April/May 2016
Keep It 100 Taurus Montgomery explains why it is so important for Christians to keep it real with people
When Church Becomes A Chore
6 ways to bring back the joy in churchgoing by Rachel Ashworth
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* Mistaken Identity * Confessions of a Young Adult * Basics in Skin Care * Love Differently * Next Level 2 Best Level
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Publisher Brittany N. Winkfield Contributors Rachel Ashworth, Eunice Cofie, Kymone Hinds, Taurus Montgomery, Mariah Scarver Web Development Marcus Winkfield Advisory Board Tracy Augustin, Philip Baptiste, John Boston, Ramona Davis, Dean Dennis, Juanita Farmer, Kymone Hinds, Marisa Jackson, Timothy Olaore, Donald Rolle, Terri Roston, Michele Solomon, Jennifer Stone, Samuel Thomas Editorial and Advertising Inquiries 303-351-8180, info@back2basicsmag.com Information is correct at press time. Signed articles do not necessarily reflect the official company policy. Copyright Š 2016. All rights reserved. Reproduction in part or whole without permission is prohibited. Back2Basics Magazine is a registered 501 (c)(3) nonprofit in the United States of America.
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A Christian lifestyle magazine designed to inform and inspire young people in their walk with Christ www.back2basicsmag.com
APRIL 2016
CONTENTS
BACK2BASICSMAG.COM Twitter @back2basicsmag facebook.com/back2basicsmag
volume 5 | number 1
features 5 B2B FEED 6 Confessions of a Young Adult by Mariah Scarver 8 Mistaken Identity by Kymone Hinds 10 Keep It 100 with God by Taurus Montgomery 12 When Church Becomes a Chore by Rachel Ashworth 14 Basics in Skin Care with Nuekie 16 Water for the Thirty Bible Reading Plan 18 Next Level 2 Best Level
B2B Tip: Make a decision to be real, not perfect. Greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world. (I John 4:4) Christianity is a relationship with God. It is the belief that I am not perfect, that I am broken, that I am a sinner, and that I need God’s grace. It is the faith that there is good news: Jesus lived on earth and died to save you and me. All we have to do is believe. We, as human beings, always make mistakes. Some lie about their mistakes to get attention, while others are genuine and tell of their mistakes so you know that you are not alone. We have flaws and struggles and that’s why we need Jesus! God loves you so much.
FAITH | MUSIC | MOVIES | INSPIRATION | NEWS | CULTURE | FASHION Kirk Franklin
B2B FEED
unitedyouthcongress.com
Fred Hammond
Intern THE
Mariah Scarver
Oakwood University Junior Print Journalism Major and English Minor I currently reside in Huntsville, Alabama When I was younger, I used to enjoy going outside and making mud pies (The life of a Southern girl) My favorite thing to learn about is Black history. My favorite food is lemon pepper chicken. The best show on television is: I’m a Netflix kind of girl, but I always enjoy watching an Episode of The Fresh Prince or A Different World If I could go to anywhere in the world, I’d go to South Africa. The farthest I’ve travelled is to Washington D.C. I hope to change that really soon. My favorite color is purple! My current favorite song is anything Donnie McClurkin or India Arie The book I am loving right now is Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye, I have already read it like three times, but I’m constantly gaining something new from it. I’m most excited about graduating from school and getting my career started in the world of writing. Three words that best describe me: Mellow, determined, and optimistic Once I graduate, I hope to write for a publication, either online or print. I am also looking at the idea of teaching journalism or English. I would LOVE to do freelance writing, travel the world, and write a few children books( I’m actually working on my first one now). I just know that I want to write for a living. 6 | www.back2basicsmag.com
CONFESSIONS I OF A YOUNG ADULT by MARIAH SCARVER
can’t believe my junior year is almost over! From the countless late nights and early morning classes, it’s finally coming to an end. But it’s funny how now it seems as if it was just yesterday when I was unpacking my bags at the freshman dorm at Oakwood. Tasks and journeys always seem so long and stressful until you actually get to the end of them. Then you wonder, “Where did all my time go?” Growing up in the church, I was always taught to do as the Bible says and to also trust in what God had inspired the writers of the Bible to relay to us. So much easier said than done. Attending college away from family and “rules” is definitely a wake up call for young Christians. Not only do you have to decide what you want to do with your life, you also have the even more difficult decision of choosing what you don’t want a part of your life’s history. So many times I hear, “Let God direct your life”, but that is really hard to do when all you seem to hear are the options the world has to offer you. I always knew that I loved to write. When I was younger, if I was upset with my parents, I would simply write a letter expressing how I felt about a certain situation. As I got older, I made the active decision to pursue my love for writing by attending a performing arts school that had Creative Writing as one of the arts. I fell deeper in love with the art of writing and I knew that after I graduated, I wanted to continue to pursue that passion that I had discovered at a young age. But how? (I still ask myself this question on a daily basis.) How do you turn something you love into a career that will allow you to decently provide for yourself and a possible family? After pondering, for a few weeks, I decided that I would major in Print Journalism and minor in English. I began my freshman year taking mostly general education classes and slowly began to get involved in my concentration. Then, I realized that in any art major, you have to actively get involved
in your craft, so you will have something to show for it when you begin to look for employment after graduation. I panicked. I had not gotten that far in my plans yet. What do I actually want to do?
