From Worry to Worship

In this episode, Angeline and Resa discuss key takeaways from recent sermons, the significance of worship music, and the concept of Easter Tide. They also delve into the challenges faced by caregivers, the impact of the NFL draft on Shedeur Sanders, and the implications of the Target boycott on black-owned businesses. The conversation emphasizes the importance of community support, faith, and resilience in navigating life's challenges. The conversation delves into various themes including community initiatives related to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), reflections on a sermon by Pastor Quick, the significance of the Black Madonna, and the importance of faith in overcoming societal divisions. It also highlights key takeaways from the sermon, the necessity of self-care and rest, and the transformative journey of actress Kimberly Elise as she reconnects with her faith and shares her testimony.

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction and Overview of Sermons
• 2:00 Song of the Week: 'Worthy' by Naomi Raine
• 6:42 Sermon Recap: First Baptist Church of Lincoln Gardens
• 7:35 God is in Scary Movie Theaters and Flight Response
• 15:40 Baby Dedications and Easter Tide
• 20:24 Adapting the French Way of Enjoying Desserts
• 23:32 FBCLG Rev. Sheila Gipson's Book, Mental Health Awareness Initiative, and Caregiving
• 27:30 The NFL Draft and Shedeur Sanders' Journey
• 36:57 New Developments in Target Boycott and Uplifting Black Businesses
• 45:26 Pastor Quick's Sermon: You Got What I Want, I Got What You Need
• 47:27 Papal Conclave - The Process of Picking a New Pope
• 49:14 Visiting Black Madonna Statues in Spain or Poland
• 52:33 Discovering the World with Encyclopedia Britannica or a Google Search
• 56:07 Faith, Grace, and Overcoming Challenges
• 58:23 Don't Let Difficulties Steal Your Piece
• 1:04:59 The Importance of Rest and Self-Care
• 1:05:35 The Cost of Overworking
• 1:10:34 Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church: He Keeps Proving Himself to Me!
• 1:17:43 Dove of the Day: God's Pit Crew Volunteers
• 1:21:00 The Screening Room: King of Kings
• 1:25:22 The Bema Seat: Kimberly Elise
• 1:31:27 God is a Divine Matchmaker
• 1:38:00 With the Quickness Sign Off

Transcript

WTQ Intro (00:08)
Yeah, you, you always make me

You're

You're

Just

Trying to boost my subscribers, I'm trying to maintain the vision People that know me closely slip different than what they show me It's to feel like they know me when I'm scrolling through images Truth be told I feel pain but I'm on the pinnacle Chasing this music thing for a minute though Know some good people that never see success And here I am sitting worried about show appearances

Angeline Bishop Thomas (00:53)
Hello everyone. I'm Angeline and she's Resa and welcome to season four, episode 154 of With the Quickness.

Resa Crippen (01:02)
Happy Tuesday, everyone.

Angeline Bishop Thomas (01:04)
Happy Tuesday indeed. Today we're gonna share our takeaways from the March 27th, 2024 sermons given at First Baptist Church of Lincoln Gardens in Somerset, New Jersey, and at Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church in Houston, Texas. So Resa, what was your big takeaway from First Baptist this week?

Resa Crippen (01:21)
God will take you from worried to worship.

Angeline Bishop Thomas (01:25)
Okay. My big takeaway was God will elevate you and change your situation with his breath on you, your relationships and your life. What was your big takeaway from Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church in Houston, Texas?

Resa Crippen (01:39)
We must believe it before we see it. That's how faith works. God will make a way out of no way.

Angeline Bishop Thomas (01:45)
Okay, my takeaway was your regular scripture reading will fuel your faith and quiet your doubts. So we're going to learn a little bit more about those two sermons later in the show. But right now it's time for Resa's playlist. So Resa, what's the song of the week this week?

Song of the Week Intro (02:01)
Are we ready? It's time! We narrowed it down to one song. This is Song of the Week, currently featured on With the Quickness Spotify playlist.

Resa Crippen (02:20)
So the song of the week this week is actually by Naomi Reign featuring Nicole Benton. The song is titled Worthy. It's actually a new worship anthem that came out last month. Basically, it is a worship call that emphasizes recognizing the Father as the only wise God, deserving of all we have and invites.

listeners to focus on his unique nature, acknowledging that there is no one else like him.

Angeline Bishop Thomas (02:51)
⁓ What made you want to pick that song?

Resa Crippen (02:55)
So I picked the song because I liked the melodies that were in the song and it is a worship song so I wanted to do something like when I heard it, felt like I was in the sanctuary so that's why I honestly picked it and I did like the messaging about being worthy of God's praise and all the things that you.

All the good things that you get from life, we are worthy of that and it's due to God's grace and all the things. So I was just like, yeah, why not? Like in this song, it's not a part of any album as of yet. It's just like a drop in the music land or field. Like a drop is just like a random single that could one day potentially be added on to a future album if the artist or label decides to put out an album.

I wanted to make that known so it's not a part of any album, but you can find it on streaming services such as Spotify and Apple Music.

Angeline Bishop Thomas (04:00)
I know when it comes to worship music, lately there's a lot of worship songs on YouTube that show them in big giant, almost arena type churches where the voices echo and the crowd looks like you're at a concert. So does it feel like that when you listen to this? you can feel the bigness of it? Or does she do like a smaller studio version where it's like all, what do call it? Acoustic version.

Resa Crippen (04:21)
I can definitely feel like the bigness of it. is a choir, is like call and response. There's all the things that you would find when you go to a church and they're singing any type of worship song. It's basically in this song.

Angeline Bishop Thomas (04:40)
Does it swell? You know how some songs start out real low and real like soft and where you have to pay attention to the lyrics. The next thing you know at the end, it's like the call and response and it's a really much bigger kind of, you know, vocal sound like that.

Resa Crippen (04:44)
Mm-hmm.

Yes, there's even for this song, there is a reprise. So it's two parts. the first song goes for about eight minutes and then the reprise is about an additional five minutes or four to five minutes of the reprise.

Angeline Bishop Thomas (05:09)
See now, when I grew up, eight minutes was the normal standard, the nice long songs. You could get it short for the radio, right? They had a shorter version for radio. But when you got the real CD or the real album, it would be a longer version there. Or sometimes in late 80s, early 90s, the longer version was the DJ's version.

Resa Crippen (05:16)
break.

Right.

Angeline Bishop Thomas (05:32)
So I like the fact that she went back to her eight minute. mean, praise and worship, of those songs are longer anyway when you do them in real services. So for her to actually record, it sounded like she did like almost a live version of it

Resa Crippen (05:39)
Yeah.

I'm not sure if it was live or not, because I played it last week. I haven't played it again today because things got a little hectic today. But it is a really good song and I like it.

Angeline Bishop Thomas (05:46)
Okay.

Well, people can find it on your playlist on Spotify, right? And they can also connect with that either on Spotify itself with the with the quickness podcast on the mega mix or on season four, you put it on both, right? And then if they can't find it there, they can always go to our homepage, WWW with the quickness dot com and check you out there.

Resa Crippen (06:09)
Yes.

Angeline Bishop Thomas (06:19)
Well, Resa, thank you so much for giving us another great song of the week. We're looking forward to hearing it.

Resa Crippen (06:25)
Thanks.

Angeline Bishop Thomas (06:26)
All right, let's go on to the book of our show. Let's go over to First Baptist. First Baptist Church of Lincoln Gardens in Somerset, New Jersey. began with praise and worship singers. Now they welcome saints into Sunday service. Now Pastor Quick reminded everybody. I would normally say that, invited the spirit in or something like that. Um, he said, stop doing that. He said to everybody, he said it to congregants, people when they say prayers.

It's not about welcoming God into a place. God is already there. So I guess the best way to say it is the praise and worship team prepared our hearts for worship. You know, they prepared us to receive a message, but it's not about inviting God in anywhere. What did you think when he was telling us to remember that God's everywhere? Stop saying that.

Resa Crippen (07:16)
Well, I thought, because I do recall that he also used the example of the movie sinners that just came out and he was saying like, yes, the movie may have some themes that you may not agree with, of course. And he's like, you know, God is still in room So you don't have to be like, oh, I rebuke this like, he obviously, you know, yeah.

Angeline Bishop Thomas (07:37)
Yeah, could you imagine being in a movie

theater watching a movie that deals with vampires and things and somebody stands up and says, I rebuke it. We're like, why'd you buy a ticket? I'm not personally that kind of person. Do you watch those kind of horror films a little bit?

Resa Crippen (07:43)
Yeah, it's like...

I used to when I was younger, just to prove a point to say like, I'm not scared of stuff. But then it got to a point when I was in college and I had went out with some friends to go to a like a, cause at the time Livingston in Rutgers had this, they had just built a theater for students to go and watch movies in. So we went to go and watch. And I forgot the name of the movie. The only thing that I can remember is that I was so scared that when I got back to my dorm,

I ended up watching cartoons for the rest of the night into the morning, so I couldn't sleep, so I was spooked out. So was like, never again. And I just learned my lesson to just stick to my Disney and romantic comedy and comedy and action moves. can't do horror. I can't do gores too much. ⁓

Angeline Bishop Thomas (08:23)
I don't know.

Yeah,

I know for me personally, everybody has in them the fight or flight response, right? And so I don't do things that's gonna make my fight or flight response not work well. I want it to work so well, the adrenaline will pump, my feet will go moving, and I'll be like exit stage right, like, you know, one of those cartoon characters with the smoke coming behind them. I want to move so fast.

because I've never been that scared before in my life, right? So I don't believe putting myself in situations that prompt me to be scared. I want it when I'm authentically really scared and I have to move fast or I have to lift something off of somebody because of the adrenaline. I want my body to know exactly and tap into it, you know? So no, don't go to horror movies to be frightened and then have everybody laugh when, you know.

fear that I had is not really a real fear. If I have some kind of fear that God gave me, I want my body to respond exactly how it's supposed to. If somebody jumps out of somewhere, my fear response is to punch them in the face. I want to punch them in the face. If something comes out and tries to grab me, I want to run really fast. If I hear a gunshot, I want to be the first person running out the building. You know what saying? I don't want to be sitting there. No, I don't want to sit there.

Resa Crippen (09:55)
but...

You do know, right, there is actually like a third phase. So there's fight, flight, and freeze. So some people like literally freeze when they're really scared. And then I also learned that there are people that like to be scared. I personally, right, right.

Angeline Bishop Thomas (10:11)
I know, I know about the freeze recently. I knew about that because as a

professor, I always run my students through the whole, if we have an active shooter on campus, you know, we go through what our position will be. Some of us have made up our minds. We're going to be the ones to help blockade the door. Some of us have made the decision. I'm going to be calling 911, calling the campus police to let them know that they're in the building. Another group said they're going to help break windows and help get people out. And then there's always a fourth group.

