#diaryofachurchboy

[diaryofachurchboy]

Sunday Vibes continued

Sunday Vibes continued 

Diary of a Church Boy (S01 E21)

Owwteebee and Rozay continue an interesting conversation on radio

In the last episode I shared the beginning of a conversation we had on a radio show and we had just enough time for the beginning of it. Owwteebee here. This is ‘Diary of a Church Boy’ and here’s more from Sunday Vibes with Rozay.

Let’s just pick up from where we left off.

....

That’ll be all for now.

This podcast is a digital audio diary of my reflections on church-life and faith and you’ll find links to its transcripts on each episode’s show note. 

There’s a link to the unabridged version of this conversation on this episode’s show note that you may wanna listen. What’s here has been edited for the runtime of this podcast.

‘Diary of a Church Boy’ is listener supported and you can support for a dollar or its equivalent every month on Patreon through the link also on each episode’s show note.

If this was recommended to you and you like the content, please share it with someone else! Subscribe, rate and review on your preferable podcast app so that we can reach more people with this. Follow @diaryofachurchboy (that’s one word) on Instagram and feel free to send your voice note contributions via direct message. 

See you on the next one!

[diaryofachurchboy]

Sunday Vibes

Diary of a Church Boy (S01 E20)

Owwteebee and a friend begin an interesting conversation on radio

Sunday Vibes is a hashtag I sometimes use when I post pictures on social media on Sunday and it usually is a reflection of how I feel that morning. Owwteebee here. This is ‘Diary of a Church Boy’ and here I share a different kinda Sunday Vibe I had recently.

Let get to it.

So my friend - Rose ‘Rozay’ Akai who is broadcaster and content creator invited me to sit in on a radio program she hosts on Sunday mornings and guess what - its called Sunday Vibes. 

Sunday Vibes is a contemporary Christian radio show that breaks down religious complexities with a view understanding the simplicity of grace and Christianity.

It was an amazing opportunity for me to introduce the podcast to new listeners and, of course, have this amazing conversation with Rozay.

Here’s how it went:

...

We’ll continue on the next episode.

This podcast is a digital audio diary of my reflections on church-life and faith and you’ll find links to its transcripts on each episode’s show note. ‘Diary of a Church Boy’ is listener supported and you can support for a dollar or its equivalent every month on Patreon through the link also on each episode’s show note.

If this was recommended to you and you like the content, please share it with someone else! Subscribe, rate and review on your preferable podcast app so that we can reach more people with this. Follow @diaryofachurchboy (that’s one word) on Instagram and feel free to send your voice note contributions via direct message. 

See you on the next one!

[diaryofachurchboy]

Gbas Gbos! continued

Diary of a Church Boy (S01 E19)

Owwteebee concludes discussion about a recent war of words between two Christian leaders.

...

Owwteebee here. This is ‘Diary of a Church Boy’ we pick from the last episode, following a recent war of words between two Christian leaders and what we can learn from this.

Let’s get to it.

I made a statement in the ‘Try Jesus’ episodes (13 & 14 to be precise) which I’m finding to be more true than I realized at the time and here’s what I said: “Once in a while things come into our life space that reveals our theology and what we are empowered enough to confront or disempowered to tolerate.” In this case, a video from years back (it must be mentioned) went viral and incinerated an already fiery situation.

Here’s some more reactions from respondents:

...

Rather than just point fingers and apportion blames - which is what I find is the case in most of the response and reactions to this, let’s take a different approach here. I’d suggest we also look at what we can learn from this situation so we don’t repeat mistakes of the past. And here’s a Bible verse that I find relevant to this. 

I particularly like the Message Bible rendition of this scripture: “Be gracious in your speech” it says. “The goal is to bring out the best in others in a conversation, not put them down, not cut them out.” (Colossians 4:6 The Message Bible). As with all scripture referenced on this podcast, please refer to transcripts on episode notes for the address.

We, as Christians, should not conform to today’s cancel culture and find mistakes as in roads to boycott, cancel and isolate defaulters. No. Rather, when people fall short of the glories of God and man (and I’ve been saying that as imperfect beings we always will) these mistakes should make for conversations, understandings and opportunities for growth. 

Hurting people hurt others - that’s a truth that should give us perspective when dealing with outbursts like these. And I’m saying instead of perpetuating a cycle of hurt by this tit-for-tat back and forth war of words, we can rise higher than this ‘gbas gbosing’, especially as Christian leaders. We can - while dealing with the issue (no matter how difficult and painful), seize the occasion to extend grace and be gracious. 

I’ll end with another scripture and this one, I’ve always thought, takes a growing up to to live out. Here it is: “To you who are ready for the truth, I say this: Love your enemies. Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst. When someone gives you a hard time, respond with the energies of prayer for that person.” Luke 6: 27 & 28 The Message Bible). I told you - it’ll take a growing up to to live like this.

That’ll be all on this for now.

This podcast is a digital audio diary of my reflections on church-life and faith and you’ll find links to its transcripts on each episode’s show note. ‘Diary of a Church Boy’ is listener supported and you can support for a dollar or its equivalent every month on Patreon through the link also on each episode’s show note.

If this was recommended to you and you like the content, please share it with someone else! Subscribe, rate and review on your preferable podcast app so that we can reach more people with this. Follow @diaryofachurchboy (that’s one word) on Instagram and feel free to send your voice note contributions via direct message. 

