Chris Hodges- Church of the Highlands Pastor Controversy

[Gowebb11 9,801]

On 6/10/2020 at 9:08 PM, Grumps said:

To me, this is similar to the Dree Brees issue. Church of the Highlands (COTH) has done more for this state and for poor black people in this state than any other entity (I cannot prove this statement so please challenge me on it.) The pastor of COTH "followed" and "liked" some posts from a conservative organization (Turning Point). I don't think it has even been shown that any of the posts that he "liked" were in any way racist. So now the Birmingham City Schools and Birmingham Housing Authority refuses to be served by the church.

Does this make any sense to anyone? Once again, I am concerned that many people (black and white) are going to withdraw from the discussion because they will perceive that instead of advancing the cause of racial equality and minimizing police brutality the mission has become to bash prominent white people. I sure hope that we can stay focused on what is important.

I agree with you, but way too many people now are relying on the Charlie Kirks and Candace Owens, and memes, and highly edited propaganda videos for their education. I wish more people, especially pastors would find more informed and intellectual sources for their information. Our ‘liking’ and ‘sharing’ without investigating and researching culture is part of the problem for us all. 

[McLoofus 35,182]

16 minutes ago, Gowebb11 said:

I agree with you, but way too many people now are relying on the Charlie Kirks and Candace Owens, and memes, and propaganda highly edited videos for their education. I wish more people, especially pastors would find more informed and intellectual sources for their information. Our ‘liking’ and ‘sharing’ without investigating and researching culture is part of the problem for us all. 

If politics hasn't taught us that, the virus- and the abject absence of a consistent and coherent picture thereof- should have.

I'm guilty of succumbing to emotion and confirmation bias, too, but I feel I pause a beat and dig a little deeper a lot more than I used to. 

[aubiefifty 18,114]

Pastor: ‘Not the same Chris Hodges I was two weeks ago’

By Greg Garrison | ggarrison@al.com

6-7 minutes

In his sermon on Sunday morning following two weeks of controversy over his social media activity, Pastor Chris Hodges vowed to make progress on race relations.

“I am not the same Chris Hodges I was two weeks ago,” Hodges said. “Do I have a long way to go? Yes, sir. But I can look you in the eye and say I have been tested, stripped, disciplined, broken.”

Hodges came under fire when someone noticed he had been following Charlie Kirk, president of Turning Point USA, and liking posts by the controversial conservative commentator.

“Not only a whole lot needs to be said, a whole lot needs to be done,” Hodges said, to applause from a limited audience that was on hand to prepare for the possible reopening of in-person public worship services on June 21. The church has been video-streaming services only and not holding public in-person worship since March 10.

The social media controversy over Hodges resulted in the Birmingham Housing Authority and Birmingham Board of Education taking action against him, the church and the health clinic the church started.

On June 8, the Birmingham Housing Authority voted to ban the Church of the Highlands from providing volunteer services on Housing Authority property. Christ Health Center, which was founded by the church, had to stop doing free testing for COVID-19 that it had been doing at public housing communities in Birmingham.

On June 9, the Birmingham Board of Education voted to terminate its leases with the Church of the Highlands, which had been paying Birmingham City Schools $6,000 a week to rent the facilities at Parker and Woodlawn High Schools on Sunday mornings.

“We all know what divides us, but what can bring us together?” Hodges said.

“It’s really been one of the most painful things I’ve been through,” he said. “I know God is disciplining me, breaking me. A broken and contrite heart is the pathway to the presence and the anointing of God. I think God’s doing it to America.”

Hodges said he met with the four black campus pastors for the Church of the Highlands this past week.

“You can’t really get all that God has until something is stripped from you, until you’re humbled, tested and disciplined,” Hodges said.

“I truly believe the devil is going to be defeated and we’re going to see not only a healing from a disease, but I don’t think our land is ever going to be the same again. I truly believe we’re going to see lasting change.”

He said the church will work on initiatives and changes to improve race relations and they will be posted on the church’s web site. “We do it for COVID-19, why can’t we do it for racial reconciliation,” he said.

