Jamal Bryant used to run the NAACP’s youth wing. Now Bryant has his own church. Empowerment Temple. I haven’t really spoken much about the mega-church phenomenon. But then I saw the Empowerment Temple’s website.And was rendered even more speechless than I was.
Jamal Bryant and Empowerment Temple
by admin | Jun 30, 2007 | Black Leadership, Neoliberalism | 31 comments
Don’t get me started. This is part of the reason that I’m an apostate Christian. Going to church is not a spiritual exercise. Sure it fosters an espirit de corps among members but it’s not about spiritual uplift much less collective social action beyond narrow church doctrine.
These mega-churches in particular subscibe to material riches as a marker for righteousness. These preachers are motivational speakers who emphasize giving tithes and relationship counseling. And since GW Bush has allowed churches to feed at the trough they have been relatively silent about the Iraq War and poverty and ineqity in America. The few vocal religous critics of Bush stand out in part because they are so few.
I went to a couple of his services when they were at Coppin. It was a good service.
The man has a vision that can be good for Blacks, in general.
HOWEVER, dude is looking more and more like a pimp. His father REALLY needs to pull him up, IN PUBLIC, and say something.
Bragging you have 2 Bentleys? No.
What is that vision?
I know that there is a population of younger men and women who have been turned off by church. And Bryant thinks the best way to reach them is by going to where they are. He thinks they’re turned on by bling, he reaches them through bling.
But I remember reading an interview with Kirk Franklin some years back. And he said something that struck me hard.
I haven’t been to church regularly since Catholic school. When asked to note my religion on Facebook, I noted “heathen.”
But here’s what I do know. Jesus is NOT crack. Jesus is NOT about consumption. Not only are you weakening the thing you want to bring to “the masses”, you are making a number of idiotic assumptions about THEM. Bryant appears to be a decent person, but I’m automatically suspicious of these types of moves.
Oh My God.
This is one of those moments when I have to ask if this world is more crazy than ever, or if my ability to perceive the craziness is more pronounced than ever.
What is that vision?
A private/charter school, businesses run by members of the church, business creation, building wealth, reaching out to those on the wrong path to turn them around…
But, dude, IMO, has crossed over to “pimp in the pulpit” territory, and I really hate to say that.
what he’s basically done is taken the td jakes/creflo dollar mega church model then and upped it. call it mega-church 2.0.
I have no problem with the website. He is going after a specific audience. In the services I attended, nothing seemed out of order with what he said.
But that was then.
Now? Pimp.
Yeah a newer new jackleg swing.
There really are no words
I can’t begin to express to you the amount of disgust that I am feeling right now. I have not even clicked into the site. The front page has left me cold, saddened, pissed off and ready to just throw the computer. EVERYTHING that I remotely believe is wrong with us, as a people can be summed up on the front page of the website. It’s patently absurd.
If THAT is what modern Christianity is, then I need to join up with Christopher Hitchens.
I went to the landing page and sucked in my breath fearful of the loaded implications arrayed before me. In a moment of pluck, I pinched off a tiny chunk of my usual hope stash, slyly ditching the rest, and clenched it in my bottocks. Then, with all the courage I could muster, I clicked on the button marked, “ENTER YE HERE.”
“Empty your pockets sir…please step through…alright…wait..what’s that in your ass?”
Busted.
I have this uncomfortable feeling that the “academy” partly serves to legitimize the act in the way that kids’ charity provided some “oh he’s not evil” cover for Imus.
oh lawd….,
And they wonder why so many of us men just want to shun that nonsense and have fellowship on a smaller more intimate level with our families.
Not for me bro, not for me!!!
Beemer? He can put a car up front as soon as it is made by black folk. Anything else he’s worshiping another white icon.
Whats the target audience?Doctor Spence “young people who have been turn off by the church”,would they register to vote?would they likely be expose to business creation?Whats the trade off.