See you on the next one!

[diaryofachurchboy]

More On Noise Pollution

Diary of a Church Boy (S01 E17)

Owwteebee continues discussions on noise pollution

Last week I introduced an issue of concern, one that shouldn’t even be named amongst us as Christians

Owwteebee here. This is ‘Diary of a Church Boy’ - and we conclude a discussion about the nuisance that places of worship can sometimes be.

Let’s do this.

Did you know that the human ear is extremely sensitive and never rests? We may not be aware of it but even when we are asleep our ears are working.

Our ears are constantly picking up sounds from our environment that are filtered, transmitted to and interpreted by our brain. 

Undeniably, hearing empowers us to stay connected to other people and other worlds but when what we hear becomes noise, it affects us negatively - physically and mentally.

Health problems associated with noise include stress, poor concentration, hearing loss, fatigue from lack of sleep and the attendant productivity loss, et cetera.

Noise pollution is a serious health concern worthy of our attention and such as prevent or interrupt sleep is nearly a universal complaint but places of worship should not be named amongst its list of sources. No!

Remember the complaint from the last episode? Well, here’s a corroboration from another respondent:

...

I wish I could say I haven’t had these experiences myself. I’ve had to walk to a church nearby and ask them if they genuinely think Jesus would applaud them for disturbing the neighborhood the way they were.

I’m not kidding. This can really be annoying and one of experiences I miss the most from the lockdown, if you ask me, is that we didn’t have to deal with this insensitivity from people who’ve chosen to be so inconsiderate.

...

We actually reached out to some legal practitioners to get their opinion on how one can go about addressing this. I’ll just read out some of their responses verbatim:

I think your best bet is to contact an NGO that is involved in this area. They are likely to have lawyers who have the laws at their fingertips. Other lawyers don't just have all laws available to dish out off the cuff. It is after they are retained that they dig up the law and get paid, except for a lawyer who has done this before and may be willing to offer it pro-bono.

Hhmmm. Another one:

Such loud noises constitutes nuisance and this is an aspect of the law of tort. Check the relevant tort law of your state.Further, such nuisance offends the peace and tranquillity of the environment. This is also an aspect of environmental noise pollution. For further info, let me send my account details.

Na wa o!

Anyways, while I’ll continue to search for an expert who will help us find solutions to this concern, let’s think about this.

Though not explicitly stated in the Bible, the Golden Rule has been a way of referring to the words of Jesus in Luke 6: 31. It is a simple yet powerful way of urging us to imbibe what I’d call a culture of consideration. It encourages us to put ourselves in other people’s shoes and not do to them what we would prefer not to happen to us.

But with regards to this, wouldn’t’ it be a shame that we have to get the government to get the places of worship to obey the golden rule? Shouldn’t it be common sense to represent Jesus in ways that would draw men unto Him?I’ll leave us with the Contemporary English Version of that bible verses and hope that we will take it to heart - as we should: “Treat others just as you want to be treated.” (Luke 6:31 Contemporary English Version).

That’ll be all on this for now.

This podcast is a digital audio diary of my reflections on church-life and faith and you’ll find links to its transcripts on each episode’s show note. ‘Diary of a Church Boy’ is listener supported and you can support for a dollar or its equivalent every month on Patreon through the link also on each episode’s show note.

If this was recommended to you and you like the content, please share it with someone else! Subscribe, rate and review on your preferable podcast app so that we can reach more people with this. Follow @diaryofachurchboy (that’s one word) on Instagram and feel free to send your voice note contributions via direct message. 

See you on the next one!

[diaryofachurchboy]

Second Bonus Episode

Diary of a Church Boy (S01 E15)

So 12 weeks and 14 episodes in, producing ‘Diary of a Church Boy’ podcast has been quite an experience - thanks to you who listen, contribute and support every week.

Owwteebee here. This is ‘Diary of a Church Boy’ and I’m just gon’ be vulnerable here today. 

Do this with me.

Seasons come that, without our trying, push the most profound considerations to our consciousness. Considerations like ‘who are you and what’s your life about?”

If you ask me, I’m likely to refer to myself first as a storyteller. That, for me is not just a word prop to populate my bio, no. It encapsulates what I now see as my life work. 

I recount stories (or retell them - if you will) in ways that empower people and ‘diarying’ - documenting these in ways that I shared in episodes 2 and 3, has been a thing for me.

I see life, in a sense, as a series of events; occurrences meaningful or not, that change our world - our life situations and circumstances, to better or worse. Thinking about life this way has made me more introspective and prayerful, I must say. And listen: prayers can turn these life events around. Oh they can and I’ll talk about that someday.

These events stitched together in chronological sequences form the stories of our lives. Our stories begin the day we were born and will end the day we die. We clock these events in blocks that we mark once every calendar year in what we call birthdays. Yes, birthdays are significant plot points in the stories of our lives.

As my birthdays approach each year, I begin to feel, as we say, some type a’ way. I find that my mind readily gravitates towards existential thoughts. Some of those thoughts have ended up as poems and songs, and I’ll share a few here:

...

Songs You Know, the Way I Sing ‘Em.

Yes, birthdays get me feeling grateful and thoughtful too. I think about family and friends and the blessing they’ve been to me. I think back at my dreams and the life goals I set to live them. 

I think about my life and work; how I will be remembered and what I would be remembered for. I think about the One who give me life and how He thinks I live it.

