#npm ruth

[vilnmelling]

I rewrote If I Loved You for the like five other Flipschitz shippers around here

I actually wrote this like a month and a half ago, but I thought no one would care since Flipschitz is kind of a rare ship, but then I saw one Flipschitz post in the 'recent' section of the Nerdy Prudes Must Die hashtag, so here we are.

May I present: If I Loved You, but rewritten to become Ruth and Richie finally (slowly) breaking out of their routine of obliviousness and doubt! Blue = Richie Red = Ruth Purple = Both

‘Don’t think I wanted you anyway I always knew my place and knew my ways But you had to go and throw me all your cute plays Am I out of that phase?

Wait a minute, Rich, you’ve got me hooked Who’s the loser who’s been giving looks? Would I go for a weeb who Naruto runs down the halls?

If I loved you, would I know it? If I loved you, ‘think I’d show it If I loved you like I hope you’ll be loved Loved you in more ways than I think of If you were the one I’m dreaming of, woah No, wait, I think I’d know

I mean, I’ve known you my whole life, you know Why wouldn’t this have happened many years ago? Ooh! But you got me with every hello You’re my best friend I don’t want that to end

‘Don’t know who told you that it would have to ‘Don't want a hit and quit, I want something true Sure, I ask out every beau, and they always say no But I'll skip the risks of hearing it from you

If I loved you, would I know it? If I loved you, ‘think I’d show it If I loved you like I hope you’ll be loved (you’ll be loved) Loved you in more ways than I think of If you were the one I’m dreaming of, woah Maybe I wouldn’t know

It's only now that I can see what I’m feelin’ I strictly avoid those thoughts I never thought that you’d like me Have I misunderstood a lot?

Tell me how I should know that you’re interested in me That I am the one you want Call me up when you’re ready to say how you feel If I If I

If I loved you, would I know it? If I loved you, ‘think I’d show it If I loved you like I hope you’ll be loved (If I loved you like I hope) Loved you in more ways than I think of If you were the one I’m dreaming of, woah No wait, I think I’d know

Maybe I wouldn’t know Maybe I’ve always known Now should I let it show?

Wait, what?

[thechurchreport]

America’s Top 50 Most Influential Christians

The Church Report is pleased to announce our list of The 50 Most Influential Christians in America. Thanks to the readers of the magazine as well as the online readers for contributing over 150,000 nominations. Each of the people on this list is most deserving of this recognition. As with all types of lists, there are those who are not on the list – not because they weren’t deserving – but simply because we did not have enough space to publish a list of the 100 most influential. The staff of The Church Report did not choose this list; rather, we feel that the nominations from Christians across America and around the world are much more meaningful.

The most influential Christian in America is Bishop T.D. Jakes of The Potter’s House in Dallas, Texas. Bishop Jakes is most certainly qualified for this distinguished honor. In a recent conversation with Bishop Jakes he said: “I’m really honored and flabbergasted that I would be recognized in this way. I have really given my life to helping hurting people and just trying to be a support for people as they face different challenges.”

When asked about his past year, is was clear that Bishop Jakes has a mind for outreach and community. “My year has been incredibly busy. I spent time with over 3,000 families from Fort Hood who had just arrived back from Iraq; Megafest 2015 went on in Atlanta and we hosted over 100,000 people; and I will be very involved with the victims of Hurricane Katrina,” said Bishop Jakes. He also spoke enthusiastically about his partnership with Jack Graham, the pastor of Prestonwood Baptist in Dallas, who he partnered with to host an international day of prayer. He explained that “is a prayer movement that started in Africa and is sweeping the country and just to be a host with other pastors around the country was a great privilege!”

2016 figures to be another frenzied year for Bishop Jakes. “I know that we are building a 10 million dollar school, K-12, here in Dallas that we have been working on and hope to open up in 2016 and I am very happy about this. We have been working on this for some time, and education is important to rehabilitating any community,” he explained. Bishop Jakes’ commitment to his community is evident as he went on to say, “To teach young people to have goals that are attainable, we have to give them something to attain them with and education is a critical part of that; and that is why we have jumped on a couple of projects that are aggressive.” Bishop Jakes is also working on a 400-acre piece of land that the church has purchased with the intention of building a community of homes around the church and the school.

The Church Report congratulates Bishop Jakes and all of the nominees for Most Influential Christians in America. Pastor Joel Osteen 2

JOEL OSTEEN LAKEWOOD CHURCH Houston, Texas

Pastor Joel Osteen, a native Houstonian, has committed his life to serving and helping every person, regardless of background and economic status, achieve their fullest potential. Having started Lakewood’s television outreach ministry, Osteen worked side-byside with his father, founding pastor John Osteen for 17 years; and took Lakewood’s positive message of hope to over 100 million households throughout the United States and 100 countries worldwide.

Billy Graham

3 BILLY GRAHAM BILLY GRAHAM EVANGELISTIC ASSOCIATION Charlotte, N.C.

Evangelist Billy Graham has preached the Gospel to more people in live audiences than anyone else in history — over 210 million people in more than 185 countries and territories. He has reached hundreds of millions more through television, video, film and Webcasts. Graham founded the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) in 1950, which was headquartered in Minneapolis, Minn., until relocating to Charlotte, N.C. in 2003.

Rick Warren

4 DR. RICK WARREN SADDLEBACK CHURCH Lake Forest, Calif.

Dr. Rick Warren is the author of the New York Times #1 bestseller “The Purpose-Driven Life.” The book has sold over 19 million copies since October 2002, making it the bestselling hardback nonfiction book in history, which is said to have ignited a spiritual movement in countless communities around the world. Warren is also the founding pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., one of America’s largest and best-known churches.

Bill Hybels

5 BILL HYBELS WILLOW CREEK COMMUNITY CHURCH South Barrington, Ill.

Bill Hybels is the founding and senior pastor of Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Ill. Willow Creek’s innovative ministries have made it one of the most-attended churches in North America. Hybels is also an author of several Christian books, especially on the subject of Christian leadership. His charismatic personality and sincere style have made Hybels one of the most popular faces of the modern evangelical movement.

Dr. Paul Crouch

6 PAUL CROUCH TRINITY BROADCASTING NETWORK Santa Ana, Calif.

Paul Crouch is an internationally recognized visionary in the field of Christian television. In 1973, along with his wife, Jan, he founded the Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN). Under his leadership, TBN has grown to become the largest group owner of broadcast stations in the world. Crouch has received numerous television broadcasting awards, including the Telly Award, the Golden Halo Award and numerous Silver Angel awards.

Joyce Meyer

7 JOYCE MEYER JOYCE MEYER MINISTRIES Fenton, Mo.

Joyce Meyer is one of the world’s leading practical Bible teachers. Through her ministry, Meyer has taught on hundreds of subjects, authored over 70 books and conducts close to 20 conferences per year around the world. Her television and radio program is broadcast to most of the globe. In February 2005, she was selected by Time Magazine as one of the top 25 evangelical leaders in America.

President George Bush

8 GEORGE W. BUSH PRESIDENT Washington, D.C.

George W. Bush is the 43rd President of the United States. He was sworn into office Jan. 20, 2001; re-elected Nov. 2, 2004; and sworn in for a second term Jan. 20, 2005. Prior to his Presidency, President Bush served for six years as the 46th governor of Texas, where he earned a reputation for bipartisanship and as a compassionate conservative.