“We don’t have to look alike, we don’t have to act alike, but we do have to have one heart,” Hodges said. “Unity is not uniformity. We don’t have to be alike. We just have to love alike.”

Church of the Highlands, founded in 2001 in a rented space at Mountain Brook High School, has spiraled out of Birmingham’s suburbs to become the largest church in Alabama. Before the coronavirus lockdown, more than 50,000 people attended weekly services at 22 branch campuses statewide, including in Anniston, Auburn, Birmingham, Huntsville, Mobile Bay, Montgomery and Tuscaloosa, with one across the state line in Columbus, Ga.

Hodges said he met in the past week with the four black campus pastors of Church of the Highlands branches – Jamil Gilleylen of Woodlawn, Mychal Smith of Riverchase, Mayo Sowell of West Birmingham and Steven Winston of McCalla, along with their spouses.

“Tell me what I don’t know,” he said. “I want to grow. I want to learn. I want to hear.”

He said he asked them what they thought he should be saying.

He said Courtney Winston, wife of Steven Winston, spoke up. “Pastor Chris, we don’t need you to say anything,” she said, according to Hodges. “We just needed you to feel it. We just needed you to be there.”

Hodges asked the church to join him in the process of “learn, lament and love.”

“We learn, we lament and then, only then, can we love,” Hodges said. “We live in a society that wants instant feedback. I beg everybody to slow down. Be quick to listen, slow to speak.”

The church can help the nation change, he said.

“America, I’m crying out to you, learn, lament, and let’s get each other’s backs again,” Hodges said. “Let’s protect one another again.”

He added, “We’ve got to not let this moment pass us by and act like it didn’t happen.”

Hodges compared racism to the Berlin Wall, which was torn down in 1989 after the fall of communism that had separated West Germany and East Germany. He said he proposed to his wife, Tammy, in Germany in 1986 when the wall still stood.

“Tammy and her family were missionaries in Germany,” Hodges said. “We used to go to these border walls. We used to wave at the guards in the towers, the East German guards. Communism fell. But the wall was still up. One day a group of people, young people, got a little discouraged about, if this is not who we are anymore, then why is that still there? They got little pick-axes. It looked almost insurmountable to tear the whole thing down. They didn’t worry about that. They just took out their own section of it. They did their part, until all of us brought it down.”

Hodges said he has a piece of the Berlin wall that he had put in a box in 2001 and stored in his attic. “Yesterday, I dug into the attic and pulled it out,” he said. “This is the newest thing on my desk. This is an actual piece of it.”

He suggested taking the same approach to racism as the Berlin Wall.

“While I may not be able to tear the whole thing down, I plan on doing my section of it,” Hodges said.

“I’m asking you to do your section of it,” he said. “We can’t get there if we’re not willing to change. We come together with one purpose, to change the world together.”

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funny while people think people are being unfair pastor hodges has owned whatever he did and vows to be a better leader. i am beginning to like the man. instead of deflections he owns it. that is so refreshing..............

[Grumps 3,706]

https://churchofthehighlands.com/media/message/becoming-one1/

Here is a link to the sermon if anyone wants to hear it. It was probably the best sermon I have ever heard him preach.

[Grumps 3,706]

1 hour ago, Gowebb11 said:

I agree with you, but way too many people now are relying on the Charlie Kirks and Candace Owens, and memes, and highly edited propaganda videos for their education. I wish more people, especially pastors would find more informed and intellectual sources for their information. Our ‘liking’ and ‘sharing’ without investigating and researching culture is part of the problem for us all. 

I certainly agree with most of what you are saying. Things like that are not for education and will leave me ignorant if that is all I use. The value of memes and snippets is to quickly be exposed to and then to consider ideas. My "liking" a meme because I like the idea behind it in no way affects anyone else unless they choose to be affected by it. It is sad that many want to eliminate the opportunity for themselves and others to be able to consider new ideas. But that is now the world we live in.

