My FIRST Blog
One may say, "why would you start writing a blog at a time when sooooooo many blogs are being written?", "why enter a world that's currently being saturated with a myriad of opinions, ideologies, and thoughts?", and to them I respond "why would a Pastor start a new church in a city filled with churches?", "Is there room for YET another gathering when so many other Pastors have already been holding gatherings for years?". The Pastor being challenged with that question (as Louie Giglio was when starting Passion Church & I imagine Shaun King probably was when starting Courageous Church) might respond "the call on my life is unique to my journey and therefore the audience I am called to reach is unique to my message". There is no shortage of people within a city still deciding on a church home (or whether to be a Christ-follower at all for that matter), and there are no shortage of readers looking for a place where they can connect, dialogue, be encouraged. This is my resolve.
There is a unique message that has been given to me and there is a unique audience that will appeal to what I've been given to say. As one Pastor's desire isn't to "steal sheep", nor is it my desire to pull readers away from the blogs that feed them most. As a matter of fact, I've decided that on every blog post I will give a "shout out" to other blogs and sites that have fed me over the years. Starting with this one, where I will list all the blogs that have inspired me to begin writing my own.
Who are you?
Aha! I know that there are many people, when answering this question, who will respond immediately with what they do. Fortunately, I believe God has given me a more proper response that encompasses more than what what I do, but WHO He has called me to be.
"I am a Christian artist with a desire to impact the next generation, encourage the addicted, and ultimately change the world." M.C.L.
That's it. I believe that says it all. In this one statement you can get an idea of my gift-set and my history. I am a Christ-follower. I gave my life to him at the age of 11 (so much to say about the #11 and it's significance in my life-even to the point that this blog is being written the 11th, with no previous planning from me-but more on that in another blog). I've been so close to Him that I feel I could accomplish anything & I've been so far from Him that I would gladly welcome death over the state of my life at that time. I'm a spoken word artist, painter, and dancer and I hope to use all of those mediums to help communicate my heart. But I am also a recovering addict, abuse survivor, mentor to Christian woman struggling with same-sex attraction, communicator, and continuous student of all issues taboo in the Christian community.
It is not my goal to say shocking things merely for shock value, but only to speak the truth about my own life's journey, how the Church has responded to me, and how we should respond going forward.
What is your message?
All the things I've mentioned above and more. I believe there are 3 core umbrella's under which every topic I write on will fall.
1) There is hope. (To encourage)
2) Come on Christian...we can do better. (To challenge)
3) I feel you. (To empathize)
When I think about every poem I've written/performed and especially the ones that seemed to have the greatest impact on others, they were either to encourage, to challenge, or to empathize. When we are in our darkest moments, sometimes we just need someone to say "i feel you", then along the way we need to be reminded that "there is hope", but then there are times when we just need a good kick in the pants. :o) That's what I hope to do as I share what I believe I've been given to say. Perhaps one of these umbrella's will mean something and carry a little weight for you.
Who is your audience?
As a writer and a performer, it would be my first inclination to say "EVERYONE!". But that's not true. As a result of my history I have to address some tough topics and it's been my experience that not everyone wants to or is ready to "go there". When the movie Precious came out, this point was more than confirmed as there were so many that didn't want to fully embrace the life that this young lady had to live. "It was so dark" "it was so difficult to watch" "it was too much" were some of the responses I heard, but my first response however was "its someone's life". And "those someone's" are probably my audience, along with those who desire to help "those someone's", and also those who would like nothing more than to criticize and challenge the methodologies of "those someone's" along the way. Bring it on. I welcome you all...all who fall within those categories and those who fall without. I hope we can have a great discussion here. I will read every comment and carefully consider all feedback even if it differs drastically from my own personal opinions.
Up to this point I've allowed "the conversation" to come to me. Only after someone inquired further regarding the poem I've written or only after first being asked, would I open my mouth and give my own opinion. But for a while now, I believe that God wants me to START "the conversation", to be an initiator and not merely a responder and so...here we go. If I said I weren't scared, I'd be lying straight. I AM just a little bit scared, but I'm reminded of something my Pastor would often say, "feel the fear and do it anyway". Okay...done.
Stay tuned for something deep, something shallow, something politically-correct, and something controversial. Stay tuned for "Simply Thoughts". Begin looking forward to videos, dances, poetry, paintings, and "shout-outs". Stay tuned for the beginning of a new era in my life. One that I pray God truly helps me maintain with the same enthusiasm with which it has all started.
Speaking of shout-outs...let's get on with it as I've gone on long enough. There is so much more to say, but it will have to wait for another time. Here is a list of blogs that have greatly encouraged me or challenged me or provoked me or even offended me over time. :o) I hope that you will connect with some of these other writers too, if you haven't already. Thank you.
Shout-Outs
Stuart McDonald (@stumcdnld) http://stuartmcdonald.wordpress.com/
-Blogs about life, relationships, current events, Jesus
Carlos Whittaker (@loswhit) http://www.ragamuffinsoul.com/
-Blogs about music, ministry, Jesus
Shaun King (@shaunking) http://www.shauninthecity.com/
-Blogs about his church Courageous, Atlanta, pop-culture, Jesus
Ken Jos (@kenjos) http://agnostichedonist.wordpress.com/
-Blogs about anything that comes to mind, agnosticism, life, movies
John Saddington (@human3rror) http://human3rror.com/
-Blogs about blogging (smile), technology, websites, life, etc...
