Videos

Conversations

A Conversation with Four Millennial Preachers – 2019

1. A Conversation with Four Millennial Preachers on “Announcing the Call” by Dr. Frank A. Thomas
   • Videos
     • Video #1
       Channel:- Frank Thomas
       Date Published:- 2019-Jun-26th
       Date Added:-2022-April-23rd
       Link
2. The Closing Conversation with Four Millennial Preachers, Part II, hosted by Dr. Frank A. Thomas
   • Videos
     • Video #1
       Channel:- Frank Thomas
       Date Published:- 2019-November-20th
       Date Added:-2022-April-23rd
       Link

Panel

Conversations

A Conversation with Four Millennial Preachers – 2019

1. Rev. Dr. Neichelle Guidry
2. Rev. Dr. Charlies Dates
3. Rev. Willie D. Francois, III
   • Home Church
     • Church:- First Union Baptist Church
     • City:- Galveston, Texas
   • Church in 2019
     • Church:- Pastor Mount Zion Baptist Church
     • City:- Pleasantville, New Jersey
4. Rev. Dr. Brianna K. Parker
   • 2019
     • Professor of Religion, Jarvis Christian College
     • Founder and Curator of Black Millennial Café

Transcripts

Conversations

A Conversation with Four Millennial Preachers – 2019

The African American Preaching Legacy Series hosted by Dr. Frank A. Thomas presents “A Conversation with Four Millennial Preachers.” Four outstanding and accomplished Millennial Preachers, Rev. Dr. Neichelle Guidry, Rev. Dr. Charlies Dates, Rev. Willie D. Francois, III, and Rev. Dr. Brianna K. Parker discuss preaching from the millennial perspective: call stories, sermon preparation, preaching mentors, technology and social media, depth in preaching, Womanist preaching, and so much more. Because of the powerful nature of the discussion, the Conversation will unfold in three parts: the first video will be “The Preview: Announcing the Call” and will feature their call stories. The second video, “Part I: The Opening Conversation,” and then “Part II: The Closing Conversation.”

A Conversation with Four Millennial Preachers on “Announcing the Call” by Dr. Frank A. Thomas

The Call

1. Rev. Dr. Charlies Dates
   • Head to the Pastor and ask him “When are you going to let me preach“
   • We used to have these revivals, “Tent Meetings“, we called them
   • Timothy Fleming might have been in town

Mentorship

1. Rev. Willie D. Francois, III
   • Dean Lawrence Eric Carter
     • Communal Calling
   • Bishop Vashti Murphy McKenzie
     • Staunch Baptist Preacher did not believe women were called into the ministry
     • Sister’s Chapel
     • Reclaimed me for the ministry
2. Rev. Dr. Charlies Dates ( Segment 12 )
   • No just share knowledge
   • Get to share your friends, and not just share your engagements
   • You open up your mentors to those your are mentoring
3. Rev. Dr. Frank Thomas
   • What we are called from, what we are called to
     • We are so busy pursuing what we are called to, we forget what we are called from
     • A called to, always has a called from
     • To get to where you are going, we always have to give up something
     • Your personal interior worth
     • Pastors will work on how to transition a church, without working on how to transition themselves
     • We have to work on ourselves, we have to work on our personal ministry
     • We have to come in during succession planning
     • This is a multi-generational thing
     • There is always a letting go; even when we find it
     • We always have to work on our own soul, on our ministry, so that when it comes to letting go, we are OK with letting go
   • Evasion of our soul worth
     • In the middle of having everything, we always have to use entrepreneurship towards more than us
     • We have to tender the position we have attained to create parallel system for others
     • That is what guards our soul against selfishness, jealously, and competitiveness
     • Not to be able to create space for others drives us crazy
     • Unfortunately, it is an evasion of our own souls worth
     • I am certain that the gifts that God has granted you will make you better stewards
4. Rev. Dr. Neichelle Guidry
   • Created an event called “She Preaches“
   • Good Friday
     • In my experience having grown up in a black church, the Easter Celebration is a display of “Homological Machismo“
     • A very phalic event ( A representation of the erect penis as an embodiment of generative power )
     • To me it was an antithesis of what the gospel actually preached
   • She Preaches series
     • It will be the same 7 sermons
     • But, preached by 7 black women
     • We will create these themes tailored to black women lived experiences in the United States; for example:-
     • One year we had “Four Colored Girls Gospel”
       • That was the theme and we based it off of into Ntozake Shange’s work
         • For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf ( Musical )
       • Hermetical arch from sexualized violence, domestic violence, triumph joy, and overcoming
       • through the lens of the gospel
     • We collected feminine hygiene products for several local female shelters
     • A lot of people do not think about donating tampons and pads
     • Preached on
       • Mensuration
       • Breast feeding
     • Rooted from my loneliness as being the youngest person in the church at the time

Bringing Culture into the pulpit

1. Rev. Dr. Charlies Dates ( Segment 29 )
   • I am going to sound very old fashion
   • But, I am a classical preacher
   • I find that as I preach the bible, it will encounter culture
   • And, people will resonate with it
   • For instance, NFL Players have already experienced the entirety of what the world has to offer
   • And, so when they come to church, they are coming for the isolation, they are drawn in to get away from everything the world has to offer
   • Yes, it is has to relevant
   • Obviously here is a word that has been around for more than a thousand years
   • Yet, it is fresher than the New York Times
   • If we can package it well, it will hit the people, the way it is supposed to

 

Beloved

I feel a need to confirm to someone that they are indeed called into ministry.

I post a lot of silliness on this blog space.

Yet, my personal life is not as scattered.

So I will take this opportunity to confirm to whomever that he or she is indeed called into ministry.

In accepting that call, in the words of one H.B. Charles, please “start to cut and tailor it well“.