Hope Mississippi
A bimonthly podcast educating Mississippians about the needs of fellow citizens, encouraging residents to work together to change the trajectory of our families and children, and sharing success stories.
Hope Mississippi
Faith, Family, and Community: Scottie Tyrone's Vision for Mississippi
Dawn Beam welcomes Elder Scottie Tyrone for a heartfelt conversation about building hope through faith, community service, and crossing racial divides in Mississippi. Their profound discussion explores how genuine connections and spiritual transformation can bring healing to individuals and communities facing significant challenges.
• Lincoln Park church serves as a "hospital" where people can come as they are for healing and hope
• Miraculous testimonies of cancer patients experiencing unexpected recovery through prayer and faith
• Scottie's powerful ministry to Dawn's family during her mother's end-of-life celebration (the tambourines came out!)
• Breaking racial barriers by focusing on spiritual connections rather than physical differences
• Using musical gifts through "Tasteful Tuesday" and "Thankful Thursday" to encourage others
• The Zamar Awards program honoring unrecognized musicians who faithfully serve their communities
• Lincoln Park's expansion vision for community outreach, including a shelter, feeding program, and youth center
• Addressing Mississippi's challenges, where one in four children live in poverty
• The importance of both asking for help when needed and extending help to others
If you have gifts, get involved in meeting the needs of your community. If you are hurting, know there's a body of Christ around you in Mississippi available to help.
Relevant Scripture: James 4:2
You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet, but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God.
Contact:
(601)-336-2056
scottietyroneministries@gmail.com
https://sites.google.com/view/scottietyroneministries/home
When you need some hope and inspiration to build collaboration. Hope Mississippi is your salvation.
Speaker 2:One in four kids live in poverty.
Speaker 1:One in five are food deprived. Build collaborations and build hope with those who are struggling. Build collaborations and build hope with those who are struggling. Hope Mississippi. Hello everyone, this is Dawn Beam, back with you with Hope Mississippi, and I have a special friend today. That is my guest, scotty Tyrone. Welcome, scotty Tyrone.
Speaker 2:Thank you. Thank you for having me, Ms Dawn Beam.
Speaker 1:Well now, Scotty, I consider you like a brother, Absolutely. I really do. But now you are a minister, is that right?
Speaker 2:Correct.
Speaker 1:So it's Reverend Scotty Tyrone.
Speaker 2:Reverend Elder. I wear so many hats.
Speaker 1:Well you do. God has gifted you with so many things. You were just in my office today in my law office and we were taking care of the church that you serve at. Just great things going on at Lincoln Park. Tell us a little bit about that.
Speaker 2:Well, lincoln Park is a ministry about love. It's about deliverance, it's about meeting people where they are. It serves really as a hospital. You can come just as you are and we want to meet you where you are so we can help you. Because you know, the Bible says come as you are, are, so he can be the one to help you. And so we want to be that. We try to set that example, to help people where they are. So it's a beautiful place to be.
Speaker 1:We're talking about hope today and our hope in Jesus. When you come to church, you receive that hope. Tell us how you've seen it in your church.
Speaker 2:The transformation has been. So my new word for God is incredible. It's just everything that he does is absolutely incredible. You know we say amazing, but it's just incredible to see his work and to see how he's created things to be and how strategically he plans things and how we don't understand it sometimes and the people that have come through there, how they've been hurt whether it's church hurt, whether it's from their family or tragedy and to see them come and to see how he's reconciled families back together and the hope that has been given when people thought that there was no more hope for them, that life was over per se and they were just existing, and to see him restore them back to him, back to the kingdom, and how he uses his people to help other people, that is just. I think that's the most greatest thing and to see that is just amazing.
Speaker 1:Well, I've enjoyed visiting y'all's church from time to time and I have felt that healing power. I have felt that God is there and working, and so we want to encourage folks, find your people, find your church home, because that's where real hope is.
Speaker 2:Just recently we've had stage four cancer diagnosis where they thought it was just terminal, just kind of the end. We've seen God turn those situations around, where one guy because we prayed for him and we believe in the power of prayer, and he went back and he said they said what? You're not even a candidate for chemotherapy? And God has just restored him back and it's been amazing. And that's just been one of them. And there was another one that was diagnosed with lung cancer. She sings so now you would never know that she had lung cancer.
Speaker 1:Wow, you know, I don't know why God heals some and he doesn't heal others, and when I think of you, I will never, never forget the blessing you were to my family when my mother had cancer and was on hospice and we knew that the day was any day she would not be with us. I have a family full of preachers, but when you're hurting, you need someone else to minister. I've told a jillion people about your coming and ministering to my family, but would you tell us, from your perspective, what your experience was with mom and with our family?