Dr. James Dobson

9 JAMES C. DOBSON, PH.D. FOCUS ON THE FAMILY Colorado Springs, Colo.

James C. Dobson, Ph.D., bestselling author and recognized advocate for the family, is founder and chairman of Focus on the Family, a nonprofit organization that produces his internationally syndicated radio programs that are heard in 25 languages on over 8,300 radio facilities in 164 countries. Chuck Colson 10 CHUCK COLSON PRISON FELLOWSHIP MINISTRIES Lansdowne, Va.

Imprisoned during the Watergate scandal, Chuck Colson is founder and head of Prison Fellowship Ministries in Lansdowne, Va., the world’s largest outreach to prisoners, exprisoners, crime victims and their families. Colson is also an author and host of “BreakPoint,” a syndicated national radio show. Luis Palau 11 LUIS PALAU THE PALAU ASSOCIATION Portland, Oregon

Luis Palau has shared the Good News face-to-face with tens of millions. He has authored close to 50 books, and his radio broadcasts are broadcast internationally. His “Great music! Good News!” festivals have drawn record crowds. The Palau Association also includes the Next Generation Alliance, which nurtures and supports evangelists around the world; and PalauFest Productions, which creates outreach films and tools for young people and youth ministries. William Graham 12 WILLIAM FRANKLIN GRAHAM, III SAMARITAN’S PURSE Boone, N.C.

William Franklin Graham, III, is the son of evangelist Billy Graham and his wife, Ruth Bell Graham. He is president and CEO of Samaritan’s Purse, an international relief organization providing relief and assistance in more than 100 countries. He conducts festivals around the world as an evangelist for the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA). He was appointed CEO of the organization in 2000 and president of BGEA in 2001. Andy Stanley 13 ANDY STANLEY NORTH POINT MINISTRIES Multiple Locations, Georgia

Andy Stanley is the founder of North Point Ministries and senior pastor of North Point Community Church, Buckhead Church and Browns Bridge Community Church. Each Sunday, over 15,000 adults attend worship services at one of these NPM campuses. Stanley is the author of multiple books. He is a graduate of Dallas Theological Seminary. Anne Graham Lotz 14 ANNE GRAHAM LOTZ ANGEL MINISTRIES Raleigh, N.C.

Anne Graham Lotz, founder of AnGeL Ministries, has proclaimed God’s Word to people around the world for over 28 years. The daughter of Dr. and Mrs. Billy Graham, Lotz launched Just Give Me Jesus, a series of lifechanging revivals throughout the world, in the year 2000. Lotz is an award winning and best selling author of seven books and multiple Bible studies. Joni Eareckson Tada 15 JONI EARECKSON TADA JONI AND FRIENDS Agoura Hills, Calif.

Joni Eareckson Tada founded Joni and Friends, an organization accelerating Christian ministry in the disability community, in 1979, after a diving accident left her a quadriplegic in a wheelchair. Joni and Friends communicates the gospel and equips Christhonoring churches worldwide to evangelize and disciple people affected by disability. She served on the National Council on Disability for three-and-a-half years, during which time the Americans with Disabilities Act became law. Chuck Swindoll 16 CHUCK SWINDOLL INSIGHT FOR LIVING Plano, Texas

Insight for Living’s Bible teacher, Chuck Swindoll, currently leads Stonebriar Community Church in Frisco, Texas; but his listening audience extends far beyond a local church body. As a leading program in Christian broadcasting, “Insight for Living” airs in major Christian and non-Christian radio markets and is broadcast via the Web. He is also chancellor of Dallas Theological Seminary. Max Lucado 17 MAX LUCADO UPWORDS San Antonio, Texas

Max Lucado came to Oak Hills Church of Christ in San Antonio, Texas, after years of church planting in Brazil. In addition to his role as senior minister at Oak Hills, Lucado is now one of the most-recognized inspirational authors in the United States, second only to Billy Graham. Lucado’s books are regular fixtures on national bestseller lists including The New York Times, USA Today, Publishers Weekly and the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA). Bishop Eddie L. Long 18 BISHOP EDDIE L. LONG NEW BIRTH MISSIONARY BAPTIST CHURCH Lithonia, Ga.

Bishop Eddie L. Long is God’s visionary for New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, which has grown from 300 in 1987 to 25,000 today. Through community- empowering projects, Bishop Long continues to equip people in economics, leadership and business. Bishop Long has close relationships with key leaders in the religious, political and entertainment arenas; consequently, he is advancing the Kingdom of God in a whole new way. Dr. Robert H. Schuller 19 DR. ROBERT H. SCHULLER CRYSTAL CATHEDRAL Garden Grove, Calif.

Longtime pastor and bestselling author Dr. Robert H. Schuller is perhaps best known as minister of the famed Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, Calif.; and host of the televised “Hour of Power.” Dr. Schuller is the author of more than 30 books, including five that have appeared on The New York Times bestseller list. Dr. Schuller has received numerous awards including the Horatio Alger Award and Clergyman of the Year. Dr. George Barna 20 DR. GEORGE BARNA THE BARNA GROUP Ventura, Calif.

Dr. George Barna is an author, pastor and the founder of The Barna Group in Ventura, Calif., a firm specializing in conducting research for Christian ministries and nonprofits. The Barna Research division has conducted research for various denominations and numerous parachurch organizations including the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, World Vision, American Bible Society, Campus Crusade for Christ and Trinity Broadcasting Network. Dr. Jack Hayford 21 DR. JACK W. HAYFORD THE KING’S COLLEGE AND SEMINARY Van Nuys, Calif.

Dr. Jack W. Hayford is the chancellor of The King’s College and Seminary. He is also the founding pastor of The Church On The Way (TCOTW), the First Foursquare Church of Van Nuys, Calif., which began as a “temporary” assignment to shepherd 18 people and continued fruitfully as the congregation surpassed 10,000. A scholar and teacher, Dr. Hayford mentors other leaders and is recognized as a “pastor to pastors.” Dr. Charles Stanley 22 DR. CHARLES F. STANLEY IN TOUCH MINISTRIES Atlanta, Ga.

Dr. Charles F. Stanley is senior pastor of the First Baptist Church of Atlanta and founder of In Touch Ministries. The “In Touch” program can be heard in every nation via radio, shortwave or television broadcasts. In 1988, Dr. Stanley was inducted into the National Religious Broadcaster’s (NRB) Hall of Fame. Dr. Stanley has also served two terms as president of the Southern Baptist Convention. Jay Sekulow 23 JAY ALAN SEKULOW AMERICAN CENTER FOR LAW AND JUSTICE Washington, D.C.

Jay Alan Sekulow is chief counsel for the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), a law firm and educational organization that specializes in constitutional law. He is also chief counsel of the European Center for Law and Justice (ECLJ). An accomplished and respected judicial advocate, Sekulow has presented oral argument before the U.S. Supreme Court in numerous cases in defense of constitutional freedoms. John Piper 24 JOHN PIPER BETHLEHEM BAPTIST CHURCH Minneapolis, Minn.

