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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 26, 2000)
Page B4 January 26, 2000 rthmfc (ßbeerur etro/Religion S o rt tänä tfH i» rru rr Evangelist uses gospel to forge racial harmony > D M KIBl 1 >1) M UtO t o n rH t. P o H I I A S U O H s m S EH Evangelist’s third “ Live At Azusa” album brings bigger message than the music. Since his early days as an Oral Roberts University World Action Singer, the evangelist BishopCarlton Pearson's m ission has been to eradicate racism from Christianity. His annual Azusa conference has become an interracial m agnet for thousands o f pastors and church leaders to obtain spiritual rejuvenation. As a result, Pearson has becom e a pastor to pastors. Someone they can talk to when they need counsel, in fact, Pearson is the p re sid in g bishop to o v er 600 churches throughout the U.S. For years, Pearson has quietly nurtured budding ministries. Among the scores o f leaders Pearson has counseled is Bishop T.D. Jakes. When he was an unknown preacher from West Virginia, Pearson had Jakes speak at the Azusa conference. His “ B ehind Closed D oors” sermon riveted the crowd. Pearson aired J a k e s ’ se rm o n on h is T rin ity Broadcasting Network (TBN) TV show and Jakes started to get offers to speak around the country. “We encouraged him to go on television and we helped edit his first television programs,” he recalls. “When I went o ff TBN the very spot I had at 3:00 p.m., T.D. Jakes bought my time and he took off.” O f course, every shepherd’s advice is not heeded. He politely warned PTL founder Jim Bakerto“liveclean” a year before the 1986 PTL scandal, but Baker ignored his premonition. “The FBI and the IRS are monitoring big ministries that have not been sc ru p u lo u s in th e ir fin a n c ia l dealings," he say s.T v e been warning the brethren to dot every I and cross every T and to live clean because when it hits, it hits. “Most others solicit and heed Person’s advice. Charisma magazine publisher Stev en Strang sought Pearson’s advice on his starting a black Christian lifestyle magazine. Person’s advice was to in teg rate blacks into C harism a instead o f segregating them to their won m agazine. “ He did w hat I suggested and I recently wrote him a L. Bishop Carlton Pearson thank you note because there’s not an issue o f Charisma that doesn’t have some black story in it, “he says. “My stance all along has been to expose the body o f Christ to itself.” Returning to the subject o f Azusa, Pearson reflect. “I started mixing the speaker line-up at Azusa to further expose people to men and women o f God they w ould not ordinarily gravitate to. We pulled in a James Robinson oranR .W . Shamback,and paired them with a Richard Henton or an Ernestine Cleveland Reems. For the music, we had Michael English and CeCe Winans trying to integrate the body o f Christ.” P earson’s successful “Live at A zusa” album s grew out o f the co nference w orship experience. Atlantic Records just released the current Live at Azusa 3: Reminding the Saints o f the Hope which features guest appearances by Fred Hammond on “Jesus Be A Fence,” Marvin Winans on “Just A Closer Walk With Thee” and Beverly Crawford on “He Lives” among several others. “On the last album the songs that went over were old church songs lik e' Bye and Bye’ that I opened with the Mother Sherman story. I didn’t think the label was going to leave that story in. I just told it to introduce the song. And that was the song that went over, not the studio- crafted songs. The inspired songs were the ones that I loved for years. A large portion o f our church is non-black and never hears those songs, but there would always be an awesome sentimental anointing on those songs when ever I’d tear into them. People were crying, 1 would start crying. These old songs are the ones that really seemed to touch people the most and they helped te a r dow n those racial divisions that often separate us. They also remind us o f the hope. I felt those old songs gave us a sense o f stability and a sense o f security and safe keeping because that’s what kept us through the Jim Crow lines, civil rights riots and the assassinations o f Dr. King and President Kennedy in the sixties.” P earso n ’s advocacy o f racial reconciliation grows out o f the social urgency he heard in those old songs when he was growing up. He’s not just about singing, but using the music to bridge communities. When President Clinton and the Reverend Billy Graham went to Oklahoma to comfort the community where the bombing took place, Bishop Pearson was right there with them. He knew the bombing was fueled by hatred o f some sort and as one o f the leading pastors in the state, he was there to lend a shoulder. As a black man, Pearson has also taken positions that have put him at odds with some black leadershipliketheNation oflslam. He was adamantly opposed to the Million Man march because he felt it polarized black and white men. When tele evangelists recently called the murder rampage that killed several people at a Baptist church in Ft. Worth Texas the latest in a rising tide o f “anti- C h ristia n ” vigilantism , Pearson su g g e ste d th at F u n d a m e n ta list churches have alienated themselves from the community with their self- righteousness. “This is a time to reach out, not kick out” Pearson says o f F u n d a m e n ta lis ts ’ o stra c ism philosophy. Pearson trumpets the hom o f racial h arm o n y b e c a u se th e B ible commands him to, but also because he feels the church should be an active participant in making lives a little happier. “The one thing the church has emphasized is saving o f souls,” he says, “but w e’ve neglected saving o f lives, we want to get everybody into heaven and let them live in hell on earth. I want to change that.” The three ingredients to understanding life Truly understanding the world around you is fundamental to achieving real happiness and a sense o f well being. The idea o f understanding is endlessly written about, spoken about, insisted upon, yet it seems that nowhere in all the discussion is understanding itself defined in such a way as to enable us to exercise and apply it with any consistency or real effectiveness. A genuine understanding o f personal relationships in the workplace, for example, will make ones job a pleasure. Absence o f understanding, on the other hand, often leads only to turmoil, rebuke and public embarrassment, to say nothing o f the loss o f one’s job and career. An understanding o f children (and parents) will make the difference between a successful and a failed family relationship. Have you ever tried to talk with an angry man? O r a child throwing a tantrum? What do you do when you are forced to work with someone you simply don’t like? How do you deal with a situation in which the other person just doesn’t see what to you is a very obvious solution to handling a problem? Knowing the basic ingredients or elements o f understanding will greatly assist interpersonal relationships. What are these ingredients? The first is Affinity - the degree o f liking or affection for someone or something or the lack o f it. The second is Reality - which, fundamentally, is agreement. The third, and most important, is Communication - the interchange, o f ideas between two people. These elements - Affinity, Reality and Communication -com prise what is called the ARC triangle and add up to understanding. They are interdependent, one upon the other, and if one falls away the other two do so as well. Conversely, when one element rises, the other two rise with it. Discovered by famed author L. Ron Hubbard, the ARC Triangle has many indispensable applications in improving one’s condition in life. It answers the universal question o f how to talk effectively to someone else: by applying the techniques of the triangle to identify a subject on which you and the other person can agree (Reality), affinity (liking) will increase and Communication (interchange) will improve as well. Find what you are looking for in (The Jordanit ODbserrier J Home Loans you can Finally Qualify fori uanes Rates as Low as SJn fo o tn y m e m o ry o f Purchase: Kenneth Romell Lampkin 6.5% * 0% Down 7% APR Sunrise November 28,1951 Sunset January 23,2000 Kenneth Romell Lampkin was retired, but when he worked he was a Caregiver. Kenneth belonged to the Church O f God In Christ and he enjoyed music & shooting pool. Kenneth leaves to cherish his memory: Elizabeth Jackson Mother Portland, OR Cecil E. Jackson Step-Father Portland, OR Lori Lampkin Sister Manteca, C A Claude L. Lampkin Jr. Brother Portland, OR John R. Lampkin Brother Los Angeles, CA Stephanie D. 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