Well good evening Dr BD how are you man I’m blessed how are you Dr cuso I’m doing well man uh how’s the weather in my home state of Ohio yeah doc I’m in Ohio I’m not a buck eye fan I always will be a Floridian doc yeah I always be a
Gator well well you can take the guy out of Florida but you can’t take Florida out of the guy huh okay hey man look I’m I’ve been a this year 25 years and I I I still not used to this weather there snow sitting outside and yeah 11 degrees
When I got up this morning you know so well I remember those days man I I I left Ohio um in 78 uh you know we had the blizzard uhuh the early part of 78 and then I left the end of 78 uh and went to California and
I hadn’t been the same since when it comes to the weather and all that you never did come back huh I never did man my wife cannot believe that I grew up in cold weather like Ohio because I well you know my wife is a Mississippi
Girl I’m a Floridian and um you know the first week I came here and um from New Orleans from Louisa Street um uh there were about five or six people from from the Louis Street that came with me okay and that was the first week and they were scheduled to
Stay a week and they left to leave that Saturday you know we came in on a Saturday and it didn’t have a blizzard man but we we were snowed in for about five days they couldn’t leave oh man that was my first experience doc Lord what have I
Done well it’s something you’ll never forget but uh well welcome to this PO podcast which is called preachers conversations and U the first question is who is Dr Robert ber tell us something about yourself and now members of Churches of Christ know you those in the Ohio State Midwest know you our
Brotherhood knows you but for the sake of those who may be outside of Churches of Christ um who is Dr Robert Berke well again um um Dr cuso I um I won’t longate the story you know I try to simplified you know um but um like I said earlier I’m from
Jacksonville Florida Mixon toown boy I am and I I I became a member of the Church of Christ in 1980 through a number of different circumstances uh and I that I never forget because it’s part of my testimony I was driving down a popular street called Main Street with a friend of mine
And um we and and I had another close friend that was a member of the Church of Christ we used to call him President Michael Smith and um um but I was with a friend of mine Gary and got pulled over by the police and I saw him foll me for about eight
Blocks of kids M speeding but I had enough s not to you know not to act out a character with him and I I got the um g a ticket and um I took the ticket once he pulled up and bed up and threw out the window that
Almost C me came back to hunt me um but um um and so I we went out and got home that um Sunday morning and um um my daddy used to go fishing every Sunday but he never would drive my mother’s car I had driven my my mother’s
Car and he went fishing my mother’s car and my friend called me and said look man I I forgot to tell you I have I left a dime bag in your in your mama’s car a Dy bag said I didn’t smoke I didn’t smoke you know I do no smoking
But when he told me he left a Dy bag yeah I said my dad always said to me my dad was like 53 man he had a Napoleon complex you know and um he was rough man and he told me I catch you with that stuff I’mma
Kill you so can imagine he was fishing for the first time in my mother’s I said oh know way I’mma live yeah so when he pulled up he didn’t he hadn’t found out went and got it destroyed it but Michael had invited me to come to church that
Sunday night at the wests side congregation yeah brother Charlie McLendon I’m sure you’re aware of him was doing a evangelism Workshop that’s his thing you know and I said man I’m going to church tonight now I had I’d always gone to church man I I was in the
Church of the Lord Jesus Christ of the apostolic faith I played a guitar you know we used to sing We had a group you know um and we were traveling and and singing but I I said I’m going to church so I went to church that night and I was
Baptized into Christ that very night and um and so I start going CH to church sporadically you know what I’m saying I was going Zeb Moore at that time was was preaching man that guy could preach man and and that that was that was in March of 1980
And um Brother Moore came to me one day and because I was at it’s at some point I really started getting involved it took a while you know it took a lot while brother Stewart and some other the elders and some other brothers man they were just hounding me I mean hounding me
You know and sometime I go to church sometime I wouldn’t and they come knock on the door I was living with my parents you know they were Hound I said man I’m going to church stop these nro from hounding me you know but but um so I went and so it um
By by um by the end of April um brother Mo came to me said man there’s something about you man that I like he said I need you to go to Southwestern Christian college now you remember I’m a new convert Mike I’m a new convert he said I want you to go out