As I worried about my next steps, I attended a worship that was being held in the auditorium of my dorm building. They were speaking about the importance of letting God lead your life and making sure that God’s plan for your life is what your actively working towards. Then I realized that I didn’t know what God’s plan for my life was. Why? Because I never asked Him. I always thought that God would give me the desires of my heart, but I seemed to overlook the part where it says you must trust in Him first. So I decided to pray and ask God to guide my life and my steps even though I had tried to do everything myself in the past. It’s funny the type of peace that God gives you once you begin to rely and trust in Him. He has definitely guided my steps and opened many doors for me while not neglecting my passions.
Slowly, God is showing me what He wants me to do once I have graduated from college. It is definitely a process, but because God is the epitome of perfection, nothing happens overnight, and as a young person that can be hard to understand at times. Sometimes, I will try to figure it out myself and end up with a failed project or coming to a brick wall and then I’ll remember that I asked God for help, so why not just be patient and wait for Him. As a young college student who is trying to find my way in the world, I often make things hard for myself by not consulting with the man in charge. It’s hard at times to realize that I actually do not have control over my life, which is something I have been trying to fight since reaching adulthood. Freedom is something you crave as a young person and hope to find as you get older. The thing is, with God in your corner, he provides this freedom in the greatest magnitude that you could ever imagine. You just have to trust Him first. www.back2basicsmag.com | 7
A Case of Mistaken A SERIES By Kymone Hinds
O
ne day a CNN reporter was on an assignment to capture shots of a wild fire. With great speed he hurried to make his arrangements. He called the airport to charter a plane and was told a small plane would be waiting for him.
When he arrived at the airport he saw a small plane outside warming up outside a hangar. He rushed to the plane and jumped in and yelled to the pilot, “Let’s Go!” The pilot taxied, swung the plane into the wind and took off. Once they got up in the air, the cameraman began giving instructions.
Fly low so I can get a good shot of the fire on the hillsides. Get down into the valley.
The pilot was confused. “Why?” he asked. “Because I am a camera man for CNN and I need to get close up shots.” The pilot was strangely silent for a while. Then he managed to reply. “So you’re telling me you’re not my flight instructor.”
A case of mistaken identity. Mistaken identity is actually not a funny thing. If you have ever been the victim of identity theft you know that someone taking your identity is not funny. If someone has ever posed as or presented themselves as you, you know it is not a laughing matter. When your identity is compromised people begin to judge you based not on who you are and what you’ve done. You are judged based on the pretender, and what they do and who they are rubs off on you. Expectations and limitations are placed on you based on what they have done. There may be costly and time consuming consequences that you have to deal with. Bills they have ran up that you have to get cleared up or even pay for. There are letters you have to write to get your name back. And you have a lot of explaining to do. All this work needs to be done in order to restore your identity. I believe the church has been the victim of mistaken identity. The church for a long time has been mischaracterized and misunderstood. It’s been evaluated and judged based on mistaken identity. When we hear the word church, there are images, definitions, and thoughts that come to mind. But a lot of the things we think of, are not what the church is after all. For many of us when we hear the word church, we think of a building. It is a place we come to. It’s a building that we center in our religious life. It may have a steeple or even meet in a modern looking facility but it is still a place. It’s a where. We ask each other the question “Where are you going today?” “To church,” is the answer.
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We have mistaken the church for a building. But that’s not biblical. The Bible never describes the church as a building. The danger with that is if the church is a building, then it means I can live two separate and different lives. I can do my religious activities at “church”. I pray, read my Bible, and worship at “church” But when I get out of church I return back to my life. It allows us to have two separate lives and live one out in a building and the rest of our life is disconnected from what happens in that building. Someone put it this way, “if church is a place you come to, then it’s a place you leave.” That’s the first mistaken identity of what the church is. The second one, and this is one that many of us make is: We have mistaken the church for an event. It’s something that happens once a week for a few hours. It’s a happening that’s supposed to lift us, thrill us, fill us, make us shout, and fire us up. And that’s what many people understand church to be. So because we look at church as an event. the question we ask each other is, “How was church?” In answer to that we might say, “we had church today.” This means the person enjoyed themselves and felt encouraged or lifted by the event that took place. Conversely it may be said, “Church was boring, ” or “I didn’t get anything from church today.” What we have done is mistaken a worship gathering for the church. We have made church an experience we have.
