of His Presence, in late July.

The former pastor of Brownsville Assembly of God in Pensacola, Fla., where a five-year revival began on Father's Day 1995, said the services in Mobile looked like they had the making "of another powerful revival."

Click here to read more

Source: Charisma Magazine

Murders of Young Black Men Rising in Detroit

2010-09-02T12:45:55Z

In Detroit, as jobs and hope have evaporated in the wake of a gnawing recession, the fallout has been more than just economic. For a tiny slice of the population, it's become increasingly fatal.

]]>

For black males in the city between ages 15 and 24, the chances of getting murdered have risen rapidly in recent years, increasing from 79 in 2005 to 102 last year. The number reached a high of 115 in 2008.

"We are aware of it," said interim Detroit Police Chief Ralph Godbee Jr. "We are concerned."

Young black men account for just 7 percent of the city's population, yet more than a quarter of all homicides. They have a murder rate -- 200 per 100,000 residents -- nearly seven times higher than the rest of the population. If they had died at the same rate as everyone else in Detroit, there would have been 16 killed last year, or one every three weeks.

Instead, police were investigating, on average, the murders of two young black men a week.

"There's a lot of young kids dying," said Lyvonne Cargill, a 39-year-old Detroiter whose son Je'Rean "Blake" Nobles was gunned down May 14 a few blocks from her eastside home. He was 17.

Most of Detroit learned about Je'Rean's killing because of what happened days later: Police looking for his killer raided an east-side home and accidently shot and killed a 7-year-old girl, Aiyana Stanley-Jones.

But Aiyana's death wasn't the only tragedy to follow. Cargill said two of her son's best friends, both 17, also have been killed. One was shot to death, the other beaten to death.

"It's so bad what's going on around here," she said.

Click here to read more

Source: The Detroit News | Mike Wilkinson and Santiago Esparza

Will Bible Believing Christians Follow a Mormon TV News Anchor?

2010-09-01T18:45:31Z

Once uncomfortable with Mitt Romney, evangelicals appear mixed on Glenn Beck.

]]> Southern Baptist executive Richard Land was pleased at how religious Glenn Beck's "Restoring Honor" rally turned out to be.

Bishop Harry Jackson, a black evangelical leader, was pleasantly surprised that the Fox News talk show host said things "some of my close friends could have written."

And Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr. was among the faith leaders to enlist in Beck's new "Black Robe Regiment."

In the wake of the conservative commentator's rally on the National Mall last weekend (Aug. 28), some evangelical leaders say he sounded all the right religious notes.

But others say Beck's Mormon faith clouds the message.

"Glenn Beck's Mormon faith is irrelevant," said Falwell. "People of all faiths, all races and all creeds spoke and attended the event. Nobody was there to endorse anyone else's faith but we were all there to honor our armed forces and to call the people of America to restore honor."

But other conservative Christians say Beck's leadership at an event attended by evangelicals and other conservatives was nothing short of scandalous.

"The answer to this scandal ... includes local churches that preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, and disciple their congregations to know the difference between the kingdom of God and the latest political whim," Russell Moore, dean of the School of Theology at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, wrote on his blog the day after the rally.

"It's sad to see so many Christians confusing Mormon politics or American nationalism with the gospel of Jesus Christ."

At the rally, Beck paced before the Lincoln Memorial as he described the "240 men and women," from a range of faiths who had joined his regiment.

"We can disagree on politics," Beck said. "These men and women here don't agree on fundamentals. They don't agree on everything that every church teaches. What they do agree on is God is the answer."

There is no doubt that Beck has a following. Gallup has ranked him as the fourth most admired man--just ahead of Pope Benedict XVI--and millions tune in to his daily broadcasts.

But, as his religious rhetoric attests, Beck has gone fishing for a new audience recently.

Weeks before the rally, he gathered about 20 prominent religious leaders for a dinner at which he said God was leading him to talk about revival in America, Land said. The night before the rally, he held a "Divine Destiny" event that promised to leave participants with a "strong belief that faith can play an essential role in reuniting the country."