To Southwestern Christian college and for whatever reason man I didn’t argue with him my mother didn’t like it but I had never heard of Southwestern Christian College I never heard of Jack Evans I’ve never heard of anybody never heard of terot Tex I didn’t know that
Was Tarot Texas you know yeah but I went out I went out there after being in the church three months oh okay and I was a I was a new convert at Southwestern F College in 1980 and that place was amazing to me not the not the conditions
Living conditions you know but yeah just the people man they were I had never seen so much youthful Talent there was Talent all over the place man we and I was just having a ball and God blessed me uh to acclimate to a group of of a young preachers that I built
Relationships with and um and I stayed I was a part of the first four year graduating class there at Southwestern and so but um when I tell you Micah it blessed my life I met my wife there you know I met my wife there we weren’t
Dating there yeah but I said at some point I’m going after this girl so I got I went to Mississippi and um and so you know I met my wife that wonderful wonderful person yeah and and so I end up town in Alabama Enterprise and I got car of the conus I
Got an eye disease yeah and I only see out of one eye um because I got hit with a balling one um but I had to have corneal transplant so you know and so I got an Eyes eye disease I but but it has never hindered me from doing what I need
To do because I had to go back to Jacksonville to get get some insurance I didn’t have insurance at the church and got the transplants and I ended up in New Orleans for about nine years and now I’m into Le at the Glass City Church and
It’s this year’s 25 years so I count my blessings yeah yeah and I don’t I don’t have anything to brag about um uh brother cruso Dr cruso I have everything to be grateful about yeah yeah well man just what you said is so interesting and you mentioned Enterprise Alabama yeah is
That where your wife is from was that where you started preaching that’s where I started preaching yeah Adam the Adam Street Church of Christ man what’s so interesting about Enterprise when I I came out of high school 1974 I I played basketball I was a 10-point guy so I
Wasn’t the best of the starters but you know you can count on 10 points yeah yeah you know I I had an invitation to go to Enterprise state junior college oh really yeah man and and it just slip through my fingers but anytime I hear about Enterprise uh that always comes back to
Me and everything so you got a little B weav in the middle of down the little downtown and but we spent two and a half years there and it was beautiful okay okay as a matter of fact that’s where my daughter was born now she claims New Orleans she won’t claim Enterprise but
Yeah all right that’s where she was born that’s on a birth certificate you know okay so you’re married have children you are you a grand grandparent yet yes man I got two boys um I got two 115 and uh 111 and um and then a granddaughter in the middle
Is 13 but they they they were all born here but they moved back to Oxford where my wife is from because they got a lot of family there and they want to be around family so they moved to Oxford and they’re doing well I love my grandkids
Man and and um you know they get more out of me than my daughter ever did well ain’t that something yeah well listen let’s talk about Southwestern your your day Southwestern and especially um your call to Ministry and we don’t we don’t normally use that term
In Churches of Christ but I think you and I we might be in the minority who do believe people are called to the ministry and your your situation you say you went to Southwestern as a new convert yes but you was in their four-year uh bible program so what was
Your how did you becoming a preacher well you know you know Mike um um I wasn’t I wasn’t saved but I I love the Lord um I’ve I’ve always loved the Lord and um like I said we used the same playing guitars man we we were saying
But I’ve always had this this this thing about God um I I wasn’t doing right I wasn’t living right um I wasn’t saved but I always had this thing about God and I think that once I became a member of the Church of Christ I think that’s
What um brother mois saw in me that I I love the Lord you know um I grew up in the hood but I wasn’t radical I grew up in the hood I didn’t I didn’t do a lot of things my friends would do I I would
Separate Myself you know um and so where um you know maybe 70% of the people that I grew up with got records and all that I didn’t do all that I it just wasn’t something that I did I I didn’t practice all that kind of stuff so
But I was around it you know I was around it and I just didn’t do it and so when I became a member of the church you know and I went out of the Southwest and I just there was something inside of me that said to my spirit that this is where I