Resa Crippen (10:20)
Mm-hmm. All right.

Angeline Bishop Thomas (10:39)
I don't want to do anything because I'll be too scared. And I'm fine with that. We all know our assignments. I'm not a fearful person where I will freeze. I've always been in any kind of stressful situation, a doer. So, yeah, nah, nah, nah. My instant response is very much, you know, handle things. I've always been that way at Rutgers. When people things jump down, the first one trying to handle, you know.

Resa Crippen (10:45)
Okay.

Mm-hmm.

Angeline Bishop Thomas (11:10)
So I just don't, I don't want to tap into that, you know, being scared. I think it's good that those that want to see Sinners and I heard Michael B. Jordan is excellent playing two different roles. I heard that he's really good at it, but blood, gore, nah man. Vampires, nah man, nah.

Resa Crippen (11:27)
Yeah,

like, I've seen, like, because don't ask me how, but people have been, like, recording clips of the movie, so it has been appearing on my social media timeline. And every time I see it, I just, like, skip it, because I just, like I said, I can't do those type of films. And I have seen other people say, like, they want to support it, but they can't do it either. So some people have, like, just bought tickets and just didn't go. That is my vibe.

Angeline Bishop Thomas (11:52)
Yeah.

Resa Crippen (11:53)
I get the whole we need to support so can get more content like that. I digress. I'll buy a ticket, but I'm not gonna go see it though, because I can't. And mind you, what's funny is the director, Ryan Cooglier, he's actually afraid of horror films. So I was surprised that he actually directed one.

Angeline Bishop Thomas (12:11)
Wow, but you know, a lot of people are afraid of them, but it's different when you're deconstructing one and you have to put it together, because you're doing it in pieces. You're not seeing it all together with all the bells and whistles and the sound effects and nah, man, I'm over it. I don't need to have somebody look at me and their eyes changing color. Nope, don't need it.

Resa Crippen (12:17)
Mm-hmm.

See,

that actually reminds me of Michael Jackson's Thriller video. Like, I used to be afraid of that video watching it, because I didn't like... Yeah. Right.

Angeline Bishop Thomas (12:34)
It took me a minute too, man, because I liked Michael as he was, you know, walking on the light, the lighted little steps on the sidewalk and being cool.

And all of a sudden you turn into a werewolf and he had to make it all graphic. Even the girl on the screen was screaming and I was like, and then you had that Vincent Price dark voice on, you know how he could do that deep dark voice. It's like, dude, I liked you until you started doing stuff like that. So, mm-mm. Nah, nah. The dance was cool.

Resa Crippen (12:46)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Angeline Bishop Thomas (13:02)
Eventually when everybody

started doing the dance and then then Michael was nice enough to give us the making of Thriller And when I watched that it wasn't so bad. I said, oh, oh Okay, and then I calmed down then what I called the something nerve I've got to call it in the body that has to fight or flight it kind of calmed down like okay You're safe. Nothing gonna happen to you. Nothing gonna jump out But that ain't my ministry, you me being scared like that. I'm my ministry, but I can Go back into what Pastor Quick said

Resa Crippen (13:26)
Yeah, like.

Okay.

Angeline Bishop Thomas (13:32)
God is always in the room. So there is no welcoming him into the sanctuary. There is no welcome him into the movie theater or into this space. He's already there. It's more like preparing yourself to receive the prompting of the Holy Spirit. And so that's what we're gonna remember when we think about our praise and worship teams. And when we think about the sweet, you know, spirit being so present and filling it so much in the room is that we're just more in tune to it.

Resa Crippen (14:01)
I was gonna say I pretty much agree. I feel like, I've always felt like God was always in the room somewhere. But you know, we gotta just remind ourselves that he's always there.

Angeline Bishop Thomas (13:59)
So go ahead.

It's hard though. used to think that too a lot. But then when they started saying in prayer, how we're going to welcome God into the room, I mean, the pastors and deacons started saying it first. I was like, oh, maybe they know something I don't know. So I started adapting it too. And I don't know if I started as a child or a teenager or a young woman, but I remember hearing it and they have said it to the point where he said in service. No, don't say that no more. Don't say it in prayers. Don't say it. You know, no.

introducing and saying what the teams appear doing. And I said, as a person on a podcast that has said it many times, I took the note, I took the correction from my pastor and said, heard you, got it, won't happen again. Because I know that he's our cover. He's one of our covers. He is our pastor. So I think, you know, that's something that needed to be said. You don't learn those little nuances unless somebody teaches you. And when you know better, you do better. Right.

Resa Crippen (15:06)
Of course, of course.

Angeline Bishop Thomas (15:08)
So at first Baptist, they also had baby dedications. They had three dyssunneries. So they had Elijah, De'Aní and Charles. I hope I'm saying their names right. If not, please forgive me. And Pastor Quick actually mentioned that every family they're doing it at least for the second time. So we are definitely taking that whole.

you know, bringing one to Christ and multiplying everything else very literally at First Baptist. He also mentioned Easter tide. I had not heard of Easter Tide. It's also known as the Easter season. It's a 50 day, period of Christianity that celebrates the resurrection of Christ. So actually everybody that comes and celebrates Easter Sunday at church, that's great, but it's still Easter Tide continues until Pentecost Sunday.

So in actuality, that mean everybody should still be in the church right now and coming to church all the way to the 50th and final day of the Easter season?

Resa Crippen (16:02)
Honestly, this is like the first I'm hearing about this besides Sunday 'cause It went over my head when he said it and I'm just like now I'm thinking about it. I'm just like Well, maybe we should

Angeline Bishop Thomas (16:12)
Yeah. And does that mean next year instead of 40 day fast, he's going to make us do a 50 or do we do still get to stop at Easter, but you have to like, what does that mean? can have two Easter dinners. You have one on Easter to celebrate that you broke the fast. You can have another one at the official end of the Easter season on Pentecost Sunday. Have another feast, Resa. You can have two feasts maybe.

Resa Crippen (16:33)
See, this reminds me of another holiday. I can't remember it, but they were like, you know the real day is actually this day. I'm just like, I can't keep track anymore. It's like, I thought.

Angeline Bishop Thomas (16:41)
Well, there's

50 days to the Easter season, but there's Easter Sunday. He's saying, it continues Easter Tide. It continues until Pentecost Sunday. Then to actually have 50 days, the final day of the Easter season.

Resa Crippen (16:45)
Right.

Okay, but then my question is, didn't Jesus come back on Easter?

Angeline Bishop Thomas (17:00)
He rose on Easter, that's right.

Resa Crippen (17:01)
Yeah,

yeah, he rose on Easter. So I feel like listen, because he rose on Easter, I'm breaking that fast on Easter. That's how I feel about it.

Angeline Bishop Thomas (17:07)
I

know, but now you can break your fast on Good Friday, right? And then he rises on Easter Sunday. And then when it gets to Pentecost Sunday, you can have another feast. Another families can gather and have a feast celebrating the end, the official end of the Easter season. I kind of like that. I kind of like two reasons to get together.

Resa Crippen (17:10)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Yeah, I'm all for the getting together part. I don't know if I to feast thought

Angeline Bishop Thomas (17:33)
Yeah, because you saying that because you might grow up, have your own family and mom be like, it's your turn to cook both of the feasts.

Resa Crippen (17:39)
Yeah, because it's what like

I'm at that point in life where I'm okay with having like one feast per month like okay It's Christmas is it's Thanksgiving to have two in one month under this economy sir

Angeline Bishop Thomas (17:46)
That's true.

Yeah, that's true. Maybe one has to be leaner than the other. Like one is, you know,

Good Friday where you break it with a nice fish feast and then a nice Easter dinner on Easter Sunday. And then Pentecost Sunday is like, yeah, let's go back to eating a little leaner. Something nice, but still a little leaner to get some of this, you know, so you don't gain any extra weight from one whole month of eating or something, right?

Resa Crippen (18:14)
Yeah, because that's the thing, because you just spoke about it so eloquently. It's the fact that, okay, we have a good Friday, we break fast on the Friday, then we have Easter dinner. So already had two. Then you go to Pentecostal. Yeah, now we're at three, and I'm just like, I don't know if my wallet can handle this. This is a lot.

Angeline Bishop Thomas (18:26)
Pentecost Sunday.

True.

But there's many ways to celebrate things. So maybe Pentecost Sunday is when you eat something that you, you know, I don't know, some special dessert, or maybe you have a really great breakfast on Pentecost Sunday. It doesn't have to be everything at dinner, you know? But I think it's kind of cool that after a fast, there's so many things, there's so many different feasts people use to try to celebrate. It's almost like they try to put all the weight back on and they lost during the fast. That's what it feels like.

Resa Crippen (18:59)
And that's the thing too.

That's the thing too. It's like I have survived, okay, yeah, I've survived 40 days. I have been, you know, working out consistently. I don't have to mess up that progress for all these feasts.

Angeline Bishop Thomas (19:11)
Yeah,

yeah, I broke my fast on Good Friday and then I had some cheesecake as a dessert. And the remnants of that is this nice little mark on my cheek, leftover from a scar mark from the sugar that came out. I cut out everything. And so my body made it very abundantly clear. Your skin's a mood ring. You eat any sugar that is not naturally made, it's gonna appear somewhere on your face.

So cut it out. So I've adapted what lovely French women used to do back in the day, back when I was younger. I don't know they still do it, but back when I was younger, I remember they only really ate sweets very sparingly. So, and the way they did it was like, you know how Americans were like after every meal, every dinner we want to dessert. And then when you're going to diet say, well, I'm not going to eat dessert after every meal, but I want to make sure I have something nice once a week.

Resa Crippen (19:59)
Yeah.

Angeline Bishop Thomas (20:05)
Right? Every weekend I get to have my good dessert. No, no, The nice French way of doing things or the European way of doing things is you can always eat fruit. You can always eat things that are natural, you know, from Mother Earth. You know, so it's okay to some grapes or have an apple or have a banana, you know, after you ate dinner or whatever you want. But when it came to the sweet things, once a month, you want that nice ice cream or that gelato, you're going to be out and about, you know, next

Resa Crippen (20:06)
Mm-hmm.

Angeline Bishop Thomas (20:33)
at the end of the month to see your cousin or something, that's when you would have that. It's a treat. It's like a real treat where you go and go and get those things. Wouldn't be living in your house. Well, lived in your house with the food that was alive and their kitchens were nowhere as big as ours, some of them, you know? And they did a lot more walking and bicycle riding than we do here. But I said, yeah, I'm adopting that. I'm going to eat something sweet once a month and it's going to be a good thing. Like I had cheesecake in April.

