BY JYREMY REID and TIM ALLSTON, Oakwood University,
reporting from Huntsville, Alabama

Heralded in some media
outlets as the only “hero” of the 16-day U.S. federal government shutdown, U.S.
Senate Chaplain Barry Black told Seventh-day Adventist pastors Sunday, December
8, 2013 their church “is sleeping through a revolution.”

“And the reason why
we are not experiencing the miracles that God would have us experience, is
because we’re not prepared to speak the truth to power,” he admonished the
nearly 1,000 attendees at the 34^th annual Pastoral Evangelism &
Leadership Council (PELC), held at Oakwood University in Huntsville, Alabama.
It is believed to be the world church’s largest annual gathering of
pastors. He added, “If you’re going to
prepare for a miracle where leprosy disappears, you’ve got to speak the truth
to power.”

Black gained
international attention for his searing, no-holds-barred invocations opening
each Senate session during that October congressional stalemate; Black’s bowtie-wearing,
non-partisan baritone eloquence was later parodied on TV’s “Saturday Night Live.”

Addressing,
“Preparing for a Miracle, by speaking Truth to Power” Black, the first Adventist
and African American to serve as Senate chaplain, centered his 25-minute
message on 2 Kings 5, pinpointing four persons who spoke truth to Syrian
commander Naaman: Mrs. Naaman’s maid, the prophet Elisha, his servant and Naaman’s
aide-de-camp.

“There are people who
are speaking out, and speaking out prophetically, but we often are not,” he told
his colleagues at the Oakwood University church. “We need relevant truth, and
present truth is relevant if we recognize what is going on in the world around
us. You pray with relevancy and you
preach with relevancy.

“If there had been
Adventist ministers alongside Martin [Luther] King, . . . if there had been
Adventist pastors in (apartheid) South Africa, . . . There need to be Adventist
ministers who will speak out against some of the really touchy issues, because
people are listening for a prophetic word; but too often, we’re bringing up the
rear.

“There are powerful
people who are experiencing pain and we need to have people who would speak the
truth to power; and Elisha did. We need
to be prepared to speak the truth to power because our silence prevents us from
opening the eyes of the blind.

“As Christians, we
soon come to realize that the world isn’t waiting on those individuals who are
fragile and of weak heart. No, the world
needs those ‘who are not afraid to call sin (out) by its right name.’ Where are you, men of courage? The world is looking those who are going to
stand up for what is right, and speak the truth into power,” concluding, “We
need to speak the truth into power because there is pain that accompanies
power.”

PELC
director-turned-interviewer Dr. Jesse Wilson queried the retired two-star
admiral to critique his characterization on “Saturday Night Live.” With a quick
grin, he posited, “Kenan Thompson did a good job, . . . needed to lower his
voice to more baritone, not tenor, . . . a tad-bit irreverent, but funny, and
God told me to just ‘lighten up’!”

Wilson asked, “How
did you put together those Senate prayers? Did you anticipate the (media) response?”

Black, quoting Luke
11:13, said, “Every morning on my way to Capitol Hill, I have an encounter with
the Holy Spirit, and God would text messages into my heart.”

For example that
prayer:

• “Lord,
  save us from the madness” was not my words; God texted me;
• “Lord, when our
  federal shutdown delays payments of death benefits to the families of children
  dying on faraway battlefields, it's time for our lawmakers to say enough is enough”
  – again, not my words; God texted me.

He added, “When the
Holy Ghost sends a text, it’ll make the news!”

Jyremy Reed is a
student photojournalist at Oakwood University; Tim Allston is his mentor and
director of public relations at Oakwood University, Huntsville, Alabama, USA