Lil-wayne and Rick Ross
Pastor Rodney Wills was just nearing four years at Mt. Salem Baptist Church in North Carolina. He is the youngest pastor to be installed at 26 years old and is now the shortest term pastor in Mt. Salem’s 109 year history. On Saturday, Mt. Salem voted him out for attending a local Rick Ross concert. With a vote of 11 to 3, the 14 deacons met at 11 o’clock Saturday night to discuss and come to a conclusion that they did not need his services anymore.
William Leonard Roberts II, known by his stage name Rick Ross (often stylized as RICK RO$$), is an American rapper who is no stranger to the drama associated with “thug life.” Rick Ross recently made nationwide news when he was dropped from Reebok and other endorsements for lyrics advocating rape towards women.
He was criticized for a line on rapper Rocko’s song “U.O.E.N.O.”, Ross raps the line, “Put molly all in her champagne/ She ain’t even know it/ I took her home and I enjoyed that/ She ain’t even know it.” A petition containing 72,000 signatures was presented to Reebok, demanding they drop Ross as a spokesman for the lyrics which appeared to condone date rape. Ross has apologized for the lyrics, claiming they weren’t about rape. He was dropped by Reebok on April 11, 2013. A Ross concert organized by the student association of Carleton University was cancelled after protests that his lyrics promote ‘rape culture’. Rocko later dropped the Rick Ross verse in order to get radio play.
Rev. Wills arrived to the church the next day for Sunday morning worship service and notice his parking sign taken down and his name removed from the office door. The deacons even asked another minister from the community to officiate the service that morning.
“We cannot have our leader supporting people of this world who are tearing down the kingdom of God.” said Deacon Miles Langley.
According to Deacon Langley, this is not the first time Rev. Wills has attended a concert while pastoring Mt. Salem. 9 months ago the diaconate board met with Rev. Wills when word was given to them that many youth and young adults spotted the pastor at a Lil’ Wayne concert.
“We know that many saints will have mixed opinions from our actions, but this is not how we do things here at Mt. Salem. We cannot have a pastor praising the world one minute then praising the Lord the next. Period” said Deacon Langley.
In other words, within the Baptist church they employ their pastor through the process of voting. They vote them in and reserve the right to vote them out.
Reverend Rodney Wills served as pastor for Mt. Salem Baptist Church close to four years but was suddenly voted out. The Church’s spokesperson stated they will have guest ministers preach each week while they move forward with the next step.
Credits: Cherese Jackson (Virginia)
Source: Guardian Express
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