I like Rev Dollar.
Again - from a relative standpoint - his brand of messaging to his "congregation" is far more productive and uplifting than the slate of "Professional Progressive Political Preachers" that I can point to as an alternative.
Few would argue with me in saying that Rev Dollar and Bishop Eddie Long are the top two "Black Mega Church Preachers" in Metro Atlanta.
I am now forced to reconsider the value of the "mega church" in the context of the development of the Black community.
I was happy to hear that this domestic violence as not between Rev Dollar and his wife, Taffy. This would have opened the door to questions of massive dysfunction within the family and a "fake front" being projected onto the world.
The news that a conflict with his teenaged daughter that transitioned from emotional to physical is a bit easier to take though no less acceptable. I can only speculate that she is of the age where she is no longer doing all that her powerful father wants her to do. Her father, not used to having other people challenge his power, struck out in a manner that crossed the line.
The problem with the "mega church" construct is that the actions done under the roof of a family at the helm of the church (a large roof if you have ever driven down Sandy Creek Road - the house that singer Regina Belle and former NBA star John Battle built) is then spread into a major indictment against the church and then Christianity and "organized religion".
For individuals who's goal was to discredit "organized religion" and its attempt to retain "traditional values" in this society, the actions of Dollar and Long (and others) is used as an indictment against the church which, in turn is used to achieve the goal of reducing the influence of the church.
The CHURCH Must Enforce INSTITUTIONAL INTEGRITY As A Means Of Retaining Its Own Stature
Notice that I am not suggesting that the church should engage in a holy war against its enemies. This is the strategy that its enemies are promoting.
Instead the church must understand the importance of INTEGRITY in its operations. When the church places the interests of appeasing "man" over its duty of being pleasing to God, forcing man to yield his self-indulgent ways to a more comprehensive goal - the church is displaced from its proper function in a society.
As I noted a few months ago during my visit to my family's legacy church back home in the Carolinas - the church has exclusive access to people's emotions. (My mother's family church is a "Holl'in To Jesus, Rolling On The Ground Black Chruch). The preacher and the lead singer in the choir, with a cordless microphone that he used to walk up to a lady, repeating the chorus until she "got the spirit" and started holl'in - are powerful forces in manipulating people. In truth they are working with "emotionally injured people" and giving them an opportunity to emote while in the company of friends who will cast no judgement as they break down. For my young children though, this was a sight for them to see. I explained to them what they were seeing after we departed from the service.
Such an institution with such power to manipulate people at this base way needs to be REGULATED by the PEOPLE so that its own INTEGRITY is retained. Failing this the people are damaged, their potential is squandered.
The best thing that the church has going for it today, despite the fact that many of them have lost their way - is that the SECULAR PROGRESSIVE alternative - while initially appealing - is a course toward societal destruction as it fails to fill the void in the people that religious faith is taken away.
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