Oneness Embraced: Through The Eyes of Tony Evans

The cover of Oneness Embraced  positions the book as a fresh look at reconciliation, the kingdom, and justice. The book, written by Dr. Tony Evans senior pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas, Texas, is indeed a fresh look at these topics but it is so much more. Within its pages, Dr. Evans has produced a book true to his customary hard-hitting, deep-thinking style.

In the mid 1990s I heard Dr. Evans speak on racial reconciliation to a standing-room-only crowd in Raleigh, North Carolina. That was back when racial reconciliation was all church folks could talk about. What Dr. Evans shared that night was inspirational and radical. Standing shoulder to shoulder with thousands of others, I knew that God had used this man to speak directly to me about my role in bridge building and social justice. Oneness Embraced skillfully presents yet another layer of the message he delivered that night so many years ago.

In what amounts to a satisfying mixture of theological discourse, church history, and biography, Evans shows a more radical approach to reconciliation. Dr. Evans’s presentation of black evangelicalism is eye opening to me as a black woman. But Evans doesn’t stop there. He uses Oneness Embraced to speak to Christians of all hues and creeds about empowerment, personal responsibility, and the church’s mission in society. The examples from his own life and current events drive his points home.

“The solution to our problems won’t land on Air Force One, nor does God ride the backs of either donkeys or elephants. To put it another way, Christians should be representing God’s kingdom by caring for people across racial, gender, political, and class lines so well that the government experts come to us to find out how we do it.”

Evans is quick to point out that although racial oneness is crucial, it is not the end game. The ultimate goal of all our Christian earthly work–the evangelism, missions work, racial reconciliation efforts, social justice struggles–is to glorify our Reconciler and King. Embracing oneness in its fullest is only one way to help believers reach that ultimate goal.

Oneness Embraced: Through The Eyes of Tony Evans is not a quick easy read, but it is more than worthwhile. I recommend it to those who are student/practitioners of biblical racial reconciliation. Get ready to embrace oneness for the sake of the Kingdom.

Few things are more telling about a person than a long speech. The speech strips away all the pretense and showmanship put forth by the preceding press release or the media kit. The speech-giver delivers more than words. He or she delivers the good, bad, and ugly things that brought them to that moment in time. Between the lines, they deliver the truth.

A good speech-giver is entertaining. They are engaging and enlightening. A great speech-giver adds challenge and a call to action. Many people give good speeches. Shirley Sherrod gave a great speech. One that can be studied, in its entirety, for what it adds to the discussion of what racial reconciliation looks like.

Over the years I’ve seen so many different examples of racial reconciliation. Most of them boil down to what I think is kumbaya-around-the-campfire rhetoric. Case in point, electing a black president was not racial reconciliation. This event, though momentous, was no more racial reconciliation than allowing a black man to vote or own a home or publish a book. President Obama has done all these things.

Racial reconciliation requires much more than solitary acts or events with racial overtones. Real racial reconciliation is tough. It’s an active cycle. It starts with admission, moves on to submission, and gets sealed by ongoing commitment.

The ill-fated two minutes and forty-three seconds snippet of Shirley Sherrod’s speech that got her fired was her admission. She admitted to doing something. In and of itself that snippet had really bad racial implications. But …

Thank goodness Shirley didn’t end her speech there. She went on to share about a complete change of heart, in fact, a God-directed one-eighty. Recognizing her wrong, Shirley had submitted to One higher than herself. And in turning over her will to God, she turned the situation around for herself and the white farmer she was tasked to help. She did not allow anger to overrule her convictions. Right is right, no matter what. In this we see just how seriously she took her God and the values of the rural folks that raised her.

Shirley’s submission led to a lifelong commitment to change the situation for not only poor blacks, a natural inclination for a black woman who grew in the rural South, but also for all poor, regardless of skin color. Shirley committed to being a change agent, risking her reputation to recruit other change agents. What boldness!

She could have been called an Uncle Tom and a sell out, but she was going for the ripple effect. She saw an opportunity, a possibility, however remote, within that sea of black faces at the NAACP meeting and perhaps thought if God could change me, maybe He could change someone else.

These are the traits of a reconciler, a true bridge builder.

Are you a bridge builder?