John Piper is the pastor for preaching at Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, Minn. Piper is the author of more than 20 books and his preaching and teaching is featured on the daily radio program “Desiring God.” He and his wife Noël have four sons, one daughter and four grandchildren. Rob Bell 25 ROB BELL MARS HILL BIBLE CHURCH Grandville, Mich.

Rob Bell is the founding pastor of Mars Hill Bible Church, located in Grandville, Mich. He is featured in the first series of spiritual short films called NOOMA and recently completed his first book “Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith.” Bell and his wife, Kristen, have two boys and live in Grand Rapids, Mich. Tommy Barnett 26 TOMMY BARNETT PHOENIX FIRST ASSEMBLY OF GOD Phoenix, Ariz.

Tommy Barnett is the senior pastor of Phoenix First Assembly of God in Phoenix, Ariz., one of the fastest-growing churches in America; and the founding pastor of the Los Angeles Dream Center. Barnett is widely seen on the Trinity Broadcasting Network program, “Praise the Lord” and has appeared on “The 700 Club.” He produces a weekly documentary program with his son from the L.A. Dream Center, aired on TBN. John C. Maxwell 27 JOHN C. MAXWELL INJOY Atlanta, Ga.

John C. Maxwell is the founder of EQUIP, a nonprofit training over a million Christian leaders worldwide; and INJOY Stewardship Services, which is helping churches raise billions of dollars. As chairman of Global Pastor’s Network, Maxwell speaks to hundreds of thousands of people each year and has sold over 9 million books. Jim Towey 28 JIM TOWEY WHITE HOUSE OFFICE OF FAITHBASED INITIATIVES

Jim Towey is assistant to the President, and director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives. Previously, he founded and ran Aging with Dignity. Towey was also involved with Mother Teresa of Calcutta. He served as her legal counsel for 12 years and in 1990 lived as a full-time volunteer in her home for people with AIDS in Washington, D.C. Paul Crouch Jr. 29 PAUL CROUCH JR. TRINITY BROADCASTING NETWORK Santa Ana, Calif.

Paul Crouch Jr. is vice president of administration for Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN), America’s mostwatched faith channel and the world’s largest religious television network. TBN reaches every major continent via 46 satellites and over 12,000 television and cable affiliates worldwide. Crouch has received numerous awards including the Telly Award, the Golden Halo Award and numerous Silver Angel awards. Benny Hinn 30 BENNY HINN BENNY HINN MINISTRIES Irving, Texas

Benny Hinn is a noted teacher, healing evangelist and bestselling author (“Good Morning, Holy Spirit,” “Lamb of God”). His television program, “This Is Your Day!” broadcasts daily to over 190 counties. Millions attend his crusades each year throughout the world. Dr. John C. Hagee 31 DR. JOHN C. HAGEE CORNERSTONE CHURCH San Antonio, Texas

Dr. John C. Hagee is the founder and senior pastor of Cornerstone Church in San Antonio, Texas, a nondenominational evangelical church with more than 18,000 active members. Hagee is the president and CEO of Global Evangelism Television, which telecasts his radio and television ministry. Hagee has received numerous honors and accolades from national Jewish organizations for his unwavering support of Israel. Leonard Sweet 32 LEONARD SWEET DREW THEOLOGICAL SCHOOL Madison, N.J.

Currently the E. Stanley Jones professor of evangelism at Drew Theological School (Madison, N.J.), and visiting distinguished professor at George Fox University, (Portland, Oregon), Leonard Sweet is the author of more than 100 articles, 600 published sermons and 27 books. Founder and president of SpiritVenture Ministries, Sweet is a frequent speaker at conferences in the United States and around the globe. Ted Haggard 33 TED HAGGARD NEW LIFE CHURCH Colorado Springs, Colo.

Ted Haggard is the president of the 30-million-member National Association of Evangelicals (NAE), the largest evangelical group in America. He is also founder and senior pastor of the 11,000-member New Life Church in Colorado Springs, Colo. He formed and serves as the president of both the Association of Life-Giving Churches, a network of local churches; and worldprayerteam.org, the only real-time global prayer network. Marcus Lamb 34 MARCUS LAMB DAYSTAR Dallas, Texas

In 1997, Marcus began the Daystar Television Network, which owns and operates TV stations across the nation. Daystar is now the secondlargest Christian Television Network in the world. Marcus and his wife, Joni, host a daily TV program called “Celebration” that is broadcast live via satellite across the nation and around the world. They minister at various churches around the nation. Dr. James Kennedy 35 DR. JAMES KENNEDY, PH.D. CORAL RIDGE MINISTRIES Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.

Dr. James Kennedy, Ph.D., is senior minister of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and president of Coral Ridge Ministries. The author of more than 65 books, he is also founder and president of Evangelism Explosion and chancellor of Knox Theological Seminary. Dr. Kennedy is the most-listened-to Presbyterian minister in the world today. Dr. Creflo Dollar 36 DR. CREFLO A. DOLLAR WORLD CHANGERS INTERNATIONAL College Park, Ga.

Dr. Creflo A. Dollar is the founder of World Changers Ministries (WCM), a global organization.

His goal is to bring the Good News of Jesus Christ to people of every color and culture, changing the world one person at a time. The award-winning “Changing Your World” television broadcast, which began in 1990, now reaches an audience of almost 1 billion people daily around the world. Paula White 37 PAULA WHITE PAULA WHITE MINISTRIES Tampa, Fla.

Through the power of media, Paula White, supervising producer and host of “Paula White Today,” has ministered, enlightened and uplifted millions of viewers around the world. White’s life was forever changed when at the age of 18 she first heard the gospel of Jesus Christ. Heralded as the “midwife to dreams,” White inspires people to step boldly into the divine destiny that God has planned for them. Rod Parsley 38 ROD PARSLEY WORLD HARVEST CHURCH Columbus, Ohio

Rod Parsley is pastor of World Harvest Church in Columbus, Ohio, a megachurch with more than 12,000 in attendance weekly. He is also a highly sought-after crusade and conference speaker. Parsley hosts “Breakthrough,” a daily and weekly television broadcast seen by millions across America and around the world. He also oversees World Harvest Academy, World Harvest Bible College and Bridge of Hope Missions and Outreach. Bishop Harry Jackson 39 BISHOP HARRY R. JACKSON JR. HOPE CHRISTIAN CHURCH College Park, Md.

Bishop Harry R. Jackson Jr. is chairman of the High Impact Leadership Coalition, a nonprofit organization leading the charge to educate the nation regarding the importance of biblical and moral value issues for all. He is also senior pastor of Hope Christian Church in College Park, Md., a suburb of our nation’s capital. He has a vital teaching ministry via radio and television both in the United States and abroad. Sean Hannity 40 SEAN HANNITY HANNITY & COLMES FOX News

Sean Hannity joined the FOX News Channel (FNC) in September 1996 as co-host of “Hannity & Colmes” (Monday-Friday, 9-10 p.m. EST), a prime-time, one-hour, debate-driven talk show focusing on the controversial issues and newsmakers of the day. He serves as the program’s conservative counterpart to liberal Alan Colmes. He is also currently the host of WABCAM’s highly rated afternoon talk program, “The Sean Hannity Show.” Dr. Bruce Wilkinson 41 DR. BRUCE H. WILKINSON GLOBAL VISION RESOURCES

Dr. Bruce H. Wilkinson is the founder and president of Global Vision Resources (2002), a film and video teaching ministry with global distribution. He was the former president of Walk Thru the Bible Ministries (1976), a global, trans-denominational Christian organization headquartered in Atlanta, Ga. In 1998, he founded WorldTeach, which is a global initiative to develop a Bible teacher for every 50,000 people in every nation of the world. Brian McLaren 42 BRIAN MCLAREN CEDAR RIDGE COMMUNITY CHURCH Spencerville, Md.

