The Roofless Church

Tag: Relationship

  • A Box as Big as the Universe

    A Box as Big as the Universe

    My uncle, Vernon Kitabu Turner, can’t be put in a box. And it is time that I thank God for him. He just loves God and has ceaselessly sought to understand the Spirit that he has witnessed as active his entire life by any means necessary. When I was younger, people told me that I…

  • Ending Racism: How to Change the World in One Generation

    Ending Racism: How to Change the World in One Generation

    The other morning I was feeling the weight of trying to articulate possibilities in the face of polarities. I prayed for some guidance on how to reimagine some of the conversations we’re having on race. Next thing you know, I get this email from my new friend Justin Michael Williams inviting me to preview an…

  • There is No Competition

    There is No Competition

    I might be going through a midlife crisis (MLC). A word that etymologically means, “the point at which change must come, for better or worse.” I remember that whenever I heard about MLCs growing up, I thought that whatever it was, it would never happen to me because the way MLCs are typically characterized, it…

  • Raise Your Voice: Healing Society Through Conversational Risks

    Raise Your Voice: Healing Society Through Conversational Risks

    Living in Colorado, I see a lot of people taking extreme risks and pushing themselves to their physical limits. At least in the Boulder area, it is a way of life for many people.  If I drive up the canyon, I see people taking risks on a rock face. They get a hold on a…

  • “LieVersity” and “In-True-Sion”: What People Aren’t Saying About Why Diversity Programs Fail

    I am a minister now largely because working as a consultant on a “Diversity Recruiting” Program for a large multi-national company frustrated me so deeply that I enrolled into seminary just to see if I could learn what it would take for a person or organization to have a true conversion experience. Most people who…

  • Everybody Hates Christians

    Don’t let the title of this post fool you. If you’re thrown off by this image and the title then chances are you have never heard of the show from the early 2000s based on the life of comedian Chris Rock as a teenager. The show was entitled “Everybody Hates Chris” and chronicled the awkward…

  • If You Don’t Bear Your Cross, Someone Else Will Have To

    On July 17, 2016, I preached a sermon entitled “Broken For You”. The idea behind the sermon came down to the idea that if people took 100% responsibility for their lives the whole world would be transformed in an instant. The spark for the sermon came from Jesus’ teaching that those who desire to follow…

  • In The Name of Justice

    In recent sermon, I chose to write a letter to my name in order to express to the congregation how in our society something as small as our name can be used by some people to discriminate. I further illustrated my point by giving them a list of famous people who changed their names because…

  • Mixed Feelings on Race?

    After hearing about the recent shootings of Philando Castile and Alton Sterling I started asking myself what I might be able to offer to the community in terms of creating an opportunity for transformation. Soon I was supplied with an answer and a subsequent confirmation. On Thursday afternoon as I walked down Pearl Street in…

  • Do Your Names and Labels Define You?

    How do you relate to the labels that have been assigned to you or that you have assumed?  Are they prisons that bind you or do they demonstrate choices that you have made and relationships that you are a part of? Do you define the labels or do the labels define you? Here is a…