Diary entry:

...

These are the kind of thoughts that paint blues in my mind days preceding my birth date, these are the kind of thoughts that make me pray the Message Bible rendition of a popular verse: “Oh! Teach us to live well! Teach us to live wisely and well!” Psalm 90:12 The Message Bible.

So who are you and what’s your life about? Think about it, document your thoughts - if you will and bless us with them if you don’t mind and I’ll share them here with our listeners. 

This podcast is a digital audio diary of my reflections on church-life and faith and you’ll find links to its transcripts on each episode’s show note. ‘Diary of a Church Boy’ is listener supported and your birthday gift this year to me can be support for a dollar or its equivalent every month on Patreon through the link also on each episode’s show note.

If this was recommended to you and you like the content, please share it with someone else! Subscribe, rate and review on your preferable podcast app so that we can reach more people. Follow @diaryofachurchboy (that’s one word) on Instagram and feel free to send me birthday wishes and prayers via direct message or voice notes. 

See you on the next one!

[diaryofachurchboy]

Try Jesus continued

Diary of a Church Boy (S01 E14)

An August 13 New York Times article describes his relationship with God as a way to channel his instincts which, according to the writer, stray combative. This is evident in a ballad he released end of July, that already has more than a million views on YouTube and has landed him his first two placements on Billboard’s genre sales chart.

Owwteebee here. This is ‘Diary of a Church Boy’ and we continue the conversation we had about Tobe Nwigwe’s ‘Try Jesus’ on the last episode. Let’s do this! Let’s pick up from reactions about the song and take it from there. ...

And back to my conversation with Adaora:

...

I stated when I introduced this discussion in the last episode that certain things come into our life space and reveal what we are empowered enough to confront (or disempowered to tolerate). Wrong biblical interpretation of the ‘turn-the-left-cheek’ scripture has, in my opinion, disempowered Christians to tolerate injustice that we should not.

This scripture is not suggesting that we become docile in the face of mistreatments as prove of our adherence to Christian tenets. No! That would be unduly reading in Christian Pacifism - the theological position that any form of violence is incompatible with the Christian faith, to the text in a way that disempowers us to be taken advantage of.

Context is everything; we cannot pull this verse out of the entire text and impose our meaning on it. Read the entire passage, please, and pay attention to the running principle here. Turning the left cheek, gifting your inner garment to someone who spitefully takes your outer garment, these all point to intelligent ways of engaging the cultural context to resist oppression.

And that’s what Tobe and Jabari did with ‘Try Jesus’. Yeah!

...

That’ll be all on this for now.

This podcast is a digital audio diary of my reflections on church-life and faith and you’ll find links to its transcripts on each episode’s show note. ‘Diary of a Church Boy’ is listener supported and you can support for a dollar or its equivalent every month on Patreon through the link also on each episode’s show note.

If this was recommended to you and you like the content, please share it with someone else! Subscribe, rate and review on your preferable podcast app so that we can reach more people. Follow @diaryofachurchboy (that’s one word) on Instagram and feel free to send your voice note contributions via direct message. 

See you on the next one!

[diaryofachurchboy]

Try Jesus

Diary of a Church Boy (S01 E13) 

Once in while things come into our life space (in this case a song) that reveals our theology and, in my opinion, what we are empowered enough to confront.

Owwteebee here. This is ‘Diary of a Church Boy’ and we begin a conversation about music and a currently trending song.

Let’s get to it.

Music is one of my favorite things in life generally. The thing is I like what I like and can’t really say that I’m adventurous about discovering music and artists. That’s one of the values in Adaora’s podcast for me.

We went on an evening walk and talked about music - gospel music, with some side notes of course. Her podcast is Music and Side Notes and you can listen in wherever you get your podcasts.

Here’s how our conversation went.

...

We’ll continue on the next episode.

This podcast is a digital audio diary of my reflections on church-life and faith and you’ll find links to its transcripts on each episode’s show note. ‘Diary of a Church Boy’ is listener supported and you can support for a dollar or its equivalent every month on Patreon through the link also on each episode’s show note.

If this was recommended to you and you like the content, please share it with someone else! Subscribe, rate and review on your preferable podcast app so that we can reach more people. Follow @diaryofachurchboy (that’s one word) on Instagram and feel free to send your voice note contributions via direct message. 

See you on the next one!

[diaryofachurchboy]

Hush Puppy and Who? continued

Diary of a Church Boy (S01 E12)

Owwteebee here. This is ‘Diary of a Church Boy’ and we pick up from the last episode on this interesting conversation we had about memes.

Here we go!

“The powerful thing about internet memes,” Meredith D. Clark, an assistant professor of media studies at the University of Virginia said, “is that people can take them and add to them or transform them in ways that they make sense for the online communities that they’re a part of.”

For real! I find it interesting that, in our case here in this podcast, we went from discussing memes as art and a reflection of societal concerns to the polarization of values in a godly relationship [Hushpuppi and Sam Adeyemi! Really?], to a bit of social exchange and more. Take a listen:

...

Let’s continue with the conversation as it was, and the reactions as more people contributed to discussion. 

... 

And speaking of Church Girls being taken over by others, I must add here also that there are genuine concerns about ... uhh... the hustle level of Church Boys. 

...