Brian McLaren, called “paradigm shifter” by Time Magazine in its list of “25 Most Influential Evangelicals,” is a senior fellow in Emergent (www.emergentvillage.com), an organization dedicated to developing new approaches to Christian theology and community. He is founding pastor of Cedar Ridge Community Church (www.crcc.org) in the Baltimore/Washington, D.C. area. Erwin McManus 43 ERWIN MCMANUS MOSAIC Los Angeles, Calif.

McManus serves as cultural architect of Mosaic in Los Angeles, Calif, which has emerged as a spiritual reference point for the future church. As founder of Global Impact, McManus is recognized as a national and international speaker engaging such issues as globalization, leadership, cultural transformation, post-modernism and church growth. He partners with Bethel Seminary as a distinguished lecturer and futurist and is also a contributing editor for Leadership Journal. Pope Benedict XVI 44 POPE BENEDICT XVI ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH Vatican City

Pope Benedict XVI, previously Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger and successor to Pope John Paul II, is the 265th reigning pope; and the head of the Roman Catholic Church. He was elected to the position in a papal conclave April 19, 2005. He presided over the conclave in his role as dean of the College of Cardinals. His views on issues such as artificial birth control, abortion and homosexuality are conservative, maintaining the traditional Catholic doctrines. Beth Moore 45 BETH MOORE LIVING PROOF MINISTRIES Houston, Texas

Beth Moore founded Living Proof Ministries in 1994 to teach women how to live on God’s Word. Her books and Bible studies have been read by women of all ages, races and denominations. She conducts Living Proof Live conferences and a radio ministry, “Living Proof with Beth Moore.” Rick Santorum 46 RICK SANTORUM REPUBLICAN CONFERENCE CHAIRMAN U.S. Senator, Pennsylvania

Rick Santorum has served in the U.S. Senate since January 1995. During that time, he has served Pennsylvanians either through his accomplishments in the U.S. Senate or as Republican conference chairman. Santorum has been elected to a third term as Republican conference chairman by his Republican colleagues. As conference chairman, Senator Santorum directs the communications operations of Senate Republicans and is a frequent party spokesman. Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, archbishop of Washington 47 CARDINAL THEODORE MCCARRICK, PH.D. ARCHBISHOP OF WASHINGTON Washington, D.C.

In April 2005, Cardinal McCarrick was one of 115 cardinals in the world who participated in the conclave that elected Pope Benedict XVI as the successor to Pope John Paul II. He is a founding member of the Papal Foundation and has served as its president since 1997. He is chancellor of The Catholic University of America. For the Vatican, he serves on several Pontifical Councils and Pontifical Commissions. Dr. John N. Vaughan 48 DR. JOHN VAUGHAN CHURCH GROWTH TODAY Bolivar, Mo.

Dr. John Vaughan is the founding editor and past president of the American Society for Church Growth. In 1980, he founded Church Growth Today, a research consulting office specializing in U.S. and global rapid- growth churches and megachurches (2,000-plus attendance). For 25 years, he has served as a consultant and information resource for the nation’s largest and fastest-growing churches, as well as smaller churches, denominations and parachurch organizations. Frank Sommerville, JD, CPA 49 FRANK SOMMERVILLE WEYCER, KAPLAN, PULASKI & ZUBER, P.C. Dallas, Texas

Frank Sommerville is a shareholder in the law firm of Weycer, Kaplan, Pulaski & Zuber, P.C. in Dallas, Texas. He has served nonprofit organizations as an accountant, auditor, tax adviser and legal adviser. His experience includes representing clergy, churches and nonprofit organizations at all levels of IRS tax controversy (from examination to courtroom) across America. He is one of the few nonprofit attorneys who actively litigates nonprofit cases in the courtroom. Dr. Phil McGraw 50 DR. PHIL MCGRAW ‘DR. PHIL’ Host of the ‘Dr. Phil’ show

Dr. Phil McGraw has galvanized millions of people to “get real” about their own behavior and create more positive lives. His nationally syndicated, daily one-hour series “Dr. Phil” has been breaking records since its September 2002 launch, when it garnered the highest ratings of any new syndicated show since the launch of “The Oprah Winfrey Show.” He is also the author of five number-one New York Times bestsellers.

America’s Top 50 Most Influential Christians was initially seen on http://www.thechurchreport.com/

from https://www.thechurchreport.com/65/

[cancersfakianakis1]

Cancers, Vol. 9, Pages 149: Novel Mechanisms of ALK Activation Revealed by Analysis of the Y1278S Neuroblastoma Mutation

Cancers, Vol. 9, Pages 149: Novel Mechanisms of ALK Activation Revealed by Analysis of the Y1278S Neuroblastoma Mutation

Cancers doi: 10.3390/cancers9110149

Authors: Jikui Guan Yasuo Yamazaki Damini Chand Jesper van Dijk Kristina Ruuth Ruth Palmer Bengt Hallberg

Numerous mutations have been observed in the Anaplastic Lymphoma Kinase (ALK) receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK) in both germline and sporadic neuroblastoma. Here, we have investigated the Y1278S mutation, observed in four patient cases, and its potential importance in the activation of the full length ALK receptor. Y1278S is located in the 1278-YRASYY-1283 motif of the ALK activation loop, which has previously been reported to be important in the activation of the ALK kinase domain. In this study, we have characterized activation loop mutations within the context of the full length ALK employing cell culture and Drosophila melanogaster model systems. Our results show that the Y1278S mutant observed in patients with neuroblastoma harbors gain-of-function activity. Secondly, we show that the suggested interaction between Y1278 and other amino acids might be of less importance in the activation process of the ALK kinase than previously proposed. Thirdly, of the three individual tyrosines in the 1278-YRASYY-1283 activation loop, we find that Y1283 is the critical tyrosine in the activation process. Taken together, our observations employing different model systems reveal new mechanistic insights on how the full length ALK receptor is activated and highlight differences with earlier described activation mechanisms observed in the NPM-ALK fusion protein, supporting a mechanism of activation more in line with those observed for the Insulin Receptor (InR).

http://ift.tt/2xzuHlq

[flauntpage]

Bruce Maxwell Had the Courage, and Credibility, to Take MLB's First Knee

On Saturday, the ACLU tweeted a quote from Jackie Robinson's 1972 memoir, I Never Had It Made:

"I cannot stand and sing the anthem. I cannot salute the flag; I know that I am a black man in a white world."

On Saturday, Oakland Athletics rookie catcher Bruce Maxwell, a black man, became the first MLB player to kneel during the national anthem. In a moment that faintly echoed Robinson and white teammate Pee Wee Reese's iconic embrace seven decades ago, Mark Canha placed his left hand on Maxwell's shoulder. The game went on. Oakland beat Texas 1-0.

