The Old Black Church

Church Gizelle Bryant may be enjoying her reconciliation with her ex-husband and current boyfriend, Pastor Jamal Bryant, but her father, Curtis Graves, isn’t here for their newly rekindled relationship. As previously reported, when Gizelle first revealed that she and Jamal were giving their relationship another try, her three daughters, Adore, Grace, and Angel, disapproved. It appears that Gizelle’s father has now joined them in the displeasure.  

Church the proud boys are a racist white supremacist group. Trump’s father was part of the KKK and he is his father’s son. That dog whistle we heard last night during the debate was trump calling in his pack to incite violence against black people then blame the black people for it. He is a racist president. trump is an incompetent inhumane lunatic that let 200k+ die, a racist who supports white supremacy, an insecure bully that insults and lies, a fraud, traitor, and predator that should be put in jail, an undignified bad example, a danger to the world that needs to be voted out. How on earth could any true Christian dare speak that God placed that idiot in office? There is no way in heaven that God had anything to do with placing this demonic force, who has done nothing but sow seeds of death and destruction over this land from day one in office. For those who claim to be prophetic voices to the church, they need to repent, get it right and properly denounce and call out this idiot f

Chruch nothing says Christian like a Christian taking legal proceedings against another Christian. LifeWay Christian Resources, the publishing arm of the Southern Baptist Convention, has sued its former president and CEO, accusing him of violating a noncompete clause in his contract. Thom Rainer, who announced his plan to retire as president and CEO in 2018, still serves as chief advisory officer for LifeWay. Under terms of a transition agreement, he was prohibited from working with a competitor for 12 months after his retirement, LifeWay claims in a suit filed in Williamson County, Tennessee, on Monday (Sept. 28). Rainer, 65, was earning the same salary he received as president, plus a car, which he could keep after his term as chief advisory officer concludes Oct. 31, according to the transition agreement he signed with LifeWay in 2018. 

Church the post below is awesome and I'm sharing it because the author asked me to do so. Dr. Wright has warned us for many years about the state of this nation. The disheartening part for me was watching blacks turn on him during the Obama campaign without realizing it was just another attempt to repress and silence educated and influential blacks by white America. The plantation owners made the future president denounce his spiritual father to win an election. They have been stellar in separating black families for 402 years. 

Let's talk about it church, noted racist, Islamophobe, homophobe, Trump supporter  Franklin Graham held a "prayer march" in DC this weekend and call it a prayer rally, as a sort of counter to the ongoing protests in the country. These clowns can miss me with this spit! Franklin Graham is nothing more than a racist riding on the coat tail of his father, and a pawn used by trump. To think about what they call for a return to? This was another example of white conservative evangelicalism which is its core is oppression personified. If there was no call to repentance for ALL of Amerikkka’s wrongdoing, no commitment to walk upright before the Lord and turn from their wicked ways, then all their speeches and prayers were NOT heard. Yep, they can miss me with that foolishness. It was as I expected there was no mention of this country's deeply embedded sins of slavery and racism. When white evangelicals start to deal honestly with these things, then I will pay attention, unti

Church  (you can read the waiver here)  some Grace Community Church volunteers say they had to sign while John MacArthur says there is no pandemic. Making this a condition to serve at Grace. Whoever drew this up earned their money. So... They insist that their congregation meet in person, but they also insist that they cannot be held responsible if the attendees contract COVID, and presumably would offer little to no other aid to them either. Just to think John MacArthur received $1-2million of the PPP loans from the government and then defied the orders and put the community at risk. Hypocrisy!  

Church in my opinion Donald Trump should have been forced to release his tax returns before he ran for president because then he never would have become president and 200,000 people would still be alive. Anyhow, The New York Times ’ bombshell report Sunday night that revealed trump tax information over the past couple of decades has prompted an angry chorus of demands across social media calling for the idiot to be arrested. The new report on Trump’s taxes shows that he “has been more successful playing a business mogul than being one in real life.” The report came two days before Trump’s first debate against Joe Biden and one day after the president nominated Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg‘s replacement on the U.S. Supreme Court with just barely more than a month until Election Day. Aside from the expected outrage on social media, there were also inevitable comparisons to Al Capone, the infamous Chicago gangster of the 1920s whose ultimate downfall was tax evasion, a term that became a

Saints, please pray for this family, Kenny and Melissa Comstock were killed in a horrible car crash in New Mexico on Friday when a car came across the median and hit them. He was the executive pastor at Crossroads Church in Odessa, Texas, and had been serving there since 2011. Their three children were with them and survived. Hopefully, this picture would help us pray continuously for these children (now 6, 4, and 1), their grieving families, and our brothers/sisters in Christ at Crossroads. *, HUG YOUR FAMILY*LOVE YOUR FRIENDS*SERVE OUR GOD* TIME IS SHORT...James 4:14...You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.