I’ll hinge my parting words on a Message Bible rendition of a principle I find relevant here: “... In all this comparing and grading and competing, they quite miss the point” it says. (2 Corinthians 10:12 The Message Bible). No two relationships are the same; what’s desirable to the goose may not necessarily work for the gander. And listen, I’m speaking to our need for and dependency on the wisdom of God for what’s best for our relationships in particular.

But this much I can say; clarify your values and do well to declare, discuss and test them in the relationships you build - not with undue sense of entitlement but always with the big picture at heart and the humility that comes with teachability. Hold on to what is right, let go of what is not and the Good Lord will perfect all that concerns you. That’s all I’ll say for now.

This podcast is a digital audio diary of my reflections on church-life and faith and you’ll find links to its transcripts on each episode’s show note. ‘Diary of a Church Boy’ is listener supported and you can support for a dollar or its equivalent every month on Patreon through the link also on each episode’s show note.

If this was recommended to you and you like the content, please share it with someone else! Subscribe, rate and review on your preferable podcast app so that we can reach more people. Follow @diaryofachurchboy (that’s one word) on Instagram and feel free to send your voice note contributions via direct message. 

See you on the next one!

[diaryofachurchboy]

Hushpuppi and Who?

Diary of a Church Boy (S01 E11)

Usually a still or moving image with a catch phrase that portrays a particular concept or idea and is spread on social media platforms on the internet, this trend is undoubtedly a cultural entity that replicates, evolves and is passed from person to person.

Owwteebee here. This is ‘Diary of a Church Boy’ and we begin an interesting discussion on this episode with memes. Let’s get to it.

...

Memes can take a variety of forms and are equally used in a stunning variety of ways. They are a free form of entertainment that help us unwind as we scan through social media posts and, as one writer rightly observed, distract ourselves from troubling and disturbing news feeds.

What gives them the catchy factor that makes them go viral easily is that they are inexpensive to create and contain what I’d call ‘culture-conscious’ humor. What’s more, this digital trend is a great conversation starter and this ripples its effect in fields way beyond the social media platforms they are first introduced. 

I met up with a friend at a sport club (so you’re likely to hear people playing lawn tennis in the background of our conversation. Please excuse that. Diana-Mary is many things: a teacher with, as she puts it, a nose for child development, a farmer but (more significantly) a broadcast journalist whose journalism can hardly be separated from her activism. I brought up the subject of memes and this is how our conversation went:

...

We’ll continue in the next episode.

This podcast is a digital audio diary of my reflections on church-life and faith and you’ll find links to its transcripts on each episode’s show note. ‘Diary of a Church Boy’ is listener supported and you can support for a dollar or its equivalent every month on Patreon through the link also on each episode’s show note.

If this was recommended to you and you like the content, please subscribe, rate and review on your preferable podcast app. That will help us reach more people. Follow @diaryofachurchboy (that’s one word) on Instagram and feel free to send your voice note contributions via direct message. See you on the next one!

[diaryofachurchboy]

Diary of a Trendy Mother

Diary of a Church Boy (S01 E10)

Owwteebee features Diary of a Trendy Mum.

So you’re wondering, ‘Diary of a Trendy Mum’ on ‘Diary of a Church Boy’? Well, yes, it’s a collaboration of diaries on this one.

Owwteebee here. This is ‘Diary of a Church Boy’ and I’m about treat you to another dose of applied ‘diarying’.

Let’s get to it.

How many hats does a mother wear? My mother (of blessed memory) sure wore many - that I witnessed first-hand and for a lot of young aspiring women today, juggling these roles as they go about everyday life can be daunting - to say the least.

Take a look at our society today. Mums have to be everything - caregivers, nurturers, enforcers, empathizers, playmates, planners - and these are broad categories! Mums, if you ask me, are unsung heroes worthy of eulogy and we shouldn’t wait till Mother’s Day to celebrate them.

But as daunting as these roles are, there are amazing women out there who reserve their rights to choose the roles they want to embody, juggle them effectively and efficiently and still lead fulfilling lives! My friend Roseline who I future in today’s episode is one of these amazing Mums - and a trendy one at that.

Roseline is a long-time friend. The story around our friendship is beyond the scope of this episodes subject matter but I’ll drop some pointers. She’s married to my childhood friend and covenant brother and I was the best man at their wedding. Our friendship has come a long way and we’ve watched and encouraged each other grow through the different milestones.

Let me allow her introduce herself briefly before I go on:

...

Trust me, she’s as pleasant as she sounds and has been speaking about living intentionally for as far back as I can remember.

First published as a series of posts on her blog - ‘Diary of a Trendy Mother’, Roseline’s book serves doses of inspiration, humour, life hacks and creative perspectives on motherhood. You will find within its pages, an engaging easy-to-read compilation of stories sourced from everyday life experiences.

On how ‘Memoirs of a Trendy Mum’ came to be? This is what she had to say.

...

In the first and introductory episode of this podcast, I stated that occurrence and events leave impressions on people that only they can recount in certain ways. I reminded us that we, individually, have stories only we can tell that can empower others in very unique ways. Well, here’s a case in point and this is what Roseline has this to say in this regard.

...

I’ll take a break here and continue when we return.

This episode is supported by ‘Diary of a Trendy Mum’ a blog that provides doses of inspiration and sets to build a community of women who are intentionally supporting each other and deliberately enjoying their roles as wives, mothers, mentors, business professionals, et cetera.

