Get Serious about Becoming Beloved Community
with Fr. Jabriel Ballentine, Keynote Speaker & Workshop Facilitator
Becoming Beloved Community Workshop & Mastermind Series
Telling the Truth/ Receiving the Truth
This is the first step…the entry point. But, when has power (or the beneficiaries of power) ever really wanted to hear the truth? In a status quo culture, why would people feel safe to speak the truth – to power?
In this module, our work focuses on “Telling the Truth.” Our relationship to the truth. Our ability to share the truth and our ability to receive the truth. In the keynote workshop, we set the stage for exploring our relationship to the truth and the importance of that exploration. We begin to acknowledge the hard truths that we avoid and the affront those truths pose to the idea of Beloved Community.
In the accompanying Beloved Community Mastermind work, we spend special focus on deepening our examination of our relationship to the truth, engaging that relationship and challenging it – as a group, to improve ourselves and one another.
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Proclaiming the Dream/ Practicing the Way
Chicken or egg…which came first?
One could say without a proclamation, no one could ever hear the Word. Others could say that without training and practice, we have nothing really to proclaim.
In this module we see that the answer is “Yes!” as we explore the relationship between Proclaiming the Dream and Practicing the Way of Beloved Community. Like the gap between “practice what you preach” and “do as I say, not as I do,” we must see these two individual components as different sides of the same coin.
Why is this relationship so important? And why is it so important to view the relationship in this way? In the second module of Fr. Jabriel’s Becoming Beloved Community framework, through both keynote and mastermind, we focus on the answer to these questions and the deeper resonance with how participants both proclaim the dream and practice the way.
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Reconciling the Breach/ Enlarging Territory
As we are better able to practice the way of Beloved Community and share the message of Beloved Community, as we are learning it, we provide true hope to those who are seeking Beloved Community for themselves. How do we invite them into the Beloved Community? How do we welcome people into the Beloved Community?
There is a right and a good and joyful way…
There is a “proper” way to initiate newcomers into the community so they are able to embrace the community and experience all the community has to offer. We have a responsibility to formally and intentionally welcome others into the Beloved Community in ways that strengthen the community, making it more Beloved.
That is the focus of the keynote and mastermind for this final module.
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Talking directly on issues such as race and destructive systems is part of the work of Orlando Together, as we seek to undermine such divisions in our city’s major sectors; so it was an easy decision to ask Jabriel to help shape the conversation with a diverse audience. His boldness to directly address core issues of value and meaning are a refreshing and needed contribution in moving audiences and participants along in a focused and guided manner.
—Nicole Higgins, Director Orlando Together
Jabriel Ballentine speaks with passion and integrity, naming clearly the way things are while offering real hope for the way they yet might be.
—Bishop Susan Goff, Episcopal Diocese of Virginia
Jabriel is a true blessing in sharing his personal story, perspectives and the hard facts of how racism infects our communities, institutions and patterns of life – crushing hope for many. His passion is shaped by his faith in God and his deep love of people. His personal warmth helps him deliver hard truths.
—Rev. Tim Nunez fmr. Canon to the Ordinary Episcopal Diocese of Central Florida
Jabriel was a star. He was the perfect combination of honesty and humility. The participants where challenged by his thoughts and commented on how much they learned during the presentation, even if part of the challenge was the discomfort that confrontation with reality and truth evokes.
—Ms. Aisha Huertas, Director of Mission, Outreach, and Diversity at Episcopal Diocese of Virginia
He brought wise words to UCF today for our panel discussion on racism. You know you made the kids think when they stick around talking with the panelists for an extra hour! On behalf of the Center for Law and Policy, many thanks.
—Dr. Cynthia Schmidt, UCF Center for Law and Policy Director
Your words to our students were truly thought provoking & inspirational, and delivered in a manner that opened their hearts. Many students have continued to discuss your sermon & have asked when you will return.
—Rev. Nita Byrd, St. Augustine’s University Chaplain
Whether it is speaking to a group setting, leading a seminar, or a one to one engagement, you will benefit by sitting under the teaching, coaching and counseling of Jabriel Ballentine.
—Dr. Jon Davis, Canterbury Retreat & Conference Center Executive Director
After the talk several participants shared with me how much they enjoyed it & told me that I should bring him back to campus for another presentation…If you are looking for someone who can speak knowledgeably and authoritatively about matters of race, social justice, and theology, then you need look no further than Jabriel Ballentine
—Dr. Joseph D. Thompson, VTS Director of Multicultural Ministries
Jabriel is a leader in forging deep conversations where truth is found. He is inspiring & informative, challenging & encouraging…He left us wanting even more conversation for life transformation…
—Bishop Dabney Smith, Episcopal Diocese of Southwest Florida
About Fr. Jabriel S. Ballentine
Fr. Jabriel Ballentine is a personal pastor and public theologian who inspires people through biblical insights and spiritual vision to develop fuller relationships with God, themselves and those around them so that they can find ever-greater fulfillment in their lives.
He is host of Blacks with Power podcast, which is a theological guide for those Blacks in America who find themselves in positions of power and are committed to using that power toward the redemption of Black people, in the image of God that’s been sullied by White supremacy. He is also cohost of Racial Heresy, a monthly podcast on Christian theology and racial reconciliation that debunks the established racial doctrines which keep us separate and helps people engage in meaningful conversations across the color line. He is the author and performer of Journey to the Promised Land, an album of Gospel inspired spoken word poetry that inspires compassion for those who live outside of mainstream American life. And also he authored "Game Changer: How to Find a Championship Love," to help men and women create & maintain the marriage and family relationships that empower their journey.
Fr. Jabriel holds a Master’s Degree from the Virginia Theological Seminary and a Bachelor’s from the University of Maryland. He is an Executive Council Member for the Episcopal Church, serving as liaison to the Church’s Commission on Anti-Racism. He resides in Dr. Phillips, Florida with his wife and children.
For a more complete biography, visit: https://jahbread.com/about/
A displaced people. A life in bondage. Miraculous freedom.
For over a century, black Americans have identified with the biblical story of the Exodus—when God rescued his people from slavery and led them to the land flowing with milk and honey.
But fifty years have passed since Jim Crow laws were repealed, and the promised land has never materialized—black lives matter as little today as they did before the civil rights movement. Why would God allow his people to have such a degrading experience?
In Black Power, Fr. Jabriel S. Ballentine offers a new perspective that not only answers this question but also shifts the entire conversation away from “why” and toward redemption and reconciliation: it’s the story of Joseph—not the Exodus—that truly encompasses the black experience.
Ballentine sets the groundwork for this new perspective by first explaining the traditional liberation narrative of the Exodus story. He goes on to redefine what liberation really is, applying that definition to Joseph’s story and to black Americans’ stories today.
It is only through this perspective change and the reconciliation it informs, says Ballentine, that we can redeem history and change the future of America.
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