There's some cookies with my name on it for May. I think I'm gonna have me a chocolate chip cookie in May, one or two. Have a pick what day? It might be Mother's Day, I don't know. I'm gonna have me a dessert in May. And the rest of the time I'm just gonna keep on keeping on because I can't do this acne thing, man. I'm too old, I'm your mama. I'm too old to be looking at an acne scar on my face right now.

Resa Crippen (21:19)
Right, can understand that too, because I also have that problem, which is why I also had cheesecake, where the breaking of the fast. But what I did was, because I knew, instead of eating the whole thing in one sitting or two sittings, I said, okay, we're going to break it in three sittings. So I had a little bit on Friday, a little bit on Saturday, a little bit on Sunday. But then, of course, by the time Monday hit,

I want to say Monday evening into Tuesday, so actually Tuesday. Tuesday morning when I woke up I had a pimple on my chin. So now I know that when it comes to sugar, it's just better for me to just have it once a month and just like, know, the majority of the time just try to eat whole foods and vegetables and fruits and all that stuff. Well yeah, it's, right.

Angeline Bishop Thomas (22:05)
Yeah, because you're your mother's daughter. We have similar, you have my DNA, dear. And if it affects me,

most likely it's going to affect you. I mean, it could be a chance your father's DNA might override because his DNA does something too differently. But when it comes to acne right now, it's like, hey, my skin's a mood ring. My daughters' skins are a mood ring.

Resa Crippen (22:12)
Right.

Right, so that's why I just, you on top of the fact that I am, you know, working out more consistently and just, and I'm just like, I'm just in a, I'm in a space right now where I'm just trying to eat better so I can feel better about myself. So yeah.

Angeline Bishop Thomas (22:38)
Good for you.

Well, Pastor Quick at the beginning of his service, he also talked about Lott Carey and Reverend Dr. Sheila Gipson Scholarship that was made to help women that were escaping sex trafficking. Well, she has a book

was ⁓ created posthumously by her family. And the book is now available in the FBCLG bookstore. So if you get a chance to be by our church, please check it out.

I think there might also be available online. So if there is, we're going to try to see if we can put a copy of it somewhere and make it as one of the news parts of our podcast where you can just check it out and maybe get your own copy. He also talked about some new mental health workshops coming down the pike. And I like the fact he said he's concerned now about those people that are caring for people with dementia in Alzheimer's That's such a hard thing to take care of other people.

For the take care of a person that's actually dealing with some mental illness in their later years, it's so taxing on not only the caregiver, but also that caregiver's family.

Resa Crippen (23:41)
Yeah, like that's, I, when he brought that up, I thought about, Bruce Willis's wife and, and his ex-wife and his daughters, cause they're all like, you know, caring for him right now. the fact that his wife is like the main caregiver is like, that's really, and he's, know he has like his own, I forgot what I forgot exactly what he has, but I know it's like some type of like mental health thing that he has going on. So I'm just like, I can only imagine how taxing that is because he, I believe it.

Angeline Bishop Thomas (23:47)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Resa Crippen (24:08)
It's like something to do with like his memory and like his actual not really being able to talk. So that's why he stopped work. He used to be an actor for those that don't know. So he stopped working. couldn't do his job. So I do feel bad. I feel for him. I feel for his wife and his children and Demi Moore as well.

Angeline Bishop Thomas (24:28)
We always think about caregivers when people have had a heart attack or a stroke and having to physically move people or help them do rehab, you know, but we never think about the ones that are dealing with someone mentally that, you ⁓ I believe I was reading one person's story, one person's testimony, getting ready for the podcast where they were talking about, I believe it's the gentleman that does the Cave of Adullam He was talking about taking care of his mother.

I think he was talking to Lecrae this week, talking about taking care of his mother. And he was saying basically that, his mother, had her dementia issues and he moved her in with his family. But it was causing a little bit of stress for his family because his daughter, his young daughter, couldn't even sleep very well because his mother, her grandmother was always up walking at night, which woke up the little one.

You know, she has to have school in the morning, you know, because, it disturbed the rhythm of the home. You know, everybody's more concerned. There's always, if the person with dementia is having a bad episode, everyone's affected, everybody's on alert about it, you know. So I think it's great that the workshops are going to be available in church where people can actually come meet with each other and talk and share experiences. There's something about community. You can't heal by yourself. It's better to heal in community. That's the beautiful thing about a church.

It's like its own little microcosm. It has people there that have so many issues you have that you can just sit and talk and be seen and be heard. It's a safe place. I think it's great that he's making a safe place.

Pastor Quick also did an altar call and prayed for for worried people. People that are feeling really weary in, you know, in their lives right now. But he didn't mention anything about the NFL draft this week. I was kind of surprised. Were you, Resa?

Resa Crippen (26:18)
a little bit surprised only because everyone was talking about it. So I thought he would have made like a mere mention, but maybe he wanted to wait to see. Cause I think at that point, well, yeah. Okay. So at, at, at that point, Deion Sanders son was drafted, but, I don't know, maybe he just wanted to wait and maybe he might bring it up. Like, you know, this up and coming Sunday. ⁓ Shedeur ⁓ yeah. Shedeur Sanders.

Angeline Bishop Thomas (26:40)
What's his name? What's his son's name again? Shedeur yeah that's right.

Yeah, for those that don't know, this week, one of the shocking slides, one of the most shocking slides in NFL draft history in the fifth round, with the Cleveland Browns trading their 166th and their 192nd pick to the Seattle Seahawks in order to select Colorado's quarterback, Shedeur Sanders. That's how you say his name, Resa? Shedeur? Shedeur Sanders. I know his middle name is Deion, which is kind of cool. Shedeur Deion Sanders.

Resa Crippen (26:47)
So.

things to do.

Yeah.

Angeline Bishop Thomas (27:15)
Um, and he was there 144th, um, overall pick for the NFL, um, draft on Saturday. And, um, I was like shocked that he went to the fifth round. I mean, at the latest, I he was going to be the second round. We were watching. I had, I had a little app on my phone, you know, kept refreshing itself. and you would think that Shedeur would, be very indignant and say things negatively, but he didn't. I mean, the way they were painting him, the, um, commentary.

The fact that kids even pranked him, pretending to be, you know, part of the Saints. You would think he would say something eventually that would be like, yeah, he got indignant or to prove them right. But you could tell he is his father's son. He did not let it bother him. That we could see it was bothering him. Maybe his family could see that angst and that anxiety, but he didn't show it to the rest of the world. Instead, when he was selected on the third day, recent fifth round,

He just got on X and said, thank you God for everything. Wow.

Resa Crippen (28:19)
Like what I think is very fascinating about this entire thing is like, cause I was watching The View today and they were talking about it and some people felt like, well I didn't like how he came off very entitled and very much like, but they called him a Nepo baby, which is basically, people don't know what that means. like, it's basically a kid that is born to someone that has

a lot of things, whether it be material and or if they have a certain career, like great example. can't think of one right now. Okay, for example, Beyonce, obviously she has kids. So some people would be like, her kids are Nepo kids. And it's just like, yeah, you know, her mom is Beyonce, but like that doesn't mean that she's gonna like have a whole bunch of things because her mom is like there is to me, it's like it is a it is a two sided coin, right?

Of course, if your parents are established, there are going to be certain doors that will open for you easily. But then on the flip side of that, because your parents are established people, it could actually work against you because people are like, they basically set up these unreal expectations based on what your parents did and they don't really allow you to step into your own. You have to prove yourself. I feel like with Shedeur Sanders.

One of the women on The View of me, her name was Sunny, she was saying, because she basically, what she basically said was, you know, I actually agree with the fact of how he answered things. And I love the fact that he was confident because she tells her kids, like, yeah, like every room that you go in, you are supposed to be in there. So there's no reason why you shouldn't be in those rooms. And why are we telling?

Why are we telling anyone to to dim their light like just because he's confident and that makes it makes people uncomfortable Like that says more about them than it does him like he should be able like No one no one basically no one should be told that they need to like dim their light if So if someone shining their light makes you uncomfortable, you got to go talk to the lady and figure out why that is

Angeline Bishop Thomas (30:25)
Yeah.

I think it's very unfortunate that the league that would give his teammate a higher ranking in the first draft, but every ball that he caught was thrown by Shedeur I'm like, dude, who you think threw him the ball? I mean, come on. His receiver that took the ball and ran it into the, he can get in the first round, but the guy that threw it every time? Come on.

What are you saying there? And to actually think his dad is going to be a problem. His dad wouldn't have re-signed his contract if it wasn't for the great job this young man did on the field. He's good at taking direction, but don't get it twisted. The quarterback throws the ball. The quarterback can also get sacked. He can also fumble the ball. He can also not do his job. This one did his job, did it well. They talked about him not having that strong of an arm or he might still...

said certain things in interviews that made them all that is just excuses. What it really came down to, if you ask me and my gut is they wanted a deal. They wanted a coupon for him. his father already has money. We don't have to throw more money at him. Let's wait, see how much we can get, what kind of a bargain we can get. But it doesn't matter because y'all took him in the fifth round and yeah, his sign-in bonus is going to be less. You he's not going to get as much as the other guys, but

You better believe God's going to bless him. He's going to put in the work. He's going to get the endorsement deals. He's not going to be a distraction because he knows what it's like to go to work every day. His dad put that in him. Y'all did not hire his dad to be with his dad. He's got a job to do back in Colorado. You know, he has no desire to be, in the locker rooms, talking to the coach on the phone. He's going to let his sons and I say, I say sons because the young, his younger

brother is now signed with Miami. You know, he gets a chance to possibly play for Miami. So, nah, I think it was a way of trying to check a young man that has actually done his job. I think even the coach for the Browns had actually said, the coach of the Browns took Sanders, but he also took another young man first. And that young man wasn't as good as Sanders.

Even the young man would tell you that. He wouldn't tell you, I didn't think I'd go this before him. They're on the same team. And it comes down to the fact they wanted a deal. Because why would you trade two of your picks to the Seattle Seahawks to get him in the fifth round if you weren't just looking for a discount?

Cause you could have got him first. If you really, really wanted him, you could have got him first as when your first quarterback pick. So I'm a little disappointed in the whole NFL, you know, but like Tom Brady said today, you know what? Don't worry about when you got picked cause Tom Brady wasn't the first round draft pick either. He goes, now that you're on a team, just show them what you can do. Cause that shuts up people more than anything.