Maxwell spoke eloquently about his reasons for taking a knee. Following his tweets from the weekend, you can see that Donald Trump's fixation on Colin Kaepernick and Steph Curry rather than national issues like the destruction of Puerto Rico struck a chord with him.

Why did it take so long?

The conservatism that has always held baseball hostage is a short, serviceable answer. It's nothing new. Back when Muhammad Ali was embracing the Nation of Islam, and Tommie Smith and John Carlos were raising their fists in black solidarity at the Olympics, the most meaningful activism among baseball players was economic—the fight to unionize and to earn free agency. Even the leaders of those movements faced backlash from their fellow players, not to mention owners, the media, and the public at large.

In the decades since, we have witnessed the repeal of the Fairness Doctrine, the imposition of internet filter bubbles, the optimization of soft news—of which sports is a crown jewel—and the deterioration of the American education system. Today, the average citizen cannot readily discern fact from fiction. They revert back to their trusted information troughs that validate their biases and make them feel better, smarter. Baseball players are like extreme versions of this, only with more confidence.

In the company of a few players last year, for example, I mentioned the (once again relevant) Paid Patriotism in Sports investigation led by Republican Senators Jeff Flake and John McCain from Arizona, which revealed that the Department of Defense paid MLB and other major sports leagues millions of dollars to stage many of the boutique military exercises we as players had all become so accustomed to being accessories to, standing at attention with our hands over our hearts along the foul line. One player told me that this was "liberal fake news," and that "John McCain would never do no kinda shit like that."

Baseball may value shut-up-and-play guys more than any other sport. The patron saint of that archetype is Derek Jeter, the most beloved baseball player since Babe Ruth, whose farewell tour was seen by many as excessive. What had he done but win championships? But to celebrate Jeter was to celebrate kicking ass and taking names, the Crash Davis school of never saying the wrong thing (not to be confused with saying the right thing) and only making waves off the field in heterosexual sex scandals that ultimately add girth to the legacy.

Orioles veteran centerfielder Adam Jones is one of the few players to consistently speak out about issues of race, from talking about Freddie Gray's death in 2015 to calling out fans who shouted the N-word at him in Fenway Park last season. A year ago, Jones said that Kaepernick–style protests hadn't made their way to MLB because "baseball is a white man's sport."

Jones was one of just 58 black, African American, or African Canadian players on active rosters for Opening Day this season, according to the 2017 Major League Baseball Racial and Gender Report Card. That number doesn't include Maxwell, who was called up from Triple-A later in April, nor several players who were on the DL, but the report still calls attention to "the relatively small and declining percentage of African-American players" in baseball.

It should be noted that Afro-Caribbean players born in the U.S. are not always counted in that group. I am both African and American—my parents' native Cuba was only a few stops on the Atlantic slave trade away from the Alabama of Maxwell's youth—but on the only Jackie Robinson Day in which I was in the Major Leagues (2009), I was not tabbed for that photo opportunity.

The same 2017 report card notes that there are more players of color in the league now than ever before. And the growing Latino presence in MLB creates more racial complexity that is especially hard to follow for people who don't see race and want all this race stuff to go back into the shadows. Many Latino people are racist. Many Latino people deny their own blackness. For every white-passing Latino with less than a quarter of African blood in them who speaks with an alarming NPM (niggas per minute) in public spaces, there is an undeniably African Latino who doesn't believe they're black. The individual desires of people of color to defer participation in "race" chips at the solidarity of the black community as efficiently as racism itself does. This is hard for anthropologists to follow, much less ballplayers.

Black solidarity is difficult to negotiate with a language barrier, and one should understand what might dissuade, for instance, a Venezuelan Afro-Latino from criticizing any aspect of American culture when matters are worse in every sense, including race issues, in their own country. Black people who are well traveled, especially Afro-Latinos who've traveled to many Spanish-speaking countries, eventually come to the glib conclusion quicker than anyone else, that despite our longtime and recently stoked problems here in America, there is perhaps no better place in the world to be black.

Kaepernick's protest spread slowly but surely across the NFL, where African-Americans made up 69.7 percent of players last year. Athletes in the NBA and the WNBA—two more leagues with majority black rosters—have also become fluent in peaceful protest in the last few years. Demographics may have kept the Kaepernick movement from catching on in baseball, but it's important to note that baseball conservatism has many layers.

In baseball, conformism is subconsciously enforced by the martial law of the purpose pitch, and by the ingrained biases of the people in power who make personnel decisions and drive its culture. When you wear your hat a certain way, a coach may say, "Why do you have to be different?" Your hair may irk him, and when you miss the cutoff man, it may be more irksome to him than when the guy who looks more like his son does it. There's the crappy .220 hitter and there's the scrappy .220 hitter, and the formula for who goes to AAA and who stays on as the good clubhouse guy is subjective at best.

It takes a special person to stand up, or kneel down, when you consider the full weight of the baseball institution.

Why was it Bruce Maxwell?

Three weeks into the NFL season, Colin Kaepernick is still unemployed. NFL insiders have been more reticent to say he's being blackballed than non-insiders like activist Shaun King. While Kaepernick is probably as capable as most starting NFL quarterbacks, he is not in the elite, irreplaceable strata of athletes. This gives the owners who don't sign him (i.e., all the owners) plausible deniability. It complicates the issue of Kaepernick's unemployment.

John Hefti-USA TODAY Sports

As a player, Bruce Maxwell is even more replaceable than Kaepernick. Though the Oakland A's were swift to defend Maxwell after he kneeled on Saturday, it is important to note that if he were to be blackballed, it would be virtually impossible to prove. To date, Maxwell has proven he is a light-hitting catcher worth about half a win above replacement over the course of a season. Though many ballplayers are late bloomers, Maxwell's 300 at-bats represent a sufficiently large enough sample size for him to slowly fade into journeyman status without a second thought.

But whether he noticed or not, Maxwell's path was eased by other circumstances. The Oakland A's were mathematically eliminated from the playoffs on September 22, though they were never in the race at all, and even sold off their best pitcher at the trade deadline. The length of MLB's season holds that half its teams engage in dozens of meaningless games, such as Saturday's historic, meaningless contest between the Rangers and the Athletics. Maxwell has enjoyed the luxury of relatively low stakes—in baseball terms.

Along those lines, a story:

The morning after my club, the Tampa Bay Rays, beat the Red Sox in the 2008 ALCS, a handful of teammates and I supported then Senator Barack Obama at a rally in Florida. As a rookie, I was "hazed" by being volunteered to introduce the most famous political figure of our generation with a short speech before a capacity crowd at Legends Field. We were criticized for associating the team with a political party, but it was manageable—World Series stakes or not, Tampa is a tiny sports market. At the same time, had there not been several senior teammates with me, I might not have gone to the Obama rally. I might have caved under the pressure of fitting in that Maxwell overcame. And despite a military veteran father of my own, had all of what's happening now been happening in the middle of a playoff race I was in as a rookie, especially in a major market, I would probably not have taken a knee—by myself no less—during the national anthem, either. You don't want to be labeled a "distraction" by the media, and then become one in a superstitious, cliquey clubhouse as a rookie who is a new actor in a championship run that is years in the making. We have yet to see a major baseball star in a major market make a major political engagement. We have yet to see a Kaepernick–grade athlete use the platform of a championship run, with its larger audience. The "distraction" is perhaps entirely superstition, which especially pervades sports, but its effect is real.

