Can Gateway Church recover?
A few thoughts on the Gateway Church implosion, tonight's debate, and the embarrassing loss of squad member Jamaal Bowman.
(If you’re new here: Please keep in mind that this is my personal blog, one that suffices as my social media—which I despise. I create what I create here mainly for me. Not for clicks or publicity or drama, which is why I ask that you refrain from sharing the post on public social media pages.)
Gateway’s survival will require significant change at the top.
Over the last two weeks I’ve had a half dozen people ask me about what’s going on at Gateway, seeing as I’ve been attending the church since moving to Texas in 2012. (I joined soon thereafter.) I always found his Robert Morris’ preaching entertaining and the church large enough to meet my needs. I’ve met several people, who I now call friends, since attending.
But, since 2020, I’ve only attended sporadically, which was largely related to three factors:
It no longer fit my needs,
The succession plan for senior pastor was hard pass for me, and
Politics and religion, together, don’t work for me.
“God and politics don’t sit down at the same table,” says political strategist David “Mudcat” Saunders. “Politics is about dividing; God is about uniting.”
My general feelings: It’ll take a Herculean effort for the church to survive. There will have to be changes that, I’m not yet convinced the leaders will undertake, for Gateway to successfully move forward.
Interesting fact: On May 9, 2019, immediately following my election, the executive senior pastor of the church reached out via email and asked to “meet…and hear more about you and your family.” I responded but never heard back.
My hope: That all guilty parties receive swift, severe punishment. That the victim receives the justice she deserves and feels in her spirit the sincere outpouring of love and support coming her way
Goodbye and good riddance, Jamaal “aka Mr. Fire Alarm”
I have a strong, strong bias against progressive politicians. Their incessant message that everything wrong in America begins with racism is both incorrect and unproductive, and there unwillingness—er, disregard—for doing anything to fix ailing cities, most of which are controlled by Democrats, is sickening. (See Chicago, San Francisco, etc.)
So, when I heard that progressive and fellow squad member Rep. Jamaal Bowman was boat raced by a moderate primary challenger for the 16th Congressional District seat, I was elated. Aside from his anti-Israel posture, he represents a brand of political extremism that we need less of. (Plus, he’s known for doing clownish things.) The other squad members should take note. Maybe AOC is already reading the tea leaves.
Baseball HOF’er Reggie Jackson returns to a painful place
I’ve never seen Reggie Jackson without a smile on his face, usually while regaling the TV audience with his storytelling of a bygone era of baseball. So, as I watched Jackson speak about how tough it was to return to Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Alabama, for the Negro League game, I was sick to my stomach.
Hearing him share vivid details about visiting hotels and restaurants and being told “the n–ger can’t eat here” or “the n–ger can’t stay here” was anger-inducing. It filled me with pride to hear him talk of how his teammates, coaches, and general manager stood up for him by refusing to dine or stay where Jackson wasn’t welcome.
The beautiful story behind the story is that Reggie, and players of his generation, were able to live to see this. Only in America.
What I’m looking forward to this week
The Trump v. Biden debate tonight. It’s make-or-break for Pres. Biden. Normally, I’d be watching to see if the former president becomes unhinged. But, for this debate, the stakes are much, much higher for the sitting president. If he stumbles significantly, it’s game over. The Dems will have to scramble to replace him, which was always a better idea than seeing Biden run again.
Even if you voted for him, or planned to vote for him—I did not; I will not—it is painful to watch him walk, much less speak. Simply seeing him make it through the debate without wandering mentally would, to me at least, be akin to watching Simone Biles complete the first double twisting, double somersault dismount off the balance beam at the U.S. Gymnastics Championships in 2019.
Quote I keep repeating in my head—and in conversation
“Twitter is a high school cafeteria jammed full of 100 million people,” said conservative attorney and columnist David French, as guest on The Gray Area with Sean Illing - The Cult of Toughness
A point he made effectively is one I cannot repeat often enough: We primarily interact with the worst caricatures of people from the other side, who share a different viewpoint. Therefore, we're exposed to the worst expression of the other sides' views.
Last book I read
Romney: A Reckoning, by McKay Coppins
I was surprised at two things while reading the book:
How much I’d come to like Romney, and
How much, politically, we have n common.
I’ll share more in an upcoming review, but reading of the principled Romney made me long for him over either of the candidates that’ll be on the dais tonight.