That kind of language has some evangelicals upset.

Click here to continue reading

SOURCE: Christianity Today - Adelle M. Banks

Christians, Evangelicals, Bible Believers Following Glenn Beck is Scandalous

2010-09-01T18:40:51Z

A Mormon television star stands in front of the Lincoln Memorial and calls American Christians to revival. He assembles some evangelical celebrities to give testimonies, and then preaches a God and country revivalism that leaves the evangelicals cheering that they've heard the gospel, right there in the nation's capital.

]]>

The news media pronounces him the new leader of America's Christian conservative movement, and a flock of America's Christian conservatives have no problem with that.

If you'd told me that ten years ago, I would have assumed it was from the pages of an evangelical apocalyptic novel about the end-times. But it's not. It's from this week's headlines. And it is a scandal.

Fox News commentator Glenn Beck, of course, is that Mormon at the center of all this. Beck isn't the problem. He's an entrepreneur, he's brilliant, and, hats off to him, he knows his market. Latter-day Saints have every right to speak, with full religious liberty, in the public square. I'm quite willing to work with Mormons on various issues, as citizens working for the common good. What concerns me here is not what this says about Beck or the "Tea Party" or any other entertainment or political figure. What concerns me is about what this says about the Christian churches in the United States.

It's taken us a long time to get here, in this plummet from Francis Schaeffer to Glenn Beck. In order to be this gullible, American Christians have had to endure years of vacuous talk about undefined "revival" and "turning America back to God" that was less about anything uniquely Christian than about, at best, a generically theistic civil religion and, at worst, some partisan political movement.

Rather than cultivating a Christian vision of justice and the common good (which would have, by necessity, been nuanced enough to put us sometimes at odds with our political allies), we've relied on populist God-and-country sloganeering and outrage-generating talking heads. We've tolerated heresy and buffoonery in our leadership as long as with it there is sufficient political "conservatism" and a sufficient commercial venue to sell our books and products.

Too often, and for too long, American "Christianity" has been a political agenda in search of a gospel useful enough to accommodate it. There is a liberation theology of the Left, and there is also a liberation theology of the Right, and both are at heart mammon worship. The liberation theology of the Left often wants a Barabbas, to fight off the oppressors as though our ultimate problem were the reign of Rome and not the reign of death. The liberation theology of the Right wants a golden calf, to represent religion and to remind us of all the economic security we had in Egypt. Both want a Caesar or a Pharaoh, not a Messiah.

Click here to continue reading

SOURCE: Christian Post - Russell D. Moore

________________________________________________________________________________________________________

In the days following Glenn Beck's highly publicized rally in Washington, D.C., conservative Christians have come out expressing their concern not over the increasingly popular broadcaster, but over the apparent confusion among Christ followers.

"There is something very strange going on here. I don't understand the disconnect on the part of Christians," said Dr. R. Albert Mohler, Jr., president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky.

Americans from across the country converged on the National Mall on Saturday for the "Restoring Honor" rally led by Fox News commentator Beck. Reports indicate that the event drew anywhere from 87,000 to 500,000 people. Beck, a Mormon, was joined by a diverse group of religious leaders - including evangelical Christians - as he called on America to turn back to God.

Mohler, one of the nation's pre-eminent evangelical theologians, found that Beck's rally cries were resonating with many Christians.

"What concerned me about that event on the mall was not so much Glenn Beck and the politicians in the program; it was the picture of those religious leaders standing together," he said Tuesday on The Janet Mefferd Show.

During Saturday's three-hour event, over 200 religious leaders stood behind Beck, linking arms at certain points. Dr. Richard Land, a well-known Southern Baptist, and Bishop Harry Jackson of Hope Christian Church in Maryland were among the conservative Christians standing there.

While Land does not agree with Beck's theology, he told National Public Radio that the event was about a deep concern of Americans that the country has taken "a fundamentally wrong turn and is headed in the wrong direction."

Jim Garlow, pastor of Skyline Wesleyan Church in San Diego, Calif., who was also at the event, said the rally was about extolling virtue and honoring God.