My money would have been on Jones to be the first player to take a knee, despite his comments. My number two choice would have been Rays pitcher Chris Archer. But Maxwell was the right guy at the right time. He was born on a military base in Germany. His father is a veteran. For a certain kind of person watching these protests—which many critics have mischaracterized as being about "the flag" or "the troops," instead of racial inequality and police violence—he had the credibility, along with the courage, to do something.

This is what Archer told the press on Sunday after Maxwell took a knee:

"It did take a while in baseball, I think mainly because the other sports that do that are predominantly black," says Archer. "Our sport isn't, so I think the criticism might be a little more harsh. It took somebody really special that had a unique background to take that leap.

"The way he went about it was totally, I think, as respectful as possible, just letting everybody know that this doesn't have anything to do with the military, first and foremost, noting that he has family members that are in the military. It's a little bit tougher for baseball players to make that leap, but I think he was the right person to do it."

What Happens Now

Maxwell was cheered by the home Oakland crowd in his first at-bat since kneeling, a line-out to left field. In Mariners veteran Felix Hernandez, he was not forced to face the kind of (white, surly) pitcher one might expect to throw at a guy to send a political message, though it's not at all implausible a pitcher of Felix Hernandez's background could have thrown that purpose pitch "for America" after reading a tea party blog during pregame.

In the last week of the season, more teams will be eliminated (including the Rays), and their players will officially have no distraction superstition as a deterrent. For these players, there will be fewer games after which to face reporters. Here is what Archer told me in a text message: "What [Maxwell] did was tasteful & respectful to all parties. I wouldn't be surprised if more guys start to follow suit."

Bruce Maxwell Had the Courage, and Credibility, to Take MLB's First Knee published first on http://ift.tt/2pLTmlv

[amtushinfosolutionspage]

Bruce Maxwell Had the Courage, and Credibility, to Take MLB’s First Knee

On Saturday, the ACLU tweeted a quote from Jackie Robinson’s 1972 memoir, I Never Had It Made:

“I cannot stand and sing the anthem. I cannot salute the flag; I know that I am a black man in a white world.”

On Saturday, Oakland Athletics rookie catcher Bruce Maxwell, a black man, became the first MLB player to kneel during the national anthem. In a moment that faintly echoed Robinson and white teammate Pee Wee Reese’s iconic embrace seven decades ago, Mark Canha placed his left hand on Maxwell’s shoulder. The game went on. Oakland beat Texas 1-0.

Maxwell spoke eloquently about his reasons for taking a knee. Following his tweets from the weekend, you can see that Donald Trump’s fixation on Colin Kaepernick and Steph Curry rather than national issues like the destruction of Puerto Rico struck a chord with him.

Why did it take so long?

The conservatism that has always held baseball hostage is a short, serviceable answer. It’s nothing new. Back when Muhammad Ali was embracing the Nation of Islam, and Tommie Smith and John Carlos were raising their fists in black solidarity at the Olympics, the most meaningful activism among baseball players was economic—the fight to unionize and to earn free agency. Even the leaders of those movements faced backlash from their fellow players, not to mention owners, the media, and the public at large.

In the decades since, we have witnessed the repeal of the Fairness Doctrine, the imposition of internet filter bubbles, the optimization of soft news—of which sports is a crown jewel—and the deterioration of the American education system. Today, the average citizen cannot readily discern fact from fiction. They revert back to their trusted information troughs that validate their biases and make them feel better, smarter. Baseball players are like extreme versions of this, only with more confidence.

In the company of a few players last year, for example, I mentioned the (once again relevant) Paid Patriotism in Sports investigation led by Republican Senators Jeff Flake and John McCain from Arizona, which revealed that the Department of Defense paid MLB and other major sports leagues millions of dollars to stage many of the boutique military exercises we as players had all become so accustomed to being accessories to, standing at attention with our hands over our hearts along the foul line. One player told me that this was “liberal fake news,” and that “John McCain would never do no kinda shit like that.”

Baseball may value shut-up-and-play guys more than any other sport. The patron saint of that archetype is Derek Jeter, the most beloved baseball player since Babe Ruth, whose farewell tour was seen by many as excessive. What had he done but win championships? But to celebrate Jeter was to celebrate kicking ass and taking names, the Crash Davis school of never saying the wrong thing (not to be confused with saying the right thing) and only making waves off the field in heterosexual sex scandals that ultimately add girth to the legacy.

Orioles veteran centerfielder Adam Jones is one of the few players to consistently speak out about issues of race, from talking about Freddie Gray’s death in 2015 to calling out fans who shouted the N-word at him in Fenway Park last season. A year ago, Jones said that Kaepernick–style protests hadn’t made their way to MLB because “baseball is a white man’s sport.”

Jones was one of just 58 black, African American, or African Canadian players on active rosters for Opening Day this season, according to the 2017 Major League Baseball Racial and Gender Report Card. That number doesn’t include Maxwell, who was called up from Triple-A later in April, nor several players who were on the DL, but the report still calls attention to “the relatively small and declining percentage of African-American players” in baseball.

It should be noted that Afro-Caribbean players born in the U.S. are not always counted in that group. I am both African and American—my parents’ native Cuba was only a few stops on the Atlantic slave trade away from the Alabama of Maxwell’s youth—but on the only Jackie Robinson Day in which I was in the Major Leagues (2009), I was not tabbed for that photo opportunity.

The same 2017 report card notes that there are more players of color in the league now than ever before. And the growing Latino presence in MLB creates more racial complexity that is especially hard to follow for people who don’t see race and want all this race stuff to go back into the shadows. Many Latino people are racist. Many Latino people deny their own blackness. For every white-passing Latino with less than a quarter of African blood in them who speaks with an alarming NPM (niggas per minute) in public spaces, there is an undeniably African Latino who doesn’t believe they’re black. The individual desires of people of color to defer participation in “race” chips at the solidarity of the black community as efficiently as racism itself does. This is hard for anthropologists to follow, much less ballplayers.

Black solidarity is difficult to negotiate with a language barrier, and one should understand what might dissuade, for instance, a Venezuelan Afro-Latino from criticizing any aspect of American culture when matters are worse in every sense, including race issues, in their own country. Black people who are well traveled, especially Afro-Latinos who’ve traveled to many Spanish-speaking countries, eventually come to the glib conclusion quicker than anyone else, that despite our longtime and recently stoked problems here in America, there is perhaps no better place in the world to be black.

Kaepernick’s protest spread slowly but surely across the NFL, where African-Americans made up 69.7 percent of players last year. Athletes in the NBA and the WNBA—two more leagues with majority black rosters—have also become fluent in peaceful protest in the last few years. Demographics may have kept the Kaepernick movement from catching on in baseball, but it’s important to note that baseball conservatism has many layers.

In baseball, conformism is subconsciously enforced by the martial law of the purpose pitch, and by the ingrained biases of the people in power who make personnel decisions and drive its culture. When you wear your hat a certain way, a coach may say, “Why do you have to be different?” Your hair may irk him, and when you miss the cutoff man, it may be more irksome to him than when the guy who looks more like his son does it. There’s the crappy .220 hitter and there’s the scrappy .220 hitter, and the formula for who goes to AAA and who stays on as the good clubhouse guy is subjective at best.

