A few years ago, I was invited to visit a church with some family friends. They asked me weeks before and since I was not really into the church thing at the time I put them off. Well time passed, life was getting harder and I was in search of something. I contacted my friends and asked if the invitation was still on? They said of course! Great, we planned that they would pick myself and a friend up on the following Sunday and off we would go.
As Sunday was coming around, the friend who would be accompanying me asked if I knew who the pastor? I didn't but felt it was no big deal and would ask once they arrived to pick us up. When they did arrive we got into the car and rode off. The church was quite a distance from my house so I asked the question as we rode, "whose the pastor?", to my surprise I did not get an answer so I asked again and still no direct response except, you are going to love it!
When we arrived at the church it was not a traditional little brick church, it was a old bank building and the parking lot was packed! We walked in and being a former church kid, I instantly grabbed a program and looked for the pastor's name. To my surprise it was a former rapper who had found Christ!!!! Ok, I admit I was shocked but hey you can't knock somebody on how and why the find Jesus Christ. As we are sitting and the deacons were having the opening prayer, I whisper to my friend, hey look who the pastor is....he does and OMG...state of shock. Having a big voice he tried to whisper, no take that back he didn't try but said out loud, NOT THIS N*GGA, Ain't he signed to G-unit??? I could have died but he was right. The pastor had recently struck a deal of some sorts to be apart of the rap crew G-Unit. I managed to calm my friend just as the rapper/pastor entered the church. He was dressed in a very nice suit, not tailored but nice, and loads of jewelry. He looked just like he had from all the rap videos and even had the same annoying laugh. My friend wanted to leave immediately but we persuaded him to stay and just hear him out.
Now dude was no fire and brim stone preacher but he was a cool speaker. The congregation seemed to be in tune with him but for me and my friend we were watching everything. Now there were a few church goers who looked like they had just left the night club but hey, we were here to get the word, and the bible does say come as you are (shrug). Anyway we sat through the "sermon" and my friend the skeptic says, that was a good talk, I'm going to tell him so. After the offering plate went around and prayer at the alter was called, we noticed that the rapper/pastor was being escorted out the side door. My friend stands and walks behind him to shake his hand but before he could, security circled him and informs him that he can't be in the hallway when the rapper/pastor is leaving. My friend a guy of scarce Muslim faith says ok but jabs them once with "but you know he's not Farrakhan right?"
As our friends joined us outside, they asked how did we like it. We kept it real simple with "it was cool." They ask if we will come back so we agree, everybody deserves a second chance. On our second visit, we were prepared. We sit quietly in the church and got to see the full show this time. The rapper/pastor is escorted to the pulpit as if he was Jesus Christ Superstar. There were several ushers or bodyguards on each side of the pulpit standing at attention watching the crowd or should I say us since we made such a loud introduction the last time. The rapper/pastor gaves his lecture, passed the offering plate and was again escorted out of the building before fellowship of any kind with his congregation!!!!! That didn't set right with me. Another friend who wanted to see it for themselves had joined us this day but excused himself early to go out and grab a smoke. When we join him in the parking lot, he told us of how we had just missed dude. Seems he literally ran out of the church like it was a rap concert with fans screaming and chasing him. He said dude had jumped into a range rover so fast that you could possibly see smoke coming from the tires as he left with his driver. Now as I mentioned, I'm a former church kid and I have never seen a pastor (except for in those mega churches) act this way. Which leads me to ask a few questions like 1). Why couldn't our friends tell us who the pastor was before hand? Were they scared we would say know off the rip? 2). Why was dude running out of the church like he had just finished a show at the Garden and 3). Why does he need bodyguards? Is there somebody out to get him?
Since my visit to his church, it has been reported that the pastor has gotten into another deal of sorts with yet another rap crew..... I still don't know what to make of it all but I do know he will never ever see me in the congregation again. I pray that he is for real but something still questions that in my mind. Also I pray that this does not end up being another Jim Jones type situation! AMEN.
No comments:
Post a Comment