Voddie Baucham is in Trouble...

Doritos is committing to amplifying black voices so you can clearly Hear us now.

Christian ism looks at the black man and the not-so-black man. You categorize the world how you want to. I categorize the world I want to. But it's okay that you're not black like me. God loves you just like you are.

You my friend are going to tell us a Story. Oh wonderful, we'll see about that because we are told these days that we need to listen to people's stories. I'm speaking specifically about the realm of racial issues in our country.

As Best I can tell the times seem to be changing. It's a turbulent time for racial relations and those Conversations that are happening outside of the church have made their way inside of the church and we have got some good brothers who are telling us you need to hear the story of black people in America and it will change your tune how you view the whole racial landscape and how we in the church go about fixing it if I'm being told by many voices.

That I will be affected and changed by hearing stories from people who have experienced black people who have experienced what white people have not in this country. I Want to hear those stories because I want to learn What is always made.

I think some of us a little gun-shy is it feels like maybe there's an agenda behind the stories or I? Maybe I can't trust the source of the stories. Bodhi I trust you and so I want to hear from you explain to me a white man What is it like to be a black man in America 21st century?

If you are not prepared to come to that table and to represent that voice don't come. Because we don't need any More brown faces that don't want to be a brown voice. We don't need black faces. They don't want to be a Muslim boy.

We don't even show up.

Some of y 'all speak against racial injustice. So do you can let you know master eyes? I think I think like the of the Negroes. Master eyes eyes over here's wheeze wheeze master feeds us master clothes us.

Yeah, look at me think I'm acting funny. This is the truth because some of y 'all Negroes. Let me tell y 'all something some of y 'all are some suckers in the spirit because you won't be honest with the racism that you're dealing with and you wanna you wanna you want the Spoils of privilege and you'll sell out the gospel and you'll sell out your own people.

You help me today. God Master he wasn't me. It was the ones in the field.

Racial Reconciliation and the Promise Keepers Era

Becoming friends with the african-american that agrees with everything you say isn't helpful to you as a white Evangelical and probably has that african-american trying to win approval or position.

Well, you know as you were saying that Here's what I was thinking and as you were saying, you know. You want to hear from me? I could hear people out there Who are doing two things? Simultaneously. On and and when I say people out there, I mean people who would be advocates of this, right?

We need dialogue and we need to hear One another's stories, right? You need to hear black people's stories on the one hand. They're hearing you say that and they're going yes. You need to hear black people's stories and then you're pointing to me and you're saying, okay I want to hear it and some of those same people would be going.

No, no, no, not his. Because I don't qualify because I don't have the right worldview. Let me explain something to you. I Believe in racial reconciliation. I have to because I believe the Bible. Amen, I have to believe that and Perhaps you it would help you to know this about me.

We've been in Zambia for the last three and a half years. The last three and a half years we've been in a church where most of the people look like us now granted we're foreigners. Right, we're outsiders.

But it's been over two decades Since my family has been part of a church where most of the people look like us and that was by design in The early 90s promise keepers movement was huge and I was invited to preach at a number of different events and racial reconciliation was just on on Everybody's agenda and I mean it was a big movement.

It was a massive movement and During that time in the early to mid 1990s Here I was. I had come to faith in the late 1980s in 1987, I Was a member of a black fraternity. I Married a woman who was a graduate of Historical black College and University.

I was the founder of black student fellowship at Houston Baptist University and We had been a member of and was preaching at a predominantly black church. It was just black black black black black. That was my world and now all this promise keepers stuff is happening and the racial reconciliation.

Personal Experience in Predominantly White Churches

Conversation is happening and for me It brought me to a crossroads because I'm looking and listening and meeting a lot of my white brethren who were passionate about racial reconciliation and basically asking how do we do this how.

How how do we not have our church continue to look like it looks? How do we have our church? Which is predominantly white in a neighborhood that is not predominantly white begin to reflect the broader community.

I'm beginning to be invited into places. Will you come preach? We want to have this event. We want to reach our community. We want to reach the different ethnic groups in our community and I and this is this is not an indictment of All black churches.

This is not an indictment of all black. This is this is me and my experience. I Looked in my circle and I realized that I was not hearing that from my side. I didn't know black pastors Who were staying awake at night because their churches were too black who were on their knees weeping Before they went and stood up and preached because most of the faces that they were going to preach to look just like them.

But this is what I was running into from white pastors. Again, I am NOT saying that it didn't exist. I'm saying that in my experience. I didn't see it and I was convicted and Made a decision in the mid -1990s that my family and I would not continue to go to churches where everybody looked like us.

That if I was serious about racial reconciliation that this is something that we would do. It was hard. It was hard took a position at a predominantly white church, and it was it was tough. What we faced a lot of things.

Sometimes we faced overt racism rarely more often than that. It was just Insensitivities Ignorance, but it was what we signed up for and it was difficult. It was hard for my children because they were too young to really understand What we were doing and why and it was hard to be the only black kids around.

But if I believed what I believed then what were the options. What were the alternatives? It was difficult from another perspective as well. It was difficult from the perspective of having conversations on more than one occasion.

Where people to my face accused me of selling out I was hit wait a minute wait a minute wait wait wait wait wait because because You go to promise keepers rallies and you will do pulpit swaps. And you will do all of these sorts of things.

But but now that I've decided to take this to another level and make a personal commitment With my life and my family's life. I'm selling out. Then what are we really trying to do? I was accused and this one was always difficult of Robbing the black church of its best and brightest now on the one hand.

Thanks for the compliment. But on the other hand, what what do I do with that? Because part of me is going. What a horrible way to think about the church. You're black therefore you belong to This group and your gifts and Graces and talents and abilities belong to this group and it's robbery for you to take them in for you to get but on the other hand I Distinctly remember when I graduated from Southwestern Seminary receiving a questionnaire From a black PhD student.

I forget what what school they were a black PhD student who was doing research for their dissertation and Wanted me to fill out this questionnaire because less than 15 Of all black ministers in this country according to their research had seminary education.

So this was their research project trying to figure out. Okay. What is it that led you in this direction? And what is it that helped you? To stay the course and what is it that? Can you see how it'd be torn having conversation with my wife and children?

When certain things would happen constantly having that wrestle and that struggle with. Is this tokenism or is it real and regardless of what it is. Is this the commitment? Or is it not and if I do have a problem with the way people understand me or don't understand me.

Can I simultaneously fault people for not understanding me and then not make myself available? So that they can have a relationship with me and learn to understand me. How dare you white people who don't have relationships with black people not understand us.

Do you see the dilemma and it's a double-edged sword? Because ironically now. That part of my history is often leveraged against me in this entire discussion. You don't get a voice in this discussion.

You don't get a dog in this fight because you Abandoned your people. I just I just I just want you to sit with that.