“Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us Facing the rising sun of our new day begun Let us march on till victory is won” The first verse of this hymnal, composed by brothers James and John Johnson, is an audible story of the history and identity of the black church. Through much suffering, perseverance, and an enduring faith, the black church has not only been able to survive dark times, but has thrived as a permanent fixture in American culture. I am a proud product of the “faith that the dark past has taught us”. I was raised within the Black Baptist Church, as my parents served as church psalmists. It was through the unique African American spirituals and boisterous sermonic moments that my theology was shaped. I learned about Christ’s sufficiency at the cross and God’s sovereignty over all things. I can still recall sitting in the pew, hearing the sermon of God’s love that moved me towards the place of confession, repentance, and trust in Jesus’s substitutional death on the cross. I was even introduced to the doctrines of grace and the reformed tradition through a Haitian American Deacon who spent time discipling me. It was the black church that counseled and married my wife and I. It was the black church that dedicated my children. It was the black church that called me to repentance when I was in sin and encouraged me when I was down. It was while serving within the black church that the Lord called me into pastoral ministry, and it was the black church that is now at work to confirm that subjective call on my life. In the providence of God, He has used the black church with all of its traditions, history, and idiosyncrasies to mold me. In short, I owe all that I am to what Christ has done for me through the black church. It is with all of this gratitude and indebtedness that I pray the Lord will use my time at Southern to serve the black church in future ministry. There is a trend that has become popular amongst young reformed black Christians who attend evangelical schools only to leave with a low view of the black church. To be clear, there is nothing wrong in serving in cross-cultural ministry context. We should go where we are called and grow where we have been planted. But oftentimes, black aspiring pastors and theologians turn away from the black church based upon false caricatures that have been crafted in place of their new experiences. There is this false notion that the black church does not teach sound doctrine, or does not disciple well, or is tainted by the prosperity gospel. While these characteristics could be used to describe any church, irrespective of their cultural context, the ones who comment this way regarding the black church are poorly informed or worse, willfully disingenuous. Time would not permit me to tell of the faithful black men shepherding black churches across this nation. So my resolve is to use all that the Lord has given me in preparation in pastoral ministry, biblical exposition, and sound theology to stand in the line of such great men who have stewarded the black church before me. As Dr. Charlie Dates has said, “do not give up on the black church”. I have not and I hope to show God's delight and splendor in the black church.