  Church this was not a slap at millennials. On yesterday September 26, 2020, Bishop T.D.Jake, had the honors of doing the eulogy at the repose for Bishop J.Delano Ellis. Doing the eulogy Bishop made a statement that seems to have rippled the church community. I watched the eulogy and I didn't perceive Bishop Jakes' statement in that way.  I have heard similar statements made in the past by other church leaders. Some say that this is millennial-bashing, I don't think that is what Bishop was doing.     I believe he was expressing that there had been some who could be deemed to be called giants(Ellis)in our times because they had paid the price to come into the fullness of their calling. The reference to midgets(was not a slap at millennials)  seems to be a reference not to men/women of God who were of a younger generation but rather to those who seem to cut corners and become overnight what it took others their entire lifetime to become. The statement that he made seemed to

Church the idiot in the White House has nominated Amy Coney Barrett hailed by religious conservatives to fill liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s Supreme Court seat. If Barrett is confirmed, the Supreme Court will have 5 justices - a majority - nominated by presidents who did not win the popular vote. (Barrett, Kavanaugh, Gorsuch by Trump, Alito, Roberts by GW Bush). To think that RBG is going to be replaced by a woman who walked through every door that Ginsburg opened for her...so that she can promptly use her position to shut them all for others behind her. It is truly sad that they are trying to replace an iconic woman that was an advocate for woman equality with a woman that has to ask her husband for permission to do anything. I know that the Democrats don't have the votes to block Amy Coney Barrett from the Court. But voters can decide to make the Republican Party pay for its shocking hypocrisy and its attempt to ram through a justice before providing an economic lifeline t

Church, CeCe Winans is now working on damage control. CeCe Winans and many other black ministers & singers are paid by evangelical churches and the TBN's. This shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone as to where they’re loyalty lies. It’s been an open book, just check their itineraries. They don’t book you unless you’re a MAGA. The fact is, the Trump regime took $300,000,000.00 from the CDC's coronavirus budget & rather than use that money on fighting a disease that has killed over 208,000 Americans, they used it on bull propaganda where celebrities like CeCe tells us "everything is going to be okay".I’m not sure how she thought doing an interview with this particular Surgeon General wasn’t gonna be political. This negro is clearly on the side of the Trump Administration and he foolishly told us not to wear masks! What were you thinking sis? These Black “Christians” who watch the TBN network etc have been brainwashed. Those networks are pro-trump all the way. They

Church make this make sense. If CeCe Winans is actually part of this tomfoolery, I will just have to finally break down and discard 2020.  This supposed to be an ad campaign to “defeat despair” that apparently downplays COVID. The health department is moving quickly on a highly unusual ad campaign to "defeat despair" about COVID, a $300 million-plus effort shaped by a political appointee close to Trump and executed in part by close allies of the official, using taxpayer funds. But the interesting thing about it is this I’ve read that CeCe’s mom and two of her brothers had COVID, so how in the HADES do you sign on to a project like this? I'm telling you folks will do anything for filthy lucre.  Update: now CeCe is lying about the ad. A quick urgent message! pic.twitter.com/j2j9mBudW6 — CeCe Winans (@cecewinans) September 26, 2020

Church I found this ongoing conversation on social media yesterday and thought it was somewhat interesting. Anytime you think of Black Greek-letter sororities and fraternities you automatically think of black culture. With that in mind, when I saw the above picture and title I was surprised. Black Greeks have been a pivotal part of African American history and culture since the early 20th century. Launched on the campuses of historically black colleges, these organizations have been a central resource for support and service in the educational advancement and strengthening of social bonds among black students, entrepreneurs, and professionals. Black Greeks are some of the most influential organizations in the country. Collectively, these organizations claim approximately 800,000 members, with many coming from the social elite of Black culture. Each year, they offer countless scholarships and conduct thousands of service programs. Accordingly, many of the staunchest supporters of Black

