Will You Walk With Me?
If my peace building, activism, and reconciliation work are meaningful to you, you can authentically partner with me through Patreon.com.
Patreon allows people to financially pledge to support artists, writers, musicians, and other creative people. In my case, you would be supporting a Southern storyteller, writer, and peacemaker who brings people together to become friends and do extraordinary things in the world.
Your contributions directly help me to move toward being able to write, speak, and continue my peace work online full-time, while having the freedom to do so without censorship or influence.
As one who is called to be a social prophetic and poetic voice to the American church and a bridge builder between Muslims, Christians and other people of God will I invite you unashamedly to be my “patron.”
Why Become A Patron?
You may ask, “Jeff, why are you so bold on this issue of asking Muslims and Christians to become patrons of your work?” For me, that question is not difficult to answer.
In my humble opinion, one of the greatest questions facing the American Christian church since the Reformation is “What will we do with my Muslim neighbor?” How we answer this one question determines the fate of our Christian souls.
Will we follow Christ and the Straight Path of love or will we go with the popular cultural fear, hate, and anger that is being preached from many so called “Bible believing “churches in our country?
Likewise, I think my Muslim friends and neighbors have a similar question that confronts the authenticity of their submission to God: “What will we do with my Christian neighbor?”
How you answer this question determines the validity of your submission to God. Will you be cordial from a distance or will you invite Christians into intimate spaces of friendship in your hearts and lives? Will you follow the sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad and Jesus or exclude your Christian neighbor because of fear and doubt?
If we as Muslims and Christians choose to follow the core message of Jesus and the mandate of the Common Word Initiative as established by Muslim scholars in 2007: which is to love God above all else and to love our neighbor as ourselves, then we have chosen wisely.
We have opted for the Straight Path of true submission to God which is love over the fear and anger of our time.
A New Path
The Muslims and Christians who have chosen the Path of love, reconciliation and peace need now to ask different questions together: “What is God’s dream for our community and who are we together? Who is Jesus and what does he mean to us? What do we as Muslims and Christians have in common with him?”
And If you want to find God’s Dream for Muslims and Christians in your community it is something that needs to occur together. As my Muslim friend Eboo Patel says, “Muslims and Christians are better together.”
Another question Muslims and Christians need to ask each other in honesty and without a hook or agenda is “How can we be a blessing to you and your people?” When Muslims ask this of Christians or Christians of Muslims, many doors will open to each other’s hearts, and things will begin to change.
Our Common Ground
I am not afraid to be an honest prophetic voice that calls Muslims and Christians back to the core message of Jesus. Which is to love God with all your heart, love your neighbor as yourself, treat other people the way you want to be treated and if you find enemies along the way do everything in your power to make them your friends.
As I said before, the top Muslim leaders and scholars of the world have affirmed that this is the common ground for all Muslims and Christians and for this reason I can unashamedly ask both Muslims and Christians to be my patrons.
Will you walk the Path with me?
I have given my life to this beautiful core message from the Sunna of Jesus.
One Muslim Imam said that I was raising the bar for both Muslims and Christians. I asked him what he meant by that, and he stated that I was raising the bar by calling them to authentic friendship and competing in love and good deeds.
Muslims and Christians both say at the core of their faith they love Jesus and both humbly agree that he is the Prince of Peace for all people.
Omar Saved My Life
Omar, a little Muslim boy, changed my life and his act of love and kindness got me back on the Straight Path to the core message of Jesus. I will forever owe him a debt for what he did in my life.
I have seen first hand what happens when Muslims and Christians embrace this core message. Embracing this core message is not about converting or changing religions but simply affirming the deepest and best of who we are and doing something practical about it.
Muslim leaders across the U.S. and around the world have said to me without hesitation that the core message of Jesus might be the answer for both Muslims and Christians.
If we do not find a way to become friends our children and grand children will pay for our indifference.
I have paid the price for being a prophetic voice. People have tried to silence me. Some say I am too liberal and other say that I am too conservative.
Some have even accused me of being a secret Muslim. I just want to call people both Muslims and Christians to repent and start loving each other. And I want to remind them as one Muslim Imam once said to me, “Jeff, Jesus belongs to everyone.”
Please help support my writing, blogging, and peace ministry by magnifying my prophetic voice through your pledging or giving.
Thanks for your consideration.
Long live the message of Jesus and the Prophets!
May we walk the Path they have set before us.
Jeff
Pledge at Patreon
More Info About Sponsorship:
I was a Christian minister and served various churches in Virginia and North Carolina for eighteen years. I formerly stepped down from being a pastor in 2004.
Although I led some great congregations, experienced some deeply loving and committed Christian church members I was equally disillusioned because of the extent of the racism, sexism, and lack of genuine commitment to the core message of Jesus among some of the Christian fundamentalist congregations that I served.
During my transition out of the pastorate, I considered becoming an atheist, but for some reason, I could not get away from the message and call of Jesus.
He helped me see through Omar, that I was carrying the same seeds of hatred and bigotry that I had stood against in the churches. I stood up for the weak and powerless. I loved people of color and fought for gender equality in the church, but I hated Muslims.
Now, that my heart has returned to Christ’s love I can serve the church in ways I could have never done before.
The people who sponsor me on Patreon see me as a Southern Christian storytelling activist, writer, prophetic voice, and peacemaker who is working to fulfill God’s Dream of peace and reconciliation between Muslims and Christians. They fund my ministry as an ambassador of peace to both communities.
These funds allow me to write blogs and books that will encourage and challenge Muslims, Christians and other people of good will to pursue peacebuilding.
Full patron funding helps create freedom and more time for me to consult people through phone, Zoom, Facetime, Skype and in some contexts in person. I have worked with several mosques and churches to help them begin a journey of friendship and partnership through my P.E.A.C.E. P.A.T.H. Model.
I will give practical steps and guidance through my field tested P.E.A.C.E. P.A.T.H. Model for how both faith communities can launch successful peace movements in their communities! P.E.A.C.E. P.A.T.H works! Check out all the testimonials from around across the nation who have experienced and participated in P.E.A.C.E. P.A.T.H.
I will soon be launching an online community called The Path to help connect Muslims, Christians and others who have come to my blog and wanted community, encouragement, and to grow spiritually. These patron contributions will contribute to forming the bulk of my salary so I can do this good work.
I will send a monthly message to all of the patrons; sharing the projects I’m working on, the people I’m meeting with, as well as share stories and anonymous email excerpts, so that they can share in successes and keep accountable as a peacemaker. I will also share prayer needs there.
If you have more questions about becoming a patron or my P.E.A.C.E. P.A.T.H. Model, please let me know.
Peace to you!
Jeff