Hmmmmmmm….PIMPS in the PULPIT! His father (an AME bishop) sat his adulteratig butt down for a mere 30 days. WHY? He got a woman in his congregation pregnant. HE’S MARRIED WITH KIDS OF HIS OWN!!! No, he isn’t some “super person” and yes, he’s human, but his vision/mission are Mo MONEY, Mo MONEY and Mo women. Gimme a break, that website and BMW have NOTHING to do with salvation and saving souls and helping the poor. His mega-church, mega-pimp life-style is nothing more than a FRONT for him to get MO MONEY and MO WOMEN to do MO DIRT and not God’s work………
MagnoliaDiva, where is the documentation to back up your claim?
Ed, check out the discussion on P6. He just announced it to his parishoners a couple of weeks ago…and there is a Maryland public data website that verifies it.
what you didn’t like the bmw? 🙂 lol seriously, i know where you are coming from. i actually saw the site a few years ago. i have to admit it turned me off. i was surprised b/c the bryant i saw & heard in mphs several years ago didn’t quite project this image. as someone else said above, the mega church phenomena has gotten out of hand. i think mixed messages are being sent by many of these churces.
The bentley is the least of his possessions. He has a new baby out of wed-lock and I here there are many more out there. Some he claim, Some he don’t
I’ve heard that story. I’ve seen documents too…however I’ve also heard that this story is a rehash of events that occurred a few years back.
John 8:7 “…let he that is without sin, cast the first stone..”
Many of us are so opinionated about things that we should not have an opinion about. How can you ask a person not to have an opinion? Well, first the bible teaches us to be slow to speak. We should not dicuss this man’s mistake, we should pray for him and if we must share anything, we should be happy that he is a successful African American leader, irregardless of his issues.
Yes,it is true, he did confess to adultry. And he and his parishioners are going through the proccess of repentance. Yet and still, those people remain willing to follow him, because he has touched the lives of millions of people in the body of Christ. You cannot take that away from him, even when he has committed an act of sin. Sin is sin. The word teaches us that no sin is greater than the other and that no one is without sin. As a matter of fact, if you have anything negative to say about him, his minstry, his vision or his website which boasts prosperity, then YOU my friends are sinning.
If the bible and the teachings of Christ has taught us to admonish and pray for our enemys, then what do you think Christ would have have us to consider towards people that we don’t even know…who aren’t our enemy, but rather one of our chosen leaders.
We must pray for Dr. Bryant and his congregation and allow him to LIVE! After all, he isn’t the first and will not be the last.
God bless you my brothers and sisters.
Sincerely,
PGD
Pastor Drumright I agree that we should be slow to speak, and be careful in our intent. Once you put the words out there you can’t take them back.
Where I disagree (strongly) is that there is no room for critique in your comments. Any critique, whether done in good spirits or not, represents a sin according to your comments. I would argue that this idea is bad for black political practice. If Bro. Bryant is a successful African American leader how can he become more successful if he doesn’t know what he is doing right/wrong? If what happened to him is at least a partial result of the way he speaks of empowerment, wouldn’t critique be the best way he can find this out? If his website–which lauds materialism–is turning off potential members, shouldn’t he know about it?
At its most extreme your position would have us being the passive recipients of all types of violence, because it would be a sin if we talked bad about “our leaders.”
I believe we become better, not worse, through questioning. I do acknowledge that this type of questioning should come from the spirit of love and understanding. But even the questioning of knuckleheads can sometimes lead to important insights. We need more of this, not less.
All these filthy pimps in the pulpit need to be lined up against a wall….,
Greetings, Michael Baisden has dared talk about what is considered a cardinal sin: black ministers who misuse and abuse their power and are then defended feriously by cult like followers who idolize these men. Pastor Drumright with all due respect we should NOT be happy that he is an African American that has made it. Made it with lack of morals and values; knocking up a teenager or any other woman outside his marriage. And, possessing a bentley in a city with 196 murders; a city consumed with a heroin and crack epidemic. More people need to examine the behaviors of these false prophets. And, if one does not want scrutiny then do not step into the lime light and ask for it. Let’s stop excusing piss poor behavior simply because the wrong doer is black. Now, that is sad.
