Seriously?

I was invited to a revival today at a local church. I had to decline the offer. Not because I do not believe in revival, but because this church does not allow black people to join their congregations. It is hard to experience revival in these conditions. There are many African-American people in the town that the church ministers too. This church chooses, or has chosen in the past, to exclude all of these people simply based on their skin color. If the church has changed it's policies, I will retract this, but the last I heard, this was still their practice. If I can go and my children cannot, what sense does that make? I can join the church, but Ethan cannot. I can join the church, but Eion, if/when he accepts Jesus as his savior, could not. I have been asked, "What do you expect?" from people in my own family. I expect people to be treated like people. I expect us to treat people like Jesus Christ treated them. Jesus loved everyone. There is a church in Simms, TX called the United Identity Church of Christ. These people are a despicable representation of God and churches, but a very good representative of Satan. The man that is listed on their website as the pastor is Henry Stout. Their website lists Blacks in the bible as beasts (no better than an animal). This is not the church I was invited too, though. I was invited to a good old American Baptist Association church. A church that claims that everyone is welcome, a church that claims that sinners are welcome, but a church that will not allow black people in. So the thinking of this church, and ones who hold the same belief, should probably join this other denomination. Even though they do not claim to be, they are basically believe the same thing about black people. I pray for these people. I pray for these churches. At The Journey, one of the things we started with was that everyone was welcome in the door. We would not pick and choose who came in and who didn't. We would allow the spirit to move us to people, and people to us, so that we could introduce them to Jesus Christ. If a church discounts such a large portion of the population, is the church doing God's business or people's business?