The history of a People is often defined and measured by their source and degree of hope, as compared to the severity and endurance of their struggle. The history of black people is marked by a ceaseless commitment to survive insurmountable adversity and graced with edifying testaments of a collective soul. The African-American experience stands as a particular example of the power of faith to sustain the evolution and freedom of a people.

Africans delivered into slavery suffered unspeakable atrocities during their indoctrination and captivity. Our ancestors were reconditioned to abandon belief in tribal deities, in exchange for Eurocentric representations of Christianity. State and Church commissioned translations of The Holy Bible were effective tools utilized in this effort to reprogram African belief systems.

The resulting embrace and exuberance that African Americans have for Christianity is a seminal testament to the Glory and healing power found in the Gospel. The Bible’s principles of faith and obedience and Its promise of grace and mercy have provided a continuum of hope and deliverance throughout black history. We have endured genocidal loss of millions of lives during the middle passage across the Atlantic Ocean; the inhumane separation of families like cattle across thousands of plantations; the capitalistic exploitation of free labor used to build the infrastructure of a new nation; the frightening honor of fighting a Civil War; the emancipation of millions of uneducated and completely unprepared “free men and women;” a social order designed to impose State sanctioned and institutionalized discrimination; terrorism and intimidation waged in the forms of lynchings, bombings, beatings, and cross burnings; more wars with less honor; a deconstruction of unjust legal doctrine, a realization of self beauty and proclamation of power; and finally an emergence of political and economic strength.

Throughout black history, the bedrock of communal conscience has been the church and its foundational text, the Bible. The amalgam of popular black personalities, gathered to record The Bible Experience, while unprecedented in the annuls of Christian and/or Hollywood commerce, should actually be recognized as a reflection of our multi-generational commitment to Christ. The Bible Experience documents our submission, reverence, and praise for the Lord. We have been delivered—Hallelujah!

—Kyle Bowser
Executive Producer
The Bible Experience

Inspired by… Media Group

Can God’s pruning fail to produce? Sure it can, if we don’t cooperate. If we resist, rebel, complain, or become resentful, our character will not develop the way God intends it to. God wants to develop nine specific character qualities in your life: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. He produces these qualities by allowing you to encounter situations and people full of exactly the opposite qualities. He teaches you love by putting you around unlovely people. He teaches you joy in the midst of sorrow. He teaches you peace by allowing irritations all around you. He teaches you patience by allowing things to frustrate you. God uses all of those things to make you more fruitful, but you must cooperate with him.

—Rick Warren, God’s Power to Change Your Life

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We can get so easily entangled and ensnared in the internal issues, questions, and personal situations in our churches that it’s hard to remember that the primary reason we remain on this planet is to reach the people "out there." Just like commercial organizations need to get their focus off themselves, we as individual Christians and collective churches need to recalibrate our sights on the mission God has given us: reaching spiritually lost people. Only as we begin to value those outside our Christian circles will we be truly fulfilled and functioning according to God’s purpose for us.

—Bill Hybels and Mark Mittelberg, Becoming a Contagious Christian

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I am troubled by all the racism and violence in our society; there is still too much of it today. What troubles me is that so many young people, including college students, have come out for white supremacy. More and more incidents of racial violence on college campuses have occurred as a result of the white-supremacy form of thinking. We still have a long way to go. I try to keep hope alive. It is better to teach—and live—equality and love than it is to teach hatred. I would like to see everyone living together in peace, harmony, and love, not dwelling on the horrors of the past. It is time to move forward.

—Rosa Parks, Quiet Strength: The Faith, the Hope, and the Heart of a Woman Who Changed a Nation

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Now I worry that the prevailing image of Christians has changed from that of a perfume atomizer to a different spray apparatus: the kind used by insect exterminators. There’s a roach! Pump, spray, pump, spray. There’s a spot of evil! Pump, spray, pump, spray. Some Christians I know have taken on the task of "moral exterminator" for the evil-infested society around them.

I share a deep concern for our society. I am struck, though, by the alternative power of mercy as demonstrated by Jesus, who came for the sick and not the well, for the sinners and not the righteous. Jesus never countenanced evil, but he did stand ready to forgive it. Somehow, he gained the reputation as a lover of sinners, a reputation that his followers are in danger of losing today. As Dorothy Day put it, "I really only love God as much as I love the person I love the least."

–Philip Yancey, What’s So Amazing About Grace?

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