Belong I belong here I belong in this environment you know and of course U all of the talented people and you know and all of the people that fed into me I I just knew that that God God wanted to use me um um as a as a as a proclaimer
You know I just knew I just knew that and and I loved it and I I wasn’t like some of you guys you know I I I I wasn’t I wasn’t in love with learning you know I got through high school I got through I’m telling you
Going out there going going out there man I fell in love with learning I fell in love with learning the Bible because I was around people that loved it you know um and and I and I just watch God just um um just change my world view
Yeah he he changed my world view and because he changed my world view God did it and we know um that God does that through people yeah yeah who pour into you yeah and I had people to pour into me they just poured into me I had great
Examples you know and and these people poured into me and I’m telling you Mike it changed my word view it I saw the world so differently you know yeah who who were some of those people if you don’t mind sharing well um well I’m gonna give honor where honest D first to
The to the prayers Dr Jack Evans you know he uh Dr Evans was a kind person man he you know now he was serious um brother brother EV Dr Evan was serious but he was a kind person man he would speak to you you know and like
Some of them kids you already knew from the youth conference and knew their parents had gone there but he was so just to watch Dr Evans man we used to go um Dr Cru and watch him debate and man it was just I’m sitting there saying man L look at this guy man
Um so in my early years um Dr Jack Evans doc Dr Maxwell my first two years um on Sundays I went to Lada with with the Maxwells yeah and I I worship with them you know and Dr Maxwell and you know Dr Maxwell is such a kind person you know just a lowkey
Personality but just so kind and so those were my early influences then as I moved on you had people like Dr Foster but and and brother farmer Dr Farmer you know you know U Mike I I can remember we were taking the book of Romans okay and
When when Dr Farmer gave you a test he said well he would tell you the chapters that you had to write your paper on doing when you take the test and um I’ll never forget man um he gave us these chapters so I chose Romans
Chapter 7 I said man I can do this and when I turned the paper in and he turned it back he gave it back to me he wrote up on the top of the paper you filibustering he told me I was filibustering you know and I said oh
Lord but he taught me you know he taught me how to study yeah um uh um do and then um in my last two years came Ken green yeah Dr Green Man Dr Green really challeng us to thinking taught us to think taught us to see things and so so
Indebted to Dr Green for taking me to another level of just appreciating the Bible and studying the Bible yeah and those were the the the the instructors that were influenced who influenced me there were there were other students who were very talented you know and articulate that that influenced me but
Man I’m tell man I I thank God for my Southwestern experience you know I really yeah I’m glad you shared that uh you know uh Christian education uh needs to be pushed it needs to be uh you know it needs it needs to be encouraged and
Uh yes yes and and uh so I’m glad that you shared that and you you said that high school um you got through high school yeah yeah but you you you have your doctor’s degree tell us about your journey where where you uh attended because you were in my hometown I know
Uh but but tell us about that Journey yeah and I was encouraged you know from people around me I wanted to sharpen my skills and my understanding so for my my MD I went to a little School uh called inly called wine Briner and um and so I you know I have
Bad eyes so um man God was so good to me because I had bad eyes I’ve always had bad eyes so I don’t drive at night and so what God did man I had there were students around me that that were from Toledo I never ever had to worry about Transportation getting home
Now getting down there I had a deacon God bless brother um James brother brother Randol James Randolph he’s going on now deacon at our church he would take me to school never had to worry about getting there and I never had to worry about getting back home so I got
My MDF from there I learned a whole lot um just learning and reading and understanding man and um um and I sat in the class to of some legitimate Scholars you know yeah and I was learning and learning and then I decided to go to Dayton United theological C and when I
Tell you uh Dr kuso that that was such a phenomenal experience at United because um in that doctorate program yeah um it’s it’s it’s really afro Centric yeah yeah I was able to interact and meet with um with um um a lot of dynamic preachers man and my mentors were
