Pastor Tony Evans, the first African American to earn a doctorate in Theology from Dallas Theological Seminary, grew up in Baltimore, Maryland during the height of segregation and racial unrest.
It was a "frustrating" and "painful" childhood, recalls Evans, as people constantly belittled him because of the colour of his skin. "I was reminded in many ways that I was a second-class citizen," he tells I AM Second.
It would have been normal for anyone who has been subjected to social injustices to wallow in self-pity and despair, but Evans managed to rise above it all after he accepted Jesus Christ as his Saviour. The Bible became his guidance and he was uplifted by Christ.
"When I looked very closely to the Bible and to Jesus, this Christ who came, I discovered something awesome. I discovered that when He's first, then He places me in a second position that's above the class that I was given by other men," explains Evans. "I discovered His love for me and His. As a son of the living God with royal blood flowing through my veins."
Because of that discovery, Evans no longer cared how other people looked at him. There might still be racial discrimination going on in America, but all Evans cares about is how God sees him.
"All of a sudden what men thought and how men felt about me became irrelevant. Because now I was placed — in fact I was seated — with Him [Christ] in a very high place. That He gave me recognition, significance and value," he says.
"And now I can be fully proud of His creation in me, and not allow others to denigrate me by how they define me, or even to make me think more highly of myself than I ought to think because I had a new point of reference," he adds.