Resa Crippen (33:34)
And like, people will, like, because what I think is also fascinating too, because obviously, like, I followed this story a little bit, but not too much. And it's like, everyone is speaking on Deion's behalf, but Deion has not come out and said anything about what he's going to do for his son's career. He's like letting his son have his moments. really think people should just let his son do what he needs to do. Like, you know, now being a part of the Cleveland Browns, I believe.

Angeline Bishop Thomas (33:34)
You know?

Mm-mm.

Mm-hmm.

Resa Crippen (34:02)
And,

you know, we'll see what happens. Until then, know, Deion's doing his thing. His son just got drafted. Let's just take it one beat at a time and let's not make all these assumptions that Deion's gonna come in like a wrecking ball and try to oversee things.

Angeline Bishop Thomas (34:05)
We'll see what happens.

Yeah, I hate it when people do

that with parents that just care about their loved ones. I mean, he's a father that's actually hands on. He's not one of those fathers that shows up at the draft that never knew his son and wants to be a part of the dream just because, you know, the mom that's been raising him, got him that far. Deion was always active in his sons' lives. And as a black father, you're not going to sit up there and penalize his son and not have the black community not rally around them and uplift them.

All we can do as a community is make sure we uplift both of them and say, yeah, we see you. We see what happens. Got kids pranking you. got, people, it's thinking they teaching you a lesson by, not having you in the first round, like thinking they know you, they're all doing these pieces as if they know you. The black community to come around and say, no, we know you. We've seen you. You're a good kid. You're a good guy. You're going to have an excellent career. We'll be in the stands supporting you. The minute you get your name on a Jersey.

we're gonna be buying that jersey number and wearing it and supporting you. No worries, we got your back. Just like the you know, the Target boycott, right? We're gonna have their back. Did you hear about what's going on with the boycott, Resa, before we go on to the sermon. Remember how all of us in the black community have stopped going to Target? Tabatha Brown came online and said basically, what has happened and what can happen.

Resa Crippen (35:31)
Right.

Angeline Bishop Thomas (35:40)
when you stop buying a black influencers or a black product at a major box retailer, especially when they discount it, they actually sent a bill over to the black company saying you owe us X amount of dollars. And then here's your inventory. First of all, where you gonna send that inventory when they wanna send it to you, right?

And how can you pay them back money for sales that, know, cause you're just trying to make money off it. So everyone that has stopped shopping at Target, the black owners of products over there still need your help. They need you to, if you normally would buy their product to go online and look for the other avenues where you can still get their product. Cause they have a Target bill, a lot of them now that they have to pay. Did you know that?

Resa Crippen (36:27)
had no idea and seeing as though, first of all, that's a choice to do that because honestly, the fact that the market is actually moving more towards e-commerce and the fact that Tabitha is educating everybody on the fact of what happens when you decide to sign a deal with these big retailers is gonna make people that actually come up with products after this, like, know what, I would...

I would rather just do e-commerce than to have it in stores because it's like, what's the point? Like if that retailer does something that causes the public to stop shopping there, how am I held responsible for a bill? I didn't cause that outrage, you guys did. So technically you guys should eat the bill, not me.

Angeline Bishop Thomas (37:10)
I I mean, could you imagine getting an $8,000 bill from merchandise that they mark down, then no one was buying it at all, then they want to return it to you and have you pay what they lost? Because they're going to get money somehow. I was like, yeah.

Resa Crippen (37:26)
Yeah, but see, they lost money because of what they did. That's the part that makes me...

Angeline Bishop Thomas (37:31)
I hope it's a case by

case basis. really hope it's not every single black product. hope it's like some of them were like, you know, they, that's how they deal with structured kind of thing. That if you don't move these many units, then therefore this is the outcome. This is what could happen. I really hope it's not every person.

Resa Crippen (37:48)
Well, if the contract is built that way to be like, okay, we're gonna partner and we're gonna have your products in our store, there's gonna be some type of, I forgot the legal term for it, some type of caveat within that contract that says if the store causes for whatever reason, like this product to not be sold, I'm not held responsible for any merch that doesn't sell. Yeah, but they're gonna have a,

Angeline Bishop Thomas (38:14)
Well, people are going put that in their contracts going forward. Because if you don't

put it in your contracts, the alternative is, couldn't sell it, here you go, pay us the difference. Because you said these products would move.

Resa Crippen (38:23)
Right.

Right, it's like every time big companies do this stuff, all you're doing is making the lawyers jobs that much more interesting, because then they put these wonderful clauses in like this to say, OK, so now we have a clause moving forward in order to agree with this partnership that if your store does something that makes this so that people don't want to go to your store for whatever reason and my product doesn't get sold, I cannot be helped.

Angeline Bishop Thomas (38:40)
Mm-hmm.

Resa Crippen (38:53)
I cannot be held responsible for that and you guys are gonna have to eat the bill whatever doesn't get paid for.

Angeline Bishop Thomas (38:58)
Yeah, contracts will take a little bit of a change because of this. And I think also a lot of people that are usually clamoring to get into big box office, because that's where you can really see your life change. You can be a normal working person that has just made a product to be in a millionaire. Once it gets into some of these places, we don't have enough black stores that are at that level where they're on the shelves of, you know.

Resa Crippen (39:01)
Right.

Angeline Bishop Thomas (39:25)
a certain store that, you know, we don't have one, but if we had one like, I don't know, cause we have Walmart, have Costco, we have Target, we have all this, but if we don't have a black equivalent to those stores that you can say, okay, I'm just going to take my products over to here, you know, or try this place first. Most of the times, like you said, it's e-commerce or it's Amazon. It's just stuff online or their own personal websites. And you got to search those out now. You have to go to the person. It's not as quick or convenient.

as going to the portal for Amazon sometimes. Sometimes they're there, sometimes they're not. It makes it a little more harder to show support during this strike, but I feel really bad about what happened, what's happening to some influencers, getting these product designers, getting these kind of bills in the mail. And it was bad enough that we were like doing this to make a noise, but now to have them hurting on the other side of it, it's like, ouch, what did we do?

Resa Crippen (40:22)
Yeah, was like, I personally just feel like all it's going to do is just make us think twice about partnering with certain businesses because like, like I said, e-commerce is honestly the way to go. Yes. Is it more time consuming to have to do it yourself? But at the end of the day, from what I've learned from other businessmen and women is like ownership is key. And if you're able to own your product and you're able to, basically like recoup the money that

Angeline Bishop Thomas (40:32)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Resa Crippen (40:51)
you put out and then some that makes more sense. Some of these stores just like Target, unfortunately, we can see how quickly something can, like basically we can see how quickly something can change that can make people not wanna shop there. So it's like, you have to ask yourself, am I willing to gamble that risk? Especially if they have contracts like this. Cause I'm pretty sure nobody thought when they signed their contract that,

that this strike was gonna happen and basically caused them a lot of money. now they're like, you know what, I'd rather just keep it in-house and do our own thing. Because to your point, and you probably already know this, we tried to have our own Black Wall Street, you know what that is, Google it, educational experience. And it got to a point where certain people were threatened by it and basically, and that was a whole historical.

Angeline Bishop Thomas (41:39)
Mm-hmm.

Resa Crippen (41:42)
moment. So can we do it again? Yes, we have to be like more smarter about it and make it in the way so that we can just keep our dollar in house because it's clear that when we try to go out of house certain places not all certain places like to be funny. So now we have to be hilarious and put these clauses into contracts

Angeline Bishop Thomas (42:02)
really think that the black Wall Street model needs, that we had in the past, that people were so threatened by, it needs to move online as a black collective. All these black businesses, there needs to be an umbrella where all of them can be and exist and a web platform. If somebody is smart enough to build it, the businesses will come. And then you know going here, you're buying black. It's hard or buying from people of color.

Resa Crippen (42:07)
Mm-hmm.

Right.

Angeline Bishop Thomas (42:30)
You know, then there's have to be just people of the Black race. It could just be people of color. Or a place that has no DEI problems. And people would say, well, Amazon is that. I don't know. Is Amazon doing it like that? They've had a lot of strikes and stuff. I don't know if they're above board with how they do things.

Resa Crippen (42:43)
Well...

What?

Well, last time I checked on social media, like there are some women of color that are coming together who are a part of STEM that are trying to work on creating this platform for people of color to basically put their products on there so that way we can just have our own, what's it utopia or however you say that word. Yeah, collective, yeah.

Angeline Bishop Thomas (43:07)
Yeah, you can have a little black collective where everybody can get together and they

can actually, you know, help each other. And if there's women that are already, working on that, God bless them. Let's pray for them. Right. All right. Now let's go on to Pastor Quick sermon. It was titled, you got what I want. I got what you need. Kind of like that. The speaker was Reverend Dr. Dante R. Quick. Who was the senior pastor First Baptist church of Lincoln Gardens.

Resa Crippen (43:17)
Right.

Angeline Bishop Thomas (43:33)
The scripture he referred to was John chapter 20, verses 21 and 22 of the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible. In this passage, it describes Jesus' post-resurrection appearance to the disciples. He first offers them peace and then commissions them to go as he was sent, promising the Holy Spirit. He breathes on them and says, receive the Holy Spirit, symbolizing the gift of the Spirit for their ministry.

the continuity of Christ's mission with his disciples and the empowering presence of the Holy Spirit. Now at the beginning of the sermon, Pastor Quick reminded us how important it is for us to know the difference between our wants and our needs. And he kind of reflected on the slogans that I grew up with. The one...

I remember was, don't want to grow up. I'm a Toys R kid. Remember that line, Resa? I think you kind of remember that a little bit when you were smaller, right?

Resa Crippen (44:25)
Yeah, of course, they would play via commercial all the time.

Angeline Bishop Thomas (44:30)
That was

a commercial that annoyed so many parents because it made kids want to go to Toys R Us. You wanted to go and you didn't want to worry about being older, being, you know, rules and, you know, bedtimes. You just wanted to go play, you know, it's all about playing. What's your favorite thing was to play with. Um, but just because that phrase is a, is a wonderful phrase to like, you know, want a toy with, if you're a kid, it doesn't mean that we should live our lives by that mantra of always wanting what we want.

He challenged us to prioritize what we need and not just from others, but what we need from God above. He also talked about the passing of Pope Francis. What did you think about that recently when he was talking about the Papal Conclave?

Resa Crippen (45:19)
I thought it was, I thought that it was important to mention Pope Francis and what he stood for and what is basically about to happen now that, know. ⁓

Angeline Bishop Thomas (45:29)
Have

you ever seen one yet? A papal conclave?

Resa Crippen (45:33)
No, I've never seen one to be honest and I do have friends that are Catholic. just I've never seen it.

