Who Are You Attracting?

I'm encouraged today and I do know that all is not lost! For the past few months I had allowed myself to become discouraged because of what I was looking at! You know how the saying goes, "when it rains, it pours!" Well that seemed to be the story as it related to the youth that I was working with. If it wasn't one thing it was another and I got tired! I was sick and tired of seeing the ones that I spent the most time with completely just losing their minds. I was tired and I thought that maybe it'd be better if I stepped aside and allowed someone else to bring some fresh ideas to the table as it related to the spiritual growth of the youth in the community, but ALL IS NOT LOST! I am ready to give it another shot because I'm convinced that my labor is not in vain!

We are on the eve of the release of TI, the rap artist's CD coming out and I'm excited about this because TI isn't the average artist, he speaks a lot of truth. Before the religious right has a heart attack, hear me out!!! (lol) Anyway, TI, has a way of presenting real life circumstances with an attitude that "no matter what, he's going to keep his head up!" He knows he made some mistakes along the way and he was incarcerated for a time, but he still walks with the attitude that he is not going to let anyone or any circumstance keep him from a better tomorrow! Now, some may not agree with me but this is the same attitude that the "glorious" church of Jesus Christ should be operating in. WE should be, and I am really focusing on the word SHOULD...We should be walking around calling ourselves kings and queens but we allow the hip hop artists to proclaim who they are while we remain silent!

It's our silence that has killed the church and caused it to become stagnant. Young people are attracted to strength! One of my spiritual fathers, Bishop Eddie L. Long, in Atlanta, has a rather LARGE following. One of the reasons why is because of his ability to use what he has been blessed with in order to attract people. Understand this, young people are caught by what they see...Bishop wears muscle shirts to show his abs...Now some people believe that it's too much but I understand the need to catch a few fish who jump at that site! Others would say that he's vain...But who cares what you think? What he's doing is working and the haters may still have just 20 members...I mean dang C'mon on and understand marketing! JESUS! The fact of the matter is that he wears the clothes he wears because there are a group of people who are attracted to the sight of success! Whether you like it or not or whether you're fat or small, being "cut" and working out is popular. Yes, it may turn some away, but I think the overall approach is to reach a group who, otherwise, might not ever be reached.

Artists in the hip hop game say what they say, not because they necessarily believe some of the crap that they utter, but because it attracts a crowd. Now whether you agree with me or not, I've done the same thing with the group of youth I work with. I use their own language to draw them close to me and because of that, I've developed a crowd. I now wear the same style of clothes that they wear, not because I necessarily like it, but because I know to catch fish, I have to use the bait that the fish are attracted to in order for them to bite!

In order for us to be effective in reaching our youth we have to understand that the mechanisms to reach them MUST change, if not we run the risk of being labeled FOOLS because we refused to relate the same way other successful people relate to the next generation. I just went to the mall this past weekend and had one of my sons pick out a new hat because I know what it's going to take in order to be effective in this day and age. I'm not holding on to the old landmark, the old landmark is inside of me! My goal is to become all things that I may win some! What type of crowd are you attracting or reaching for?