The Impact of Faith Background with Star Parker
I love how I can meet people from every walk and background in Church. We may have a completely different lens to see the world, but the cross brings us together. It’s a unity we can’t conjure up on our own. Only Jesus brings people together this way.
This is the second interview in a two-part series on how our backgrounds do not change the impact of the cross over our lives. This week’s interview is with syndicated columnist, activist and author, Star Parker. She had never set foot in a Church until she crossed paths with a Christian businessman who would not pay her under the table. This was the first time someone pushed back on her lifestyle choices and it made an impact on her. When the Lord finally met her in a Church, she was never the same again. She left her life in poverty, marked by violence, abortion and criminal activity, and now runs a think-tank to help those in the most hard-hit zip codes.
Her story continues to remind me that the cross is a message of hope for people from every background and story. And Jesus is still in the miracle business!
1) Can you tell me a little bit about your life growing up? Did you ever think about God or was God ever spoken of in your family or friend circles?
I had two brothers and two sisters, and my mom and my dad grew up in the Jim Crow south. After high school, my dad went to the military to get away from that and never spoke of it. God was never spoken of in our family growing up. We moved about and lived in different states. During Vietnam, my dad moved to the Philippines and we moved to Japan to be closer to him.
2) Who were the first Christians you met and what made you listen to what they had to say?
When I was living in LA on welfare, I went to subsidize my check and I went to a business in south central LA to get work. A businessman, who was a Christian, confronted me. We had a discussion about me working there and I wanted them to pay me under the table so I wouldn’t have to report it. The rules of welfare are: don’t work, don’t save and don’t get married. But I wanted the extra money. They told me I wouldn’t be able to work there because my lifestyle was unacceptable. To who, I asked? To God, they said. When they said that, it was the first time I had heard about God. We didn’t have any formal religion growing up so I was very taken aback by that conversation.
3) What was the final catalyst to you wanting to change your life?
They kept calling me and inviting me to church; I finally went to church with them. I heard the Gospel at their church. I heard that Jesus was God and He came for my sins. And I made a commitment to Christ that same day.
4) Our readers come from every walk and stage of life. What is your advice to someone reading this right now that might feel trapped in a lifestyle they are seeking freedom in, but that continues to leave them feeling empty?
I know what I would say is what someone said to me: read a proverb a day so that you can grow in understanding and insight and gain wisdom from the Lord. Once you have that type of relationship, where you are regularly getting fed from God, it’s easier to make decisions that will get you to a place of peace.
5) For readers who might be walking with a friend who is in a hard season and they keep reaching out with no response, what is your encouragement to them?
The businessmen who shared with me weren’t calling me everyday. They were just people I met in a business because I was trying to get a job. But they wanted to help my soul get saved.
As a friend, spend some quiet time with the Lord in His scripture. He will bring that friend to hear with an exact word. I read the Psalms every year, a Psalm a day. It’s interesting how the Lord would use a verse to help me each day. One day, He will put someone on my heart to send a Psalm to. He will tell you in that moment who needs it. Don’t be bombarding that friend. Let the Lord do the deep work. We have to give people room to grow.
6) In this series we are focusing on the impact of different faith backgrounds and how that doesn't change the impact of the cross. Considering your background, do you think it made it harder or easier to come to faith?
I think you have to have a lot of faith to live completely, recklessly, and lawlessly. It takes a lot of faith to think you are invincible that you aren’t even searching for meaning. It is extremely difficult to search for meaning and ask why are we here and what are we supposed to do. It’s putting your faith somewhere else. And when you put your faith in God, then your whole life starts to change. Your worldview has to change. And that in itself is a process. The Word says that God be true and every man is a liar. God is true. We want to think the things we do are right and they are justified. But only God is true, I’m the liar. Faith is the substance of things we hope for, evidence of the unseen.
7) How does your background impact your understanding of the cross?
It takes me to my knees to know that I’m in a far better place now. I think often when I’m depressed, I could be in jail. Every time I want to complain, I remember that I could be doing a lifetime sentence like my old friends, or be dead. I saw my former boyfriend that I used to live with on a bus with all of his belongings. That could be me. I take an annual pilgrimage to Italy for my faith and my fashion. I do it to follow dead saints and live designers. I do it to remind myself of the cost of Christianity. So when I go to my war-zone, which is my work at CURE (the Center for Urban Renewal and Education), I’m very comfortable because I know I’m not the first to walk this road. And I get to fly first class instead of carting through deserts.
8) What is your favorite verse that helps you understand your new identity in Christ?
I’m very motivated by Psalm 23. It’s practical and simple. To really get to the place where you believe that the Lord is my shepherd and that I have everything I need is a precious place.