Church this silly evangelical pastor says that he prayed that God would remove Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg. Basically, God killed Justice Ginsberg so that Trump could pick another Supreme Court Justice. This is the American Evangelical church. Their faith is built upon American imperialism and dominance. I'm sure Supreme Court Ruth Ginsberg died because of her long term fight with cancer. I find it impressive that she was strong enough to hold on as long as she did. The woman is a hero, bar none. The silly preacher doesn't know his own scriptures. He is an idiotic moron. Should be locked up. Pretty sure there is a legitimately dangerous mental issue there somewhere. The God of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob does not answer witchcraft prayers. ( You can read the article here ) 

Church the latest offering from Dr. Juanita Bynum doesn't make sense for me, Yom Kippur, also known as the Day of Atonement, is the holiest day of the year in Judaism. Its central themes are atonement and repentance. Jews traditionally observe this holy day with a day-long fast and intensive prayer, often spending most of the day in synagogue services. Last week, Sept. 18-20, marked Rosh Hashana, one of the most important holidays in Judaism, and Yom Kippur, the other major holiday, will be observed Sept. 27-28. As one of the world’s largest religions, having approximately 13.9 million followers according to World Atlas, it’s safe to say that this religion has followers from all across the globe and different ethnic groups across the country.

Church this is a two-part post, I just listen to Bishop Ellis’ sermon on his conversion from Isalm to Pentecostal, it's a powerful testimony, I have it posted below. I had a couple of cousins that were members of Christian Tabernacle Church back in the late '70s.  I didn't know that Bishop Ellis used to be Muslim 😲and by the obedience of another God saved him. That’s very encouraging to know that God can make something great out of the smallest acts of kindness. The Christians “were nice to him” lol.  Rest well servant of God. Although many professing Christians are Masons, many argue that masonry is an anti-Christian religious cult rooted in paganism/anti-Christ.  

  Church the official Covid-19 death toll in the U.S. has passed 200,000. There’s a lot behind that number. Is 200,000 an undercount, as some contend, or an overcount? What does it say about the ongoing risk to us and our families? Were these preventable? How should we see these in the context of the approximately 3 million people who die every year? The 200,000 number represents an accumulation of educated guesses and approximations. What it’s trying to represent is the number of people who would still be with us today if not for the pandemic. But people can die in complicated ways and doctors have some leeway in what’s written on a death certificate. Some people might have tested positive for Covid-19 but died of other causes, and others died of heart failure or pneumonia caused by an undetected infection. ( Article and Video here )

  Church here's the deal, this is a viral post of the above man of Gawd claiming that he's looking for a proverbs 31 wife and you must meet the following criteria.   1. The Woman Must Be Christ-Centered  2. Absolutely Gorgeous  3. Can Sing  4. Light Skin With A Stunning Smile  5. Between Ages 22-27  6. Absolutely No Kids  7. Loves Jesus More Than Anything Else  8. Can Cook And Is Tidy  9. An Intercessor  10. Is Between 5ft - 5’4ft  11. Never Been Married Before  12. Submitted And A Great Listener  13. Hospitable & Loves Jesus Christ More Than Me.  If that is you submit your application for review and someone will revert at the earliest convenience. (Facebook Post Here)

Church someone said on social media that when you notice a weakness from your pastor, don't announce it abroad. Don't make it a center of discussion. Get on your knees and intercede on his behalf. Make it an in-house affair. The World is looking for opportunities to take down ministers of God, don't let them.  Anyhow,  I don't know how Pastor Creflo Dollar should handle this latest gossip concerning him, but if it were me I'll continue to let my paid law staff do the talking.  I would like to think that's why he has paid lawyers on staff is partly to handle stuff like this.  There were rumors weeks ago that Youtuber Tasha K was been threatened with legal action if she went forward with an unconfirmed allegation against Atlanta GA, Megachurch Pastor Creflo Dollar.  Well as of Monday, she is going forward with confirmation that the allegations are true. But in all honesty and fairness before the Youtuber was forced to take the first video down, she never ever me

Church please watch this stirring speech from Rev. Dr. Howard-John Wesley about how our vote this November will make a difference for decades. Use your voice, which is your vote. According to Dr.Wesley, 198 Judges were appointed under the current administration, and not one of color. When we don’t vote, we dismiss ourselves from being part of leveling the playing field of justice in the United States of America.