I’ve seen Jamal Bryant on TBN and was astounded ! You see, I’ve also viewed the video “American Pimp” by the hughes brothers and saw NO difference between those men and Jamal Bryant, none at all. The way he spins his words is hypnotic, but once you break yourself from the spell you see what he’s doing – he’s ordering you to be is Hoe and pay HIM or you’ll be nothing – classic pimp talk. And he does this while sporting $50,ooo in diamonds. I actually wrote to his website and SAID this, the next time I saw him on TBN he was only wearing the wedding ring. Hey, if it walks like a pimp and talks like a pimp, well then ……. Don’t be fooled by the fact that he can quote the Bible, so can many ACTUAL pimps, this is a common tool used with their women, they present themselves as holy and learned. Jamal is the worst kind of devil, but unfortunately most are caught in his spell and he is all the more richer because of it, and they are poorer both financially and spirtually ! Beyond sad !
I
DON’THAVE VERY MUCH TO SAY ABOUT THIS PERSON BECAUSE THE BIBLE DID TELL US TO BE SLOW TO SPEAK.TO ME THE BIBLE IS BEING FULLFILLED LEAPS AND BOUNDS. THE BIBLE DO SPEAKS OF FALSE PROPHETS COMMING ON THE SEEN AND THIS IS WHAT HAPPEN TODAY.SADLY TO SAY THERE WILL BE MORE.WHAT WE CHRISTIANS HAVE TO DO IS SEEK GOD THE MORE AND IF WE DO THAT GOD SAID HE WOULD HERE FROM HEAVEN AND HE WOULD HEAL THE LAND.SO LETS PRAY……
Let me start by saying that I was saved at a revival that Pastor Bryant preached at Ebeneezer over 12 ago. The Jamal Bryant that preached a memorable sermon “a Hunger for God” is far different from the paster of Empowerment Temple or the TBN personality that we see now. The preacher 12 years ago preached a sermon that touched the soul and now he is more concerned with touching emotions. That is wrong. If we keep these wrongs quiet, we become part of the problem. Paul several times called those whom he believed to be false prophets or unbenificial to the body of Christ out by name. We have fallen into the trap of the world of being so afraid to offend that we make excuses for the “pimps” to operate. If we fail to expose those that are not holding up the gospel, how can those that may be caught up in the lies be warned? I have been to the website and while it is sickning, that is not the greatest issue. The greater issue is similar to what Christ told the church at Ephesis, he has forgotten his first love. Let us pray that he regains that passion that he had 12 years ago but let us also educate people of the traps that he is setting for them.
I hate when church people talk about church people. Don’t get me wrong I do go to Empowerment Temple. It kills me when people talk about my paster and dont know the first thing about him. Let me ask all of yall who wrote something negivtive about him. What have anyone of yall done to help out our community. This man has done so much in the past and still working everyday to help out people of all race. One thing I notice about us is that we love to pull each of us down. Look around do you see anyone else doing it. Take a few mins out of your do good lives and get to know the man before you speak bad about him.
All of you who have all this to say about Pastor Bryant seem to have a deep concern for the body of Christ however, talking down on him due to what you’ve read or heard, is simple. Put yourselves in His shoes, called by God, tens of thousands of people who have grown from how God has used you and, a destiny that only you and God know. Jesus, spoke and taught that you do as the preacher teaches not as he does. This He spoke was concerning Pharisies in the book of Matthew 23rd chapter. Now is what Dr. Bryant speaking against the Word? Leading people astray? Better yet when has He spoke on money for real? His Ministry grew because of God, Emowerment Temple grew because of God. Touch not my annointed and do my servant no harm.
It saddened me to read all the negatives against Pastor Bryant on several blogs. I know it must be difficult for his wife, kids, and believe it or not HIM. People are so quick to destroy others no matter what the costs. Who are we? God. I do not think so. Like a few others said, we must PRAY for the entire family during this difficult time and remember if you are true Children of God – be slow to speak, pray diligently, do not tear down, but lift up, for vengenance is God not people. And, if nothing else, ALWAYS remember – God’s thoughts are not our thoughts, and God’s ways are not our ways. And as long as all parties have confessed their sins before God not man they will be forgiven; along with humbly themselves, pray, seek God, and turn from their wicked ways, God shall prevail. Let us all look at our own lives, communities, and families and help others because just as sure as we condemn others, condemnation will come to our doorsteps.