And the event was evangelical in tone, he said in a commentary on CNN.

"Despite the pre-rally discussions of Beck's Mormonism, the rally's litany of evangelical speakers gave it the Jesus-centeredness of a Billy Graham Crusade. All theological references were clearly evangelical and biblically based," Garlow wrote.

Click here to continue reading

SOURCE: Christian Post - Nathan Black

8 in 10 People Worldwide See Religion as Very Important

2010-09-01T18:35:19Z

More than eight in ten adults in the world say religion is an important part of their daily lives, according to Gallup surveys conducted last year in 114 countries.]]> Indonesian Christians pray during a protest against rising violence by Islamic hard-liners in Jakarta, Indonesia, Sunday, Aug. 15, 2010. Several hundred people from the Forum for Religious Freedom Solidarity held a rally, protesting what they said was the government's inaction in dealing with the hard-liners.

And, as past surveys have found, there remains a strong correlation between a country's socioeconomic status and the religiosity of its residents.

In the world's poorest countries - those with average per-capita incomes of $2,000 or less - the median proportion who say religion is important in their daily lives is 95 percent, reported Gallup on Tuesday.

In contrast, the median for the richest countries - those with average per-capita incomes over $25,000 - is 47 percent.

"Social scientists have put forth numerous possible explanations for the relationship between the religiosity of a population and its average income level," noted Gallup editor Steve Crabtree.

"One theory is that religion plays a more functional role in the world's poorest countries, helping many residents cope with a daily struggle to provide for themselves and their families. A previous Gallup analysis supports this idea," he added.

Click here to continue reading

SOURCE: Christian Post - Aaron J. Leichman

Why Some Churches Are Struggling with Money While Others Are Not

2010-09-01T18:31:09Z

Some churches are struggling in regards to finances ... yet many are not, even in the recession that our country has recently went through. So...why do some churches seem to struggle while others do not. Four reasons...

]]> #1 - The Church Has No Vision

People will not consistently give to a visionless organization. However, when a church begin to seek God, BEG for HIS direction and commit to go and do whatever He says...and when steps of faith are taken...and when lives begin to be impacted because of that...and those changed lives are celebrated on a consistent basis then giving becomes a joy for the church instead of an obligation because they can see that their investment is making a difference.

#2 - The Pastor Refuses To Teach On It

It's amazing the number of church leaders who fear teaching on money...they say, "people will get mad and leave." I always answer, "of course they will! BUT...the only people who get angry when you teach on adultery are the ones who are actually committing adultery. SO...think about it, the people who get mad when you teach on money are the ones who have money as their god!"

Sixteen out of the thirty eight parables Jesus taught had to do with money, around 15% of His total teaching had to do with the subject of money and He taught that money is the number one spiritual indicator of where a persons heart is.

Yet money is the only subject that we address in the church that many pastors feel like they need to apologize for. Jesus didn't apologize for it; in fact, He said some pretty BOLD things about it. (See Matthew 6:19-24 AND Matthew 19:24) If Jesus taught on the subject with authority then so should the church.

Click here to continue reading.

SOURCE: The Christian Post

Perry Noble

Is There an App for Discernment?

2010-09-01T18:30:08Z

When ministry gets overwhelming, centering prayer reminds us that we are more than what we do.

I am a relative latecomer to the smart phone market. I enjoy the separation from email when away from the computer, but when my simple cell phone died, I could hold out no longer.

]]> My favorite application on the new phone may be the GPS feature. There is something remarkably comforting that my current location and desired destination can be pinpointed at the touch of a finger. The blue dot honing in to identify an exact location, then calculating a route, complete with turn-by-turn directions, trip duration and mileage count, all bring such satisfaction. Sometimes I'll reset the GPS several times over the journey, just to see the blue dot make progress and recalculate.

I wish someone could write an app for discernment.