Angeline Bishop Thomas (45:39)
I remember

watching one John Paul, I don't know if it's a second or something like that, but he was the Pope when I was younger. And I remember watching his when he passed. And I believe after he passed, they had the papal conclave and they voted for Francis to be in, I believe. Now could be another person in between, but I think it was Francis after John Paul. But it's really fascinating to watch how they vote because they say they burn their...

the things they vote with the little cards or something, they put them in the fire. But when the fire turns a certain color, I think it's white, a white smoke instead of a black smoke. That means the Pope has been chosen. I'm not 100 % sure. I only watched it once a long, long time ago. So I'm looking forward to watching it again because it's very, a very reverent, it's a very reverent ceremony. We don't get to see it, but the whole world is talking about it, the way they all walk in.

the way, you know, it takes a amount of time, but it's really beautiful. It's really beautiful that they are thoughtful about the process. I don't know what inside the room looks like, because all the cameras in the world are on the outside just waiting for the smoke to change and for someone to come out and say who was selected. But it's a very reverent kind of ceremony.

Now Pastor Quick also spoke about some of the older European churches and how they have ties to people of color. He spoke about icons like the Black Madonna and the Black Madonna there's actually the most noted ones. There's one in Poland and there's one in Spain, but they speak to a shared history that goes deeper than our skin. And Pastor Quick's message was clear. We all share divine connection. Science, history and faith intersect.

to remind us that we are all at the core a family. What did you think about knowing that there's a black Madonna? So you know how you see that little picture of a Mary and the baby, the Madonna, and you think like it's in porcelain sometimes, but they have a picture and it always have a lighter face and the baby's a lighter color. But to think there's a nice black one somewhere, or the skin is nice and dark, or it might've been created out of ebony, or it's a darker version. What do you think about that?

Resa Crippen (47:51)
When I first saw that, I did see it a long time ago, I really thought it was just someone that did that just to basically create representation. I didn't know it was a real thing. So the fact that the Black Madonna is a real thing, I'm happy about that. Because again, we need to know of all the places and spaces that we have taken a place in or a part of so we know.

Angeline Bishop Thomas (48:03)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

I like how Pastor Quick said he's gonna go and take a picture and bring it back. He reminded me of our cousin when he said that, a Khalid wanting to go somewhere and take pictures. I believe we can Google it. You don't have to go spending the money fast if you don't want to, you I know you're trying to buy a car. You ain't gotta do that. We can go online. can, you know, we can find a picture. But if you want to have a beautiful experience and want to tell us about it, like how you felt when you saw it yourself and bear your testimony, I'm all down with that. But...

Resa Crippen (48:27)
Yeah.

Angeline Bishop Thomas (48:51)
Don't be like my cousin and just want to go and take a picture. Tell me, tell me, I'm going go and take a picture to show you. No, no, I got Google for that. You don't have to do anything like that for me. Do it if you want to do it, but don't do it. Don't let that be the reason you're getting on a plane. We got technology on our side.

Resa Crippen (48:59)
Ha ha ha.

Well see, would probably do the

same thing and say, I'm gonna, because like it's a whole experience you get to go across the country and, or go to another country to just to look at the different architecture and take pictures. So I would say the same thing.

Angeline Bishop Thomas (49:19)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah, but it's different to say, I want to plan a trip. All y'all want to go? know, and it's like, hey, do people want to go? That whole plan would be full of, know, Christians going to have that experience. But, ⁓ you know, my thing is like, I'll look it up online. Some of the most beautiful artwork is online. There's so much more online than just social media stuff. You can see, you can learn so much about the world just by, you know, looking up different places and looking up different artwork and stuff like that.

It can take you a bit of a rabbit hole. So I would say to anyone, you know, have a mission when you go into Google, because Google is run by AI and he'll throw all kinds of things saying, did you mean you want to see this? You mean you want to see that? So make sure you have a mission. You know where you're trying to go. Because the beautiful thing about the Internet is that you can learn a lot of things, a lot of things with it. Back in the day when I was younger, Resa, every mother always wanted to get the Encyclopedia Britannica in their house, like every version. It will come like a couple, a letter.

Resa Crippen (50:16)
Yeah.

Angeline Bishop Thomas (50:20)
or so would come a month. The letter A would come and everybody, I want to see the book that came to the house. you want to, it's like looking at the dictionary, like at the pictures and you're learning so much. And as a kid, if you're a parent that has kids, you know it's good for their education to have encyclopedias and dictionaries. So there would always be someone in the neighborhood in the seventies, early eighties that would knock on doors and say, are you interested in having an Encyclopedia Britannica in your home? Right? So, know, your Nana, she was like,

I'll talk to you, but you know, I don't got no money. You know, find a way that I can get this and my kids need this, they're in school, but you got to make it work for me. of course, by the time she taught this guy's ear off, she got him all the way down to a really reasonable price. So we definitely had these books coming. And I would just inhale them every time they came in, you sit on the carpet, you know, and you just turn it through and you just learn about stuff in the world that is so far from the parts of DC that we were living in. I'm like, I'm learning about London.

France, I'm learning about Poland, Antarctica, you know. And it's like, wow. So Google, you never had to be on the floor waiting for me to give you a volume of an encyclopedia to read. I had Google when you were little kids.

Resa Crippen (51:31)
Well, yeah, we had Google and then Google images all thanks to Jennifer Lopez. So because of that, it opened up like, you know, other.

Angeline Bishop Thomas (51:40)
Explain

to people that don't understand how Jennifer Lopez connects to Google images. Because I understand this story, but other people might not.

Resa Crippen (51:43)
Okay.

Okay, so for those of you that do not know, there was a Grammy event. So the Grammys are basically like the Music Super Bowl where they celebrate the artists and they give them awards, you know, depending on the art, depending on the albums that they put out for that previous year. Jennifer Lopez wore a very revealing Versace dress. And yeah, it was a green Versace dress. because

Angeline Bishop Thomas (52:07)
Green, green Versace, yeah I remember that.

Resa Crippen (52:12)
people because there was this this need to like to look up the dress and to see her in the dress Google actually invented Google pictures because of that so basically that's why I brought her up to say because she basically helped Google create Google images it opened up Google to have pictures of other things such as you know London and Paris and different artwork and things of that sort

Angeline Bishop Thomas (52:40)
artwork and

scenery and stuff like that. That's so true. Why, thank you, J.Lo. Look at you. Your legacy continues. Your legacy continues.

Resa Crippen (52:43)
Mm-hmm. Right.

Angeline Bishop Thomas (52:51)
So going back to Pastor Quick's sermon, he also kind of reminded us about, you know, we can't live in fear. The United States has a lot of tension right now over race. But as believers, we're called to break that cycle and seek understanding and grace, not division, which is really hard in our country right now because it's so much us against them in the mindset. So Christians are being challenged in these trying times to remember that they are Christians.

and turn the proverbial other cheek when things go awry. Like, you know, talking about Shedeur Sanders. He had every reason to get indignant. He stayed silent. In the end, when he got picked up by a team, he said, God is good, you know. Praise God, God is good. So to hold your tongue and have patience, a hard thing to be loving to someone that would not be loving towards you, a harder thing.

but we need to seek that kind of understanding and grace, because God would give that kind of grace to us. Pastor Quick also shared a powerful and uplifting message reminding us of God's grace and faithfulness when he emphasized Mary Magdalene's example of God's redemptive love. Like, God could have chose anyone to let them know that Jesus is risen, right? But he entrusted her with his purpose, and he didn't care what her past was.

He knew who she was, she was a woman of faith now. She was walking the path of being righteous now. And she was worthy. So I like that. I like that he reminded us that it's not about being perfect. That's probably why a lot of young people don't come to church, they're like, pretending to be perfect. It's about, you know, I'm changed.

Resa Crippen (54:34)
Yeah, because I can speak for myself. When I was younger, now it's just like, yeah, I'm just gonna live my life and make life mistakes. And then when I get older and I'm trying to get to heaven, I'll just go back to church more consistently towards the end of my life. Because at that point, you're like, I'm old, I'm not gonna make no mistakes, I'm old. I'm trying to get my life right, not realizing that you can be imperfect and be a Christian and still go to church.

Angeline Bishop Thomas (54:57)
Mm-hmm.

Right. A lack of faith, Pastor Quick says, is like poison. It clouds our mind and holds us back. Instead, we need to be completely sold out for Christ, trusting God to meet our needs and guide us with grace, even in uncertainty. Faith isn't also confined to church walls or to specific moments in our lives. God's presence is always with us. So we just need to open our hearts and prepare to experience Him fully.

I liked how he went on to tell us three key moments, three key takeaways from a sermon that we could use to help us in our daily lives. And they kind of point back to the resurrection. One was peace in the midst of paralysis. Resurrected faith proclaims peace. Pastor Quick reminded us that our children and we ourselves are fearfully and wonderfully made.

Don't allow our current hardships, whether it's rooted in the economy or personal struggles to steal our joy and our peace. I like that, Resa. mean, it goes back to like the older people would say, you you're not gonna steal my joy, you're not gonna steal my peace. You kinda need to remember that. Peace should be first and foremost, right?

Resa Crippen (56:09)
I feel like you should try your best to not have people steal your piece. Some days are easier than others, but at least attempt to not have that happen.

Angeline Bishop Thomas (56:16)
Mm-hmm.

And some people have more stressful jobs than others. Like some people on the front lines of customer service are dealing with a lot more than someone else that is not on the front lines. You know, because you never know, every day is different. You never know what you're gonna get or what mood the people are gonna be in. And you're gonna have to steel yourself in. And I don't know how people do it sometimes. I really don't, I really don't.

Resa Crippen (56:34)
Right.

Yeah,

but I used to work in customer service. Well, technically I still do work in customer service, but I'm more like behind the scenes, but when I used to work at the mall, some people, because in like the ish.

Angeline Bishop Thomas (56:49)
my gosh, the malls. Remember that? Everybody started

off their career I think in customer service as a young person.

Resa Crippen (56:55)
Right, because it's like I've done food in college, I've done the mall, retail. So it's like, I think the issue is with any type of forward-facing, with the public type of jobs is that because the public knows the customer is always right, some people like to forget that we're humans and just talk to us in your type of way. So just like how...

Angeline Bishop Thomas (57:01)
Retail. Yeah.

Resa Crippen (57:23)
you know, we're being asked to give grace and to be kind. They need to also remember that like, you can't talk to people in your type of way either. It's a two-way street.

Angeline Bishop Thomas (57:34)
Yeah, isn't there like a lady on TikTok, Veronica or something that always gives examples at work of people that are trying to talk to her very reckless and rude and how she deals with them?

Resa Crippen (57:39)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm. I actually follow her page if she does give wonderful comedic takes on those instances because I hear it a lot just from like the back end just dealing with that and all that stuff. Some people like honestly like I get it like you might not be in the best of moods but we still have to be mindful of how we talk to another person.

