My friend Scott Turner is now HUD Secretary

Scott Turner recently spoke to the Conservative Political Action Committee (CPAC) meeting in National Harbor, Maryland. A former NFL player and associate pastor at Prestonwood Baptist Church in Dallas, he was confirmed by the US Senate on February 5 as the new secretary of the US Department of Housing and Urban Development.

I am proud to call Scott my friend. He chaired the board of the Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas, where I serve as resident scholar for ethics. He and I have spoken together at several events over the years. I know him to be a genuine man of God and a humble servant.

His statements at CPAC are vintage Scott Turner:

• “All along the way, I believe that the Lord was preparing me. I believe that from before the womb of my mother that he was preparing me for this moment, this day, for such a time as this.”
• “From washing dishes, to graduating college, playing in the NFL, serving in the Texas House, building businesses, to now standing before you, the beloved people of America, as a secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, he was training me and preparing me.”
• “We must not have a defeatist attitude. Instead, we will have a victorious attitude no matter the difficulty that we face. We will not be victims, But instead, we will be victorious.”
• “Never let your circumstance define your ability or your opportunity to succeed.”

Of all the ways I could begin an article celebrating Black History Month, starting with Scott’s inspiring story is a personal privilege for me.

Who invented potato chips?

I also could have begun by asking if you know these facts:

• Daniel Hale Williams performed the first open-heart surgery in 1893.
• Dr. Charles Drew invented a technique for the long-term preservation of blood plasma, making blood banks practical. He also discovered that everyone has the same type of plasma, regardless of blood type, making plasma transfusions universal.
• Lewis Latimer added the carbon filament that made lightbulbs commercially viable.
• Garrett Morgan invented the gas mask in 1912, saving thousands of soldiers’ lives during World War I. He also invented the modern traffic signal.
• Granville T. Woods invented the induction telegraph in 1887, making possible train-to-train and train-to-station communication and preventing many rail accidents.
• George Crum invented potato chips in 1853 while working at a resort in Sarasota Springs, New York.
• Garrett Morgan invented the three-light traffic signal in 1923.
• Frederick McKinley invented refrigerated trucks in 1940.
• Alexander Miles invented automatic elevator doors in 1887.
• Henry Blair invented the corn planter in 1834 and the cotton planter two years later.
• Alice H. Parker invented the gas furnace in 1919.

If were unaware of those influential inventors and the countless others like them, then you can profit from Black History Month.

Each February, this federally recognized, nationwide celebration calls on all Americans to reflect on the significant roles African Americans have played in shaping US history. Much of the credit for the annual celebration goes to Carter G. Woodson, a son of former slaves who spent his childhood working in coal mines and quarries.

At nineteen, having taught himself English fundamentals and arithmetic, he entered high school, where he completed a four-year curriculum in two years. He then graduated from Berea College in 1903, earned a master’s degree in history from the University of Chicago, and earned a doctorate from Harvard.

In 1926, Dr. Woodson developed Negro History Week, choosing the second week of February for his celebration because it marks the birthdays of Frederick Douglass and President Abraham Lincoln. In 1976, this was expanded into Black History Month.

“God shows no partiality”

Dr. Woodson’s idea is not just a valuable way for all Americans to learn, recognize, and celebrate the contributions of Black Americans to our national history and welfare. It is also one way to reverse our nation’s “original sin” of slavery by reclaiming our founding declaration that “all men are created equal.”

In so doing, we embrace and amplify the biblical fact that God “made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth” (Acts 17:26). Since we are all descended from the same parents, we are all part of the same family and the same race—the human race.

Since our Father made each of us, we can know that “God shows no partiality” (Romans 2:11). In his eyes, slavery, racism, and discrimination are grave sins. His word is clear: “If you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors” (James 2:9). John added this dire warning: “Whoever he says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness” (1 John 2:9).

Imagine how you would feel if someone mistreated one of your children because of the color of their skin, and you’ll have a tiny glimpse into the grieving heart of your Father over every act of racism across our history.

One day we will join “a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages” as we gather “before the throne and before the Lamb” (Revelation 7:9). In the meantime, it is our calling and privilege to use every means we can to step closer to that world in this world.

How God will judge us “in the twilight of life”

To this end, take these steps with me today:

1. Search your own heart. Ask the Spirit to show you any unstated attitudes, assumptions, or actions that are discriminatory. Where necessary, repent.
2. Take the cultural initiative. Take positive, proactive, initiatory steps to use your influence in building a society free of racism.
3. Be the church. Dr. Tony Evans identified our “God-given role of influencing the conscience of our culture” without which “our country will keep spiraling downward into the depths of fear and hate.” We must be salt and light for a society in desperate need of both.

St. John of the Cross (1542–91) stated:

“In the twilight of life, God will not judge us on our earthly possessions and human successes, but on how well we have loved.”

How well will you love today?