Wouldn't it be great if at the touch of a button we could know exactly where we are in life, and where it is we want to go? But what about periods of transition, when we feel unmoored and find ourselves in a liminal space? If we aren't sure where we are, or even where we want to be, discernment begins with self-exploration. Discovering, or re-discovering, our identity is a faithful first step in discerning future activity.

Questions of "who am I" or "who are we" are easily bypassed or ignored in times of transition. Anxiety is high in uncertainty, and often we just want to make a decision already. It is satisfying to know where we are going and plot out how to get there. But sometimes leaders are tasked with holding a space for important questions to linger.

Times of transition that invite discernment and probe self-knowledge are invitations to prayer. Centering prayer is especially helpful because our minds are exhausted from examining all the possibilities. In centering prayer one attempts to get behind their thoughts to attend to a deeper presence. Reflecting and understanding are useful, but deep knowing happens at the heart level, where our spirits and God's Spirit commune in ways beyond words.

Click here to continue reading

SOURCE: Christianity Today Building Church Leaders Blog

Are We About the Coffee or Are We About the Christ? C'mon Now Brothers

2010-09-01T18:25:47Z

It's very difficult for many contemporary Christians to recognize how much we have been shaped by the consumer culture in which we live--it is in the air we breathe and the water (or coffee) we drink.

]]> Consider that in many churches the coffee bar has displaced the Lord's Table as the place where real community happens. Due in part to the neutralizing of sacred space that has been popular since the 1980s, churches began removing or deemphasizing the Lord's Table and introducing coffee bars. Without doubt the desire has been to build community by offering people a culturally familiar setting to engage one another. But we must ask: What formative message does a coffee bar convey?

A coffee bar mostly carries the values of our culture. We've come to expect coffee bars to offer a number of choices to meet our desires (decaf, tea, hot chocolate), and the setting is one of leisure and comfort. We usually gather in affinity groups. We sip the beverages not because we're thirsty but because we're conditioned to want them.

By contrast, what does the Lord's Table convey? It is a symbol of sacrificial love that breaks down cultural divisions and barriers of affinity. It reminds us that life is about being chosen by the Lord for interpersonal communion rather than choosing to consume stuff, and it reminds us we are called to take up our cross rather than seek personal comfort.

Both the coffee bar and Lord's Table affirm community, but the kind of community they affirm differs significantly. Churches with coffee bars may have to work harder to ensure they are fostering community around the values of Christ rather than casual consumerism.

Click here to continue reading

SOURCE: Outofur - Paul Louis Metzger

Young People Born Between 1980 and 1991 See Nothing Wrong With Two Men Marrying Each Other

2010-09-01T18:20:51Z

Six in 10 American "Millennials" - those born between 1980 and 1991 - see nothing wrong with two people of the same gender getting married. But men, African-Americans and Southerners are least comfortable among their peers with same-sex marriage, and for the most part Christian Millennials oppose it.

]]> These are the findings from a LifeWay Research study for an upcoming book by Thom Rainer, president of LifeWay Christian Resources, and son Jess Rainer titled "The Millennials: Connecting to America's Largest Generation." The book is based on a wide-ranging August 2009 survey of 1,200 Millennials in the United States.

Millennials are divided in their response to the question, "How much would you agree or disagree with the statement: I see nothing wrong with two people of the same gender getting married." Forty percent agree strongly; 21 percent agree somewhat; 15 percent disagree somewhat; and 24 percent disagree strongly.

Key differences exist by location, gender, race and religion. For example, nearly half of Millennials in the Northeast and the West strongly agree there is nothing wrong with same-sex marriage, compared with fewer than 1 in 3 Southerners.

Women are far more accepting of same-sex marriage than men. Sixty-eight percent of female Millennials agree there is nothing wrong with same-sex marriage (49 percent strongly), while 55 percent of males feel the same way (32 percent strongly).

African-Americans are more strongly opposed to marriage between members of the same gender than Hispanics and Asians, according to the study. Fifty-three percent of African-Americans disagree with the statement (32 percent strongly), while 33 percent of Hispanics and 36 percent of Asians disagree (19 percent strongly).

