Just One of Many Characters

One of the best greetings was said to me by a Messianic Rabbi named Peter. He said how wonderful it was to meet another character in this beautiful story. And what a story it is:
It started with Judy, one of my GPDA dancers, who visited Rabbi Peter's Messianic Congregation.
No, it didn't. It started with meeting a Haitian missionary couple at a Convocation Service where I ministered in dance.
No it didn't. It actually started over a dozen years ago, when Davida Cotman-El entered my life. God Placed Ambassador Davida in my life as a dance ministry mentor, and the "Samuel" over God's calling in my life. Over the next 12 years, she would pop up at appointed moments in my life with a specific Divine purpose.
One of those times was after the historic earthquake in Haiti this past January. As a dance minister, NLDN Chapter Chair and leader of my own dance team, I kept sensing that God would have us do something in dance ministry to help Haiti in a tangible way. Using the Annual Gospel Dance Concert as a major fundraising event seemed the most practical way, but I wanted our donation to be personal and specific, not just a general donation to one of the 100's of "Help Haiti" campaigns out there. I had no connections to applicable organizations in Haiti, and as we had outgrown the church site for the previous Annual Gospel Dance Concerts, I didn't even have a location for GDC IV. Nevertheless, God had a plan. Out of the blue, Davida emailed me a video of a rabbi leading a prophetic and spirit-filled service for about 1000 Haitians. It was stirring and powerful, and at the end of the footage, the video showed a plot of land where this rabbi's congregation was investing in an orphanage building project. Davida did not know what was on my mind. She just sent me this video because it was so powerful and moving. But of course I wondered, is this where the funding from the concert should go? Before I could finish my inquiry of the Lord, Davida sent me another email telling me that she felt I should connect with some missionaries to Haiti that she knew personally. They had been in Haiti for several years but happened to be home for the next several months, so I could reach them. Within a few days I called them. Before the man could finish saying, "Oh yes, let me get my wife,Barbara," I realized that I already knew them! They were the missionary couple I had met at a convocation service I had ministered at earlier that year! We talked and talked and marvelled at God's awesome orchestration. Later, I realized, that was just the beginning!
My dance team member, Judy, had spoken so highly of this messianic congregation she had visited that I decided I just had to go. It was called Mishkahn D'avid and was out in the "boonies" of RI. When I finally found the location,I spent the next several hours praising, and dancing, and worshipping.... and within an hour of my arrival I almost fell out in amazement, as Travis and Barbara, the missionary couple I had just finished talking to a couple of days earlier, walked into the synogogue! This "typical" African American couple from RI, were not only missionaries in Haiti, they were members of Mishkahn D'avid Congregation!! And that Rabbi who had brought such a powerful prophecy and moving praise celebration to that congregation of 1000 Haitians? That was Peter, the Rabbi of Mishkahn D'avid!He had met the Fishers a couple of years ago and had felt compelled to honor and support their missionary work in Haiti ever since. And who was I? Just one of the many amazing characters in the midst of a beautifully unfolding story, written by the Hand of God!
This year, GDC IV = GIVING DANCE CONCERT will be donating 80% of the proceeds to the continued missionary work of Travis and Barbara Fisher, specifically, the building a new orphanage. I have sat in the Fisher's living room and looked at scores of pictures of their orphans, the orphanage facility, their school, the makeshift medical clinic. There is nothing fancy about what they do-- it is a sincere and humble labor of love by anointed servants of the Living God. They are not supported by any major corporations or foundations. They are supported by God's people. This years' Gospel Dance Concert will be honored to be part of that blessing to these faithful missionaries, their beautiful Haitian children, and all those they serve!
If you are not able to attend the GIVING DANCE CONCERT, June 27th, but would still like to donate to the Mishkahn D'avid Haiti Orphanage Project, please visit www.gpdapraise.com and click the DONATE button (on the "About Us" page), by or before June 27th. If you would like more information about The Fisher's missionary work in Haiti, they welcome your calls at 401.831-7256.
If you are in the area, we hope to see you at this amazing and anointed concert of Dance unto the Lord!

