JOIN THE FREE AMERICA CAMPAIGN:

During his Academy Awards speech, Grammy Award winning singer John Legend spoke about America’s incarceration problem, which is indeed a problem, as America’s incarceration rate is the highest in the world, thanks to mandatory sentencing, broken windows policing, a lack of mental health services for the mentally ill, who often end up criminally incarcerated and a “justice” system that prosecutes minorities at higher rates with tougher sentencing than their white counterparts. It’s very likely that working to end mass incarceration will simultaneously address other parallel problems that are drivers of the prison industrial complex, like a lack of funding and access to preventative measures such as social and mental health services. “We have a serious problem with incarceration in this country. It’s destroying families, communities and we’re the most incarcerated country in the world and when you look deeper and look at the reasons we got to this place, we as a society made some choices politically and legislatively, culturally to deal with poverty, deal with mental illness in a certain way and that way usually involves using incarceration,” said Legend in an interview The Huffington Post. He’ll be hitting Austin, Texas, where he will visit and perform at a correctional facility, in addition to taking part in a press conference with state legislators to discuss Texas’ criminal justice system. Later, he’s scheduled to visit a California state penitentiary, and co-host a criminal justice event with Politico in Washington D.C. Legend’s campaign will include help from other artists and organizations committed to ending mass incarceration. Celebrated writer and activist Dream Hampton announced she was joining Legend’s initiative via Twitter; others have yet to be announced. “I’m just trying to create some more awareness to this issue and trying to make some real change legislatively. And we’re not the only ones. There are senators that are looking at this, like Rand Paul and Cory Booker, there are other nonprofits that are looking at this as well and I just wanted to add my voice to that,” he stated. His initiative already has a victory to speak of: The approval of Proposition 47 in California this past November, which calls for classifying forgery, fraud, petty theft, shoplifting, and possession of small amounts of drugs–including cocaine, heroin and methamphetamines–as misdemeanors instead of felonies. “Once you have that tag of a felony on your name, it’s hard for you to do anything. Getting those reduced to misdemeanors really impacted a lot of lives and we hope to launch more initiatives like that around the country,” he said. We have ALL fallen short, some seriously bringing harm to others... and most only harm themselves. Beyound the Cell is committed to not having a criminal conviction become a 1-Way Street to a failed life. You can join John Legend and the #FreeAmerica campaign by helping us advocate for rehabilitation and training for those who have erred. Go to http//www.letsfreeamerica.org for more information.

Celebrity Pastors and The Potential For Pride

Five thousand followers on Twitter. Two thousand “likes” on Facebook with another 750 friends. Hundreds of weekly sermon downloads via podcasting. Ten thousand hits on youtube. Up and coming musician? Hollywood superstar? NO, It is a pastor and he has a following. In the world of media-saturated marketing, the celebrity pastor has become all the rave. For decades, their community preaching ministry was confined to live radio preaching on Sunday mornings or possibly cassette tapes being sent via the mail. Then came the era of the tele-evangelist and Christian cable TV stations such as TBN, Daystar and CBN with its flagship show The 700 Club. While many of these stations are still going strong today, they have lost much of their appeal to a consistent cycle of scandal and the dominance of the prosperity gospel, which is slowly going out of style. The general public’s interest is waning in “watching” others worship in a TV studio and being constantly tapped for donations. Yet ministry through media is not slowing down. As the digital age blossoms and social media takes over the world, pastors are getting in on the rising tide of digital ministry. Nowadays any pastor, from the smallest church in rural America to the megachurch in surburban communities, can broadcast, podcast, video-cast, tweet and blog, sermons, bible studies, devotionals, teachings, all for free. With nothing more than a flip camera, a laptop and a bit of time, they can expand their reading, listening and watching audience far outside of the walls of their church. They can reach people on the other side of the world with a cheap website and great domain name. They are stretching farther than TV or radio ever imagined. The question, then becomes, what might result with such digital opportunities? What temptations lurk in the dark with such media venues at their pastoral finger tips? The answer, I believe, is pride. With this power, comes arrogance, egos, an infatuation with oneself, self-directed idolatry, envy, jealousy, and a lust for more and more. Temptations abound with such opportunities and any pastor should carefully discern his or her heart before proceeding. The Bible says in Proverbs 16:18 “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.” James 4:6 says “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” The slippery slope toward pride and destruction is being greased daily as the digital age accelerates. Nevertheless, I believe modest and humble pastors who use digital media can do so with pure and righteous hearts. They can seek to serve the Lord and their flocks by helping provide more and more avenues for people to hear the Gospel and get strengthened in their relationship with Christ. If pastors see their role as a servant of God holding the greatest news ever told and not some type of megastar celebrity pastor, they can be of great service to God's kingdom building plan. It is all about attitude and motivation. If the attitude and motivation is only to build up a legacy and name recognition, then you have stepped over the line into idolatrous sin. But if the attitude and motivation is to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ and make His name famous, then Glory. Jesus’ words in Matthew 5:8 help us here, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” Purity of heart — is going to the standard for pastors in the digital culture because the avenues of the digital age are only going to increase. As always, thanks for reading and until next time... may you be empowered to prosper! be blessed.