Click here to continue reading

SOURCE: Christian Post - Rob Phillips

Louisiana Pastor Who Has the Same Name as a Criminal Gets Arrested by Mistake

2010-09-01T18:15:09Z

What's in a name? Shreveport pastor Gregory Jones can tell you that despite what Shakespeare's Juliet may say, calling a rose by its real name doesn't mean it necessarily will smell sweet. In fact, it just may stink -- and include a stay at Caddo Correctional Center.

]]> Jones was late for an appointment Monday when he was pulled over by a Caddo sheriff's deputy for speeding on Colquitt Road. Jones, pastor of Eden Worship Center on Russell Road, readily handed over his driver's license, insurance card and registration when asked.

"I thought: 'I'm going to get a speeding ticket, at worse,'" he said.

Soon, another deputy arrived. Moments later, Jones was handcuffed and in the back of a patrol car. Unsure of what was happening, Jones asked deputies why he had been arrested.

"They said: 'You are wanted out of Austin, Texas, for parole violations and some other crimes,'" Jones recalls. "I said: 'That's not me. I've never been to prison. I've never been on parole.'"

It seemed Jones shared the same first and last name and birth date with a wanted Texas man.

Deputies, who likely had heard more than one suspect make the same claim, weren't impressed with Jones' assertion of mistaken identity. And, department policy required them to be certain Jones, who has a Texas driver's license, was in fact who he said.

"Until you can verify, you can't allow a person to leave," said Caddo Lt. Don Gibbs, who noted the department was sorry for Jones' inconvenience but committed to ensuring wanted criminals weren't accidentally let go.

Click here to continue reading

SOURCE: Shreveport Times - Alison Bath

WATCH: A Satanic Church in the Bible Belt Rents Out Civic Center for Special Service

2010-09-01T18:10:23Z

The leader of an Satanic church firmly planted in the Bible Belt has raised eyebrows by renting a theater in the Oklahoma City Civic Center for a ritual exorcism of God.
]]>
"We don't kill animals, we don't kill children," James Hale, the church's Lord High Master, told ABCNews.com.

"We just decided that being right here in the middle of the Bible Belt, it wasn't a good idea to keep the secrecy you see in the traditional Satanist churches," he said. "Because secrecy breeds fear. And we're not looking to scare anyone."

Citing concerns for privacy and safety, Hale declined to say how many members the church has besides the seven members who are named on the church's state listing as a tax exempt religious organization, a designation they were awarded this spring.

Those seven members will take the stage Oct. 21 for the ritual, which Hale described as an exorcism to extract the gods of what he called the "right handed path" or traditional religions, such as Christianity, Judaism and Islam.

"It's a parody of the Catholic rite of exorcism. It's just a blasphemy ritual," Hale said.

Though the police have been notified of the potential for violence -- Hale said his members and other Church of Satan supporters have received letter bombs and been shot at in the past -- the city is not preparing any special accomodations for the event.

"From a city perspective, this is a first amendment isse," said Jennifer McClintock, spokeswoman for the Oklahoma City Parks and Recreation Department, which oversees the civic center affairs. "As a public facility we don't deny their right to assemble or deny their right of message. That's discriminatory."

But city officials have started to receive a few e-mails of protest as word of the exorcism gets around.

"I think a lot of people just look at this as something that they don't believe in," Mcclintock said. "Because they don't agree with the beliefs of this particular group."

Jim Lewis, a leading expert on new religious movements, including Satanism, told ABCNews.com that the Church of the IV Majesties is the first Satanic church he's ever heard of that was persistent enough to achieve tax-exempt status as a religious organization.

He echoed Hale's sentiments that the public has nothing to fear from the church's rituals.

"They're not devil worshippers and they don't go out and kill cats or babies," Lewis said from Norway, where he now teachers at the University of Tromso.

Click here to continue reading.

SOURCE: ABC News

Comedian Michael Jr. Can Even Make the Down and Out Laugh

2010-09-01T18:05:18Z

Comedian Michael Jr. has done a lot of gigs in a lot of places, everything from hole-in-the-wall comedy clubs to The Tonight Show, Comedy Central, and Jimmy Kimmel Live.