[aubiefifty 18,114]

2 minutes ago, Grumps said:

I certainly agree with most of what you are saying. Things like that are not for education and will leave me ignorant if that is all I use. The value of memes and snippets is to quickly be exposed to and then to consider ideas. My "liking" a meme because I like the idea behind it in no way affects anyone else unless they choose to be affected by it. It is sad that many want to eliminate the opportunity for themselves and others to be able to consider new ideas. But that is now the world we live in.

i think your heart is probably in the right place. hodges liked a statement saying white privilege does not exist and things of that nature. it upset a lot of folks and the local authority which cut ties with the church stated birmingham has a history of unrest and they were trying to stop any other problems. again the pracher met with black leaders in his own church and came away ashamed and vowed to be a new person. again i respect the man for admitting he was wrong when others would continue to fan the flames. now maybe they can talk to the housing folks and get things back to normal. it is a fact that highland church walks the walk. and one of their churches does have the best church band ever. most of those guys were huge locally and super talented.

[Grumps 3,706]

20 minutes ago, aubiefifty said:

i think your heart is probably in the right place. hodges liked a statement saying white privilege does not exist and things of that nature. it upset a lot of folks and the local authority which cut ties with the church stated birmingham has a history of unrest and they were trying to stop any other problems. again the pracher met with black leaders in his own church and came away ashamed and vowed to be a new person. again i respect the man for admitting he was wrong when others would continue to fan the flames. now maybe they can talk to the housing folks and get things back to normal. it is a fact that highland church walks the walk. and one of their churches does have the best church band ever. most of those guys were huge locally and super talented.

You are close. Hodges liked 3 statements from a guy who has said that white privilege does not exist. The posts that Hodges "liked" were not about white privilege. You and many others have projected Kirk's views onto Chris Hodges.

[AUFAN78 4,130]

9 hours ago, aubiefifty said:

hodges liked a statement saying white privilege does not exist

Nope. Fake news fidy.

[aubiefifty 18,114]

On 6/11/2020 at 8:40 AM, Grumps said:

Please post what you have read that indicates that he does not understand white privilege. Please show me ANYTHING he has taught that is negative about democrats. I think you are honest so, in this case, I think you are just mistaken.

well he liked a post by the racist cat saying white privilege and then apologized for it. to me that is called a reasonable deduction. dub posted the other stuff so i will not re type it. for the record i have no heartburn for the guy. but if i am correct some of his followers had issues first and it made it's way to housing and all that. i think the man literally cried if i read it right after meeting with the black leaders and a few others from his church. again he should have known better. people watch other people all the time. judges. lawyers. pols. i mean come on grumps you guys watch me like a hawk and i am a saint. dunna believe it ask me and i will tell you......grins

[aubiefifty 18,114]

50 minutes ago, AUFAN78 said:

Nope. Fake news fidy.

go raise hell with al.com then cus most of ya'll hate them anyway.

[auskip07 930]

check out all the neuritic race baiters who try to pick apart someones social media post in order to determine if they can ruin their lives.    Those are the real virus in society  not covid 19. 

chris was always nice to me  i never got a sense he prioritized one race over the other in any group i saw.         Granted last time i was in that church was 12 years ago.   

[aubiefifty 18,114]

51 minutes ago, AUFAN78 said:

Nope. Fake news fidy.

just curious 78 how do you know this? the only articles i have read are on al.com. are there other sites out there with what he said? i would like to see them.

[aubiefifty 18,114]

Just now, auskip07 said:

check out all the neuritic race baiters who try to pick apart someones social media post in order to determine if they can ruin their lives.    Those are the real virus in society  not covid 19. 

chris was always nice to me  i never got a sense he prioritized one race over the other in any group i saw.         Granted last time i was in that church was 12 years ago.   

which ones? the ones in his church? on this board. and by the way if you have to insult someone and call them a name you might spell it right unless you intended victims have imflamation.

[gr82be 14,848]

10 hours ago, Grumps said:

https://churchofthehighlands.com/media/message/becoming-one1/

Here is a link to the sermon if anyone wants to hear it. It was probably the best sermon I have ever heard him preach.

Thought the same thing. I told my wife he definitely looked a more at peace than the past two weeks. All of this past 3 weeks is just not who he is at all. 