Get your copy of their latest offering ‘Memoirs of a Trendy Mum’ by clicking on a direct link available on this episode’s show note. If you preorder now (that’s before the official launch day of July 24, 2020) you’ll get complimentary book - ‘Memoirs of a Trendy Mum’ Holiday Special.

Go ahead, scroll up and click now.

https://trendymother.com.ng/ebook

So yeah! She may not have realized it at the time but, the way I see it, Roseline was inspired and empowered by her experiences so she could empower us all with this work that she’s put out. She was blessed so she could be a blessing. She is - intentionally so, and you should be too.

This podcast is a digital audio diary of my reflections on church-life and faith and you’ll find links to its transcripts on each episode’s show note. ‘Diary of a Church Boy’ is listener supported and you can support for a dollar or its equivalent every month on Patreon through the link also on each episode’s show note.

If this was recommended to you and you like the content, please subscribe, rate and review on your preferable podcast app. That will help us reach more people. Follow @diaryofachurchboy (that’s one word) on Instagram and feel free to send your voice note contributions via direct message.

See you on the next one!

[diaryofachurchboy]

Bonus

Diary of a Church Boy (S01 E07)

First bonus episode of Season One.

In past episodes we’ve laid a conceptual background, as it were, by discussing ‘diarying’ in the way that I framed it and who a church boy is.

Owwteebee here. This is ‘Diary of a Church Boy’ and here’s a bonus episode before we move on to other things. 

A respondent in the last two episode observed that serving in church seems to be the way to validate one’s commitment and devotion to the Christian faith. He also noted that this places committed young Christians - labeled as ‘Church Boys’ (or Church Girls) under the pressure of living up to projected standards of perfection.

...

I’ve been in church and church circles long enough to relate with the perfectionism that exists across denominations and persuasions and my response is that this preoccupation with efforts aimed at moral perfection belittles the grace of God.

As integrated as service is to spiritual development, it can also be a distraction to the relationship that Christianity is meant to be. We cannot earn right standing with God because of our commitment to church or church activities or even with our piety and good works. Right standing with God does not depend on our achievements or merit.

“God saved you by His grace when you believed,” a New Living Translational of a relevant scripture states. “And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.” (Ephesians 2:8-9 New Living Translation)

And as to moral perfection, God is not an angry retributive being waiting to punish humans for every deviation from His mark of perfection. This view of God stems from faulty theology handed down by zealous Christian leaders. And, yes, it is possible to be sincerely wrong.

In the Bible instruction to be perfect as our Heavenly Father is, the word translated ‘perfect’ would actually be better translated as ‘complete’. We are admonished to find completion in God rather than strive for moral perfection that is unattainable.

This penchant for the self righteousness that we find in church circles reinforced by expectations projected on committed Christians is counter to God’s plan. Spiritual maturity, which is what we’re called to, is a process of ‘becoming’ like God.

Holding oneself up to excessively high standards and basing one’s self worth on ability to measure up to them traps us into the pressure of performance and can lead to feelings of anxiety, emptiness and even depression. ...

To every church boy or girl, every Christian man or woman, I share my dairy entries - past and present, here so if you’re where I’ve been or currently am at, you’ll know you’re not alone. Oh you’re not alone. 

There’s many of us and so find comfort in the reassurance that you’re are not mad or crazy. You may be different but there’s nothing ‘wrong’ with you. You may have your struggles but so do I. We all do, as a matter of fact, but are all engaging imperfectly in our sanctifying fight against our human nature. 

For as far back as we can trace in history, God has been transforming the world using imperfect people in imperfect situations and circumstances. If you allow it, God will - through the truth in His word, sanctify you in your mess and empower you to empower others. “I will bless you,” He says “and you will be a blessing.”

That’ll be all for now.

This podcast is a digital audio diary of my reflections on church-life and faith. On this transcript - which you will find a link to on this episode’s note, there’ll be links to resources referenced here. 

Remember to subscribe to this on your preferable podcast app. Follow @diaryofachurchboy on Instagram, and if you enjoyed this episode share it with someone and consider supporting this body of work on Patreon.

See you on the next one! 

[diaryofachurchboy]

‘Church Boy’ continued

Diary of a Church Boy (S01 E06)

Owwteebee continues discussions on who a ‘Church Boy’ is.

In the last episode, we began exploring the concept of a ‘Church Boy’. Our discussion threw up the fact that this label reflects assumptions projected on young committed Christians whose lives literally revolves around church and church activities.

Owwteebee here. This is ‘Diary of a Church Boy’ and we continue that discussion here

....

Did I mention that I grew up as a church boy? Oh yes I did and if you follow this diary - you’re sure in for a ride! This once messed-up little man was raised in an Orthodox Church and I’ve grown my spiritual muscles, as it were, (however small the biceps) in two Pentecostal churches till date.

So believe me when I say that there’s a critical unlearning that needs to happen in the church space and part of my reasons for curating the thoughts I do here on this podcast is to spur and facilitate that unlearning through storytelling.

The fact that we are called believers does not mean that we should believe everything that is spewed at us from pulpits. “Only simpletons believe everything they are told! The prudent carefully consider their steps.” That, by the way, is straight from the Bible. (Proverbs 14:15 New Living Translation).

So permit me to address the elephant right here. I ended that last episode with it but it’s well worth reiterating: As Christians, we are not called to perfectionism - we are called to maturity; spiritual maturity.