Church Dallas Megachurch Pastor Rickie Rush is no stranger to this blog.( You can read about it he re ) The Inspiring Body of Christ Church (IBOC) senior pastor Rickie G. Rush is facing some disturbing allegation. It seems that five former church members accuse Dallas megachurch pastor Rickie Rush of physical and sexual abuse. Devastating, detailed reporting from the Dallas Morning News. ( You can read the article here )

Church I'm grateful for pastor A R.Bernard's triumph over this pandemic with God's Amazing Grace, to come out of the other side of this is a testament of God's faithfulness to be with us in crisis no matter how bleak the storyline is the belief in God is essential for our everyday lives. New York City megachurch Pastor A.R. Bernard’s battle with COVID-19 was a lonely one. He was placed on oxygen, watched his life flash before his eyes, and began to have out-of-body experiences when he was hospitalized in March. Bernard, the 67-year-old pastor of Brooklyn’s 37,000-member Christian Cultural Center, said the virus desensitized him to death and the “spirituality of death.” And it forced him to reckon with the reality of darkness. Spiritual impact of COVID-19: Christian pastors, artists recount experiences while battling COVID-19 New York City... Posted by Lisa R King on  Monday, September 21, 2020

Church as the Pentecostal Church of Christ and members of the church community at large, continue to mourn the loss of Bishop J. Delano Ellis II, his funeral arrangements have been announced. Bishop Ellis will be laid to rest Friday, September 25, with a public viewing at the Pentecostal Church of Christ, located at 10515 Chester Avenue in Cleveland, from 4 to 8 p.m.  The Apostolic Liturgy will follow on Saturday at 10:00 a.m. Public viewing in Memphis, Tennessee will also be held on Sunday. Masks, social distancing, and other COVID-19 precautions will be in place during all services. Bishop Ellis passed away Saturday, September 19, after a brief battle with illness. A native of Pennsylvania, Bishop Ellis shared the pastorate of the Pentecostal Church of Christ with his wife of nearly 40 years, Sabrina Joyce Ellis.  He served the Christian faith in ministry for more than six decades. Bishop Ellis received his Bachelor's degree in History and Sociology from Howard University

  Saw this on someone's timeline. Well, well, life will come back at you hard and swift, especially when you play ignorant games.  Reaping the consequences of a bad decision. When will willfully ignorant people understand they cannot win this cruel game? A virus behaves like a virus. Hopefully, he didn’t infect any innocent people before he died. A former Nashville Council Member Tony Tenpenny has died due to complications from COVID-19, Vice Mayor Jim Shulman confirmed Sunday. Tenpenny was hospitalized for more than a month at one of the St. Thomas hospitals and was placed on a ventilator earlier in September. He died overnight, Shulman said on Sunday afternoon. ( You can read about it here)

Church Pastor Howard John Wesley is back with his "Can I Push It?" series. I'm loving these teaching, and I want to encourage Pastor Wesley to keep pushing it🤗 I am always inspired by your ability in challenging us to think. Thank you for having the courage to expose what's hidden by taking a deeper dive and investigation for truth. Acknowledging that there is more than two sides to a story.   I salute you sir in rising to the challenge of integrating mind and heart in the matter. this is key in getting to the truth.

 The Black Church PAC is a strategic initiative, answering the call to elect leaders committed to ending mass incarceration, defending the right to vote, curbing gun violence, and representing the equitable treatment of black and brown communities. In the video below Omarosa Manigault Newman, who once was apart of this current evil administration shared with New Birth Senior Pastor Jamal Bryant of her inside knowledge. All I can say is people, please register and vote. Your life really does depends on it. Can you stand the next 4 year's under this current evil administration?  

Church this's the most notable accomplishment of the Trump administration.The coronavirus has now killed over 200,000 Americans these could have been prevented most of these Americans are friends, family members, neighbors, all walks of life if we were not lied to if we were told the truth how many Americans could still be sitting with there families? Covid-19 death toll in the US surpasses 200,000 people. https://t.co/IRjho1ae4Z — NBC News (@NBCNews) September 20, 2020

