Obviously you have a heart for the youth. Your background speaks to this with your involvement with the NAACP, the youth experience at this years MegaFest in Atlanta . In this society where we have low morals and low standards, what are some of the struggles that you have seen, ministering to young people about obstacles they may face in a world? What is your answer to those who are trying to live in today's society by Gods standards?Pastor Jamal Bryant: I think in part it is hard to be a Christian, because being a Christian requires discipline and many of our children don't have parents they have grown friends. In order for you to be a Christian, you have to be discipline to say to your children, these are the rules, these are the laws, this is the standard. Our youth are living with parents who don't give them a standard of excellence, who don't give them rules of engagement. So, we are finding a generation of seekers who never find the discipline. So the church has to then institute for our young people, what is the demarcation for the standard of excellence.
In the prison, the fastest growing religion is Muslim, is Islam. So this says that people are not non-religious, but the shun away from stuff that is unstructured and undisciplined. If I want to be undisciplined, why go to church. It's just something that I do socially, but it is not doing anything for me spiritually. And so the same thing they get at school, they get at church. It's time for me to sit down then I go eat. Then after I go eat, I come back for class. The same thing happens at church. I come to morning service, we go to eat, we come back to afternoon service but there is no homework. So young people are looking for is discipline, or else church is just an extended P.E. class.
UGN: You have an awesome responsibility to lead others, why do you think God has put you in that position?
Pastor Jamal Bryant: I have no idea and I wish He would have chosen someone else. I went to Duke to study law and become a civil rights attorney, but God redirected my path. What God spoke to me is that justice has to come in the church before it goes to the courthouse. There is a grave inequity of injustice that goes on in the church that deals with racism, sexism and classism. In dealing with classism there is an injustice because we portray that you are blessed based on what you drive and what you wear and you are cursed if you are living under poverty. That a class system. There's a sexist system because we will allow in many churches women to fry chicken, fold the bulletins, be in charge of hospitality but they can't speak from the pulpit. There is in fact a racist class because in many sectors of our communities we will give more to a Tele-evangelist who doesn't look like us then we do for the pastor that looks like us, and buries our grandparents, baptizes our children and preaches to us everyday. So, the church has to reconcile ourselves that before we can change the world we have to change the church.
UGN: During your message tonight you briefly mentioned cloning. We have a generation that is looking for something and they are looking to be cloned like a Jamal Bryant. What do you say to those people who don't have a figure like you, or Bishop Jackson? They come out to conferences but they don't have a mentor or someone that they can clone themselves after?
Pastor Jamal Bryant: The church is guilty of false marketing because the church should not clone other Bishop Jackson's or other Pastor Bryant's because they don't know him, they don't know me. They know what I do. What we ought to be cloning is disciples of Jesus Christ. If I'm shaping you to be like me and you get behind the office and hear me cuss or you find out that I am frustrated with some armor bearer or officers who haven't done their job, then you are going to lose heart and lose passion because I have let you down. But my goal ought to be look past me and see how God is. If you put everything into the pastor and when the pastor falls, you won't be able to stand. But if you've built disciples, they will still be able to stand because you say the Jesus that was in them.
UGN: What was the biggest hurdles that you had to overcome in pursuit of your purpose?
Pastor Jamal Bryant: The biggest hurdle that I have had to overcome is finding new hurdles. Once I get past something to know that I have not arrived but there is still a greater challenge. That is the challenge for all of us is so that we don't get stuck in neutral to know that there more. If we put our gauge just on a Bishop Jackson or a Bishop Jakes then that is all that we have to aspire to. For young people, every generation is suppose to exceed the previous generation. If all you do Marcus, if the Lord places on you to go into ministry, is to go as far as I have gone, you are not a success. You have to got to go passed what it is that I have done.
The difference between pastoring and fathering is that pastors what you to follow them, but fathers want you to go past them. It's up to us to make sure we don't block or limit the next generation. We need to push them to go past what we have done.
UGN: When you failed the 11 th grade and decided to drop out, what made you make this decision? What was your families' reaction?
