Second Sunday (35 page)

Elder Dotsy looked back at the musicians, who started playing a hot and funky hip hop beat.

“Girl,” Elaine said, “I’ve heard that tune on the hip hop station. Or, am I just imagining that?”

“Nahh, Elaine,” Rochelle said, while bobbing her head to the beat. “That tune is to the rapper Young Joc’s song.”

“You mean the one where he telling the people to meet him at the mall?”

Elaine stopped working on Miss Hattie Lee’s head for a second.

“How you know about that song?”

“My grandbabies, Shawanda likes to practice her dance routine on that song, and Lil’ Too Too plays and sings that when he
comes by after school to help me with some housework.”

“Lil Too Too in school? Where? Durham Tech?” Elaine asked.

“He went back to school when he got off of house arrest for trying to steal those cases of microwave pancakes from Harris
Teeter. You know that baby always did love himself some pancakes. But he is still at Hillside. I know he is not the best student.
But it seems to me like the baby would have been able to get out of high school by now.”

“Well, Miss Hattie Lee,” Rochelle said, “If he doesn’t hurry up, they are going to make him leave anyway. And he’s been in
trouble with the law. Hillside will try and work with you—but not if you’re too old and acting a fool on top of that. Lil’
Too Too is what? Nineteen?”

“Twenty,” Miss Hattie Lee answered, a bit embarrassed. She didn’t know what was wrong with Lil’ Too Too. All of his cousins
were doing fine—good grades, working, and a few were in college.

“He better get it together soon,” Elaine said, “Because they will make him leave at twenty-one. And Lil’ Too Too doesn’t want
to leave without that diploma. You better talk to him, Miss Hattie Lee.”

By now Elder Dotsy was getting down, doing a smooth combination of a shout and the “Lean with it, Pop with it” hip hop dance.
And when it got real good to him, he said,

“I wrote this rap for those of you out there who are always getting in some kind of serious trouble, and haven’t figured out
why you need the Lord and need to get saved. Jesus is coming back, sisters and brothers, and I want all of yall out there
to be ready to go and meet Him in the sky. So, this is for yall,” Elder Dotsy said, as he launched into his own gospel rap
version of Young Joc’s song.

“When you hear the trumpet sound, it’s goin’ down. . . . When Jesus cracks the sky, it’s goin down. . . . when you rise up
off the ground, it’s goin’ down. . . . when you meet Him in the air, it’s goin’ down. . . .”

The song was getting good to Elder Dotsy, and he really started getting down. The choir, who up until now had been sitting
quietly on the set, hopped up and started dancing and singing, adding some harmony to the song. It looked like they were having
the time of their lives. Anybody watching the show, who didn’t think that Jesus was somebody they could relate to, would be
forced to re-think this assumption.

Apostle Grady Grey and the First Lady came on the camera, as Grady said,

“We are rapidly running out of time. If any of you want to get saved, you need to invite the Lord Jesus into your life right
now. Today’s broadcast was for our viewers who have trouble with legal matters. And we want you to know that we have an anointed
Post-Prison Ministry, with many success stories. ’Cause I’m here to tell you future Saints that you can not come out of prison,
start over, and make it without Jesus. It won’t happen. God wants you to have life more abundantly. Give your life over to
Jesus right now.”

Three sets of numbers flashed across the screen.

“Our phone counselors are standing by to minister to those of you who want to get saved right now. They are available to pray
with you. And they will work with you to get you to our church, or make a reference to a church that is best suited for your
needs.

“See, we want you saved and heaven-bound. So, while we’d love to have you at Jubilee Temple Holiness Church II, our greatest
desire is for you to have a church home. Don’t worry about hurting our feelings if our church is not the church for you. God
has blessed us with tremendous increase and we are growing by leaps and bounds. So, we don’t care where you go, as long as
it’s somewhere.”

“That’s right,” Linda Grey said. “Hallelujah! God led us to let Elder Hamilton do the broadcast this morning to reach people
a lot of us Saints can’t reach. And the Lord has laid it on my heart, that there are viewers out there who have just been
released from jail and prison, you don’t know where to turn, or what to do, and how to do it the right way.

“Well, you can let all of that go because God cares for you. And He has placed us here this morning to share His Word and
let Him use us to get you on your way, which is His way, The Way. Call. Call. Call us in the name of Jesus and watch your
life transform right before your eyes.”

“That’s right, call,” Big Dotsy said. “If God had a miracle for me, I know He has one for you. Call us, please.”

The choir came and stood behind the Greys and Elder Hamilton, as the music came on to signal that the show was about to end.
The Greys started waving to the camera. Big Dotsy waved and then said,

“I want to send a few shout outs to my three baby mamas, the Child Support Enforcement Social Worker at Durham County Department
of Social Services, who taught me about being responsible for my kids, my Parole Officer, Rev. Jerome King, and my seven kids—Dotsy,
Jr., Dayeesha, Sheldon, the twins Tawantaye and Tawanaye, Kylone, and the baby girl, Dotsheema.”