Church I'm not a huge Ravi Zacharias fan, but the allegations in this article are interesting. At this point, RZIM or his family should probably respond to these allegations now that they're public. What do yall think? Say what you want, it's messy. The timing of this story is messy, what happened is messy and just all really sad. Will this change folks feelings about Mr. Zacharias or his ministry, not one bit. Anyhow, in 2017, Ravi Zacharias claimed that a Canadian woman had sent him “unwanted” nude pictures in an attempt to extort $ from him. But emails, testimony & other docs recently obtained tell diff story--& portray Zacharias as the predator, not the victim. “Ravi Zacharias is only the most recent of a long line of evangelical leaders to face allegations of abuse and to be defended to the teeth by Christians.” - Opinion: Evangelical Response to Ravi Zacharias Scandal Reveals Our Desire for a King | Julie Roys https://t.co/4stemWepuU — RaviWatch.com (@RaviSca

  Church rumors online are that Archbishop Jesse Delano Ellis II, has transitioned to that place where time no longer exists. The Archbishop is a leader in the African-American Oneness Pentecostalism in the United States and is the founding President/Chairman and Archbishop Metropolitan of the Joint College of African-American Pentecostal Bishops. Ellis is also the founder and former presiding prelate of the United Pentecostal Churches of Christ and presiding prelate of Pentecostal Churches of Christ. J. Delano Ellis began as a clergyman in the Church of God in Christ. Archbishop became sick over the weekend and was rush to the hospital.  The Archbishop's daughter Jessica Ellis Bulgin, took to her social media account to dispel the rumors.    UPDATE: Archbishop Ellis has transitioned, keep the family in your prayers.  

My heart aches for the loss of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Rest In Peace Warrior.  Thank you for your trailblazing efforts for equal rights for women and civil rights. You are irreplaceable.  Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the trailblazing lawyer for sex equality who served on the US Supreme Court for more than 25 years, died on Friday evening of complications related to pancreatic cancer, She was 87.  

Church I wonder how much those checks were? So this why Xavier allegedly got the 20 million anonymously. The presidents of two historically Black colleges in New Orleans stunned their campuses when they announced in a joint message that they had participated in a vaccine trial for Covid-19 and then encouraged students to do the same. The announcement by Walter M. Kimbrough of Dillard University and C. Reynold Verret of Xavier University of Louisiana in early September immediately conjured up conversations about a common distrust of medical institutions among Black Americans, stemming from an extended list of past malfeasance, especially the study of untreated syphilis among Black men, also known as the Tuskegee experiment.   “We’re protecting our communities,” Verret told NBC News. “It is important to have people like us in these trials. We all know someone who has passed or been hit with Covid-19. When a vaccine comes, we want it to be available and to work on our community. Particip

Church I think the pushback Netflix is receiving over the movie "Cuties" is more political than anything else. It was a good movie with a powerful message. After debuting to positive reviews and winning an award at Sundance, the Netflix film CUTIES was targeted by alt-right trolls after a botched poster.  Everyone complaining should see it before listening to what others are saying. I was one of those people until I saw the movie.  The reality of things happening now with social media, bullying, peer pressure, and trying to fit in. I think it's realistic as to what's going on today. And, no I didn't think they were being exploited. I have a 14-year-old granddaughter and social media is definitely number 1 in her cute eyes and mind. We have to be aware as parents as to what they are going through.   . @Netflix 's decision to air “Cuties” is abhorrent. I applaud those who made #CancelNetflix trend & the 623,000+ who signed @Change 's petition to cancel

Church the president of the Southern Baptist Convention denomination receiving quite a bit of pushback over the possibility of a name change. The president says some church leaders favor using a name for the nation’s largest denomination that is less racially charged and more in tune with the times, according to a story Tuesday in the Washington Post. Convention President J.D. Greear, who pastors Durham-based The Summit Church, told the newspaper in an interview that the denomination is leaning toward calling itself “Great Commission Baptists,” both to eliminate the inaccurate regional reference and to move away from the denomination’s pro-slavery roots.    “ Our Lord Jesus was not a White Southerner but a brown-skinned Middle Eastern refugee. “Every week we gather to worship a savior who died for the whole world, not one part of it,” Greear told the Post. “What we call ourselves should make that clear. ”   Greear Says Jesus Wasn’t a ‘White Southerner’, Advocates Use of Great Commissi

Church a young pastor's license wasn’t renewed because of his public endorsement of Biden.” A 21-year-old minister from Arlington who endorsed Joe Biden for president on social media said the pastor of the church where he completed a year-long pastoral internship told him his license to the gospel ministry would “not be renewed.” Faith Memorial Baptist Church in Archer City—a congregation uniquely aligned with the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention—licensed David Bumgardner to the ministry on July 19. Bumgardner, a student at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary’s Scarborough College, delivered his farewell sermon to the church on Sept. 6 after completing his internship as assistant minister. Three days later, he posted a brief essay on his personal Facebook page identifying President Donald Trump as “a threat to the flourishing of my neighbors … to national security … (and) to national unity,” and accusing Trump of “stoking the fires of civil and racial unrest.” here