The church is not an event. I know some may think that this is no big deal. We may even try to justify our wrong use of words…. after all it’s just words. But words have power and the way we use them shapes our minds, shapes our expectations and shapes the way we approach and evaluate the church. Words carry meaning and forms our mindset and determines our expectations. The words we use and the ways we use them are important. And if we keep making the church something it is not, mistaken identity, it can have disastrous effects… in fact it already has. Here is the danger. If we mistake the building or the worship gathering for the church, we will approach the church as consumers. We will look at the church as a consumer product. The truth is most people think of church that way. We have a ‘what’s in it for me’ mentality. It’s something we expect to serve us. If we are honest with ourselves, the number one thing we wonder about when we think about church is, “Will I get something out of it today?” Because church is an event at a place. It’s so subtle and simple and everyone does it and that’s a lot of why we do what we do. It’s ingrained in us. To even talk about it is uncomfortable but let’s face it - the church has been the victim of mistaken identity. So when we hear the word church, we put the expectations on it of the counterfeits, not the real thing. My contention is that many have detached from what the thought church was and not what it really is. The church has had to pay the price for the mistaken identity and we have to recapture and rediscover what the church is.
Are you ready to find out what the church really is? We will share more about it in future issues. You may be shocked to discover what
the church really is or better yet, who the church really is. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Kymone Hinds, his wife and their three energetic children live in Memphis, TN. He pastors two churches - Overton Park SDA and Journey Fellowship. He also speaks and writes regularly on different life issues. You can connect with Kymone via twitter (@kymonehinds) or on his blog at kymonehinds.com
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by Taurus Montgomery
Does your family have family reunions? Mine does. And my family has some interesting characters, young and old. If you have ever heard of the proverbial Pookie, Ray-Ray, and June Bug, then you’ve met some of my family. At our most recent reunion, I had an experience that taught me why it’s so important for Christians to keep it 100—real, authentic—with people, especially your family. Being the only preacher in the family, I was asked by my aunt Karen if I would share a message at our banquet. Not only am I the only preacher in my family but my two brothers, my mother and me are the only Adventist in my family. Although I’ve been preaching for 15 years, this was the first time I’d ever stood in front of people who knew me since I was in my mother’s womb. I’ve stood before large crowds and small crowds. This by far was one of the most difficult. All of my family was aware that I had graduated from college with a bachelor and master’s degree. They knew that I had traveled the world preaching and teaching. In most of their minds I was the perfect nephew, the perfect cousin, the perfect uncle, perfect pastor, the husband, and the perfect father. I knew this was their thinking by the comments and compliments I often got during family reunions. 10 | www.back2basicsmag.com
So when it came time for me to speak, I told them something that caught them by surprise. “I am not perfect. I don’t have it all together. I have struggled with pornography. I wrestle with insecurities. I am tempted to listen to Lil Wayne, Drake, and Young Thug even though their lyrical content glorifies a lifestyle that goes against my spiritual convictions. I am not perfect.” As I shared these things, the room got so quiet that you could hear two mice arguing over cheese. I think many people have a tendency to believe that God is looking for perfect people. The truth is that God is looking to perfect broken people. By perfect I mean grow and mature. We see examples of this in Scripture. God called Noah a righteous man (Genesis 6:9), but Noah got drunk (Genesis 9:21). Abraham is considered the father of faith, but he lied about his wife to save his life (Genesis 20:2). God said David was a man after His own heart (Acts 13:22), but David is also the one who lusted after another man’s wife, had sex with her, got her pregnant, and then set her husband up to get killed (2 Samuel 11). There is one thing they had in common: they were imperfect people in a relationship with a perfect God whom they allowed to perfect them by faith. And because of the sacrifice of Christ, God saw them, just as He sees us—covered with the righteousness of Christ.