Perfectionism - a doctrine holding that moral or spiritual perfection is attainable, is a trap. It is a compulsion to live up to projected standards in our desire for acceptance and fear of rejection. The Contemporary English Bible rendition of a verse states this aptly: “People are trapped by their fear of others.” (Proverbs 29: 25 Contemporary English Bible).

I agree with Anne Wilson Schaef. “Perfectionism” she wrote, “is self-abuse of the highest order.“ It dehumanizes us, equates our value to our performance, our identity to our usefulness and our beauty to our presentation.”

And let me straighten this out here: This is not a call to abandon the pursuit of excellence. No. What I’m saying is that refusal to accept standards short of perfection belittles the grace of God. And Grace is the antidote for perfectionism. 

God speaking: “My grace is all You need. My power works best in weakness. So now I’m glad to boast about my weakness,” the Apostle Paul wrote, “so that the power of Christ can work through me.” (2 Corinthians 12: 9 New Living Translation) And my diary spin on this: “I embrace my humanity so I can experience His divinity. 

I rest my case.

This podcast is a digital audio diary of my reflections on church-life and faith. On the top of this transcript - which you will find a link to on this episode’s note, there’s a ‘Send-Me-Your-Thoughts’ tab. Please feel free to use it.

Remember to subscribe to this on your preferable podcast app. Follow @diaryofachurchboy on Instagram, and if you enjoyed this episode share it with someone else and consider supporting this work on Patreon.

See you on the next one!

[diaryofachurchboy]

‘Church Boy’

Diary of a Church Boy (S01 E05)

Owwteebee discusses who a ‘Church Boy’ is.

Driving with friends to check out equipment on a production set, I brought up this podcast and the fact that I was thinking about an episode on the concept of a ‘Church Boy’ (and by extension - ‘Church Girl’).

Owwteebee here. This is ‘Diary of a Church Boy’ and I’m about to share some of the discussion I just mentioned with you. But before then, some preliminaries.

How do you find out who someone really is? We ask them - that would be my ready answer. Assumption is the lowest level of knowledge - if you know me, you know I say that a lot. Why assume - especially when you can get answers directly. 

However, we may not have the requisite proximity or rapport to exact such answers. So we check out what they’ve put out about themselves. We can ‘Google’ them or check out their bio pages on the world-wide web and social media.

The thing with this is people usually put out the best version of themselves out there. The good book nailed it: “Many a man will proclaim their goodness but a faithful and trustworthy man, who can find?” (Proverbs 20: 6).

So we likely will fall back to checking out their personality traits, hobbies and interests, beliefs and values, spiritual and religious affiliations, sexual orientation and group memberships, culture, race, ethnicity, and so on. Truth be told, this is what we do actually. 

We aggregate these mostly unfounded observations, come up with a construct of who we think people are and label them with a word or phrase - positive or negative, that categorizes these individuals. This is the case with ‘Church Boy’.

A ‘Church Boy’ according to the Urban Dictionary is a man who, first, has dedicated his life to Christ and, secondly, loves the feeling and joy that Church brings. Let’s deal with the dedication but in this episode. The explanation gets more interesting when you ask people about this. I did! ...

So labels set expectations which affect behavior. People labeling Christians as ‘Church Boys’ (or Church Girls) may not realize it but these tags set certain standards for those labeled which they are somewhat obligated to conform to and this leads to pretentious behaviors which brings to mind lines from Oscar Wilde: “Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else’s opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation.” 

I’ll take a break here. See you when we return.

This episode of ‘Diary of a Church Boy’ is supported by Nelson XP - a graphic designer and concept digital artist. Nelson digitally painted the picture of me that’s on this podcast art and is open to commissions. See episode notes for his contact details and other information.

So labels reflect what we think about people. And beyond that, they set expectations which affect the behaviors of the people we label. They feel the need to live out this image of perfection that has been projected on them. But as Christians, we are not called to perfectionism - we are called to maturity; spiritual maturity.

“Perfectionism’, Anne Wilson Schaef wrote, “is self-abuse of the highest order. “ It dehumanizes us, equates our value to our performance, our identity to our usefulness and our beauty to our presentation.”

We’ll continue on the next episode. 

This podcast is a digital audio diary of my reflections on church-life and faith. On the top of this transcript - which you will find a link to on this episode’s note, there’s a ‘Send-Me-Your-Thoughts’ tab. Please feel free to use it.

Remember to subscribe to this on your preferable podcast app. Follow @diaryofachurchboy on Instagram, and if you enjoyed this episode share it with someone and consider supporting this work on Patreon.

See you on the next one!

[diaryofachurchboy]

Applied ‘Diarying’

Diary of a Church Boy (S01 E04)

Owwteebee applies ‘diarying’ to a topical issue.

I find that ‘diarying’ is a responsible thing to do. The ability to respond to topical issues in the one of the methodical senses I shared in the last episode can open us to insights and perspectives that will leave us self aware and empowered.

Owwteebee here. This is ‘Diary of a Church Boy’ and we’re about to get practical on this one. Let’s get on to some applied ‘diarying’.

In the last episode, I shared part of a recent diary entry that I documented as I thought about and around a rape incidence that happened in the premises of a local church in my country - Nigeria. I made quotes out of some of the statements that I put out, posted them on social at the same time the episodes were released and boom - a flood of responses and reactions began to come in.

