The loud majority may stay and keep up a lot of noise, while the silent majority slowly creeps out of the back door because they are tired of not being heard. How long will it be before you are only left with the noise makers?

As this country works to affirm its Christian standing, it begins to do more of the work that leads it to demonstrate ideals counter to Christian values. We espouse love, charity, and forgiveness as the tenants of our belief, but too often, love only extends to those who we like, charity is only reserved for those who we deem deserving, and forgiveness only counts if your choices are in alignment with my choices. Just as grace and mercy from God are freely given, we must evaluate whether we are hiding behind legislation to limit the ability of others to live in the fullness of their lives.

SMART goals can help you to make leadership decisions. Too often, people stay in positions because removing them would be an emotional decision because there are no metrics to measure their success or lack thereof.

If your organization struggles to raise money, stop and ask what you are asking people to give to. What is the big idea?

I have long given up on the idea of eradicating or even confronting racism because only God can change the hearts of man. No matter how many symposiums we hold or how many courageous conversations we have, there will always be a segment of our society whose hearts are so dark and bitter that they cannot see past their own self-interest to care what happens in the communities that do not look like theirs. I fear that we have become so consumed with trying to educate the racism out of people that we have failed to give adequate attention to the systematic policies and laws that have been embedded in our communities to ensure that no matter how hard we work, how respectable we dress, how educated we are, the access to opportunity will remain elusive for the majority. Sure a few success stories will escape from the grasp of poverty to prove that if you xxx enough, you too can make it.

It is troubling to see school systems banning books that provide cultural education, not only for students who see themselves in the stories but, more importantly, for students who may never learn about the contributions that those who do not look like them have made to this society. The failure to provide this teaching is not about teaching one group to hate another group but about teaching both groups about the complicated history that has formed these United States of America. Reducing access to this information will further promote the notion of supremacy among one group while diminishing the contributions of others.