My grandfather is the bishop of COGIC, Church of God in Christ. I think he, Grandpa Hopkins, built this church around 40 years ago. My mom’s baby bottle is buried under the pulpit. My mom is a missionary.
There are different titles in church. You start off as a brother and then you become a minister, which is a preacher, or a deacon. Right now, I’m just a brother because I’m young and I’m still learning. My whole take on the religion right now is that, yeah, I believe in God but I’m not a full-blown Christian. I like to party too much, be me, explore.
I don’t really like in life how people judge people off what they hear and see without really knowing the person. Just converse with the person, get to know them and go off that.
People have really high expectations of you when you’re born into church instead of just joining into it. I’m still debating becoming a bishop, but I am the oldest in my youth group at church. Everyone expects me to grow up and take over. They hold me accountable to that, may be because of my family.
My church is on 17th and Dekum. It’s called Greater Solid Rock. A lot of people know me, so I have to be careful what I do. Not only inside but outside of the church because somehow it all comes back to my family.
My favorite part is hearing the word of God, just the guidance of what’s in the word and how to apply it to every day. Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” If I just set my mind to it and it’s a positive thing, such as good grades or just my goals in life, I can do it. I can accomplish it.
If you want to be religious you can. It’s not up to me. It really all has to do with you personally and what you’re doing in life. Everybody is different and you really can’t stray away from that. If someone wants to be religious they can, it shouldn’t really be anyone else’s problem.