This confirmed a key critical success factor that I’d set for this podcast. My intention is to share my reflections on church-life and faith first in ways that are relatable and second in the hope that the perspectives shared here will facilitate our espousal and championing of needed changes.

The feedback I got shows that this is relatable. That encourages me. And please let me use this opportunity to thank you for listening, supporting (I got new patrons this week) and contributing to this podcast. It make the time and effort put in to get this out worth the while. Thank you.

While, for ethical reasons, I cannot publish the specifics of some of the reactions I got, they sure got me thinking about threads that seemed to run through most of the sexual violence incidences that has happened - especially in church and amongst church people.

The first thread I observe is ‘cover up’. I stand to be correct here but there almost always seems to be an effort to cover up these atrocities. If you live in my country - Nigeria, a case or two may pop up in your mind as you listen to this. 

The second thread I observe is ‘cancellations’. Offenders are most likely to be ‘canceled’ in the sense that they are boycotted and not supported. Relationships with the ‘fallen’ are severed and their cultural cachet revoked as punishment for their unacceptable behavior.

My respondents spoke to this: …

My concern with both threads is that there are executed in ways that are not graceful; cover is insensitive to the victim and mercy is mostly not extended to sexual offenders in ways that should be identified with church-life, in the true sense of it. No wonder David said: I’d rather be punished by God whose mercy is great than fall into human hands.

However, considering our attention economy, in a few week or months at best, we would have moved on to the next trend. Allow me to recommend a way that we can we think meaningfully about the ‘rape culture’ that is plaguing us. I believe that we can make sense of this pervading menace in ways that we can curb its spread.

I’ll take a break here and explain when we return.

This episode of ‘Diary of a Church Boy’ is supported by  Nelson XP - a graphic designer and concept digital artist. Nelson digitally painted the picture of me that’s on this podcast art and is open to commissions.See episode notes for his contact details and other information.

So yes; I sincerely believe that we can think meaningfully about and make sense of this pervading menace in ways that we can curb its spread. Listen, every culture is rooted in these fundamentals: assumptions, values and symbols.

I dare to submit to to you that the rape culture now in play in our society is based on certain things we believe - whether they are true or not. These assumptions (which are mostly unexpressed or even unconscious) impact on the stories we create for ourselves - which in turn shapes our values. These values - discerning eyes can see, are expressed in symbols that are all around us.

Amazingly, one of my respondents spoke to this: …

I therefore challenge us to identify these assumptions and question them in the light of expressed values and symbols evident in our society. When you do, document them in your diary and share them with me (if you will). This is what I referred to earlier as applied ‘diarying’.

Remember to subscribe to this diary on your preferable podcast app. Follow @diaryofachurchboy on Instagram, and if you enjoy this podcast please write a review, recommend to someone and consider supporting on Patreon.

See you on the next one! 

[diaryofachurchboy]

‘Diarying’ continued

Diary of a Church Boy (S01 E03)

We explored the practice of taking sermon notes in church - which I observed we now mostly do on our mobile devices and I presented as a social habit which can have profound and extended impact in the lives we lead.

I still document my thoughts and the ways I feel about them. In fact, in the light of recent sexual violence incidents which has made media rounds in my country Nigeria, I’m going to end this episode with my thoughts on rape - especially since it happened recently in a church.

Owwteebee here. This is ‘Diary of a Church Boy’ and I keep my promise from last episode by sharing why I still document my thought and the ways I feel about them.

Let’s do this.

Diarying’ can become a keystone habit - a small but significant routine that can transform other aspects of our lives. I found that those skills I acquired from the practice of taking notes in church are portable; I now use them - somewhat unconsciously, when documenting other areas of my life and here’s some of the benefits I find in this.

I find it to be uplifting.

I was driving back from a production meeting I had with clients in a town about an hour and a half from the one I resided in, when suddenly I realized a truck was heading straight at me. 

A few moments later I was forklifted out of a nearby ditch where I’d been hit into. The car was wrecked beyond repair but I came out unscathed. Still in a state of shock, I lifted my eyes, saw a kite flying up in the sky and got teary-eyed, realizing I’d just been given a second chance at life.

‘I’m a kite that flew against the wind of adversity,’ I later wrote in my diary. ‘I’m that bird that missed the fowler’s snare. Yes I was made to overcome and fly against the wind of adversity.’ Writing about experiences like this inspire hope. They’re very uplifting and you should empower yourself with this. 

I find it to be cathartic. 

I write down my concerns; things that bother, frustrate and drain me. There’s a relief that the very act of harnessing those thoughts and transferring them in words to a medium brings. It feels to me like ‘casting my burdens’ on a piece of paper or now on my mobile note taking app. In fact, I literally take those notes to the place of prayer during quiet time. And what’s more I can be brutally honestly when venting this way without the limitations of people’s opinions and judgements. Venting on my diary is very cathartic and you should try it sometime. With note taking apps now that accept voice notes, this make it even easier.

I find this liberating.

As I alluded to in the first episode - which you should check out by the way, there are certain subjects that were awkward to express in church circles. What’s sad is that we can transfer this to our everyday lives and never express our opinions and reservations on certain issues. For instance, I worked and served for a few years in my church as ‘pastor’ for discipleship and media production but I never liked to be referred to by that title. 