[auskip07 930]

1 minute ago, aubiefifty said:

which ones? the ones in his church? on this board. and by the way if you have to insult someone and call them a name you might spell it right unless you intended victims have imflamation.

My post applies to those in and outside of the church.     Some of your post are an example of that virus.    

[AUFAN78 4,130]

2 minutes ago, aubiefifty said:

just curious 78 how do you know this? the only articles i have read are on al.com. are there other sites out there with what he said? i would like to see them.

What he liked was linked in the original article. Neither was racist IMO. 

And BTW, I don't remotely consider Kirk nor Owens racist either. There are groups out there working to promote education in our inner cities. Labeling them racist is ignorant. The alternative is to keep the proverbial black man down. No thanks.

[aubiefifty 18,114]

1 minute ago, auskip07 said:

My post applies to those in and outside of the church.     Some of your post are an example of that virus.    

well okie then. if you are going to call me names have the common decency to spell your words of insult correctly. you can fudge any other time but not on the name calling. and i have not baited dookey. i posted an article wanting peoples thoughts and you got your dress blown up. do you believe in white priv aus. oh and neg me all you want. i am working to 5000 and your helps too............grins

[aubiefifty 18,114]

5 minutes ago, AUFAN78 said:

What he liked was linked in the original article. Neither was racist IMO. 

And BTW, I don't remotely consider Kirk nor Owens racist either. There are groups out there working to promote education in our inner cities. Labeling them racist is ignorant. The alternative is to keep the proverbial black man down. No thanks.

ok al baby..............we will agree to disagree. trump is a racist. he makes racist comments every single day just about. and you love him so that is all i need to know.

[auskip07 930]

8 minutes ago, aubiefifty said:

well okie then. if you are going to call me names have the common decency to spell your words of insult correctly. you can fudge any other time but not on the name calling. and i have not baited dookey. i posted an article wanting peoples thoughts and you got your dress blown up. do you believe in white priv aus. oh and neg me all you want. i am working to 5000 and your helps too............grins

See this is what im talking about,   why does it matter what i believe?   how does it affect you in anyway.      Do you want to know so you can lecture me and talk down to me to establish some type of mythical superiority?     SAD   

P.s. you mis-spelled privileged     

 

[AUFAN78 4,130]

3 minutes ago, aubiefifty said:

ok al baby..............we will agree to disagree. trump is a racist. he makes racist comments every single day just about. and you love him so that is all i need to know.

Take another hit fidy. It will be okay brother. 

[auskip07 930]

8 minutes ago, aubiefifty said:

. i am working to 5000 and your helps too............grins

[aubiefifty 18,114]

Just now, auskip07 said:

See this is what im talking about,   why does it matter what i believe?   how does it effect you in anyway.      Do you want to know so you can lecture me and talk down to me to establish some type of mythical superiority?     SAD   

P.s. you mis-spelled privileged     

 

lol  you just think i am talking down to you. and you just misspelled mispelled trying to tell me i misspelled priv.........lolol. this is great. you run your mouth at me i will run it back. this is smack talk. when you call names it is wide open. you should just let it go because if i think i am right i concede nothing. and sometimes i eat crow but not right now.

[aubiefifty 18,114]

6 minutes ago, AUFAN78 said:

Take another hit fidy. It will be okay brother. 

i am actually having fun and laughing at you guys.the irony of aus misspelling words like misspelling to tell me i misspelled a word is gold brother.if you guys were not both righties YOU would be grinning at least. now the cat wants me to get a virus. can you imagine getting owned so badly and quickly you have to try a meme to insult someone? but hey he did not have to spell anything.

[aubiefifty 18,114]

tell me you are sorry aus and we can be friends. me and 78 do not agree on anything but we can share a laugh.

[AUFAN78 4,130]

3 minutes ago, aubiefifty said:

i am actually having fun and laughing at you guys.the irony of aus misspelling words like misspelling to tell me i misspelled a word is gold brother.if you guys were not both righties YOU would be grinning at least. now the cat wants me to get a virus. can you imagine getting owned so badly and quickly you have to try a meme to insult someone? but hey he did not have to spell anything.

Good. Keep having fun!