It takes a special person to stand up, or kneel down, when you consider the full weight of the baseball institution.

Why was it Bruce Maxwell?

Three weeks into the NFL season, Colin Kaepernick is still unemployed. NFL insiders have been more reticent to say he’s being blackballed than non-insiders like activist Shaun King. While Kaepernick is probably as capable as most starting NFL quarterbacks, he is not in the elite, irreplaceable strata of athletes. This gives the owners who don’t sign him (i.e., all the owners) plausible deniability. It complicates the issue of Kaepernick’s unemployment.

John Hefti-USA TODAY Sports

As a player, Bruce Maxwell is even more replaceable than Kaepernick. Though the Oakland A’s were swift to defend Maxwell after he kneeled on Saturday, it is important to note that if he were to be blackballed, it would be virtually impossible to prove. To date, Maxwell has proven he is a light-hitting catcher worth about half a win above replacement over the course of a season. Though many ballplayers are late bloomers, Maxwell’s 300 at-bats represent a sufficiently large enough sample size for him to slowly fade into journeyman status without a second thought.

But whether he noticed or not, Maxwell’s path was eased by other circumstances. The Oakland A’s were mathematically eliminated from the playoffs on September 22, though they were never in the race at all, and even sold off their best pitcher at the trade deadline. The length of MLB’s season holds that half its teams engage in dozens of meaningless games, such as Saturday’s historic, meaningless contest between the Rangers and the Athletics. Maxwell has enjoyed the luxury of relatively low stakes—in baseball terms.

Along those lines, a story:

The morning after my club, the Tampa Bay Rays, beat the Red Sox in the 2008 ALCS, a handful of teammates and I supported then Senator Barack Obama at a rally in Florida. As a rookie, I was “hazed” by being volunteered to introduce the most famous political figure of our generation with a short speech before a capacity crowd at Legends Field. We were criticized for associating the team with a political party, but it was manageable—World Series stakes or not, Tampa is a tiny sports market. At the same time, had there not been several senior teammates with me, I might not have gone to the Obama rally. I might have caved under the pressure of fitting in that Maxwell overcame. And despite a military veteran father of my own, had all of what’s happening now been happening in the middle of a playoff race I was in as a rookie, especially in a major market, I would probably not have taken a knee—by myself no less—during the national anthem, either. You don’t want to be labeled a “distraction” by the media, and then become one in a superstitious, cliquey clubhouse as a rookie who is a new actor in a championship run that is years in the making. We have yet to see a major baseball star in a major market make a major political engagement. We have yet to see a Kaepernick–grade athlete use the platform of a championship run, with its larger audience. The “distraction” is perhaps entirely superstition, which especially pervades sports, but its effect is real.

My money would have been on Jones to be the first player to take a knee, despite his comments. My number two choice would have been Rays pitcher Chris Archer. But Maxwell was the right guy at the right time. He was born on a military base in Germany. His father is a veteran. For a certain kind of person watching these protests—which many critics have mischaracterized as being about “the flag” or “the troops,” instead of racial inequality and police violence—he had the credibility, along with the courage, to do something.

This is what Archer told the press on Sunday after Maxwell took a knee:

“It did take a while in baseball, I think mainly because the other sports that do that are predominantly black,” says Archer. “Our sport isn’t, so I think the criticism might be a little more harsh. It took somebody really special that had a unique background to take that leap.

“The way he went about it was totally, I think, as respectful as possible, just letting everybody know that this doesn’t have anything to do with the military, first and foremost, noting that he has family members that are in the military. It’s a little bit tougher for baseball players to make that leap, but I think he was the right person to do it.”

What Happens Now

Maxwell was cheered by the home Oakland crowd in his first at-bat since kneeling, a line-out to left field. In Mariners veteran Felix Hernandez, he was not forced to face the kind of (white, surly) pitcher one might expect to throw at a guy to send a political message, though it’s not at all implausible a pitcher of Felix Hernandez’s background could have thrown that purpose pitch “for America” after reading a tea party blog during pregame.

In the last week of the season, more teams will be eliminated (including the Rays), and their players will officially have no distraction superstition as a deterrent. For these players, there will be fewer games after which to face reporters. Here is what Archer told me in a text message: “What [Maxwell] did was tasteful & respectful to all parties. I wouldn’t be surprised if more guys start to follow suit.”

Bruce Maxwell Had the Courage, and Credibility, to Take MLB’s First Knee syndicated from http://ift.tt/2ug2Ns6

[flauntpage]

Bruce Maxwell Had the Courage, and Credibility, to Take MLB's First Knee

On Saturday, the ACLU tweeted a quote from Jackie Robinson's 1972 memoir, I Never Had It Made:

"I cannot stand and sing the anthem. I cannot salute the flag; I know that I am a black man in a white world."

On Saturday, Oakland Athletics rookie catcher Bruce Maxwell, a black man, became the first MLB player to kneel during the national anthem. In a moment that faintly echoed Robinson and white teammate Pee Wee Reese's iconic embrace seven decades ago, Mark Canha placed his left hand on Maxwell's shoulder. The game went on. Oakland beat Texas 1-0.

Maxwell spoke eloquently about his reasons for taking a knee. Following his tweets from the weekend, you can see that Donald Trump's fixation on Colin Kaepernick and Steph Curry rather than national issues like the destruction of Puerto Rico struck a chord with him.

Why did it take so long?

The conservatism that has always held baseball hostage is a short, serviceable answer. It's nothing new. Back when Muhammad Ali was embracing the Nation of Islam, and Tommie Smith and John Carlos were raising their fists in black solidarity at the Olympics, the most meaningful activism among baseball players was economic—the fight to unionize and to earn free agency. Even the leaders of those movements faced backlash from their fellow players, not to mention owners, the media, and the public at large.

In the decades since, we have witnessed the repeal of the Fairness Doctrine, the imposition of internet filter bubbles, the optimization of soft news—of which sports is a crown jewel—and the deterioration of the American education system. Today, the average citizen cannot readily discern fact from fiction. They revert back to their trusted information troughs that validate their biases and make them feel better, smarter. Baseball players are like extreme versions of this, only with more confidence.

In the company of a few players last year, for example, I mentioned the (once again relevant) Paid Patriotism in Sports investigation led by Republican Senators Jeff Flake and John McCain from Arizona, which revealed that the Department of Defense paid MLB and other major sports leagues millions of dollars to stage many of the boutique military exercises we as players had all become so accustomed to being accessories to, standing at attention with our hands over our hearts along the foul line. One player told me that this was "liberal fake news," and that "John McCain would never do no kinda shit like that."

Baseball may value shut-up-and-play guys more than any other sport. The patron saint of that archetype is Derek Jeter, the most beloved baseball player since Babe Ruth, whose farewell tour was seen by many as excessive. What had he done but win championships? But to celebrate Jeter was to celebrate kicking ass and taking names, the Crash Davis school of never saying the wrong thing (not to be confused with saying the right thing) and only making waves off the field in heterosexual sex scandals that ultimately add girth to the legacy.

