Roland Martin Visits Howard, Talks about Faith

Students and guests from the Howard community and surrounding areas packed Andrew Rankin Chapel Wednesday night to see Political analyst, commentator and author, Roland Martin. 

Martin delivered a speech on faith in the workplace that left students with something to ponder in pursuing their future careers.

The forum entitled, Faith, Ethics & Career:  A Discussion of How Faith & Ethics Influence, Inform & Challenge the Voice of Media, was sponsored by the John H. Johnson School of Communications in conjunction with the Office of the Dean of the Chapel.  The forum opened with a welcome from Dean Richardson of the Chapel, who stressed the importance to recognize one's calling in life. 

"It's important to have faith, but recognize that your faith can be shown through your calling, even if your calling is not ministry," Richardson said.  Following his words of wisdom, the Associate Dean of the Chapel, Kanika Magee, reiterated the occasion by reminding the audience to keep faith in their lives all the time. 

"There should not be a disconnect between our faith and our jobs," Magee said. 

The School of Communications Student Council President, Brittney Butts, introduced Martin by listing his accomplishments from working at The Chicago Defender for a number of years to becoming a CNN analyst and author, but Martin had more to add to his story and why he chose his path. 

"What I do today didn't begin on CNN or at the Defender, but at Jack Gates Communications magnet high school in Houston, Texas," Martin said. "My father was a news junkie, so since I was 14 years old I knew the path of my career and it has not changed." 

Martin also focused on the fact that by making his beliefs and faith the essence of his life, he made some of the most important decisions that shaped his life today. 

"I made my decision to leave The Defender and open my life up to more opportunities, not based upon where I wanted to go or how much money I would make, but where God wanted me to be," Martin said.  "I recognize the power of the media and that some people can use it for good and some can use it bad.  The media is filled with loose faith based people so they often confuse things by looking at faith through a political prism."

Martin also discussed knowing God and serving his will through the work that you are skilled in.  Martin, who has a blog and posts inspirational messages tackling a variety of life challenges, provided an example of the power of the gifts God has given him and the impact they have on people.  He explained how the feedback from his blogs mentioned a woman who gained a new perspective on life after planning her own suicide, emotionally charged teens and parents on the topic of black fatherhood and people that re-evaluated their commitments in a blog on CNN about marriage. 

He closed by telling the audience to walk in their faith wherever they chose to go in life.  "

The problem with faith today, is that there are too many people working out of their lane.  You've got preachers that shouldn't be preaching, leaders that should not be leading and people get confused by that.  It's about taking what you learned on Sunday and applying it to the rest of the week," Martin said.  "You don't' have to put your faith aside from 8 to 5."

Guests who came to see Martin were excited about his message and are looking forward to putting it into practice.

Junior advertising major, Dailen Hughes, believes that faith can be executed and displayed in all fields of work. 

"Everybody has a purpose and all we have to do is look into ourselves to find a way to tie that to the values and things we believe to become successful," Hughes said.  One professor brought her class of graduate students to expose them to the message she believes will help them succeed. 

"I believe it's important as educators of youth to make decisions that are spiritually based," said Dr. Janeula Burt, professor of education administration.  "I feel like decisions based solely on your own feeling may not always be best and the most important thing is for the children to benefit and not yourself."