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From House Work House of Worship to the
by Rachel Ashworth
When Church Becomes a Chore
A
s a young mother of three I think a lot about chores. I think up creative ways for my kids to do chores, and for me to do chores! When the kids are busy playing with toys or watching T.V. they are not interested in chores. When I’m busy writing or hiking outside on a pretty day I am not interested in chores, but there are some things that must be done. The dishes have to be washed; the laundry needs to be done and folded; the house and family have to be taken care of. These are chores. A chore is a necessary, but unpleasant task. Whether you are a teen or mid-lifer, a “pew-warmer”, church officer, or anywhere in between, you have reached or will reach the point when church becomes a chore. Church attendance seems to be engrained in young Seventh-day Adventists from an early age. At academies and colleges church and vespers attendance is required, or at least strongly encouraged. As teens it’s expected to be involved in Pathfinders, AY groups, Junior deacons/deaconesses, and more! This is sometimes a great way to get youth involved that may not be otherwise. Unfortunately it can also pressure them into routine, and routines can become monotonous, and monotony can become unpleasant, and unpleasant tasks become chores. When a task becomes unpleasant, bad things happen. Just come look at my kitchen, or my laundry!
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From house work to the house of worship we are each responsible for our productivity, and this responsibility can sure feel like a chore at times. In my experience as a young Adventist who has attended Adventist and public schools, been involved with secular clubs and organizations like Pathfinders, and many church programs in between, I can say it won’t ever get easier unless changes are made. You don’t set out to lose 5 pounds and still have cheese cake for breakfast. There have been times that church was a chore for me. Sometimes getting my children bathed and dressed in nice clothes and to church on time is a real chore. Other times my heart just wasn’t in it. I can remember at least twice in my adult life when I didn’t want to have anything to do with church or the people in it. During these times it was quite a chore! It would’ve been easier to skip. It would have been easier to not see the people, not pray, not sing. For me, it was because I had a problem with God. That’s why I kept going to church. I went every Sabbath for months as if my life depended on it. I knew that if I stopped, I’d stop for good.
6 Ways to Bring Back the Joy in Churchgoing
1
Make a Plan. If you’d like to attend church, Bible Study, Sabbath School, or social events start by making a plan. Be prepared, and don’t give yourself excuses. Just as you would do when forming a new habit, or making a New Year’s Resolution, you risk a failed attempt if you don’t make a plan first.
2
Keep a Schedule. If you try to attend every event that your church puts on, you may find yourself in
a bind—stretched thin and bored. Think back to the days of Blackberry and PalmPilot. We seem to be programmed to need a program! Get an app, dust off a wall calendar, or discuss it with Siri, because you need a program.
3
Self-assess. If you’ve been attending a group or meeting for several weeks, and it hasn’t impacted you
positively, then make a change. You may be taking on too much. You may just need to be a “pew warmer” for awhile and let someone else take on a job, or you may need to make a friend.
4
5
Accept Help. Sometimes mere circumstances can cause church to become a chore. When my husband would miss church because of National Guard duty I felt that staying home would be easier, and way more pleasant for us! When I told a friend that I was going to stop going to church when he was out of town, she volunteered (and voluntold a couple others) to sit with my children and me. It made a world of difference to have help!
Put the Measuring Stick Away. Two things I know for certain you cannot compare with the people
around you: child-rearing and church-going. You cannot see the ins and outs of anyone’s life, so comparing your experience with another’s will only leave you disappointed.
6
Remember Why. There was a reason you decided to attend a church, become involved with
people in the church, and a reason that church became routine in your life. Only routines become chores. Get back to the reasons. Sometimes a couple takes a “retreat” away from their kids and responsibilities in order to reconnect, and get back to the roots of their relationship. Take a Bible retreat, attend a class you’ve been wanting to, or just invite some church friends out to do some socializing (not Bible-studying) and remember why you chose that church and those people.
Church might feel like a chore for you, and it might not be because you have a problem with God. Whatever the reason, I urge you to assess.
Pray | Study the Bible | Make a friend at your church Remember that before Christ sacrificed His own life for us, believers offered living sacrifices on alters. They traveled to the sanctuary, bringing along their perfect animal, and then sacrificed it there. It wasn’t meant to be pleasant, but it was necessary. It was a chore. Today we don’t raise sacrificial lambs for slaughter, but we are expected to “present [our] bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” (Romans 12:1-2).
This is our necessary task. It’s our “reasonable service.”
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Q&A
with Eunice Cofie
founder and owner of Nuekie
by Mariah Scarver Tell us a little about your brand, NUEKIE. Well, NUEKIE basically is an innovative health and beauty company for people of color. Our mission is to design products that meet the needs of people of color. The company is a passion of mines because while I was in school, I saw there was a need for high quality, high grade, pharmaceutical grade products that treated our skin conditions as well as other conditions.
Why do you believe that many mainstream beauty and skincare companies neglect to create for the Black Market? Because the larger companies tend to think that one size fits all. And that’s not true, when you look at certain skin diseases in people of color; they look a lot different in comparison to those in Caucasians. What I mean by people of color is every one of African decent, Native Americans, Hispanics, Asians, Middle Easterners, Pacific Islanders, all of those people are considered people of color.
