My girlfriend, Natalia Perez, is always challenging me and listening to my innermost thoughts. Currently unemployed, I’ve been sitting at home beating myself up. Where did I go wrong? Did I set myself up to fail? Does everyone else really have a full-time job and incredible happiness? This is a candid conversation between Natalia and I as we struggle with our wish to truly matter outside of our Christian denomination.
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As Seventh-day Adventist Christians, many of us feel like we’re pushed through the system: Adventist education, Adventist church, Adventist corporation. Rinse and repeat. We raise our children to go to Adventist schools and do all of the culturally appropriate “Adventist-ish” things.
Recently, I’ve been enjoying watching Black-ish and its accompanying spinoff, Grown-ish (I’ll get to Mixed-ish soon enough). The sitcom is centered around a successful Black father, Dre, and his family as they endure different cultural mishaps and societal norms. In the pilot episode, Dre is fearful that his kids aren’t “black” enough and throughout the show, you’ll watch as Dre does everything within his power to make sure his children grow up Black (the more you watch, the more you realize Dre just projects what he thinks is Black enough).
So, are we Adventist enough? Let’s make an obviously satirical checklist.
Haystacks? Oh yeah.
All years at an Adventist educational institution? Mmhmm.
You can’t dance, right? Nope, I’ve never even heard of Michael Jackson! No, no. I can’t moonwalk.
It’s Sabbath and time to watch a movie. What do you pick first? If your answer isn’t the Prince of Egypt or any of the VeggieTales, are you Adventist enough?
Have you ever had coffee? ABSOLUTELY NOT. That’s that gossip juice, ya dig?
When does the new year begin? I will not accept your answer if you don’t say sunset. Evening to morning was the first day, remember?
Are you a Black Adventist with your membership at a regional conference church? Perfect.
Are you a Black Adventist sending your children to Oakwood University and DEFINITELY not to The-One-That-Shall-Not-Be-Named? Check.
Do you have business aspirations? Yeah? Advent Health is calling your name!
Pastoral aspirations? Make sure you aren’t female.
You studied art? Oof.
Ah, a history major!? Perfect! Here’s an Adventist school for you to teach 10 classes, including, but not limited to: journalism, home economics (y’all still have that class?), physical education, English, Bible, and...you’re a history major, right? Couldn’t remember. There’s like two history classes you can teach, too.
You studied what now? Communications? You want to work for 3ABN, right? No? Hope Channel? What’s that, you prefer Doug Batchelor?
I mean, it’s tremendous that we have so many avenues to plug ourselves into, but what about doing things…*gulp*... outside of the bubble?
“Welp, I can’t help ya then. Best of luck out there. Don’t lose your soul! Oh wait, let’s sit down and talk about my son who went to brave it out in Hollywood. Man, let me tell you…”
Natalia and I have been on the opposite ends of these conversations so much in the last few years. We’ve both realized that we still love our church, some of our schools, and the majority of things that we stand for, but sometimes it can be a very disheartening place for young adults.
I have multimedia dreams centered around storytelling and content creation, while Natalia has dreams of becoming a senior editor and storyteller in her own right. Lately, we’ve felt like we only have each other in a world threatening us with pending student loans and a certain “uniting” ceremony at some point. We’ve gotta make a living, but do we have to *bear with me* sell ourselves and our creativity out to people who may not have our best interest in mind?
Is the church inherently self-serving? What about those of us who are called to bear witness to who God is to the world? Whatever happened to that? Why does it feel like something is wrong with that?
As I take a look at the state of North American Adventism today, I feel like we’re behind on social issues and business models when we used to be on the frontlines.
In the beginning, there were people willing to take risks to start up Adventist publication houses or even build a steamboat to teach recently-freed slaves how to read. What happened to the visionaries? Where are the risk-takers? Are they being told “that’s just not the way we do things?” Are their ideas “too liberal?”
I look around and watch things like Beyond Meat and the Impossible Burger gain massive appeal. Yet Adventists have been cooking amazing vegetarian meat options for decades (Morningstar and Worthington, I’m looking at you)!
LeBron James at the grand opening of his “I Promise” School in Akron, Ohio.
I’ve watched LeBron James open up a school for students who were just like him, even going so far as to equip each student with a bike and paying for their college education. Adventists, what happened? Atlantic Union College has closed. Schools throughout the country are rapidly closing and selling off land. What happened to that dream? Don’t we believe in what we do anymore? We’ve had the blueprint for over a century now, and the Adventist Education brand isn’t recognized yet?
Before I graduated from college, one of the biggest happenings on campus was the fact that Chick-fil-A was opening a new location just five minutes away. As students flocked to the site to not only eat, but find a decent paying job, I was a little stunned. Where were the Adventists when fast food chains first dotted the American landscape? Why didn’t they create a successful vegetarian/vegan franchise chain?
