In recent church memory, there is not a more subversive church planter than Dhati Lewis. As former head of the Send Network of the North American Mission Board, Dhati Lewis oversaw the planting of many woke and egalitarian churches using Southern Baptist resources to do so. He also is the likely figure behind the anti-White language on the Send Network website. Christian Post decided to give him a feature interview last week touting him as an expert in urban church planting. This was in an effort to promote his new ironically titled book, Among Wolves: Disciple-Making in the City.
As part of his new assignment, Lewis will be planting churches in the black and urban context. His new initiative is called My BLVD (“Boulevard”), which will help churches in urban areas disciple their community.
Through the program, Lewis wants to walk church planters through a system to reach their urban community. And he feels strongly that his life’s calling is resourcing urban church planters to make disciples right where they live.
Dhati Lewis will be launching his own church plant consulting firm with a focus on planting (woke) Black churches.
While My BLVD will be a separate focus from NAMB, it will partner with NAMB in its vision.
When asked about the perceptions of some that racial hurdles persist within the SBC, Lewis said he understands why some people of color might be a little weary in joining the denomination in which the majority of its leadership and its seminary presidents are white men.
“If I want to see more minority leaders, I have to raise up more minority leaders within my context and then send them out,” Lewis explained. “And guess what, the more leaders that I send out, the more leaders — more minority leaders — there will be within the Send Network and within the SBC. And so really, you know, say to those people and to those leaders that the tent is wide.”
The biggest revelation in this interview appears to be the continued affiliation with NAMB. It was generally assumed that just because Lewis was no longer working for NAMB that his new venture would not be affiliated, but it appears that Dhati Lewis will still have access to Kevin Ezell’s resources in order to continue his mission.
Furthermore, Dhati Lewis makes clear his ambition to groom (woke) pastors for denominational leadership. Essentially, Dhati Lewis is bent on becoming the next Kevin Ezell, and one of the largest Christian news publications is treating this like a good thing.
