inspirations
THE MICHIGAN CHRONICLE
April 7-13, 2010
You’re ‘just’ a teacher
By Derek Smith
Proverbs 22:6: “Train up a
child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.”
“My mother don’t know
nuthin’. She’s just a teacher.” This was the response of a 16- year-old-year old girl to her mother’s objection over the child’s choice of wardrobe — a skin tight, ‘show everything yo’ momma gave ya’ leotard far too risqué for any self-respect- ing female to wear.
Now there’s nothing new
Kimberly Swanson-Thomas
Swanson to speak
Tennessee Missionary Bap-
tist Church, 2100 Fischer, will hold a special service on Sunday, June 13, start- ing at 9 a.m. Kimberly Swan- son-Thomas will be the guest speaker.
The theme is “How good
it is to be highly favored and blessed by God.” (Job 10:12- 13 and Proverbs 12:2-4)
For more information, call (313) 823-4850.
about parents and children beefing over wardrobe choices. The troubling thing about this discourse was the child’s view- point that because the mother was a teacher, she lacked the necessary credibility to speak wisdom into the child’s life. This child’s brazen disrespect for the honorable profession that has no doubt put a roof over her head and food in her stomach is yet more evidence that society’s esteem for teach- ers has sunken to levels even lower than previously thought. What a pity for us all.
On the heals of a recent
White House study that re- ported as many as one forth of today’s children dropping out of school, some experts have ramped up their rhetoric that the answer to this epidemic
Pastor Kenneth J. Flowers Pastor Solomon Kinloch
Church revival,
job fair
Pastor Prophet Cedric
Banks and co-pastor Donetta Banks of Heart of Jesus Inter- national Deliverance Church have been hosting a combina- tion revival and job fair. The goal of the revival is to empow- er and impact the community with jobs, prophecy, preaching and teaching, financial stabil- ity and much more.
Service times and dates are
Bishop Edgar L. Vann
Missionary Baptist Church, 586 Owen, will celebrate its 15th Pastoral anniversary of pastor, the Rev. Kenneth James Flowers, on Sunday, April 11.
The theme will be “God’s
Servant: Trusting, Leaning, and Depending on God.”
The anniversary will in-
clude three worship services at 7:30 a.m., with Bishop Edgar L. Vann, Second Ebene-
Pastor Everett N. Jennings Sr.
15th Pastoral Anniversary
The Greater New Mt. Moriah
zer Church, as guest preacher; Pastor Everett N. Jennings Sr., pastor of the New Providence Baptist Church at 10:45 a.m.; and Pastor Solomon Kinloch, Triumph Church at 4 p.m.
The event is open to the
public. Chairpersons for the event
are the Rev. Sandra K. Gordon and Minister Leon Morehead.
For more information, call (313) 871-8025.
‘Remembering the Queen’
Alberta Blackburn and the
Community (the Charitiers #1) present “Remembering ‘the Queen,’ Martha Jean,” Detroit’s image builder, at the sixth annual Mother’s Day dinner and fashion show, Sunday, May 9, at 3 p.m. Doors open at 2 p.m.
The event will take place
at the Athena Hall Banquet Center, 25650 Gratiot, in Rose- ville. The volunteer governing board voted to give all pro- ceeds to Home for Needy Boys and Girls in memory of Martha Jean the Queen.
For more information, call
(313) 862-7251 or (313) 510- 8687.
Martha Jean the Queen
Renaissance seeks help in raising funds for European tour
Renaissance High School’s
Instrumental Music Depart- ment is preparing for a six- city concert tour for 64 hard-work- ing students. The Symphony Orchestra, Symphony Band and Jazz Band have been fundraising since September to make a once of a lifetime opportunity come true. The students have been invited to perform in Germany, Austria and Italy. Tax deductible dona- tions are due by April 16.
For more information, call (313) 416-4529.
Sunday, 3-6 p.m., and Tues- day, 7-9 p.m., at 15570 Toep- fer, Eastpointe; and Thursday and Friday, 7-9 p.m., at 111 E. Kirby, inside the International Building.
All events are free and
open to the public. Attendees can meet with both for-profit and non-profit vendors after service at 8:30 on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. The re- vival runs through 2010.
Call (586) 222-6307 for
more information or visit
www.heartofjesusidc.com.
Stinson
Derek Smith
lies in holding teachers more accountable. They say that teacher pay should be tied to the child’s performance. Without getting into a debate about the lack of supplies, fa- cilities and the veritable war zone some teachers work in,
I’ll simply ask, “But what the about parents?” How about tying parents’ pay in the form of the public assistance and tax returns they receive to their child’s school perfor- mance?
Apparently the “experts”
— many of whom have prob- ably never taught an inner-city day in their lives — don’t real- ize that teachers can do little for children who arrive ill-pre- pared for class, if they arrive at all. When teachers lament so many parents’ lack of active participation in their child’s education, and when more cit- izens can turn out for a strip club debate than the average PTA meeting, the message of just where teachers and edu- cation rank in our societal consciousness becomes crys- tal clear.
We live in a celluloid so-
ciety where hype, glitz and glamor are everything. A soci- ety whose mentality is “Damn
the content of our character so long as the packaging looks good.” And make no mistake, this is the mentality of many of our children, but only be- cause it is the mentality of far too many parents as well. With not nearly enough adults setting the correct examples of discipline and decency, and with YouTube, Twitter and Facebook raising so many children, it is little wonder that many of today’s youth lack respect for anyone who doesn’t have their own reality show. One teacher acted to prevent that damning mental- ity from seeping into the spirit of her daughter. She sought to train up her child. Too bad she doesn’t have more sup- port.
Derek Smith is a freelance
Christian author, speaker and columnist. He can be con- tacted at divine.connection@ yahoo.com or P. Box 312296, Detroit, MI 48231.
Page B-7
THE BROWN family. Pictured (from left) are Xavier, Kenneth Jr., First Lady LaNay Brown and Pastor Dr. Kenneth Brown.
3rd pastoral anniversary
Dr. Kenneth L. Brown will
celebrate his 3rd pastoral an- niversary with several events this month at Union Second Baptist Church.
The celebration starts on
Saturday, April 10, at 6 p.m. with a praise and worship ex- travganza.
Anniversary services will
be held on Sunday, April 11, April 18 and April 25 at the church, 459 Beechwood, in River Rouge, starting at 11 a.m.
The anniversary banquet
will be held at Crystal Gardens Banquet Hall in Southgate on
Friday, April 23, starting at 7 p.m. Ticket donations are $25. No tickets will be sold at the door.
For more information,
contact Doris E. Davis, chair- person, at (313) 491-2411 or Anissa N. Burges, co-chairper- son, at (313) 934-2565.
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