Pastor Tony Evans:Time for Christians to Get ‘Aggressive’ in Rebuilding Family

For the most part as Christians, we can at times be our worst enemy by some of the messages we preach, by our actions and even by our association.

Many say church is not like it once used to be. We are loosing the fabric of our society. More and more our youths are going astray without the proper training, understanding, or even the tools on how to resolve conflict and how to effectively deal with societal problems.

Gradually, we are losing more of our children to gangs, drugs, crime, violence, murder and death.

As Christians, we are laid back and we are too relaxed. Prosperity preaching gospel is on the rise – for the most part, we preach a gospel that targets the weak and vulnerable whether to urban, rural, black or white with promises of Christ’s blessings in return for good health and wealth when a monetary seed is sown whether into the ministry or the prosperity gospel preacher himself.

Sadly, the offer is a naive, simple path to upward mobility that in the end is leaving those who follow it weak and powerless to effectively deal with the real issues and challenges that are facing the family today.

The question, is it too late to turn things around and to save our family? The answer, no it is not too late.

There is a clarion call to those who would take heed to collectively come together in unity on the front lines to fast and pray to God for His divine intervention.

EMB also learned that Megachurch Pastor Tony Evans has issued a call to Christians across the nation to rise to the challenge of bringing solutions to some of the issues be believes are apparent in the violence that recently gripped parts of Baltimore City amid protests over the police killing of a young 25 year old black man, Freddie Gray.

Here are excerpts of what he had to say:

“It is with deep regret and sadness that I have joined the rest of America to see the carnage, the pain and the anguish taking place in my hometown, Baltimore, Maryland,” said Evans in a video released the night after rioting and looting erupted in Baltimore.

“To see what can emanate from hopelessness is a reminder of two things. First of all, the damage that hopelessness can do, the wrong that can be expressed by people in their frustration so that they wind up doing the very thing they’re complaining against. At the very same time, I recognize this demonstrates the need for the Church of Jesus Christ to offer the hope that is missing in so many people’s lives.”

“It is especially disheartening to see that so much to the carnage took place at Mondawmin because I went to Douglas High School. I graduated from Douglas High School. I played football, baseball and swam for Douglas High School so to see something happen in a community I am so connected to broke my heart,” the Texas megachurch Pastor and best-selling author added.

The “chaos” that Evans referred to was the rioting and looting that broke out on Monday night and that resulted in the destruction of stores, homes, police vehicles and other property. Among the structures set on fire was a church’s $16 million apartment and community center that was being constructed for low-income seniors.

More excerpts:

“I used to be one of those students who needed to see something bigger, and God brought people into my life who gave me a bigger vision than the circumstances that surrounded me,” added Evans. “First, He gave me a father and then brought other influences that multiplied the opportunity that were out there for me to see that there was much more to life than what I was surrounded with. That’s exactly what this generation of young people needs.”

“These young people need to see that there’s something bigger out there than what they’re looking at everyday or seeing in the news or on social media. They need men and women to come into their lives who will give them a bigger vision of the world, of life, of opportunity, of what they can become rather than what they think they are limited to. And when they get that kind of observation, because they get that kind of influence, they will make better decisions,” he further added.

Pastor Evans went on to give the call to Christians to get off the bench and to “aggressively” address issues dealing with the family, justice and morality.

He went on to say, “We cannot stand on the sideline and complain. We must now get in the middle and bring about change. We need more than a protest. We need a plan. That means that we’re going to have to become very aggressive in rebuilding the family. We’re going to have to become very aggressive in addressing justice issues that have to do with fairness and doing that which is equitable and honoring to God. It also means we have to restore morality to the cultures so that people have a standard of right and wrong,” he said.

He added, “It means that the church now must become the centerpiece of mobilizing across racial and cultural lines to do what Jesus said we must do. He said he came with good news to the poor, the captive and the disenfranchised, to offer a jubilee.”