PURIFY WORSHIP CONFERENCE, NYC

A Celebration of DANCE, WORSHIP and THE ARTS!!

This past March, RI hosted its first National Liturgical Dance Seminar Worshop, entitled: "UNIFY and PURIFY".

"United in Faith 2010," a collaboration of local churches that celebrate the arts speaks of their mission in the title: TO UNITE in the FAITH.

One of the first focuses of the Christian Dance Fellowship's Intercessory Prayer Assembly is UNITY among the national and international leaders.

And what was Jesus' last prayer for all believers, but that We WOULD BE ONE!, i.e. Unify!

I think the message for the times we're living in is crystal clear. But how can we manifest this cry for unity! There are many ways of course, but I encourage you who are sensitive to the shifting of the wind-- to the move of the Spirit in certain dispensations-- to seriously consider attending the PURIFY WORSHIP CONFERENCE,July 28 -Aug 1, a national conference of 1000+ attendees, hosted by Greater Allen A.M.E. Cathedral of New York. It will feature internationally known Dance and Worship Arts ministers, such as Freddie Moore, Dr. Pamela Hardy, Apostle Elizabeth Hairston, and Rev. Eyesha Marable, as well as Gospel Music celebrities, such as Marvin Winans, Jacqueline McCullough, and Donnie McClurkin! As a matter of fact, dance ministries from all over the country have been practicing Donnie McClurkin's "We Are One" song, in preparation for ministering that message in dance as a mass dance ensemble, several hundred strong! For more information, visit www.allencathedral.org, or contact the facilitators through the emails posted in SAVE THE DATES!
This is not an event you're going to want to hear about later! Don't deprive yourself from this historic gathering and Worship Experience. Dive in the Waters and purify.... and unify... with us!

CHRISTIAN = MESSIANIC!

I have always celebrated the specificity with which The Father created each of us. The specific time in history, the specific race and ethnicity, the specific nation, heritage and parentage was divinely ordained just as surely as the number of hairs on our heads, which the scriptures assure us, He numbers individually.
Not only did our Sovereign Lord and Father choose me to be the child of Jack and Ella Mae Clark, he also choose me and predestined me to be his adopted daughter through Jesus, the Messiah ! ( Ephesians 1:4-5) We all believe His Word on this. Why then do so many Christians not acknowledge and celebrate our Judaic Heritage? The scriptures clearly tell us that we have been grafted in… adopted as sons (and daughters). Statistics show that American Christians have one of the highest adoption rates in the country. We Christians then, above all, should understand adoption. We do not introduce our natural children to others and then say, “Oh yeah, and so-and-so is my adopted child.” When people ask about our children, we make no delineation between natural or adopted. And when people ask our adopted children who their parents are, though they may refer to their biological parents if known, we fully expect them to consider the adoptive parents as their very own. Why then, have we been raised to view our Messianic family with such a foreign and disconnected perspective?
Thirty seven more pages could answer why. But instead, let me just share that for the last 12 years or so, my family has celebrated at least one of the many Biblical Feasts or Convocations, that is “The Passover Seder.” I, personally, also acknowledge Yom Kippur, and hope to see my family celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot) a few days following Yom Kippur. We also celebrate our race and heritage with Kwanzaa, our Christian traditions with Christmas, our nationality with Thanksgiving, etc. (We do a lot of celebrating in the Thompson-Thomas household!). But with this being the beginning of the Passover Week, it is timely that I share my limited knowledge and personal experience about this particular Biblical ordinance, which is indispensably tied to the foundation of our Christian Faith.
The first Messianic Seder I ever attended was at a Methodist Church 20 years ago. I grew up Baptist (Black Baptist, which is its own brand!), and later, when I found Jesus for myself, I attended mostly Charismatic and Pentecostal churches (and still do). But my long-time friend, Crystal, happened to invite me to her mother’s church, where a Messianic Rabbi was to introduce us to the Passover celebration. And from that moment on I never looked at “The Lord’s Supper”(our Christian abbreviation of the Passover Meal) the same again. As I ate the symbolic elements of the meal, I felt like a veil was lifting off of my eyes and mind. Not a personal veil, but something more akin to a generational veil. Here is a brief synopsis of what was shared, verbally and edibly.
Bitter herbs: reminding us of the bitterness of physical enslavement (the Hebrew children) as well as spiritual enslavement to sin. We were also instructed to carefully observe the herb itself (parsley) and how every part of the parsley leaf is in 3 sections. One leaf; 3 sections.
Salt water: the tears shed in physical and spiritual slavery.
Kharoset (a sweet mixture of honey, wine, nuts and apples): a reminder of how joy and suffering often coexist in our earthly lives, as does our constant awareness of our present and eternal life. (It is made to look literally like the mortar the Jewish slaves used for building).
(My own African American slave history made all this imagery all the more vivid and meaningful!)
A lamb shakebone: the lambs that were slain in the Old Covenant, now replaced by the Lamb that was slain once and for all!
And most significantly: The MATZAH! I could write a sermon (as a matter of fact, I did) just about the significance of Matzah:
• It is unleavened – undefiled, as Jesus was.
• It is striped( with a machine called “the striper”) – just as Jesus was (Isaiah 53:5)
• It is pierced – just as Jesus was (Zechariah 12:10)
• It is presented as three pieces bound together, with the center piece called the “afikomen--” which means “The Coming One”—broken and eaten! (Luke 22:19)