Angeline Bishop Thomas (58:04)
Definitely. The second point Pastor Quick made, from beleaguered to blessed. Pastor Quick encouraged us to treat our bodies as living sacrifices, to celebrate who we are and to reject imposter syndrome. He reminded us that God breathes life into us, elevates us and transforms our relationships and circumstances with his divine favor.

I like that reason. like the fact that he was like taking the time to say, you know, you're going to have times in your lives where you don't feel adequate in a space or in an area. but you can't that hold you back. You got to remember God's walking with you. And he also said, you know, we've got to be good to ourselves. We got to have those, those self care days. I like that reason, right? Like sometimes just need to take that vacation day, even though, you know, you feel like everyone else is out. I should probably stay.

If you know it's time for you to take your vacation and you haven't taken one yet, you need to put in and take it. The worst thing your boss can say is, can you delay it till so-and-so comes back? But if they say, sure, take your vacation, you shouldn't feel guilty. You should enjoy it and make sure it's all about self-care.

Resa Crippen (59:08)
I'm all about work-life balance. So if everybody around you is on vacation, that should be your cue to figure out when you want to go on vacation. And like you just said, if you can't take it on the days that you want it, you can always revise it. So can go on that vacation, but you should definitely take

Angeline Bishop Thomas (59:25)
Yeah, I'm getting back this year to making my Sabbath stay my Sabbath. I was in the habit a lot of, I would say the past, ooh, I guess I would say the past 15 years, I've been always like doing a lot of work on the weekends because, it's a good way to get things done. And sometimes the weekends would be from just, it used to start off being just Saturday and then it spilled over into Sunday.

And then I started worshiping more online because I had so much work to also do on Sunday. And I said, no, God you know, sat me down and said, no, you can't do this. And that's why we, changed the, the, the format of the podcast too. We said, you know what? To do the podcast recording on Sunday night in order to air it on Monday morning. It's, it's a good, you know, idea, but it makes too much work. I'm doing too much work on Sunday. and so we moved it.

to Monday night and let Sunday be a real day of rest. There's a reason why God did a whole bunch of creation, a whole bunch of work and he rested. We need a rest. Do you know your brain actually washes the plaque off itself when you sleep at night? It's a reset. We all need a reset.

Resa Crippen (1:00:37)
I see, I did not know that. I did not know that your brain washes off the plaque when you sleep.

Angeline Bishop Thomas (1:00:38)
Yeah.

Yeah, our brains need to go into REM. It's not something you just want, people say I can stay up and I only need two hours of sleep and they're bragging about it. That's not a good look. Your brain needs that full eight. It might be existing on five, but it really would prefer that eight. If you knew that your brain and your body is going through a repair process at night when you're sleeping, every little cell is going through a little car wash. If felt like that, if you knew something like that was going on in your body.

Resa Crippen (1:00:59)
Yeah.

Angeline Bishop Thomas (1:01:12)
Would you be more inept to go and go to sleep on time? Yeah.

Resa Crippen (1:01:17)
Well, yeah, of course. I wouldn't want to stay up too late because I want to make sure that the plaque... Right.

Angeline Bishop Thomas (1:01:21)
because you want your body to repair itself. If someone told

you your body's repairing itself every time you sleep, as you're dreaming, your skin is repairing itself, your eyes are repairing themselves, your brain, you name the organ, we'll tell you how it's going through a repair process during REM. If you knew that and could embrace that, would you then rest?

Resa Crippen (1:01:43)
Yeah, but I want to make sure that I'm repairing whatever needs to be repaired and also preventing any type of damage that could come about if I'm not doing sleep properly.

Angeline Bishop Thomas (1:01:55)
Now, if someone told you that your body holds on to more fat cells and gets more wrinkles due to lack of sleep, would you rest? If you knew your body's gonna let go of fat from the stress hormone is making you hold on to it, because the more you stay up, the more stress and cortisone is going through your body, right? Let's say that cortisone is making it harder for your body to release fat and it's causing more wrinkles. And the only thing that can make those things reverse itself and stop

Resa Crippen (1:02:16)
you

Angeline Bishop Thomas (1:02:25)
and go in the other direction where you can lose weight and have no wrinkles and have better looking skin is sleep. Wouldn't you be going to sleep on time then?

Resa Crippen (1:02:33)
Yeah, like to your point, I've seen a lot of people who have run themselves ragged and they look like death. But then when they're able to be well rested and take some time to themselves and then you see them again and you're just like, they look refreshed. they're yeah, I got to sleep and not stress. So.

Angeline Bishop Thomas (1:02:56)
Yeah, and if you think

about it, our language also tells a lot about us. Like you say something like, I'm on my grind. Last time I looked, when something's grinding, it's actually a negative thing. It's a bad thing for gears to be grinding right in your car, right? Like you're driving, all of a sudden you hear something, rrrr

Resa Crippen (1:03:15)
Right, like.

Angeline Bishop Thomas (1:03:23)
And you're right, they look haggard. Sometimes you have to do a reevaluation saying, am I pushing myself too much? Is it valiant to be the first one in the office and the last one out every day? If it doesn't bring you any increase in pay, any more responsibilities, it's just something you're doing for people to see it. Sometimes they're gonna be like, why am I doing this? Everybody who's going home, need to take my butt home.

Resa Crippen (1:03:26)
Cool.

Right, and

that's the thing, and that goes back to the whole American culture of, you need to be the hardest person in the room, you need to do all this stuff. And it kind of reminds me of a documentary that I had watched on this old Hollywood actress. And by the time she was about to go home to glory, y'all.

She was going through it. And what I mean by that is her body was so torn down because she had been working nonstop. I'm sorry, I forgot the woman who they were talking about because it was like a plethora of different actresses from the 1920s. And by the end of her life, she was just like, she looked good when they put all this stuff on her, but it was like when everything was off, you could just tell she lived a life of the grind.

Angeline Bishop Thomas (1:04:36)
Yeah, there's a reason why

they, you're right. There's a reason why they call sleep beauty rest. You know, I need to get my beauty sleep girls used to say, you know, I'm not saying I'm not going to to bed, got to my beauty rest because it did help your beauty to be well rested. The dark circles that are under people's eyes, the people are putting makeup on to cover. Yeah, sleep will help with that. Instead, people were taking a cup of coffee instead, sleeping less and drinking more coffee. So we really got to, you know, embrace the self care part.

Resa Crippen (1:04:42)
you

Angeline Bishop Thomas (1:05:06)
eating right, Pastor Quigley Thomas, you know, know, we're to be having these community gardens. That'll help with the self-care, right? You can't be talking about, you know, all your health issues and yet, you're eating the wrong things. So I like the fact that he did add self-care in there as something that God would want us to do. There's a reason why that Sabbath stays holy. The final point he made was redirection from worry to worship. Faith takes us from worry to worship, from doubt to trust. Even the apostle Thomas

marked by his doubts, embodies faith that sought understanding. So in a lot of ways, Pastor Quick said he saw himself like Thomas, and we should see ourselves like him too. You can have faith that kind of just wants a little more understanding before you can fully commit. It is not a bad thing to be curious. I like that. I never looked at Thomas that way. Okay, maybe he was just like a curious soul.

He wasn't saying it because he didn't doubt his God as his God. He was just like, I need a little more proof. I believe it when I see it. It's not like that influencer, what she say, I'll see for myself. Who's that one influencer that says that it talks to her angel and talks to God and all of sudden they tell her what she's supposed to be doing and she goes, I'll see for myself.

Resa Crippen (1:06:13)
Right.

Oh yeah, I forgot what her name is, but I know what you're talking about. I think it's Kira or something. Is that a name or something?

Angeline Bishop Thomas (1:06:23)
think her name is Ariel or something like that. I don't know what her name is. Might be Ariel.

Yeah, she's has an album out right now too. She's a black influencer on YouTube that we're talking about. Now, Pastor Quick said, he asked us to move beyond fear, live in faith and give God the worship he deserves. Now, through these reflections, we need to hold tight to our peace, stand firm in our faith and trust deeply in God's power to transform our lives. Even when the path forward seems uncertain. He said it best.

God will always make a way out of no way. It was a good sermon, Resa. I really enjoyed it to look at it that way, that passage in John, and to understand that, you know, it's not about, you know, waiting till everything's exactly the way, in the perfect conditions where God can bless me like he did me in the past. Like, if I just do this, this, and this, he'll bless me like he did, you know, years ago. There's fresh manna and fresh word and fresh miracles every day. I just gotta trust it's gonna happen.

Resa Crippen (1:07:26)
Agreed.

Angeline Bishop Thomas (1:07:28)
Yeah. Reverend Dr. Dante R. Quick's sermon, You Got What I Want, I Got What You Need, was live streamed on March 27th, 2025 on the FBC Somerset YouTube channel. When you get a moment, please check it out. Now let's move over to our second church spotlight, which is Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church in Houston, Texas. They gave an April 27th sermon we know you're going to enjoy. It's called

he keeps proving himself to me. The speaker was Reverend Dr. Marcus D. Cosby. He's the senior pastor over there. The scriptures he referred to was Acts chapter one, verses one through three of the New International Version of the Bible. This part of the Bible introduced the book of Acts, assess the stage for the story of the early church. It summarizes Jesus's ministry as described in Luke's gospel, emphasizing his instruction to the apostles and his sequential ascension to heaven.

The passage highlights Jesus's 40 day post resurrection appearances to the apostles and during which he demonstrated his resurrection and spoke about the kingdom of God. Now, Pastor Quick also spoke about, know, Jesus appeared many times after his resurrection. So it was nice to have another sermon that kind of went more in depth into it. Now, Pastor Cosby, actually, think he, Marcus Cosby came to our church and spoke. So it was nice to see him in his home church.

and to actually get a feel for what it's like to be in his part of God's Vineyard in Texas. And Resa, when I was watching it online, everything felt like, my gosh, like I was watching it on TV. mean, the choir all had these beautiful black robes on. They had many camera angles. The band not only had, they had two different, they had bass players, they had violinists, they had horns and trumpets and.

I was like, whoa, it was like impressive. I said to myself, is this what it's like with churches in Texas? I mean, it's very Potter House like. It's very Potter House like over where Pastor Cosby is. I was like, whoa.

Resa Crippen (1:09:29)
some people are able to have the big theatrics.

Angeline Bishop Thomas (1:09:33)
Yeah, but it's not only that. think the church has just grown so big. They have really big mega churches in Texas. You know how they say, everything's bigger in Texas? It's big in Texas. That church is big. But yet in some, a lot of ways, it just felt like, I don't know. It was so familiar because it's a Baptist church. Like the different things that we have in our church because we're Baptist. It had a familiarity to it.

