( ENSPIRE Community Spotlight ) Pastor Keion Henderson Talks Social Justice and Faith in Video Series
ENSPIRE Contributor: Abby Ladner
Pastor Keion Henderson of The Lighthouse Church is helping foster conversations around social justice in his church community and around the nation with his newest video series. “Tackle the Text: The Virtue of Justice” explores the connections between justice and Christian moral theology in dialogues built around the educational components of Equal Justice Initiative, a non-profit dedicated to racial and economic justice in the United States. Through these talks, Pastor Henderson hopes to encourage better discussions on racial justice in America and bring attention to issues that have long been ignored.
“I think that anything that doesn’t fit in dialogue dies,” said Pastor Henderson in the first video of the series. “I think that what is going on in America right now needs to live on. It’s a difficult time, a very painful time, but yet a necessary time because crises always bring forth greatness…I really believe that as long as we keep having these conversations in the shadows, we’ll never bring it to the light.”
The series was filmed at the Houston Museum of African American Culture and released weekly during February in honor of Black History Month. Dialogues took place between Pastor Henderson and other Black ministry leaders and professionals, including Dr. Colette Pierce Burnette, president and CEO of Huston-Tillotson University, co-chair of the mayor of Austin’s Task Force on Institutional Racism and Systemic Inequities, and chair of the Central Texas Collective for Racial Equity. The four-part series was streamed through YouTube and Lighthouse Church 2.0, gathering thousands of viewers each week.
Through this series, Pastor Henderson covers the topic of justice through the lens of Christianity, “I think that justice is difficult to define, but I don’t think it should be difficult to distribute. At the core of justice is the idea of balance, fairness, that people should get what’s appropriate and right for them as a people group, and I think that should cross all sections of economic status, color, creed, culture, all of those things. I think in order to really define justice you have to pay attention to the antithesis, which is injustice…At the genesis of who God is, he’s just. He cannot be unjust. So, then, if injustice is a proposition, then we realize it is a man-made thing, that injustice is a thing instituted by man.”
Pastor Henderson is the founder and CEO, and senior pastor of The Lighthouse Church, a community based out of Houston, Texas. The Lighthouse Church was founded in 2009 and is now one of the fastest-growing churches in the nation with five campuses, 30 ministries, and over 12,000 members. Sermons are live-streamed on their website every week, drawing in viewers from around the globe.
“Maybe perhaps we will say something that would be evergreen for someone to change their perspective,” Pastor Henderson said. “If we can just change the life of two, three, five people, we would have left the world a better place.”
To watch “Tackle the Text: The Virtue of Justice,” visit The Lighthouse Church YouTube channel or visit their website. Learn more about Pastor Henderson on his websites at keionhenderson.com and pastorkeion.com or by following him on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.