Harold um har um Harold Carter out of Baltimore Mar Maryland okay yeah and we have to go to Baltimore and we off McKenzie out of my hometown in Jacksonville yeah so those were my mentors and we had to go to Jacksonville had to go to Baltimore we had to go to
Other you know I just kind of got exposed to yeah a lot of things and challenging man you know um when I when I committed myself to to learning and education of Dr cruo that’s what I did yeah yeah I learned how I learned how to
Do it man you know you got a doctor’s degree so you know the painstaking challenge it is to put together papers and dissertations and all that man yes it’s work it takes work and discipline for sure you know and uh and uh and it’s paid for you
Know my wife told me she I’m gon leave you alone you know because you you stuck in that office man yeah yeah yeah well you know uh I know where United is you know I grew up in Dayton right friends that lived in that area but when I was
In high school I used to walk around in that area oh did you it just seemed so Serene it was like it’s in dating but it’s not in Dayton because I’m you know it’s on the west side of town around that area Salem Avenue Cornell and that kind of thing it was
Just a little bit different so okay High School I didn’t know why but now I do know you know studying the Bible talking about God and everything yeah all right all right yeah man well listen uh Dr ber uh let’s go back a little bit to preaching
Because uh uh do you remember your first sermon that you preached yeah man do you remember what it was and yeah John 3:16 what was it now John 3:16 said God so love the word that he gave his only begotten son you know and it was a
Mess you see it was a mess yeah I I think all of our first sermons were a mess okay man um um you you remember Benny right yeah Ben walls yeah as a m fact my wife is his first cousin she from okay his mama and my mother-in-law’s sisters oh and his daddy
Is my father-in-law’s Uncle okay okay and so man benett taped that sermon man no he didn’t yeah okay and and and years you know cuz being from my I would go to Oxford to with family and and he had all these tapes man and he hand me that tape one day I
Oh don’t man I’m gonna keep this tape I’m getting this tape back to you man I don’t want I don’t want anybody to hear that stuff man I know man I know yeah and part of part of being a part of that um fraternity of preachers on
Southwestern campus yeah yeah you had to pre you had to preach yeah yeah now I went to school with some preachers man Jared Taylor yeah Jeff KS Harold them guys when I tell you um Herman Wesley all those guys could preach man they had been around the church yeah all
Of their Liv they was quoting the Bible from Genesis to Revelation yeah yeah yeah yeah I come they told me you gotta preach yeah you gotta come with it huh yeah yeah but I came I don’t know if I was with it but but uh and I look back man benett
Benett had tapes of every everybody see uh okay I mean Ben had tapes of you you know oh really okay yeah Ben had tapes of everybody he taped everything you know cast that tapes man and and um I said but you know um I was encouraged now they could have come at
Me and said man what in the world were you doing fell didn’t do that man yeah yeah they encouraged me they they really did you know yeah yeah and well let me ask this uh how would you describe your preaching uh expository narrative topical exegetical textual you know we
We categorize preaching now right um how would you describe your your your preaching my my my primary U mode of preaching is expository preaching that’s what I do primarily but I play with a lot you know sometimes you you do a topical subject you know you keep it all
In context you know sometimes you you might preach a narrative you may preach a narrative message you know what I’m saying um but primarily I’m I’m an Expositor I study that way I communicate that way I talk that way because I want to expose people to what what the text
Actually what the text actually says what the text actually says and what it means you know and so I want to that’s what I want to do but you know sometimes you do topical stuff you know that that’s that has a place yeah yeah that
That that has a place so I play around with all of them from time to time but primarily um I do I do I do the um the expository piece well tell us um your sermon prep uh what’s involved in your sermon preparation uh now this is before you
Get into the P pull pit uh yes yeah it yeah yeah well you know I spent some time thinking about the church itself uh in terms of of of how my my preaching you know I think about glad City itself and I I think about where we
Are I think about what what I want what I want the um I think about what I I think about what I want the um the people to learn you know I think about what I want the people to learn and um you know just kind of okay here here