Orioles veteran centerfielder Adam Jones is one of the few players to consistently speak out about issues of race, from talking about Freddie Gray's death in 2015 to calling out fans who shouted the N-word at him in Fenway Park last season. A year ago, Jones said that Kaepernick–style protests hadn't made their way to MLB because "baseball is a white man's sport."

Jones was one of just 58 black, African American, or African Canadian players on active rosters for Opening Day this season, according to the 2017 Major League Baseball Racial and Gender Report Card. That number doesn't include Maxwell, who was called up from Triple-A later in April, nor several players who were on the DL, but the report still calls attention to "the relatively small and declining percentage of African-American players" in baseball.

It should be noted that Afro-Caribbean players born in the U.S. are not always counted in that group. I am both African and American—my parents' native Cuba was only a few stops on the Atlantic slave trade away from the Alabama of Maxwell's youth—but on the only Jackie Robinson Day in which I was in the Major Leagues (2009), I was not tabbed for that photo opportunity.

The same 2017 report card notes that there are more players of color in the league now than ever before. And the growing Latino presence in MLB creates more racial complexity that is especially hard to follow for people who don't see race and want all this race stuff to go back into the shadows. Many Latino people are racist. Many Latino people deny their own blackness. For every white-passing Latino with less than a quarter of African blood in them who speaks with an alarming NPM (niggas per minute) in public spaces, there is an undeniably African Latino who doesn't believe they're black. The individual desires of people of color to defer participation in "race" chips at the solidarity of the black community as efficiently as racism itself does. This is hard for anthropologists to follow, much less ballplayers.

Black solidarity is difficult to negotiate with a language barrier, and one should understand what might dissuade, for instance, a Venezuelan Afro-Latino from criticizing any aspect of American culture when matters are worse in every sense, including race issues, in their own country. Black people who are well traveled, especially Afro-Latinos who've traveled to many Spanish-speaking countries, eventually come to the glib conclusion quicker than anyone else, that despite our longtime and recently stoked problems here in America, there is perhaps no better place in the world to be black.

Kaepernick's protest spread slowly but surely across the NFL, where African-Americans made up 69.7 percent of players last year. Athletes in the NBA and the WNBA—two more leagues with majority black rosters—have also become fluent in peaceful protest in the last few years. Demographics may have kept the Kaepernick movement from catching on in baseball, but it's important to note that baseball conservatism has many layers.

In baseball, conformism is subconsciously enforced by the martial law of the purpose pitch, and by the ingrained biases of the people in power who make personnel decisions and drive its culture. When you wear your hat a certain way, a coach may say, "Why do you have to be different?" Your hair may irk him, and when you miss the cutoff man, it may be more irksome to him than when the guy who looks more like his son does it. There's the crappy .220 hitter and there's the scrappy .220 hitter, and the formula for who goes to AAA and who stays on as the good clubhouse guy is subjective at best.

It takes a special person to stand up, or kneel down, when you consider the full weight of the baseball institution.

Why was it Bruce Maxwell?

Three weeks into the NFL season, Colin Kaepernick is still unemployed. NFL insiders have been more reticent to say he's being blackballed than non-insiders like activist Shaun King. While Kaepernick is probably as capable as most starting NFL quarterbacks, he is not in the elite, irreplaceable strata of athletes. This gives the owners who don't sign him (i.e., all the owners) plausible deniability. It complicates the issue of Kaepernick's unemployment.

John Hefti-USA TODAY Sports

As a player, Bruce Maxwell is even more replaceable than Kaepernick. Though the Oakland A's were swift to defend Maxwell after he kneeled on Saturday, it is important to note that if he were to be blackballed, it would be virtually impossible to prove. To date, Maxwell has proven he is a light-hitting catcher worth about half a win above replacement over the course of a season. Though many ballplayers are late bloomers, Maxwell's 300 at-bats represent a sufficiently large enough sample size for him to slowly fade into journeyman status without a second thought.

But whether he noticed or not, Maxwell's path was eased by other circumstances. The Oakland A's were mathematically eliminated from the playoffs on September 22, though they were never in the race at all, and even sold off their best pitcher at the trade deadline. The length of MLB's season holds that half its teams engage in dozens of meaningless games, such as Saturday's historic, meaningless contest between the Rangers and the Athletics. Maxwell has enjoyed the luxury of relatively low stakes—in baseball terms.

Along those lines, a story:

The morning after my club, the Tampa Bay Rays, beat the Red Sox in the 2008 ALCS, a handful of teammates and I supported then Senator Barack Obama at a rally in Florida. As a rookie, I was "hazed" by being volunteered to introduce the most famous political figure of our generation with a short speech before a capacity crowd at Legends Field. We were criticized for associating the team with a political party, but it was manageable—World Series stakes or not, Tampa is a tiny sports market. At the same time, had there not been several senior teammates with me, I might not have gone to the Obama rally. I might have caved under the pressure of fitting in that Maxwell overcame. And despite a military veteran father of my own, had all of what's happening now been happening in the middle of a playoff race I was in as a rookie, especially in a major market, I would probably not have taken a knee—by myself no less—during the national anthem, either. You don't want to be labeled a "distraction" by the media, and then become one in a superstitious, cliquey clubhouse as a rookie who is a new actor in a championship run that is years in the making. We have yet to see a major baseball star in a major market make a major political engagement. We have yet to see a Kaepernick–grade athlete use the platform of a championship run, with its larger audience. The "distraction" is perhaps entirely superstition, which especially pervades sports, but its effect is real.

My money would have been on Jones to be the first player to take a knee, despite his comments. My number two choice would have been Rays pitcher Chris Archer. But Maxwell was the right guy at the right time. He was born on a military base in Germany. His father is a veteran. For a certain kind of person watching these protests—which many critics have mischaracterized as being about "the flag" or "the troops," instead of racial inequality and police violence—he had the credibility, along with the courage, to do something.

This is what Archer told the press on Sunday after Maxwell took a knee:

"It did take a while in baseball, I think mainly because the other sports that do that are predominantly black," says Archer. "Our sport isn't, so I think the criticism might be a little more harsh. It took somebody really special that had a unique background to take that leap.

"The way he went about it was totally, I think, as respectful as possible, just letting everybody know that this doesn't have anything to do with the military, first and foremost, noting that he has family members that are in the military. It's a little bit tougher for baseball players to make that leap, but I think he was the right person to do it."

What Happens Now

Maxwell was cheered by the home Oakland crowd in his first at-bat since kneeling, a line-out to left field. In Mariners veteran Felix Hernandez, he was not forced to face the kind of (white, surly) pitcher one might expect to throw at a guy to send a political message, though it's not at all implausible a pitcher of Felix Hernandez's background could have thrown that purpose pitch "for America" after reading a tea party blog during pregame.

In the last week of the season, more teams will be eliminated (including the Rays), and their players will officially have no distraction superstition as a deterrent. For these players, there will be fewer games after which to face reporters. Here is what Archer told me in a text message: "What [Maxwell] did was tasteful & respectful to all parties. I wouldn't be surprised if more guys start to follow suit."

Bruce Maxwell Had the Courage, and Credibility, to Take MLB's First Knee published first on http://ift.tt/2pLTmlv