Carlos, Danny, & Me

My best friends in grade school: Danny and Carlos.

These were my boys…

We attended school together.

We hung out together.

We went to each other’s homes.

Carlos’ mom gave us Spanish lessons and quesadillas after school.

Danny lived in my neighborhood. We’d meet up and to walk to Albertson’s to buy candy—Fun Dip and Pop Rocks.

Carlos, Danny and me looked different from each other.

Carlos had black, straight hair.

Danny’s hair was curly.

My hair was puffy.

The color of our skin was different. We had slightly different accents. We were a diverse trio…

And we were the best of friends.

We spent lots of time together and many adventures.

However, there was one thing we never did together…

We never attended church together.

On Sunday, we all went our separate ways—me, to my white church, Carlos, to his hispanic church, and Danny, to his black church.

I remember wondering to myself: If we do everything else together, why can’t we go to church together?

Over 40 years ago, Dr. Martin Luther King said, “We must face the sad fact that the eleven o’clock hour on Sunday morning when we stand to sing, we stand in the most segregated hour in America.”

My story about Carlos, Danny, and me is from the ’80’s.

Do you think things have changed since then?

Not really. According to sociologist Dr. Michael Emerson, 93% of the churches in America are racially segregated.

Stink!

This fires me up. It ticks me off. I hate it.

I don’t want a church that reflects just one homogenized slice of our community.

I want a church that reflects the community!

Look at the description of the people in God’s Kingdom from the book of Revelation: “I looked again. I saw a huge crowd, too huge to count. EVERYONE was there—ALL NATIONS and TRIBES, ALL RACES and LANGUAGES.” (Revelation 7.9 MSG).

What were they doing there?

“They were shouting with a mighty shout, ‘Salvation comes from our God who sits on the throne and from the Lamb.’” (Revelation 7.10 NLT)

They were worshiping TOGETHER.

Different nationalities. Different cultures. Different backgrounds. Different accents. Different flavors. TOGETHER.

My favorite days at church are when we have a big outreach (like our Backpack Giveaway).

Why?

Because EVERYBODY comes out.

These events are beautifully diverse.

And that’s how the church should be.

That’s how we WILL be.