Here where we are and here’s some things we need to learn um and and so I I just sort of sit around and think and meditate about that and pray about that then I come and I I I think about texts you know that may fit what I want them to
Learn you know this text and that text and that text and so I I um so Dr C I read the text read it yeah and I take notes on the text I start with the text I take notes on the text you know I write down stuff
And I write this down in terms of my observation of a text yeah yeah right um and then um um I I read I read Scholars and other look at other have other information that I look at and just kind of seeing um what people who are who who are legitimate experts
Um based on whatever whatever where whatever text I’m in and so I read and read and I write down what I read I take notes just trying to get a basic understanding of what I read and and what I I’ve written down um and and I write down comments and um um whether
It’s cultural or Linguistics you know yeah yeah I write all that down I put all that down and then I began to structure i’ been I being to structure my notes I want to you know because I I Define words and there’s cultural analysis whatever needs to be done right good I
Put all that together yeah then I I come to my homo letics yeah hey come on but I always asked always say this um what is the primary question that I want to ask in this sermon here’s the primary I’m looking at the text but what is the primary um um
Um question I want to ask so I I I formulate my primary question just by studying the text and how it speaks to me and out of my relationship with the church and and now form this homic that is designed to answer that question so I never preach a sermon
Without saying here is here is the primary question here’s the question that I want to answer yeah so everything within the body that lesson is to to answer that um question biblically theologically and practically you know now you you know so that I won’t preach two hours you gotta
Cut the fat off yeah yeah yeah and get to what’s really significant and and that’s what I try my best to do and then I I draw a conclusion saying um here’s here’s the do yeah we’ve answered the question you know but you just can’t talk you gotta walk well all right yeah
Yeah yeah you you just can’t hear you know because people they can hear but there needs to be some movement yeah you you got uh what’s your what what’s one of your favorite sayings in your in your sermon uh I got one doc huh I got one I always
End with this yeah never look down on a man unless you’re looking down to lift him up okay all right all right that’s me that’s that’s that’s my primary statement that I say all the time you know um and I say that Michael um because God lifted me up yeah
Yeah because you see if you if you knew me you knew where I where I come from if you understood my experiences man and and and and and all those kind of things you would never have said when you saw me for example as a teenager that i’ be where I
Am it’s only him dog I’m I’m here simply because of him yeah yeah I I didn’t I didn’t earn this I didn’t deserve this God gave it to me as a gift as a gift yeah yeah and I’m where I am because just because he it’s a gift he I
Believe God shap me and formed me for this but if you looked at past and where I’ve come from you never would have seen this and God God has done a tremendous job of gifting me to be where I am and I remind myself of that because I want to always appreciate
Mike God’s gift to me yeah you know I don’t I don’t take it for Grant I don’t try to own it right I don’t try to manipulate it and of course don’t get it twisted I am human yeah yeah so being human you know you’re a preacher you’re
Human yeah yeah we have those moments man yeah yeah well we we want to we have those moments where we want to roll up Our Sleeve yeah yeah say now look I ain’t no chump now well okay you know what I’m saying yeah ain’t no chump it
Makes it may appear to be that I am yeah you see you got some Peter in you I think Peter in US yeah so we we we have to recalibrate man we have to okay okay let me check myself yeah you know and and and so let me let me know when I
Have to stand for something to stand for it the right way but I’m gonna stand for it but I can’t stand for it like I used to stand for it back in the day okay all right yeah yeah you know what I’m saying because I count it as a gift I count it
As a gift well let me ask this what advice would you give someone now getting started in Ministry you mentioned how Brother Moore saw something in you recommended that you go to Southwestern and then you mentioned men like um uh Jack Evans the late president of Southwestern Christian College uh Dr
Maxwell Gus farmer Ken green what advice would you give to someone uh now that’s getting started in Ministry and I I’ll start with the negative to the positive and the first thing don’t live on an island all by yourself and don’t don’t don’t you know
