This is a re-post from Carlos Whittaker over at RagamuffinSoul.com. Carlos was formerly the worship director at Buckhead church in Atlanta, and rescently released his debut album, Ragamuffin Soul (now available on Itunes).

Dudley recently connected with him in an airport not too long ago when Dudley over heard a dad say to his family that because they missed church that day, they were going to have church in the car.  Dudley was encouraged by that dad’s comment and had to go up to the gentlemen.  That gentlemen was Carlos.  Here’s his blog post, enjoy:

*******

I never was a fan of changing those lyrics…
But then again, if I was Losiah, I don’t necessarily think I would want to be labeled as “yellow”.
Alas, if I was writing this song about most church staff in America it would probably sing…

Jesus loves the little staffers
All the staffers in your church.
White White White White White White White
They all dance rea-lly uptight.
Jesus love the little staffers in your church!

Jesus loves the little staffers
All the staffers in your church
Black Black Black Black Black Black Black
I bet none have the name Jack
Jesus love the little staffers in your church!

Jesus loves the little staffers
All the staffers in your church
Brown Brown Brown Brown Brown Brown Brown
We match the color in our town
Jesus love the little staffers in your church!

Jesus loves the little staffers
All the staffers in your church.
Man Man Man Man Man Man Man
She can sing or drive the van
Jesus love the little staffers in your church!

Here’s the deal.
Most of our church staff and leadership are of one race.
Or mostly of one race.
And here are some our excuses…
1. The white church staff – Well, we are simply a reflection of the community we are ministering in. And they are white.
2. The black church staff – If we want to reach young black men, we can’t have old white men trying to reach them.
3. The latino church staff – We don’t need white people coming into our neighborhood to try and save us. We are proud and can help our own.
4. The male church staff – The Bible says we should lead the ladies and they are really good at making necklaces out of dry pasta.

Hear Hear. Take all those with a grain of salt. And pepper if you want to make it a bit more diverse.

Many churches are now sprinkling diversity on stage during worship and in videos during announcements to try and make themselves a bit more appealing to a more diverse crowd. This is a great start. It really is.
But when the engine that is running the ship is still the same old engine that was running the ship, you can paint the ship whatever color you want…it’s still the same ship.

Some will argue that diversity is not necessary in local church leadership.
Some will argue that diversity is overrated and we should all just sing the songs we like to sing with the people we feel most comfortable with.
Some will argue that you can sprinkle and paint diversity on stage and on screen and that will be enough to bridge the divide.
All are valid.
And all are lazy.

So go ahead and sprinkle some salt and pepper and salsa on this conversation.
Should it even be a conversation?

Multiculturalism is here! It is not coming. It is here. We are living in a day in age where everywhere we look, we see people who look different than we look. They dress slightly different than we dress. Their taste, their customs, their perspectives are all different than yours, and mine. Mine are different than yours, and yours are different than mine!

Today in America, what was once the minority has fast becoming the majority. In fact, by 2050 the sum total of the United States ethnic minority groups will total over 60% of our population.

The question that Efrem Smith proposed in his dynamic talk, yesterday at the NACC convention was, what will be “the church’s” response to multi-culturalism? “The increasing diversity in America does not stress God out,” Efrem exclaimed! “God desires to use us to advance His Kingdom in this multi-ethnic world.”

We live in an increasingly divided world that desperately needs Jesus followers to be “gap fillers,” as Efrem says, “to step out of the comfort zones of our homogeneous church networks, cross racial lines to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ.” Efrem went on to say that, “ we no longer need to be a far missionary. All we need to be is mission motivated right in our own communities.”

I truly believe Efrem is right on point.

What I appreciated most about his message yesterday was the way he demonstrated how the blood of Christ was/ is multi-ethnic blood, and “…in the blood line of Jesus are all the people that God created. Rich people, poor people, men and women, red, yellow, black, and white, sinful people, cursed people; Jesus has that much multi-cultural, multi-racial blood flowing through his vain that it represented all of humanity. When Jesus was on the cross and blood was coming from his hands, and blood was streaming from his head, and blood was coming from his side that was multi-cultural, mutli-racial, multi-ethnic blood from the King of kings and Lord of lords. That means when we say Jesus died for our sins we can take that literally because ALL of US was flowing through all of Him.”

Multiculturalism is here, and now! It has always been here, and Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection was for all of us, now. One for ALL, so that ALL would be ONE!

If you are missing the NACC, you are missing something good!!!

Unity Through Diversity!

BEYOND: A Note from Ben Cachiaras, 2010 NACC President

“Come to the North American… It’s going to be one to remember!
This is no time for business as usual, protecting the status quo in our lives or our ministries. The needs are too great. The call is too urgent. And God is on the move!

We truly follow Jesus, we will be moving, too. So we’ve created a program God can use to shape us and move us BEYOND where we are right now — in so many ways. The Church needs leaders who recognize the need to be confronted with a disturbing urgency, and a need to grow.

Let’s come together because in so many ways, God is calling us to go BEYOND. It’s time for our Movement to go beyond. Your church and our ministries need to go beyond. And I need to go beyond — to the place where Jesus is calling me — and so do you.”

Dream of Destiny is excited about this year’s NACC in Indianapolis Indiana. There is a line up of great speakers and breakout sessions. From Tony Dungy, Rick Warren and Francis Chan, to Efrin Smith and Gene Appel. The call is to go Beyond. Beyond racial lines, beyond comfort zones, and beyond the great omission…

We are called to go and BE the church that challenges and changes the world around us. Are you coming?

Dream of Destiny is hosting a breakfast Thursday, June 8th at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Ball Room CD.

You are invited!

We hope that this will be a time for ministries and bible colleges to network and share best practices, as well as their road blocks, as it relates to fostering unity through diversity.

We hope to see you there.

Unity Through Diversity,
Byron