Dr. Frederick D. Haynes III, Pastor of Friendship-West Baptist Church in Dallas Texas, and GRAMMY award nominee J.J Hairston were the guests on HUR@HOME Inspiration Sunday July 12, 2020. They both are dynamic men of God who have had tremendous impact on spiritual lives worldwide.
Dr. Haynes is a prophetic pastor, passionate leader, social activist, and eloquent educator. Under his leadership, his church grew from less than 100 members in 1983 to over 12,000. Unfortunately, there are still people who believe that the corona virus is a hoax, such as the 30-year-old in San Antonio who died after going to a COVID party. Dr. Haynes reminded us that we need to follow the wisdom of our scientific leaders who are doing the best they can with the information they have to protect us from COVID-19. Dr. Haynes recapped the sermon he gave on July 4th in which he spoke about white supremacy, the elephant of racial injustice in the room, and that there is still a chance to reset.
Dr. Haynes led Friendship-West to work with local officials and neighborhood groups to decrease the crime rate. He reminded us in the DMV, who just witnessed the shooting death of an 11-year old boy, that James Baldwin once said that the most dangerous creation of any society is the man who has nothing to lose. We should work to give our youth something to live for by redirecting more funds to strengthen our communities.
J.J. Hairston told the story of how God brought his marriage to Trina Hairston from the brink of divorce to a model of a miracle marriage. The couple has written a book about it and mentors other couples. J.J. is also the CEO and founder of Jamestown Music. Inspired by the movie “Ray” about Ray Charles, he now owns all his music. Both Dr. Haynes and J.J. talked about the importance of their connections with countries in Africa and how beneficial those ministries have been. J.J. announced that he has an upcoming music project that will focus on the sound of the DMV.
In his closing prayer, Dr. Haynes prayed for WHUR Sunday morning Gospel host Patrick Ellis who is battling COVID-19. We all pray that he will soon heal and return to his Gospel Spirit program on WHUR.