And and you may be gifted you know and and you may have some perspective and you may have some Vision you may have some vision of of what um you you may have some vision of what this is all about but don’t don’t live on the island
By yourself you know you got to connect with people you gotta you got to find you some mentors you got you got to find you some mentors you gotta you got to find some some people that you trust enough that will Mentor you you know and
Um and and and and instruct you and teach you and support you and tell you when it’s on the negative side and tell you when it’s on the positive side and tell you when you’re just in the middle you know you you know if that’s in you
And if that’s something you want to do you find you some mentors and you find mentors who have done it yeah yeah yeah yeah you know you you don’t connect to somebody because they look good or or you know you like you like how they are some people who who’ve been in
The trenches they’ve been in fight you know um I I wasn’t a a great basketball player like you but I did play Doc okay I rode the bench for real okay yeah but one of the things um when I first started now my my brother was a
Great basketball player U but you know if you one of the things the coach told me one time early um I was on JV he said you can’t dribble okay uh so he would take you and put you up against a wall and you would just B you know
Bounce you know bounce you know bounce and and then so he said you got to run you gotta run you got to get your wind up you got to run you want to see any time you know on the court and so what I’m saying is you you got to have
Somebody to Mentor you and and and and help you develop your skills you know and you got to have somebody who know what they’re doing yeah that that’s good advice and then uh I I what I also hear you saying is there needs to be some accountability in there yes man yeah you
Gotta have somebody you know they they ain’t G because because they like you or they love you yeah gonna be soft with you you know yeah and there’s a time to be soft but you gotta have somebody gonna say get up why you sleeping when you ought to have be burning the
Midnight oil I know you’re right yeah yeah you can’t get lazy you know we can’t get yeah yeah you know and and when you know you you’ve done this long enough to know Michael that sometime you hit your head on the wall and sometime people hit your head
Yeah yeah yeah so you that’s why you need somebody a mentor where you can say okay here here’s what I’m going through and here’s what I’m experiencing and here’s what’s happening and so you somebody who will shepher you and teach you somebody who will make you accountable somebody who who will share
See some people don’t like sharing what they know right right they they’re hideing from you they don’t want you in their office they don’t want you to see the library they don’t want you to but you got to have somebody who’s willing to be open and say here it is yeah yeah
You know because you can’t you can’t live on an island by yourself right yeah yeah well um you were honored was last year in the midwest yes uh and and tell us about that award man and and congratulations man welld deserved and uh tell us a little bit about that award
That the uh Midwest um was it preachers or Midwest lectureship well it’s a lectur ship with the board you know and I think brother Dr flowers recomended me uh to be a living legend in terms of preaching here in the state of um in the state of Ohio I am
I’m not the oldest preacher here but I think I got the longest tenure here in the state um some of my older brothers have gone on that I love and love dearly um that’s still preaching you know but there’s some who will honorable people like Clyde and and Columbus he’s
Still alive you know we just lost Richard um who who blessed my life and I wasn’t able to make it to his ceremonies but um but there there people in the state who um have been around a long time and but I was recommended by the committee um there at Midwest Lector
Ship and man it was it’s such an honor um Dr Cruz so that’s why I got to be appreciative you know because yeah people don’t have to honor you yeah they don’t have to honor you I recognize people don’t owe me anything you know that that’s not what
I’m doing this for but to be honored to me was was wonderful for not just for me um uh um Dr cuso but for my wife yeah yeah so you know in a lot of ways when you in those storms your wife with you yeah yeah yeah so she experienced a
Lot of that anxiety and that stress and some of the some of the grace things has happened too but she you know for my wife and for my daughter who you know your children see some of that stuff too you know what I’m saying yeah yeah yeah
And all for my family and for my church family yeah yeah yeah to you know to um to to say you know you know he deserves he’s he’s a good person you welld deserved and and and I’m so happy for you and and I’m thankful that you’re in
