Brenda Salter McNeil - Becoming Brave

In Becoming Brave , Dr. McNeil exercises uncommon courage. Part confession, part biblical reflection, part call to storm the gates, Becoming Brave declares that the Christian call to do justice cannot and shall no longer be guided, shaped, and defanged by sensibilities more loyal to white peoples comfort than to God. McNeil has led two generations of evangelical Christians into the value and practice of racial reconciliation. With Becoming Brave she returns and calls her followers to gird their courage and engage like never before, for the sake of the gospel. This book is a must-read.

Lisa Sharon Harper , founder and president, Freedom Road

Brenda Salter McNeil has been a giant in the work of racial reconciliation among evangelicals. Like Tom Skinner and Bill Pannell in previous generations, she defines for this generation of evangelical scholars and pastors what real racial reconciliation means on the ground. There is simply no one who has worked with more thoughtfulness, theological precision, and faithfulness at this vital work than Brenda Salter McNeil. There is no one who understands more clearly what is necessary to move white evangelicals forward beyond their racial captivity than McNeil, and there is no more important book that must find its way into the hands of students, pastors, Christian activists, and all those who understand the urgency of this moment than Becoming Brave .

Willie James Jennings , professor, Yale Divinity School; author of After Whiteness: An Education in Belonging

This is a beautiful and courageous book about journeys. Brenda Salter McNeil takes us on hers, even as she invites us to newly understand Queen Esthers andultimatelyour own. Real prophets lovingly criticize and truthfully energize. McNeil does both with clarity and with the kind of rare vulnerability thatwhen offered by a justice leader in it for the long haul and deeply responding to Gods callenables the rest of us to get quiet and ask again what it is that God requires of us. This book will move your heart and compel your feet to move as well, with others, in response to Gods call to do justice.

Jennifer Harvey , author of Raising White Kids: Bringing Up Children in a Racially Unjust America

During a time requiring moral clarity and moral courage, Dr. Brenda Salter McNeil calls any and all with ears to hear to be brave. Through a combination of personal reflection, cultural awareness, and biblical exegesis of the book of Esther, she provides a roadmap for leaders to become and to be brave.

Bishop Claude Alexander , senior pastor, The Park Church, Charlotte, North Carolina

Dr. Brenda Salter McNeil explicates that to speak about the centrality of justice in the story of God and in the gospel of Jesus Christ is to speak about the wet part of the ocean. A Christlike church cannot depart from Christlike justice. She urges the church to grow in the paradigm of racial justice and reconciliation into what the Spirit is calling the church to be now. For such a time as this: a just church that repairs broken systems. With over thirty years of ministry experience as a reconciler, she walks us through her own growth and development of a racial reconciliation paradigm with honesty, candor, challenge, and kingdom urgency using the courageous story of Esther. This book is light in our darkness and an urgent, prophetic wake-up call to a church that has lost its reconciling credibility.

Ins Velsquez - McBryde , pastor, speaker, and reconciler; chaplain, Fuller Theological Seminary

There is not a more credible, seasoned, and dynamic voice in the country that could speak to us about leadership and reconciliation than Rev. Dr. Brenda Salter McNeil. She has guided countless organizations and individuals through these choppy waters, and there are literally thousands of people who could bear testimony to the way she has changed their livesincluding me. That is why I cannot recommend Becoming Brave strongly enough. In this book you will be equipped and moved to become someone different and better than what youve ever been before.

Daniel Hill , pastor; author of White Awake

Rev. Brenda illuminates a justice path for those seeking to be brave or simply responding to the times. With truth-telling, vulnerability, and profound scriptural insights, Rev. Brendas work reflects the complex struggles that come from a long engagement in reconciliation work. In Becoming Brave , Rev. Brenda, one of the American churchs great leaders of racial reconciliation, delves into the unexpected disruptions she has encountered during her journey toward deep reconciliation. She models and illuminates a path for others. A fantastic resource for advocating for and embodying justice.

Nikki Toyama- Szeto , executive director, Evangelicals for Social Action at the Sider Center of Eastern University

Brendas reflections in Becoming Brave could stand in for countless numbers of people in the community of color. For many, the first years of faith disarmed the gospel of its resistance to injusticethe restoration of Gods shalomreplacing it with the placating call to piety, to Just follow Jesus! We celebrated soul salvation, our ticket home to a triumphant eternity, with the implicit expectation that earthly matters were important only inasmuch as they ensured we could occupy until Jesus returns. This truncated experience of salvation meant that continuing injustice went unaddressed by many gospel-embracing believers. Clearly, a disarmed gospel is no gospel at all. If we are honest, most people of color can insert their names, stories, and journeys in the place of Brendas. The gospel we initially responded to was about soul salvation and piety. Her stories, rooted in women of action in Scripture, inspire us to deepen our faith and take the whole gospel to the whole of creation. Paul admonishes us that the whole of creation awaits the revelation of the children of God. Perhaps this is less about us being revealed than it is about us experiencing the gospel more fully. In Becoming Brave , Brenda challenges us to be woke!

Terry LeBlanc , director, NAIITS: An Indigenous Learning Community

I want to be a leader for racial reconciliation. Dr. McNeils book is an essential tool for my leadership education. It is not a book for the faint of heart. Dr. McNeil anchors her wisdom in the book of Esther. And while I was inspired by the wisdom of the book, its going to challenge you. It pulls no punches. And for these reasons, it is an essential read.

Shirley Hoogstra , president, Council for Christian Colleges and Universities

For years, Dr. McNeil has been a pioneer in awakening churches to the biblical call to racial reconciliation. She is now taking a bold and courageous step forward into new territory. My prayer is that all who have received and appreciated her ministry will follow her into the wildernessin a parallel journey to that of Moses and Miriam leaving Egypt. In this brilliant and powerful book, Dr. McNeil makes a case for recognizing this kairos moment when traditional reconciliation models dont go far enough to liberate us from fear and captivity. This book is a clarion call that cuts through the fog of our partisan arguments and blazes a path to abundant life for all. All of those who are suffering unjustly at this time need you to read this book and respond. This book will equip you to hear your equivalent to the call of Queen Estherthat you are who you are in order to speak out in your place for such a time as this.

Alexia Salvatierra , Centro Latino professor, School of Intercultural Studies, Fuller Theological Seminary