What challenges have you faced as an entrepreneur? Well, there are many challenges. One: hearing no. But one thing you have to keep in mind as an entrepreneur, that’s apart of the process of being rejected. When you get those rejections, you can’t take it personally, you just have to make the necessary changes and move forward. Of course there’s always financial challenges because as you’re building the company, it takes a lot of resources to do that, so that can be a challenge.
M: Do you feel your faith has been impacted through your journey? E: My faith has been very, very instrumental, it has been the foundation in which I have built this company. So whenever I begin to feel a certain way about the company, or if I get tired or frustrated, then I know to always turn to God and pray about what’s going on or seek answers from Him. He was the one who ultimately gave me the vision and He has all the answers to ever issue, every problem that I have, so I have to trust that.
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M: Do you have a specific Bible verse that you seem to always go to for encouragement? E: One of them is Proverbs 3:5, 6. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. That’s one thing I truly believe is that when you go to God and you ask Him for wisdom, and you trust that He’s going to give it to you, He will gave you wisdom. He will give you all the answers you need. I believe that God can give us inventions and ideas and when I’m working in the lab, I pray for God to do that for me. If God can give Noah specific measurements to build the ark, He can give me specific instructions to develop products that will help other people.
M: Who has been your greatest inspiration? E: Janice Bryant Howroyd. She is a woman of faith who has been able to build a billionaire dollar company and a lot of people don’t know about her. Just recently people started to hear about her in the media. She’s an African American woman and I’ve watched her over years. I’ve watched her speak at conferences and she always talks about her faith in God and how that has been the cornerstone of her being able to build her company.
M: What advice would you give young Black people who are looking to start their own business? E: Number one, to seek out God’s purpose and vision for your life and once he shows you, go for it. Allow him to guide you and lead you in all your decision-making. When you do get afraid, do it afraid. Remember that you fulfilling the vision and purpose He has for your life is important because other people are depending on you to complete your assignment. Whenever you don’t complete your assignment or do what God tells you to do, you have failed the other people that God has assigned to you. It gets scary when you start thinking like that, because you realize every moment of your life has to be very purposeful.
M: What do you think is the key to success? E: The key to success is having faith. Believing in the things that are not seen. It takes faith to do anything. So that’s the key, having faith.
M: Where you see yourself and your business in 5 years? E: Well, hopefully this company will have grown in its size. My goal is to make this company a Global world-class company that not only puts out great products, but cares about its employees and customers. I want to be able to use my company as a tool to inspire other people to live out their dreams.
M: What advice do you have for young women of color who may feel discouraged because of the lack of diversity that is often portrayed in the mainstream media and companies? E: To Keep moving forward and to not allow what the media says or portrays to dissuade them from pursuing their dreams. It’s time for young women of color to pursue their dreams like never before. They should not let anything prevent them from doing that, whether it’s race, or what the media says, what society says, or what friends and family may say. If God has given you a vision, you must go forward.
M: How do you get back to the basics in your walk with Christ?
E: Prayer and reading His word. That’s very basic, being in constant communication with God. That’s the foundation of everything. God may use other people to speak through me, whether it’s family, friends, or other loved ones, a word of encouragement, those things help me to stay connected with my Heavenly Father. www.back2basicsmag.com | 15
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On
March 20, 2016, Back2Basics had the opportunity to present to professionals in all walks of life on how to take your life to the best level. The event was called Next Level 2 Best Level. Hosted by Timothy Olaore, president and founder of Peak Executive Group, this faith-based learning and networking event featured a number of expert speakers. We value the power of vision and use Back2Basics as an example of how a thoughtful and well-planned vision can take you to the best level of your dreams. At this particular event, we presented a workshop called 20-20 Vision, which encouraged participants to create a vision board centered around one theme (i.e. family, career, finance, spirituality). If you’ve never made a vision board or are curious about it, I recommend you try it. Designing your dreams on paper, writing it down and making it plain turns the dream into reality. Does it work? It works because your dreams stop being abstract and you look at what you want for yourself everyday. Your actions will be aligned with what you’ve stated you want, but that’s only if your vision board has a purpose. When creating a vision board, you want to be really clear about the goals you want to accomplish and the ideal life you want to live. You also want to have purpose and intention behind your board. Don’t think just because you add inspiring words and pictures to your board that your life is going to miraculously change. You have to do the work in order to create the life you envision for yourself. After this workshop, participants left inspired with 20/20 vision for their life. With consistency and discipline, I guarantee that you will reach the goals you set for yourself.
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