Collectively, I think we can do better and give the country an example. Years ago, Adventists were active in their communities and inspired social change. Now, we’re too busy bickering over things that should have been figured out decades ago. We’re holding too many blessings to ourselves and in some ways, we’re invalidating some of the young adults who are clamoring to create real change and innovation.
You ever wonder why people consider Adventists a cult?
Who is willing to step outside of the bubble?
We all like boxes, but why do we keep perpetuating our own?
“I don’t want to be a Christian creative. I just want to create. And be a Christian person. They don’t have to be mutually exclusive, but they also don’t need to be married, either.”
A few years ago, one of my favorite rappers declared he no longer/ever wanted to be called a “Christian rapper.” Naturally, there was an outcry from conservatives and evangelical Christians everywhere (almost seems incredulous that such people were even listening to “Christian rap” in the first place). People believed Lecrae was selling out, or worse, selling his soul to the devil. To be honest, I agree with his tactic. He recognized his brand was growing beyond the avenues of Christians and their media bubbles. He was built for more.
Lecrae posing with one of his two Grammys.
And more, he did.
Lecrae has won two Grammys and has even performed in several venues people thought he’d never reach, including The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, an Atlanta Hawks basketball game, Good Morning America, Sway’s Universe, and more. He never stopped being himself. He was willing to step outside of his arena and change the world--even spreading a message of hope and inspiration at the same time. He’s rubbed shoulders with Jay-Z, Justin Bieber, Ty Dolla Sign, B.o.B., E-40, and so many more. He took the path less traveled and didn’t compromise his beliefs.
“I feel that we’ve boxed ourselves in as a conservative tactic to disassociate and avoid tainting ourselves. We cause ourselves more damage when we isolate. And we delay God’s mission when we isolate. Yes, our values are important. Yes, we need a Christian community. These are invaluable. But we should be able to set our own structure with our own boundaries for what we know we can bear, not just abide by what’s been placed for us because of fear.”
A friend of mine, Justin Khoe, formerly known as “That Christian Vlogger” has almost 100k subscribers on YouTube. In 2018, he was a speaker at a conference I attended. As he finished his presentation, he opened the floor for questions.
Justin Khoe. (Find him on YouTube at i’m Listening with Justin Khoe)
“Why don’t you change your name from ‘That Christian Vlogger’ to ‘That Adventist Vlogger’?”
He responded in a way that was so similar to Lecrae. Justin felt like he was doing things that all Christians needed to see and hear, not just Adventist Christians (and, of course, there’s the whole, “If your aim is to work for the church then you risk losing your creative freedom,” kinda thing).
One of the difficulties that comes with being an Adventist creative is that you feel like you’re supposed to fit in a box.
Dr. Heather Thompson-Day
Dr. Heather Thompson Day is an author, speaker, professor, and more recently, a “thought-leader” on Twitter. We first followed each other before she had 1,000 followers. Today, she has over 13,000. Her tweets aren’t Adventist-centric nor are her books and blog posts. Every now and then, she talks about the concept of the Sabbath and she always points people back to God.
Because Dr. HTD had the courage to step out and talk to people outside of her bubble, she has impacted the lives of thousands of people.
There’s so many examples of people who’ve gone out and been successful without leaving their faith behind. DeVon Franklin is another example…and he’s working in HOLLYWOOD! Mention Hollywood to people around you and it’s apparently the place to die.
“People always say ‘Praise God!’ When you’re a pastor, teacher, nurse, or are involved in a ministry of some sort. Where’s that energy when you’re an artist, a communications consultant, a PR Executive, a Civil Rights leader?! The same support we offer for positions in the church? Those of us working on the outside need it, too. I’d argue that we need it more. God’s mission isn’t only within His church. It’s worldwide. It’s everywhere.”
Natalia and I have gone back and forth on this. It’s frustrating that when you dare to dream outside of your confines, there seems to be very little support. In college, it seemed like there was little hope of finding an internship outside of the church, and even then, there really weren’t many internships within it.
To our friends working at Apple, we see you working hard. To our friends who are photographers, graphic designers, and videographers, we see you chasing your dreams. To my friends applying to Nike internships, you are qualified enough. To our podcasting friends that allow people to *gulp* swear on your episodes, you’re not betraying your values.
Just because you’re looking to do work outside of the bubble doesn’t mean you’re not Adventist enough.
To me and Natalia who feel like there’s no hope of breaking out into our fields, I’m glad we have each other and a God who sees our hearts and desires.
Maybe it’s alright to just be Adventist-ish.
Photo by Rena Chung