Church it's official Dr. Kevin Bond is slated to ascend to the Bishopric. Dr. Bond's the Senior Pastor of The Citadel Cathedrals Of Praise 

Church social media is dragging Elevation Church, Senior Pastor Steven Furtick to the pit of no return over a statement he made during a live broadcast. Tell me what yall think about this? Steven Furtick says that he had to “correct” his co-pastor for telling people who want to come to Christ that they can believe in Jesus “without a doubt.” According to Furtick, believing “without any doubt” is a prayer that cannot be honestly prayed. I told him never again when you stand in the pulpit at Elevation, do I want you to put people in a position to where you’re telling them to pray something they can’t honestly pray. In fact, don’t put them in a position to pray something that you can’t honestly pray. Because there is not one of you in the room even with tabs in your pink Bible that can honestly say “without a doubt.” I'm guessing Steven Furtick's Bible does not contain Romans 10: 9-10. What yall think did he miss it? 

Church this news is not a surprise at all, Dr. King had the same problem when he fought for justice for all.  Despite a summer of protests, many practicing Christians remain ambivalent that there is no race problem in America. As racial tensions have risen in recent months, a new report reveals that some Christians are becoming less motivated to act on racial justice, and an increasing share says there is “definitely” not a race problem in the country. “Christians generally, and practicing Christians in particular, have changed their minds on addressing racial injustice, but if anything, they're actually moving away from being motivated,” said David Kinnaman, president of Barna Group . “It's not a majority of Christians, but it is a segment of Christians who say they're unmotivated or not at all motivated to address racial injustice,” he said, adding that the group has “essentially doubled” in the last year. The Lord has made abundantly clear in His Word that He condemns

Most probably don't know about the Tulsa Race Massacre right here in the US neither. And that's where Trump began his campaign. A new survey commissioned by the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (Claims Conference) has found some troubling results about the contemporary understanding of the Holocaust among young American adults. Specifically, nearly two-thirds of the millennial and Gen Z adults aged between 18 and 39 did not know that six million Jews were killed in the greatest crime of the 20th century. Staggeringly, 23 percent of young adults said they believed the Holocaust was either a myth, had been exaggerated or they weren’t sure. One in ten said they actually believed Jews had caused the Holocaust, revealing an extremely worrisome spread of antisemitic conspiratorial thinking among younger Americans. ( You can read about it here )

  This fat slob, while the pandemic eats us alive, he's kissing butt in hopes of receiving the Nobel Peace Prize. He hasn't and won't ever put America first. Israel on Tuesday signed historic diplomatic pacts with two Gulf Arab states at a White House ceremony that President Donald Trump declared will mark the “dawn of a new Middle East,” casting himself as an international peacemaker at the height of his reelection campaign. The bilateral agreements formalize the normalization of Israel’s already thawing relations with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain in line with their common opposition to Iran. But the agreements do not address the decades-long conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, who view the pacts as a stab in the back from their fellow Arabs and a betrayal of their cause for a Palestinian state. ( You Can Read It Here )

On this day in 1963, a dynamite blast planted by the Ku Klux Klan killed four young girls in the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama: Denise McNair, age 11, and Carole Robertson, Cynthia Wesley, and Addie Mae Collins, all 14 years old. Twenty other people were injured. No one was arrested for the bombings for 14 years. Today, the march continues.

Lakewood Church, the mega-chapel in Houston that can hold as many as 16,800 people for services, is preparing to reopen to parishioners beginning next month. The congregation led by Pastor Joel Osteen will be limited to 25% capacity, or about 4,200 people, when it reopens for in-person worship on Oct. 18, the church announced. In a video message, Osteen said worshipers must sign up before services on the church website. People will then have to practice safe social distancing. Osteen's church, like many others across the Houston area, has led online worship on Sundays since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. The church memorably held its Easter worship event with Osteen, other worship leaders, and Lakewood's musicians in the empty chapel, along with a prerecorded performance by Mariah Carey. View this post on Instagram We can’t wait to welcome you back in person! Lakewood will re-open for worship services Sun,