Faith in Action

I’ve been quite active over the past couple of days.  On Wednesday night, I spoke at a Back to School Rally in Turners Station.  There was a good sized crowd out at the Fleming Center to hear motivating words about school and to receive school supplies.  I received the invitation to this event on rather late notice, but I feel it important to take advantage of these types of opportunities.  I consider it a blessing to be able to make positive investments in the lives of youth.  All things being equal, they will see days that my eyes will never see.  So it’s almost like I’m impacting the future by speaking in their “now”.  Not only do I attempt to give them something of worth, but I receive something so much more valuable.  Engaging youth gives me an opportunity to keep my finger on the pulse of what’s going on in the world as they see it and hear it.  Young people, like Master Cedric who posted his comments in a previous post, have much to say and should be given the opportunity to say it.  It’s up to the adults to have the wisdom to listen.

On Thursday afternoon, I was blessed to be invited to be on the “Pause for the Cause” Radio program on 1010AM WOLB.  The theme of the show was “Where are all the Black Men?” 

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Hey folks,

As some of you may have noticed.  I added a Feedburner “subscribe” box in the upper left hand corner of the site.  Please consider subscribing to my blog.  What that means is you will receive a notification in your email inbox when I upload new content so you don’t have to keep coming to check if I did or not.  When I update you’ll get an email.  If I don’t - you won’t.

Rest assured that I will not abuse this service.  I highly value the time of those that visit my blog and consider it a privilege that people would want to check out what I’m thinking or what I’ve been doing in the way of religion, policy, and activism.  I won’t waste your time or clutter your inbox with frivolous material. 

I am very serious about this blog being used to cultivate critical thinking, engaging dialogue, and ultimately to spark revolution.  This is an instrument for the benefit of the people.

Please enter your email address in the upper left-hand corner and click “SUBSCRIBE“. 

In Rebellion,

Heber Brown, III

I’m just getting in from my community’s National Night Out activities.  The community association organized a fun-filled, meaningful event.  There was free food, school supplies for the kids, and information for residents.

We also took a moment to remember a young man who was killed on that same block a few months ago.  The picture above shows the procession of people with candles in hand to signify a new season of peace and an end to the bloodshed.  Our community association president is leading the group and singing “This little light of mine.”

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Yesterday, my wife and I celebrated the blessing of another year of marriage.  We’re still fresh out of the box - 3 years - but these 3 years have been amazing.  I married an incredible woman who is my best friend, my lover, my greatest supporter, my “amen” corner, my accountability partner, etc. etc.

She’s also the master gift giver.  She spends incredible amounts of time thinking about a gift that really matches the person.  If my wife is going to give you a gift - you know you’re going to really appreciate it.

For our first year anniversary she surprised me by arranging a personal visit with Dr. Wyatt Tee Walker and his wife.  We spent a life-changing 90 minutes with them and had lunch together at his home.  For our second year anniversary, we went more traditional and spent some time in Orlando, FL.  And yesterday - Lord have mercy….she did it again.

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Proverbs 22:1 stresses the importance of having a “good name” - a name that when spoken connotes a sense of character, integrity, and honor.  I would submit that even before your reputation - your name precedes you.  That’s one reason why I’ve gone to such great lengths to protect my name.  With a name like Heber Brown, III there is no hiding.  While I know that I am the only “me” that God created; I would not be surprised if I am the only one on the planet named “Heber Brown, III”. 

Not only do I attempt to protect my name and make it mean something of value for my own sake; but also to guard its respectability for the sake of those whom I inherited the name from.

My father and grandfather before me are named Heber Brown.  That name has become synonymous with “pastor”, “ally”, “friend”, “Christian”, “Ambassador of Jesus Christ”, “Believer”, etc.  My grandfather (God bless his memory) loved God and served the people of God for more than 70 years as pastor and evangelist of Jesus Christ.  My father loves God and has served the people of God as pastor for 21 years.  Both of those “Heber’s” have lived lives that mean something to the broader community inside and outside of the church.  So as I grew to understand the worth of the name; I learned to protect it at all costs because the name is not mine alone. 

You can understand then my concern upon learning that my name is somehow being connected to a current controversy involving a pastor in Baltimore City.  Apparently there is an email circulating the web that has attached my name to this scandal.  I’ve received a number of calls and emails from those inquiring about my connection to this situation.  While I initially decided to give this inaccurate email time to blow over; I have reconsidered that decision because my name is not my own and as my Elders used to say, “at the end of the day, your name is all you have.”  So let me set the record straight.

1. I am not the originator of the vicious email circulating the web concerning allegations of sexual misconduct by a internationally recognized, Baltimore-based religious leader.  I am not engaged in the forwarding of this email to anyone whether it be to individuals, message boards, or mass list serves.
2. I am not a graduate  of Morehouse College nor am I the President of the Baltimore Chapter Morehouse Alumni Association.  I am a proud alumnus of Morgan State University in Baltimore and Virginia Union University in Richmond.
3. The person who I believe was behind sending this email across the country (and world) did attempt to post it to my blog approximately one month ago.  I refused to allow that information to be posted to my website.  I’ve spent thousands of hours and hundreds of dollars building a website that addresses the issues of religion, policy, and activism.  I refuse to compromise the integrity of this site by posting unsavory material that ultimately has no longstanding worth either to the kingdom of God or the advancement of African people.  Perhaps my refusal to comply with the sinister plot of the originator of the infamous email; offended him/her and thus my name was added in an attempt to sully my character.

I would encourage anyone to investigate what I devote my time to.  Examine what initiatives and efforts I support.  You’ll see very quickly that spreading or being involved with beauty salon chatter, grapevine gossip, or even the unfortunate situations of others is no where near anything related to my track record.

Now let’s see how far and fast TRUTH travels the internet.

With great humility I am,

 Reverend Heber M. Brown, III

Angie tagged me and my initial reaction to being tagged was to ignore it and keep on doing my thing.  However, I remembered how Angie went all “Big Mama” on another blogger and decided that I didn’t want to catch a bloggable beat down for iggin’ my sister.  I complete this survey ONLY because she asked me.

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