Resa Crippen (1:09:42)
Mm-hmm.

you

Angeline Bishop Thomas (1:09:59)
The one thing they did that we don't do that I liked was they have a scripture read. The gentleman read the scripture. It wasn't the scripture that would be the one that the pastor is going to use with his sermon, just the scripture that was read. And they also have it on their screens, the people that are maybe shut in or sick or want prayers and know, people, their names go up on the screen so you can actually pray for certain people. Or if you see someone you recognize, you can reach out and check on that person. I like that.

You know, used to be in my church when I was younger, they used to be in the programs. Used to be a list of people that were either shut in or sick or people that needed prayers or had a death in their family. So you could send a card over or something like that. That kind of went away. The more churches are more online. Now people in the front offices of churches, they kind of send out those cards or deacons go over and do those visits. But back in the day when I was younger, Resa, the congregants could actually take part in that too.

It's a safety thing now. Everybody's like, ah, don't be using our church lists and scaring different people. Don't use our church list to try to find someone to date. Don't use our church list to recruit for your new venture and use it as marketing material, to send out marketing material. So everything's a little bit different now. Everything's a little more isolated, right?

Resa Crippen (1:11:16)
Yeah, everything is a little bit more different now compared to how it used to be back in the day.

Angeline Bishop Thomas (1:11:20)
Yeah, so Pastor Cosby's sermon, went to give us some beautiful points about how Christ, his actions post-resurrection weren't just a moment in history. They're proof of his love and his divinity. So his first point was Christ keeps showing up. Acts reminds us that Jesus kept a period to his people. Often undeniable evidence of his resurrection.

He didn't just have to prove, didn't have to keep proving himself, but he did keep proving himself because he loves us Like he didn't have to keep appearing to people, but he did it. And he did it to show one, people to have a testimony of him, one for encouragement, you know, and just to, it was another reminder that Jesus who carried the cross is still showing up for our lives today. His next point was Christ's mercy is our strength.

When Christ shows up with mercy, it's a call for us to respond with praise. Even when we like Thomas step away and miss the first good news, Jesus is faithful and he comes back to us. His next point was faith fuels discipleship. Through these post-resurrection appearances, Jesus teaches us something deeper.

look at the disciples who returned to fishing after his death. When they caught nothing, he showed up, he blessed them with a bountiful catch of fish, and then he called them to join them. Over breakfast on the beach, Christ reminded them that true discipleship develops when we minister to others. Now isn't that true, Resa? It's like we learn so much about Christ and how to be a good disciple to him just by serving other people with the same love that Christ has for us.

Resa Crippen (1:12:53)
true.

Angeline Bishop Thomas (1:12:55)
And then expect the miracle. Finally, Pastor Cosby said, emphasized this truth to all of us today, that Christ is still performing miracles. It's hard to believe that sometimes when you read the scripture, you see how powerful the different miracles Christ did were. It's hard to believe they're still going on today, but they are. You can look over your own life and see how he's been the miracle of things mundane and things bigger, you know, every day.

you know, little small things are done and great big things are being done in your life. So I really like the sermon reason because it reminds us to hold on to our faith, to trust in God's, you know, promises to us and it gives us a testimony of Christ's goodness. It was a really good sermon. I hope you're going to check it out. I hope you get a chance to actually look at it and actually get a feel for him and his home church. I like it that he came to see us, but it's something about when pastors preach from their own pulpits.

Resa Crippen (1:13:50)
Yeah, I'm definitely gonna check it out for myself.

Angeline Bishop Thomas (1:13:55)
Reverend Dr. Marcus D. Cosby's sermon, He Keeps Proving Himself to Me was live streamed on March 27th, 2025 on the Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church YouTube channel. When you get a moment, please check it out. Now, let's move on to one of my favorite parts of the show, the Dove of the day. Resa, who's the Dove of the day today?

Dove of the Day (1:14:14)
It's time to celebrate an amazing person doing amazing things in this world. This is Dove of the Day.

you

you

Resa Crippen (1:14:39)
So Dove of the Day for today is brought to you by Prayer Bowls, is actually going to be volunteers from God's Pit Crew, excuse me. So after nearly seven months since Hurricane Helene devastated their home near Mount Mitchell, Brian and Melissa Green have moved into a new home built by volunteers from God's Pit Crew.

following a harrowing experience where they nearly escaped a deadly mudslide. The hurricane, which struck Western North Carolina in September and brought a record rainfall, left the couple with nothing amid their 30 years of memories and possessions. In the wake of their tragedy, their faith and the support of the community played a crucial role in their recovery, especially after

a promise made by God's pit crew to build them a new home while Melissa was recovering from a heart attack. Since construction began on March 30th, volunteers from across the country worked tirelessly to complete the three-bedroom house, which was revealed on Good Friday, symbolizing hope and resilience. Brian and Melissa expressed deep gratitude for the outpouring of support.

emphasizing the divine nature of their recovery journey.

Angeline Bishop Thomas (1:16:01)
Wow, they had not only help locally, but they have people around the United States helping too. Wow, that's beautiful. mean, I mean, that's, it almost has the feel of the habitat of humanity, how they go and they build people's houses. They actually build a house.

Resa Crippen (1:16:07)
Mm-hmm.

They actually built a house.

Angeline Bishop Thomas (1:16:20)
That's remarkable. I don't know what I would do if I lost a lot of my possessions like that. I don't even know what I would save first, but to have people that heard the story willing to come to their aid, they didn't have to pay anything or how did that work?

Resa Crippen (1:16:32)
I didn't see anything about having to pay anything. They just heard their story and wanted to help them out.

Angeline Bishop Thomas (1:16:38)
Yeah I think they must have gotten a lot of materials from other people and got it done. Wow. So that's a mother, father, and children or just a mother and a father? And a new baby.

Resa Crippen (1:16:45)
It's a mother and father.

I don't know they have any children, but they. Yeah, yeah, it's just a man and a wife and as far as I know. And God's pit crew came through and you know help them out.

Angeline Bishop Thomas (1:16:50)
Oh, so it could just be a man and a wife then. Is that the man and the wife?

Hmm.

That's a beautiful story, Resa. I think you're absolutely right. They're totally deserving of Dove of the Day. If you're wishing to learn more about them, we'll put their story on our website so you can check it out. Thanks so much for sharing that, Resa. Now let's move on to The Screening room.

Resa Crippen (1:17:16)
No more?

The Screening Room (1:17:22)
It's time for that weekly movie review in the screening room.

Angeline Bishop Thomas (1:17:40)
Today's greeting room, it comes with a film that's in theaters now that's been put out by Angel Studios. Angel Studios is not a sponsor of the podcast, but you know, we like checking out their stuff. So their movie is called King of Kings. It's actually an animated tale. It's written by Seong-ho Jang, Robert Edwards and Jamie Thompson. It's directed by Seong-ho Jang. It stars Pierce Broadman, Forrest Whitaker, Oscar Isaac and others.

Now, here's a brief synopsis. Now, Charles Dickens, the author, never intended his retelling of the gospels, the life of our Lord, to be shared with anyone publicly. This is like a family story. It was written as a private gift to his kids. And he used the manuscript to express his personal faith and to teach them the values that he holds dear. Now imagine a father trying to guide his child through the greatest story ever told.

He reshaped it in his words so that his family could understand it and treasure it for many years to come. Well, the film, The King of Kings, reimagines this father-son connection. It starts with Dickens performing A Christmas Carol for eager crowds in a Victorian London. And when his son, Walter, interrupts the reading with his playful antics, including parading on stage with his pet cat as if he were King Arthur, Dickens' patience just runs thin.

So he reprimands his son, Walter, but yet at the same time, he wants to connect with the boy. So inspired by Walter's fascination with royalty, Dickens begins to read to him his handwritten gospel stories. And he weaves the life of Jesus into themes of kingship and humility. The narrative unfolds with kind of vivid vignettes of Christ's life. They hinge on conversations between the father and the son as they explore the meaning

of the story together. Now, I like the cartoon, Resa, because during Easter time, we talked about, this is actually Easter Tide. I think it's a good movie to take the little ones to if you haven't done anything with them yet. Because sometimes during the Easter season, we're all into us getting dressed a certain way, going to certain religious ceremonies and being at our church a lot. And we kind of forget about making it fun and knowledgeable for the little ones too.

So I think anyone that's a new Christian or anyone that's a child or anyone that's exploring their faith, they could use this as a, I like cartoons. I'm not even gonna lie. I like cartoons. I watch them sometimes. It's a good way to kick back and my inner kid gets happy. So going to the theater, get a box of popcorn and watching a film, it's a reason to be a kid in the theaters.

Resa Crippen (1:20:18)
You

Angeline Bishop Thomas (1:20:27)
Take some nieces and nephews if you don't have any of your own kids. Take your neighbor's kids. Okay, with your neighbor's permission and probably with your neighbor. But take some kids, go see a nice cartoon. I liked it. I liked it a lot. And I liked the fact that it's about meeting people where they are. Like Dickens, his son was like into King Arthur or whatever. And Dickens was writing this story that dealt with faith. He wrote it for his son and for his family.

and he made Christ, he really tapped into the kingship of Christ. I what's a better way to learn about Christ than at the feet of your father?

Resa Crippen (1:21:03)
All right, great. I feel like that's best way to learn.

Angeline Bishop Thomas (1:21:07)
Yeah, from your parents. The themes of this movie are family, kingship, connection, love, Jesus, personal growth, faith, courage, community, and friendship. Like we said, where do you watch it? It's in theaters right now. We'll also have the trailer on www.withthequickness.com in case you want to check it out. So let's go on to the Bema Seat

The Bema Seat (1:21:30)
Come before the Bema Seat Come before the Bema Seat where life's journeys and stories meet

Every week a testimony of one who brings hope and victory with joy and reverence. We'll sing our praises to the King of Kings. The Bema Seat. Come before the Bema Seat.

Come before the Bema seat.

Angeline Bishop Thomas (1:22:20)
Today's story deals with Kimberly Elise, and it's a testimony to perseverance, faith, and a reminder to listen to that whisper in your heart, even when the world is surrounded by noise. We said, remember Kimberly Elise, she's an actress that we've seen a lot of things in the past, right?

Resa Crippen (1:22:38)
Yeah, she was in Set It Off, she was in Tyler Perry's, I can't remember any of movie.

Angeline Bishop Thomas (1:22:42)
There was, yeah, what was it? I can

see her so clearly, like the husband threw her out and she came back, had to take care of her. What was the name of that movie? Tyler Perry's. ⁓

Resa Crippen (1:22:49)
Cool.