Don’t get it twisted though, there’s nothing wrong with it; I just didn’t see myself as a pastor - that’s not what I wanted to be known for. And every time I expressed that? I got the look. “Once a pastor, always a pastor,” I’d be told. “I’m not a pastor,” I’d likely reply. No Sir. I didn’t think that being a pastor was the only dignified way to serve God and humanity. I still don’t. I am inspired differently and I have other passions.

“By me shall all the families of the earth be blessed - and by me they shall bless themselves,” another version of that scripture explains. I’m Out-to-Bless! and I don’t have to do that on a church podium. So my diary became my platform for emancipation. “I work in the pastorate now but I’m not a pastor,” I would write to remind myself. There are no limitations when ‘diarying’ and this, if you ask me, is quite therapeutic. You should try it too.

Here’s the last one I’ll share and I’ll make it brief:

I find that’s it’s the responsible thing to do. 

You see, confronting my conflicts and struggles forces me not to play the ostrich. Reflecting on things I’ve documented; questioning them objectively, acknowledging accompanying trauma and labeling the emotions that come with them - especially in a systematic way, opens me up to insights and perspectives that I otherwise would not have accessed. In the end, I become more self aware and empowered.

One of my favorite books of the Christian Bible is the Psalms and that’s because the chapters read, to me, like a diary entries. David would express his joys, vent his frustrations and even admit his faults and shortcomings unrestrained. If these records could make it to the canon that eventually became the Christian Bible, tell me why I shouldn’t do same with my ‘diarying’. In fact, here’s a part of a recent entry that was incited by a rape incidence that occurred in the premises of a local church in Nigeria.

Rape is a blatant disregard of not just the right but the dignity of another human for self gratification. Unfortunately, these incidents of sexual violence happen everyday to people we know and those we don’t- both in and outside the church. 

People who assault and harass others sexually are not normal and their actions should not be normalized. In fact, I am of the opinion that it is not enough - especially as men, to be non-rapist; we should all be anti-rape. 

We should promote environments that allow women to live without the fear of sexual violence, environments that allow victims to share their experiences without guilt, shame, the fear of not being believed and - most importantly, the fear of not getting justice and the church should be at the fore-front on this.

I’ll take a break here. See you when we return.

...

This podcast is a digital audio diary of my reflections on church-life and faith. If you enjoy and are empowered by this body of work, please subscribe, share with friends and loved ones and consider supporting on Patreon. See episode notes for more details and information.

So yeah, ‘diarying’ has been my thing and still is. It’s a keystone habit that I find to be uplifting, cathartic, liberating and the responsible thing to do. I encourage you to empower yourself with this practice. 

Remember to subscribe to this diary on your preferable podcast app. Follow @diaryofachurchboy on social, and if you enjoyed this episode please share it with someone and consider supporting on Patreon.

See you on the next one! 

[diaryofachurchboy]

‘Diarying’

Diary of a Church Boy (S01 E02)

Owwteebee here. This is ‘Diary of a Church Boy’ and I’m sure with this intro, you’re curious to know what this is about!  Well, let’s get to it.

‘Diarying’ (if there’s a word like that) has been my thing. I have always loved putting down my thoughts for as long as I can remember. And now that I’m doing that on this podcast - those that have to do with church-life and faith, I may as well share why I’ve made this my thing. 

Here’s a typical moment that we were likely to have in a church service - that’s a meeting where Christians gather to worship, feed their minds with the Word of God and are empowered for daily Christian living. 

A preacher, usually after announcing the title of his or her sermon or reading a scriptural text will ask the people gathered to pull out their writing materials and take sermon notes. Yes, putting down our thoughts in writing - ‘diarying’ as I choose to call it here, is a practice that is very much encouraged in church circles.

I grew up accumulating piles and piles of books filled with sermon notes over the years so much so that at a point, I found no need to buy devotionals any more - those are journals intended for use during another Christian practice known as ‘Quiet Time’ - that’s Christianese for an apportioned daily time of meditation and prayers.

I would go back to my sermon notes from years before and use them during this time of reflection and prayers. I realized this was the only way I would go back to them. What was the point of writing those notes, anyway, if I was never going to go back to them.

This gave this practice some purpose and became the reason why I gave myself fully to it, knowing it had value beyond being merely a social habit. Listen, the insights I got from those documented thoughts during times of meditation and prayers have sparked some of the most profound perspectives I’ve had in life.

And my point? Documenting thoughts, ideas and experiences is a form of self expression that can have profound impact in the lives we lead. This used to be done on physical books but as we progress gradually to a paperless society, it is now mostly done digitally on mobile devices. 

I asked a couple of friends to share their experiences and they did!

...

I’ll take a break here. See you when we return.

This episode of ‘Diary of a Church Boy’ is supported by Nelson XP - a graphic designer and concept digital artist. Nelson digitally painted the picture of me that’s on this podcast art and is open to commissions. See episode notes for his contact details and other information.

So despite such challenges as the ones we just heard, which I’d like to hear your opinions on by the way, I still document my thoughts in diaries. This podcast, as a matter of fact, is a digital audio diary of exactly that - my thoughts, ideas and experiences of church-life and faith, laid out in ways that you hopefully will relate with.

I’ll share with you on the next episode how I’ve extended this practice in empowering ways to other facets of my life. If you enjoy this episode, please subscribe, share with your friends and loved ones and consider supporting on Patreon.

See you on the next one!