It is indeed evident throughout the Passover Seder (Meal) that God the Father was trying to reveal Yeshua, the Messiah to his people Israel! It is also quite evident that He was revealing the significance of the Trinity, using the most effective teaching strategy, that is, a hands-on, kinesthetic approach! Even in the pre-baking process, it is scientifically proven that matzah dough will become defiled with atmospheric yeast if the baking process does not start within 18 min (Rabbi Pinchas Stolper, The Inner Meaning of Matzah, www.ou.org). Eighteen minutes is 1080 seconds. When you divide this number by “The Trinity” (3) you get 360. Three hundred and sixty! – the number representing a full circle, a full year, a full rotation…. Fullness! If you’re still not getting this, please read Luke 22:14-16 where Jesus speaks about the Seder being fulfilled in the Kingdom of God, and Mathew 5:17 where He tells us He came to fulfill the Torah (Old Covenant Laws). Not only have our Jewish brothers and sister missed the fullness of this message for 1000’s of years, Christians have too!

The deeper I have delved into our Judaic heritage, the deeper the truths and the revelations. I don’t have time in this blog to go into it all... but I sure hope you do! Read, Study, Dig deep! We are not obliged under any law to observe all the Judaic holidays. Our freedom is in Christ, and the Law is written upon our hearts. But we certainly have been depriving ourselves from the richness of our faith and the fullness of the Gospel. When I sit down with my family and close friends and recite the Messianic Haggadah (“The Telling”), share the Passover elements, and enjoy the Seder meal, there is no “have to” about it. It is my privilege as the adopted seed of Abraham and a member of the Family of God!

Suggested Pesach (Passover) Readings:
DAY 1: Ex 12:21-51, Numbers 28:16 -25, Joshua 5:2-6:1, Is 52:13 -53:12, Mt 26 -28

DAY 2: Lev 22;26 -23:44, 2 Kings 23:1-9,21 -25, Mark14 -16

Anytime during DAYS 3, 4, 5, 6: Ex 33:12 -34:26, Ezekiel 37:1 -14, Lk 22-24

DAY 7: Ex 13:17- 15:26, 2 Sam 22:1 -51, 1 Cor 5;6 -8

DAY 8: Deut 15:19- 16:17, Isaiah 10: 32 -12;6, Numbers 28: 19-25 (repeat from day one), John 13 - 21

There are some minor differences, depending on what part of the world you're in. This order is based more on non-European Jewish and Messianic Congregational readings. All this is adapted from the Complete Jewish Bible , Stern, D.1998.