Pastor Jamal Bryant: I wanted to drop out Marcus because I failed out of a gifted and talented school. Where I was suppose to do well. I failed out when my state testing scores where in the top 20 percentile. I flunked out with a 1080 on the SAT. So, it wasn't that I could not do the work, but I was in and environment where education wasn't cool. So, I wanted to drop out because of embarrassment.
But my parents were under the old school, either you were going to college or you were going to the military. Since I knew I couldn't get up at 5:30 I knew I could get up for a 8:00 class. So that was the easiest option for me.
I knew that I wanted to be successful. But Marcus no matter what it is that you want to do in live, you have to practice and you have to have discipline. If you want to be a rapper, you can't just go on stage you have to have a note book. If you want to be a good basketball player, you have to practice after the team has gone home. So I had to figure out whatever it was I wanted to do, I had to study for. I couldn't be anti-studying, but I had to start studying something I had passion for.
UGN: When you were in high school, what kind of student were you. A jock, a class clown, what?
Pastor Jamal Bryant: All of the above. I was president of my freshman class and my sophomore class. I was the co-caption of the wrestling team. I was the class clown. I was the captain of the debating team. I won the Black History month contest, and still flunk. You know what I mean.
I flunked having two parents in the household. There are so many peers that don't have the advantage you have. They don't know or have a relationship with their father. Don't go to church. They find themselves in a crux but they don't get the push. My parents mantra for me was “failure is not an option.” So I had to win even if I didn't like doing it.
UGN: Where did you get the name The Empowerment Temple?
Pastor Jamal Bryant: When I started the church Marcus I was just leaving the position of National Youth and College Director of the NAACP. I wanted to start a church with a name that young people could understand. I didn't want to name it Mount Sinai and they don't know what happen there. I didn't want to name it “International” and they have never been on a plane. I wanted to give it something so when they heard the church name they would know what it meant and a reminder that we live up to the name. Empowerment Temple says that we are to empower people. If I do anything outside of empowering people, it goes against what the church stands for.
UGN: My generation is being called the Joshua generation. The generation that brings back Jesus Christ. What else do you see for my generation positive and negative?
Pas
tor Jamal Bryant: I think we are Joshua and Jabez. Some stuff was given to us. Joshua was a fighter and our generation hasn't learned how to fight for anything. We are the first generation that hasn't had a battle.In the 60's the young people started the revolution for Civil Rights
In the 70's the young people started the revolution about the Vietnam War
In the 80's the young people started the battle for gay rights
Our generation, the only thing that we fought about was the death about Tupac and Biggie
We haven't fought for anything, stuff has been given to us.
In the spirit of Jabez, we don't where he purchased the property, whether it was inherited to him. But he said, what was given to me, God enlarge it. We have to ask God to enlarge the gift that was given to us that we didn't have to fight for.
UGN: What do you feel is the biggest downfall or weakness for the body of Christ and for the Christian youth.
Pastor Jamal Bryant: I think the biggest weakness is that we are not blessed, we are spoiled. We have received so much without having to fight for it. Because we didn't fight for it we don't appreciate it as much. We think that if we shout, turn around three times, in 30 days it's going to come, but no one is talking about war-fare and sacrifice. I think when we go through war-fare and sacrifice we will be able to appreciate what the Lord has given us.
UGN: If I were to drop by your house, what would I find you doing?
Pastor Jamal Bryant: You would find me playing with my nine-month old daughter trying to teach her how to walk. You would find me reading. You would find me on the internet. You would find me watching a movie. Or if I'm leaving the Next Conference, you would find me sleep.
UGN: What type of music do you listen to or enjoy?
Pastor Jamal Bryant: (Laughing) This is a lot of questions you are asking me. I listen to all kinds of music. I listen to hip-hop. I listen to classical music, that's what I studied. I listen to gospel music. I try to be open all different genre of music.
UGN: Alright thank you.
Pastor Jamal Bryant: Thank you, I appreciate you. (Laughing) Thank you for my six, three questions.