James Andrews (@keyinfluencer) http://www.thekeyinfluencer.com
-Social media guru, trust me...he's EVERYWHERE
Scott Williams (@scottwilliams) http://bigisthenewsmall.com/
-Blogs about Pastoring, ministry, technology-He invented the Twitter #fistbump
Kem Meyer (@kemmeyer) http://www.kemmeyer.typepad.com/
-Her Communications Team strategy & work at Granger Community Church is changing the way we do ministry at Destiny Metropolitan Worship Church (where I am currently the Data & Web Specialist)
Let me give a special "shout out" to Chris Dawson (@iamjeremaya). A fellow artist who started writing daily devotions years ago and to this day, he faithfully emails them out. I've watched his writing and development grow leaps and bounds with time. Truly a man of God who felt a call to write and pursued it even though he didn't have all the pieces. Send him a twitter message if you would like to be added to his daily devotion email blast.
And also, let me give another special "shout out" to Damian Boyd (http://damianlboyd.com/) who only started blog writing last month. I pray that he have the energy and enthusiasm to keep with it and grow it over time as I know he carries a very relevant message to today's college community. Keep writing sir.
There are a few more but I just can't list them all today.
I hope "My First Blog" was worth all the words it took to write it. I look forward to connecting further with you. If there is a topic I mentioned in this work that seemed to resonate with you more, let me know and I'll be sure to address it further in my earliest blog posts. What would you like to know more about first? If nothing initially...trust, I still have a lot to say. :o)
Love you all. Holla.
I LOVE IT, LOVE IT, LOVE IT!!!! I am so happy that the rest of the world has a chance to experience what I've been able to experience over the last few years. Your honesty, insight, love for God, relevance, talent, all of that has been such a blessing to me and I can't wait to see how it blesses others. I look forward to reading what you have to say, especially during this time of growth and transition in your life. LOVE YOU LADY BUG!!!
Kristin Denise
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I really enjoyed that Celita! I have ALWAYS enjoyed watching you dance or listening to your poems. You have always moved and inspired me. I am looking forward to your future posts.
Have a wonderful wekend,
Tasha
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#FistBump Thanks for the shout-out! I digg your writing style, idea formulation style and rhythm that minimizes the time that you have to spend on a blogpost.
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Congrats on the birth of your bouncing baby blog!
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I just love Life. This is exactly what I needed to read today Monica. Your points about having a unique voice hits home with me. I've been struggling with writing something that I know may offend eventhough it comes from a good place. But you're right, what I have to say is for some and not all..and as that saying goes, "those that matter don't mind and those that mind don't matter." Right? Yup. And then you talked about being the one to START conversations. You hit me with that one too. Life has been telling me for years now that I need to be more vocal...so we share that reason for starting a blog so late in the game..lol. Yes, you have inspired me today. Thank you.
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Love it MOn...you know I will be tuned in to your blog...keep writing...love ya
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There are some people that I truly believe should not blog... You are NOT one of those people! I definitely think that your voice and experiences can give light to a lot of people! Thanks for the shout out and I can't wait to see what comes out of you!
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I know I'm late, but I LOVE IT. Keep it coming, girly
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welcome to the blogosphere
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Wow! Monica that was awesome! I have little tears streaming down right now as I type. You know I remember when you first came to Spelman and I remember you saying once in morning prayer about girls approaching you because they thought you were a lesbian and how much that frustrated you. I remember thinking, I wonder how life would turn out for you as you talked. I must say God has truly blessed you and I am SO proud of you and so glad that I got a chance to know you oh so many years ago now.
This blog has blessed me on SO many different levels. First of all, because I have a lot of homosexual friends and also feel that God is leading me to minister to this particular group of people but not always sure how to do it and as a result I've done and said A LOT of stupid things to my friends and in some cases caused my friendships to end all together or be changed all together. I've been more involved in the arts through singing opera, doing stage plays, songwriting, etc, thus my exposure to this whole other world, but that's another story all together. I can relate to what you're saying in that even though I am heterosexual but I too find men are not attracted to me as much as I would like because I have grow A LOT of hair like a male because of my PCOS (Polysytic Ovary Syndrome) diagnosis. I have never really had a boyfriend or dated very much at all as a result and I'm still a virgin which I have to remind myself because of my Christian values is a good thing! LOL! So hearing about your journey even though different from mine still made me feel like I'm not alone. I too get woman who are attracted to me probably because of some of my more masculine like features even though my mannerisms are mostly more feminine.
I too would get family members who would tease me as a result of my more masculine features as a result of my disease or illness rather. They would ask me why I have a beard? Like I woke up one day and just decided I was going to grow one! It's been really tough a times I went through years of mental illness as a result of people's treatment of me and even how I thought of myself. I thank God that He has been faithful to me through it all.
Well thank you for doing this Monica. I think you are so brave and courageous! I know I haven't seen you in umpteen years but I do really love you and pray for all that is good will come your way!
Kimberly Williams
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Thank C for your transparency. I have people in my life who struggled with this issue, and when I first found out, I didn't handle it well. And because of that, I built a wall b/w us, that I'm still trying to mend even now. I know that given the opportunity again, I will approach it better. Thanks C
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