Ohio um you’re you’re up north and you know I tease you from time to time we would play Toledo Scott I know man and we always beat them you know they them always that’s unate and then I went to school with a guy from I don’t know if he was from Scott I
Went to whittenberg University okay his was Robin Gregory basketballer yeah yeah I can’t remember which high school it was it had to be Scott living oh okay yeah he he was a few years behind me though but uh they produced some good players but 25 years at at
Glass this year man yeah so so tell us I I only got a couple more questions and one of them is uh if someone’s coming through on a Sunday and they and they show up at the Glass City Church of Christ what what can they expect uh uh
In a worship service yeah yeah well you mentioned the first word um We Gonna Worship that’s lot the old folk used to say We Gonna Worship Doc and um and it’s it’s god- centered worship you know it’s God sent worship we’re going to sing like we sing and and we’re going to pray
Um we going to remember um U the death and the burial and the resurrection of Jesus Christ we G we we gonna give of our means and they gonna hear word so one of the things I’ve done at Glass City because I wanted the word to be the last
Thing that they’ve heard that they heard so I’m the last one to get up and I want that to be the last thing that they hear um the word of God yeah know we then we but and if you guest we’re certainly going to um um honor you as being a
Guest in our audience you know we we we want to we’re gonna honor you you know but the last thing I want the the people to hear is this word this message yeah yeah about Jesus Christ and Jesus will set you free yeah and if when he set you
Free that you that you are added to the body of Christ um and if if you’re not a Believer you you can be added to the body of Christ and be become a become a child of God yeah yeah so but but we GNA we got our
Greet us man and yeah they in the Foria and they at the door all right and we well one thing I want to and you ever Toledo come by to Glass City Church yeah yeah that we put in a plug now for Glass City okay all right yeah come by to
Glass City Church I tell you God’s Gonna bless your life all righty that’s good news well one thing I want to leave on your mind we still need to write that book together on on Church yeah so yeah man I I think I think um yeah and and
I’m not being um racial with this but I think we got a lot of African-American um preachers in the Church of Christ that have a lot of skills and I think we need to we need to get together and put some information out yeah yeah you know we need to leave
A legacy of yeah yeah writing you know because I think all of us have something to say yeah well one of the purposes of this PO podcast is even when we’re gone people can look back and and and and look at this conversation between preachers you
Know uh the good thing that Dr flowers and and others in the midwest did was they honored you while you can still smell your flowers yes sir but but but we’re going to be passing on off the scene and it it’s kind of good as a remembrance for these kind of podcast
Books you know to be rich you said podcast I said man that’s great yeah yeah well I’m just trying to stay relevant with these young guys but yeah we’re gonna do what we can well here’s the last question and and take your time on this one if you need to uh
You’ve been 25 years with glass City uh in Louisiana and Enterprise and then you you’re you’re known in our Brotherhood what’s the in your opinion what’s the current state uh of the church and you know now we could be philosophical and theoretical we know Christ is the head right and we know the
Gates of Hell will not Prevail against the church but this is on our watch during our time but we’ve seen things prior to being on our watch yeah yeah so you know and you don’t have to pull any punches you know you you you you’re
You’re down to earth for real guy and um what’s the current state of the church now well I I think that the church is in trouble because I don’t think um we we we don’t have authentic what I want to call authentic Coria in in terms of of of um
Conversation um you know in terms of coming together and saying uh okay here’s where we are as as as as a group of people that that’s that’s not um indifferent to any religious organization no matter what you want to call it whether it’s Methodist or a southern baptist you know issue we
People we we have issues but I think I think we we we we’re moving you you cannot you cannot you cannot win divided we we’ve got to come together and have some unity and and and understand the lines of demarcation we we got we got to do
That U there has to be some unity and diversity we got to come together and we have to sit down and um you know and say we we need to build our movement and have real honest conversation you know um and I think that’s that’s why I believe you know I