I'm looking it up right now, so I can't remember because I almost said the wrong

Tyler Perry title. The Diary of a... Yeah, Mad Blab Coming, that's what it was.

Angeline Bishop Thomas (1:22:59)
Mad Black Woman.

Yeah, she was in the diary of Mad Black Woman. She also was in, I think, a movie with Oprah Winfrey at one point, wasn't she?

Resa Crippen (1:23:09)
yeah, she was in Beloved. Yeah.

Angeline Bishop Thomas (1:23:11)
Color purple, beloved. That's what she was.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, definitely. Well, she shared her story with CBN News, which is Christian Broadcasting Network, last week. And it moved me when I watched it. So I wanted to give you guys a little breakdown of what's been going on with her if you haven't, if you're not aware of her story. Kimberly Elise's story.

is a powerful testament of transforming grace of God. Now she grew up in a Christian household and she was baptized at age 16. So she knew about faith, but she lacked a deep mentorship to fully connect with God. Now she ended up becoming an actress as we talked about and her path in Hollywood brought her a lot of success and fame, but it also led her to a lot of wrong places.

She kind of got involved in new age practices with crystals and positive affirmations. Yet even in her wandering, Kimberly realized that God's truth was the only thing that could truly fulfill her. One day when she was feeling really lost and desperate, she prayed a heartfelt plea asking God that if he even saw her. That prayer marked the beginning of her transformation because a friend's Christian mother entered her life and guided her

to rediscover Jesus. Kimberly's breakthrough moment came when she bought her first Bible and began to read the Gospels. The genealogy of Matthew moved her to tears and opened her heart to the truth of God's Word. I tell every new believer that one of the best places to start when I say, do I start in the Bible? Do I start in Genesis? I said, start in the Gospels. Start with Jesus. You said you are making Christ your Lord and Savior. You should know who he is.

You the rest of it, yo, you can always go back to the beginning and read how the world was formed, but you didn't know who Jesus is. What do you think about that, Resa?

Resa Crippen (1:25:05)
Well, I think that's good advice because that's how I started when I read. So I've read the Bible a couple of times, like at least portions of the Bible a couple of times, but this most recent time I started from the recommendation that you gave me. So once I finish with that section, I'll probably go back to the beginning to read about how the world was formed, etc.

Angeline Bishop Thomas (1:25:30)
And does it make things make more sense that you're seeing around you like, you know, when pastor talks about Easter or you're watching The Chosen does things make more sense going through the gospels now because there's so much things that are showing Christ's life more and more at this juncture, in your life.

Resa Crippen (1:25:47)
Yes, it definitely gave more clarity by reading the Gospels first because I think when I did it the first time, very first time I tried to read the Bible when I was like 18, 19, I was like basically I pretty much stopped around the point of Adam and Eve and then I was just like, it was a lot to try to take in so I didn't even get to the part of Christ because I was so stuck on Adam and Eve and that whole like, because even like trying to,

trying to remember all the names of the kids.

Angeline Bishop Thomas (1:26:18)
The genealogy is kind of a lot in Genesis. Yeah, yeah.

Resa Crippen (1:26:18)
Yeah, the genealogy threw me off.

Yeah, so I was just like, can't do this. I couldn't do it at that time. I could probably do it now with like a pen and paper or something to write it down, because there's just too many people to remember.

Angeline Bishop Thomas (1:26:32)
But Kimberly's faith led her to a place of deep repentance and renewal. So she purged her home of anything tied to New Age practices and clung solely to the Bible, realizing that God's word was all that she needed for guidance, comfort, and truth. Through her growing faith, Kimberly found clarity, compassion, and understanding that so many are lost in the world that normalizes sin. She now sees life through the lens of the Holy Spirit.

receiving discernment, strength, and purpose daily. But her story doesn't stop there. See, while she wasn't actively seeking a partner, a pastor introduced her to her now husband, George, as she focused on serving the Lord. It's amazing how when you put your whole heart into doing something for God, how other things open up. Resa is like, she wasn't even looking for a partner. She was like, I have my faith. I'm reading my scriptures every day.

I'm throwing out this new age stuff. I'm totally staying committed and working on me. And here comes a pastor going, tap her on the shoulder. Excuse me. Pardon me. Excuse me. Pardon me. I think this guy over here is interested in you.

Resa Crippen (1:27:42)
Well, I feel like that's Yeah, I feel like that's normally how it happens. Like when you're not looking you're just focused on your own stuff That's when somebody comes along

Angeline Bishop Thomas (1:27:43)
I think it's kind of cute, right?

That's exactly how I think that's how God intends it. mean, it's online. You have people online that think you can just shop. I'm going to find my husband, my shop for him. I find my wife, my shop for her. That's really not how, you know, it needs to work. I mean, it can work that way. There's always exceptions to every rule, but you know, there's something about being in the world, just living your life and having that, serendipitous moment that happens where you just two people's paths just cross and you're like, Hey,

Like, hey, you know, and eyes meeting, lightening the bolt, and just like, you you want to talk to somebody a little more, you know, or you knew somebody for a long time, you never looked, one day you're looking at them differently, huh, so and so looks pretty good today. Or you feel a streak of jealousy when you didn't think about a friend that you never thought you'd be jealous of them seeing so and so, you know.

Resa Crippen (1:28:23)
you

those stories.

Those stories always trip me out when they're just like, oh, we were friends for a long time. I never even thought about it. And then one random day, he's just like, I don't know. He looked different to me. And I'm just like, really? They're like, yeah.

Angeline Bishop Thomas (1:28:54)
Sometimes, I mean, guys, some guys just know that the way to a woman's heart is to make her feel safe. That's something that, you know, my grandfather said a long time ago, you make a woman feel safe, you could basically become their best friend or their man, one of the two. I mean, because it's hard to have safety in this society. Women are attacked all the time for all kinds of reasons. You know, and Black women are attacked, in my book, more than all women.

I could be wrong, but that's how it feels like, that we're always under attack. So to be with someone that makes you laugh and that listens to you and that wants to understand you and wants to protect you and sees you and listens to your goals and your dreams and doesn't belittle you or there's no microaggressions and all that kind of stuff that can go on between two people. That's a good place. That's a really fun place to be, to be with someone that's a real good friend. You want people to be your friend.

move on into becoming in relationship with them. Doesn't always have to start off the lightning bolt, you know, but it's nice if it does, you you have a lightning bolt moment and then you become, you know, enamored, enamored comes to becoming good friends the next thing you know. But you can start friendship first.

Resa Crippen (1:30:07)
Yeah, I think the best thing is to start with friendship first, because I feel like some people will use lust as a reason. Like, oh, well, I'm like, that's lust, that wasn't it. That wasn't it.

Angeline Bishop Thomas (1:30:19)
True,

Lust can get you in a lot of trouble. You can't, it's one thing to have it like give you the initial pull, but it shouldn't keep you there. You gotta, and that's why, you know, I don't believe in, you can't do that sex before marriage. It messes up too much stuff. If you watch, if you learn anything from all these reality shows where they have all these people that never knew each other, you know, either getting these boxes of mazes and going on dates, remember that show, or they're all, you know, in a house.

Resa Crippen (1:30:23)
Right.

Angeline Bishop Thomas (1:30:46)
hoping to go on little mini dates and get a rose at the end of the week. I mean all these little shows they're just so ridiculous of trying to find ways of people connecting when God just makes it go, know, just live your life. Work on you, live your life. If it's meant to be, it will be darling. And if it's not, you know.

Resa Crippen (1:31:06)
Okay.

Angeline Bishop Thomas (1:31:08)
Well, George came along and like she said, Kimberly was focusing on the Lord. Their connection became another example of God's provision in her life. Kimberly has since used her platform that she has to glorify God. She shares her baptism testimony on social media. So if you take a chance to look up Kimberly Elise, you might see her baptism and where she talks about it and where it inspires very many other people to seek Christ. Today,

Kimberly pours her passion and her faith into healthy living projects like her resurrection Bible study for women. And she has a podcast called Grace, Truth and Love. She also has a recipe book, which I'm thinking about picking up, Resa. It's called scriptures and smoothies. Isn't that a great title? Like maybe she has like recipes on one page for the smoothie and it has scriptures along with it. I that might be kind of cool in my kitchen. I might think about getting that. I know you do smoothies, right?

Resa Crippen (1:32:02)
Yeah, I do do some of these a couple times a month. definitely, I'll definitely check it out when it does come out.

Angeline Bishop Thomas (1:32:10)
Yeah, she said, I think it's out now. I think I might grab a copy or check it out on Amazon. Her work bridges spiritual nourishment and practical living. It offers encouragement to anyone ready to grow in their relationship with God. I liked her story because it's about transformation. mean, she was a person that had faith. She was baptized young, but with the pull of Hollywood, she kind of got pulled into other things and thinking other ways of being.

affirmational words and crystals was going to be the way to make her feel more connected to a being higher than herself when all she would need to do is to come home and get back into her scriptures and be back with believing in God, her relationship with God and her Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. I like the story. I like it a lot. I like her testimony. I look at her differently now. I wonder if it's going to affect the roles she picks or if it's going to be just an anchor for her. I wonder where it's going to take her.

Resa Crippen (1:33:07)
I'm sure it's going to probably influence the type of roles that she takes moving forward.

Angeline Bishop Thomas (1:33:13)
Yeah. If you would like to share a story from your Christian experience, one that would inspire new and rededicated Christians, please visit www.withthequickness.com and select the Bema Seat tab. There you'll find our interview form and you can fill it out and we can schedule a virtual interview with you. You can also email Bema Seat at withquickness.com to begin our guest process. So, Resa we have another episode in the can.

I know it felt a little long to you, but you know what? There was a lot of stuff that happened this week. I mean, we didn't know what was gonna go on with Deion's son. He was supposed to go in the second, first or second round.

Resa Crippen (1:33:51)
It was a very interesting journey that we went on, but we did it. We completed it.

Angeline Bishop Thomas (1:33:56)
Okay, we are grateful that you tuned in today. Our prayer for you is that God reveals to you that he is real and able to meet all of your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus. Have a great rest of the week everybody.

Bye now.

Resa Crippen (1:34:13)
great week everyone.

WTQ Outro (1:34:15)
I've been trying to forget But you won't let me Something in my brain wants you I've been hanging by myself Asking for help But nothing seems to work on you With everything crazy You still my source of peace You filter out the lows You give me what I need me feel like oh yeah You You never leave

You're the reason I'm going out with mind I just can't stop thinking about you You got me feeling some type of way You make me wanna stay in all the you You're the reason I can't get out of my head I just can't stop thinking about you