Beyond Slaveholder Christianity, Part 1: Moving Beyond the Southern Comfort Zone<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Recently I was blessed to join in a ceremony on behalf of theProgressive Christian Alliance church where I serve, Diversity in Faith: A\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/06\/beyond-slaveholder-christianity-part-1-moving-beyond-the-southern-comfort-zone.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Beyond Slaveholder Christianity, Part 1: Moving Beyond the Southern Comfort Zone\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Recently I was blessed to join in a ceremony on behalf of theProgressive Christian Alliance church where I serve, Diversity in Faith: A\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/06\/beyond-slaveholder-christianity-part-1-moving-beyond-the-southern-comfort-zone.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Rhetoric Race and Religion\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-06-12T08:49:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Andre E. Johnson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Andre E. Johnson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/06\/beyond-slaveholder-christianity-part-1-moving-beyond-the-southern-comfort-zone.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/06\/beyond-slaveholder-christianity-part-1-moving-beyond-the-southern-comfort-zone.html\",\"name\":\"Beyond Slaveholder Christianity, Part 1: Moving Beyond the Southern Comfort Zone\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-06-12T08:49:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-06-12T08:49:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/892ad446aed3fd242a430151516a83fc\"},\"description\":\"Recently I was blessed to join in a ceremony on behalf of theProgressive Christian Alliance church where I serve, Diversity in Faith: A\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/06\/beyond-slaveholder-christianity-part-1-moving-beyond-the-southern-comfort-zone.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/06\/beyond-slaveholder-christianity-part-1-moving-beyond-the-southern-comfort-zone.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/06\/beyond-slaveholder-christianity-part-1-moving-beyond-the-southern-comfort-zone.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Beyond Slaveholder Christianity, Part 1: Moving Beyond the Southern Comfort Zone\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/\",\"name\":\"Rhetoric Race and Religion\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/892ad446aed3fd242a430151516a83fc\",\"name\":\"Andre E. Johnson\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8740442d3e2978d7a9dd204585be3ed0?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8740442d3e2978d7a9dd204585be3ed0?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Andre E. Johnson\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/author\/ajohnson\"}]}<\/script>\n","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Beyond Slaveholder Christianity, Part 1: Moving Beyond the Southern Comfort Zone","description":"Recently I was blessed to join in a ceremony on behalf of theProgressive Christian Alliance church where I serve, Diversity in Faith: A","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/06\/beyond-slaveholder-christianity-part-1-moving-beyond-the-southern-comfort-zone.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Beyond Slaveholder Christianity, Part 1: Moving Beyond the Southern Comfort Zone","og_description":"Recently I was blessed to join in a ceremony on behalf of theProgressive Christian Alliance church where I serve, Diversity in Faith: A","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/06\/beyond-slaveholder-christianity-part-1-moving-beyond-the-southern-comfort-zone.html","og_site_name":"Rhetoric Race and Religion","article_published_time":"2013-06-12T08:49:00+00:00","author":"Andre E. Johnson","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Andre E. Johnson","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/06\/beyond-slaveholder-christianity-part-1-moving-beyond-the-southern-comfort-zone.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/06\/beyond-slaveholder-christianity-part-1-moving-beyond-the-southern-comfort-zone.html","name":"Beyond Slaveholder Christianity, Part 1: Moving Beyond the Southern Comfort Zone","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#website"},"datePublished":"2013-06-12T08:49:00+00:00","dateModified":"2013-06-12T08:49:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/892ad446aed3fd242a430151516a83fc"},"description":"Recently I was blessed to join in a ceremony on behalf of theProgressive Christian Alliance church where I serve, Diversity in Faith: A","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/06\/beyond-slaveholder-christianity-part-1-moving-beyond-the-southern-comfort-zone.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/06\/beyond-slaveholder-christianity-part-1-moving-beyond-the-southern-comfort-zone.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/06\/beyond-slaveholder-christianity-part-1-moving-beyond-the-southern-comfort-zone.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Beyond Slaveholder Christianity, Part 1: Moving Beyond the Southern Comfort Zone"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/","name":"Rhetoric Race and Religion","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/892ad446aed3fd242a430151516a83fc","name":"Andre E. Johnson","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8740442d3e2978d7a9dd204585be3ed0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8740442d3e2978d7a9dd204585be3ed0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Andre E. Johnson"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/author\/ajohnson"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1382","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2251"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1382"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1382\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1382"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1382"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1382"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

{"id":1382,"date":"2013-06-12T08:49:00","date_gmt":"2013-06-12T08:49:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/06\/beyond-slaveholder-christianity-part-1-moving-beyond-the-southern-comfort-zone.html"},"modified":"2013-06-12T08:49:00","modified_gmt":"2013-06-12T08:49:00","slug":"beyond-slaveholder-christianity-part-1-moving-beyond-the-southern-comfort-zone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/06\/beyond-slaveholder-christianity-part-1-moving-beyond-the-southern-comfort-zone.html","title":{"rendered":"Beyond Slaveholder Christianity, Part 1: Moving Beyond the Southern Comfort Zone"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Recently I was blessed to join in a ceremony on behalf of the<\/span>Progressive Christian Alliance<\/a>\u00a0church where I serve,\u00a0<\/span>Diversity in Faith: A Christian Church for All People<\/a>. We as a church laid hands on Jowancka Mintz, a woman whom the church felt God calling them to set aside as a pastor in the church. Jowancka\u2019s ordination came after living as a person whose faith had been forged and strengthened in the face of persecution and discrimination folks face in the south when they grow up lesbian & bi-racial, while choosing to openly embrace both parts of who they are. I was blessed in my ministry to see Jowancka open up and begin to be out and proud of who she is, strengthen her walk with Christ, find her life partner, and begin taking those first stumbling steps toward ministry. Her ordination came after years of serving others with God\u2019s love and being devoted to God\u2019s Word.\u00a0 It also came after hard work: about two years of training and being a selfless servant in our particular congregation, including some time serving as Diversity\u2019s first deacon. Watching Jowancka emerge as a minister has in many ways felt like watching a butterfly struggle out of its cocoon and begin to stretch its wings to fly.<\/span><\/span>

<\/span><\/span>Joining our church members at Diversity in laying hands on Jowancka couldn\u2019t but lead me to think about my own experience of calling and the process that led me toward ordination. I experienced my call to ministry as a teenager, after finding Christ and his love with a Youth For Christ group at my high school. In my own stumbling way I began to try and share God\u2019s love, to awaken in others a love for Scripture and for intimacy with God through prayer. That led me to study undergraduate at a Christian school, where I could study Christian ministries as one of my two majors. Eventually I remember knowing deep in my heart that God was calling me somewhere different \u2013 away from my home state of North Carolina, out of the southeast, to southern California.<\/span><\/span>

<\/span><\/span>Read the rest here<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"