Think social media has advantages and disadvantages but I think again what we need to do is I’ll give you an example man um one of the things that that early in my Ministry that that I really love was the national election ship man I would go I I don’t care about preaching
Man but I would go because you know at the end of the day you got all these people in here it’s our national thing for African-American churches and we would come together here great preaching and great workshops and there there was there was there was um arguments and
Differences but we put the the people of God the the family of God from leaders above all that you know above all that we we saw the value of being together yeah and the value of saying um yeah we got some Peters and some Paul’s and we got some John
Yeah you know what I’m saying we got some different kind of disciples that come out of different kind of places and spaces but we came together coming together became more important than not coming together you know and being able to come together and and and just work out those
Things man those people who had influence and those people who who were in in in charge and all those just they made it where we can just come together you know and and and I ain’t got I see Mike I don’t have to have Goosebumps about a person to come together well
Yeah you know what I’m saying yeah we are we are we are united in Christ and so how we flush that out is one thing but at the end of the day we come together we come together you know and you know you don’t hang out with
Everybody yeah yeah but that don’t mean you can’t get along right right yeah you know so we we want to sit down and and discuss some stuff and have some conversation we do it in the spirit of Christ so so when you read the gospels and you know Jesus was the leader but
They had all kind of issues yeah yeah yeah they had all kind of issues man yeah yeah and but Jesus was a leader and so we got to be rooted in christology in our relationship with Christ and allow that to to guide us into into unity and I again we we may
See some things different but we can come together and um find a a way to make it work man just you know I miss I missed that I yeah I missed that kind man it was it was not only um teaching and worship but it was fun yeah yeah
Yeah yeah my wife and I we talk about that like you know going to lectureship I mean that that was like the one of the highlights of you year man my kid grew grew up wanting to go to Lector ship yes you know even though they had youth rallies and youth conferences that’s
Right going to Lector ship you know and sometime as they got older my wife would tease well y’all kind of too old to be following us around you know this our time this our time huh yeah yeah well well let let’s work on that uh of of the unity that we had and
The fellowship that we had and and being able to uh discuss our differences yeah and healthy way man yeah yeah yeah yeah well okay well Dr bird I’ve enjoyed you man thank you uh uh for sharing these thoughts with us and uh uh we we’ll stay
In touch and God bless you Mike yeah all righty and God bless your leadership and all the things that you involved in and and teaching and working with school of religious studies and all those kinds of things man man I’m glad you mentioned that because you’re one of the
Instructors of the school study yeah class now every other week yeah okay well tell us the class that you’re teaching now and and then tell us about classes that you have taught yeah well for for the most part I I um I’m I I teach U I’m teach class with women I got
About four women in my class so we just trying to walk through the Bible and give some clarification about women and the role of women and what the Bible says about women and to encourage them to you know walk in in in in the structures
That God has that open for them to walk in you know so I’m excited about it man um um I’ve done some other stuff with the um I think we did some stuff out of um I want to say the Gospel of John one time um where we were on Camp
With with a few other instructors we did that um out of the Gospel of John and I had a had a great time doing that man and so anywhere um Dr cuso I can use my gift and any any way God opens the door for me to use my gift that’s what I’m
Gonna do well thank you sir and we’re going to put up the uh information for the school of religious studies yeah uh and and thank you again and God bless you man appreciate you love love you man take care love you too man and thank you for inviting me brother no problem all
Right I’m going to put up the address for the school of religious studies and and I I almost forgot to ask him about that I’m glad he mentioned that uh Dr berd is one of the instructors uh Lord Harris is the uh president and uh we
Want to uh we want people to know about the school of religious studies and the advantages uh of that I
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