]]>
Like anybody in his line of work, Michael Jr. wants to make you laugh. For years, that was his main professional goal. But not long ago, one gig in an upscale California club changed his way of thinking.

"I was praying before that show," he says, "and God sort of changed my mindset. I went from wanting to get laughter from people to wanting to give people the opportunity to laugh." After that same show, while hanging and laughing with some fans on the sidewalk out front, Michael Jr. saw a homeless man across the street--his in a neighborhood where that's a rare sight. They made eye contact.

Michael Jr. says he asked himself, "How could I take comedy to him? What would that look like?"

What it looks like is what he did in the ensuing months, taking his routine to a youth prison in California, abused children in Colorado, a homeless shelter in Los Angeles, and those suffering with HIV/AIDS in Fort Worth, Texas. All of it was recorded for a new documentary, Comedy: The Road Less Traveled, which will screen in churches this fall before becoming available for general DVD sales after that.

For Michael Jr., the experience so powerful that he has worked such events into his regular schedule; he seizes every opportunity to take his comedy to these groups, which usually include people who need to laugh more than anyone. Such gigs don't pay well, if at all; Michael Jr. sometimes even pays his own expenses to go to these places.

Christianity Today recently chatted with the comedian about the film, his work, and Christians' sense of humor. (Click here and here to see a couple of his jokes.)

You took your comedy routine to some places where people are really hurting. Tell a story or two that stands out from this experience.

At the youth prison, one of the guys said, "When Michael Jr. made us laugh like that, he made us feel more human." I was blown away by that, because I never thought they were anything but human.

At the Union Mission in LA [a homeless shelter], there was a meth addict on the front row. I remember him laughing really hard, hardcore belly laughter. I got a hug from him afterward, a hug like I'd never gotten before--like he was feeling some kind of release. When somebody in bondage starts to laugh, it's like overcoming the devil. He didn't say anything at the time, but when I saw him some months later, he had completely gone straight. He said that that [comedy routine] was the day everything changed for him. He said, "I am free," and said he's now a youth pastor down there. I was amazed.

And there was another guy down in Fort Worth at the HIV facility who said he hadn't laughed in over 20 years. Can you imagine that? Twenty years.

Are you funny in person, or just on stage?

I'm not that funny in person. If I was at a party, I'd be off to the side, usually just watching people. My comedy is mostly just observational humor. I observe what people do, and talk about it in a funny way. It's sort of a different kind of humor.

You say that when you're in a club, your material has to be clean enough for church. And when you're in a church, it has to be funny enough for a club. It sounds easier said than done.

Actually it's really easy. Jokes just come to me, and I write them down. I send them out on Twitter and get some responses, and I kind of know before I go on stage what's going to be funny or not. It's just part of a gift or anointing, I guess. This may sound weird, like I think I know too much, but I just know what's going to be funny. I may have to adjust my routine about where a certain joke goes in the set. It's all about placement; it's very strategic. But I'm pretty good at looking at the audience and knowing what materials will be appropriate. Also, I don't really care that much about their reaction.

Seriously? You don't care?

Let me explain. Comedians are looking for some kind of acceptance, but that's not the way it is with me. I know God has accepted me, so I don't really need the acceptance of the audience laughing and applauding. If you are of the mindset that I've gotta get laughter from people, and then people aren't laughing, it's hard to go on.

When I did my comedy in the youth prison, for a long time the guys just weren't laughing. But I know that I have the goods; it was just a matter of what they're going through. I have to be okay with it, even if they don't laugh. And even if only one person laughs, at least they were in a room where one person laughed, as opposed to just being in a place where nobody's laughing but they're always fighting. There's no way I could do this if I still need their acceptance, like an average comedian does. If I didn't know that God says I am fearfully and wonderfully made, these shows would be really, really hard.

All comedians bomb at some time. You've gotten over that?

Click here to continue reading.

SOURCE: Christianity Today