Speaker 2:Now, that was amazing to witness your mom and how ready she was to go home, to be with the Lord, and that was a blessing for me to be a part of her going home and to go in there and to be able to minister to your family and to bring comfort to them. It was such a joy for me to be to see something that I hadn't seen. I have not seen that before, and to be a part of that was just so. I cried on my way home that I was, I was so honored to be asked to be a part of. That was just so. I cried on my way home that I was so honored to be asked to be a part of that time, because that's a special time, you know and to see your mom lifting her hands as we're singing Soon and Very Soon.
Speaker 2:We're going to see the King Beulah Land you know all of her favorite songs and then to bring the tambourines out. And it was a service. It was a homegrown service of celebration that, hey, this is why we live. We live to live again, and so it was great.
Speaker 1:You know you can talk about heaven all your life, but when you are confronted with that, when you know you're going, the testimony that she gave to so many was just unbelievable that night when you came. My family lives in Brandon, so you and I live in Summerall. We drove up there, you brought your piano in. You've got the wonderful gift of music playing the piano as well as singing and if you close your eyes you get a swore. It was Andre Crouch. With that, soon and very soon, my mother and daddy have five kids.
Speaker 1:I've lost count of grandchildren and great-grandchildren, but I know it's at least 17 grandkids, and we just added another grandchild this week. But we had every family. If they were not there, some were even overseas, they were on Zoom, and so mother had everybody in front of her. We were all singing all over the country and yet we were one in spirit and I thank you for being that blessing and I hope that folks can get that idea that when your time comes, heaven is the ultimate hope that we have, and so we want to rejoice in that.
Speaker 2:Yes, and what a way to go, though, to know where they're going. What a way to go. That's a great way to celebrate as we're leaving. She was so excited. She was, she was so excited about going home. Now, that was hope for me.
Speaker 1:I totally agree. Well, scotty, you know my family, but I want to hear a little bit about your family. Folks, this is a audio and not a video podcast, and so folks may not realize it, but I'm white and you're black, and so I think in today's world, when we talk about hope in Mississippi, one key component is that we reach across all of the lines that divide us and share hope. So can you just tell a little bit about your family, about your experience growing up and how God has worked in your life?
Speaker 2:Sure, I think I've been real fortunate with my family. Well, my father was a pastor, but he was a pastor out of state. My mother raised us here in Mississippi, but she didn't teach racism. She taught us to become who we are and that we could be whatever we wanted to be. And I remember before she died, the night that she died, she said you can be whatever you want to be. Do not ever be a victim because of skin color or anything else. God has called you who he's wanted you to be. Use that and stand on his word. We never talked, we didn't deal with race. She always made us know who God is in our life and I think that has helped me.
Speaker 2:So when people call people names and stuff, I'm not bothered by that and, yes, I've been called names. Whatever names, it doesn't bother me because I'm so secure in who I am as a child of God and as a man. So you answer to what who you are, not what people call you. And I think once we get to know who we are, whether you're black or white, I think that's going to help our nation as a whole, because God lives on the inside of us and if I look at the God in me and the God in you, then I don't see color, I see spirit and our spirits meet and all I need to do is meet your spirit and you meet my spirit and then we become one in spirit. And if we can do that, we can come together and accomplish anything.
Speaker 2:So growing up I had a lot of white friends. I had a lot of white families. So I was so fortunate to have some good people and I still am to this day in my life. So I don't do the color thing. It's just not who I am.
Speaker 1:I love it. I love it. You know I call you brother and the reality is I do see you like that. I call you brother and the reality is I do see you like that. We're brothers and sisters in Christ and God has used you to encourage me in dark times. Just tell me a little bit about your ministry of encouragement, how you pray for people. You've sent me prayers on Messenger or Facebook. Just talk about how God has used you in that area.
Speaker 2:Well, I have a Tasteful Tuesday and the scripture is O taste and see that the Lord is good, blessed is the man that trusteth in him. And so when God woke me up one night and he said I need you to do Tasteful Tuesday, and that is sending out either a song or scripture to go with that, just to encourage people individually. And so in doing that, he says who to do it to, who to send it to. So in prayer he shows me people, so I'm a seer in the spirit, and so he shows me things that you may be hurting, you might just need to be encouraged or whatever the case may be. And so I send it to those people and then I do a thankful Thursday on Facebook, and that's just for everybody, just encouraging people.
Speaker 2:Let's just be reminded to be thankful just for who God is in our lives, not for what he's done, not for what I have, just strictly for who he is. And so the gifts that he's given me, for who he is, and so the gifts that he's given me is not for me, but it's for the kingdom, and it's not for blacks, it's not for whites, it's for the kingdom, and so we have to be real careful with the gifts that he's given us, because we'll put ourselves in a box and we'll limit ourselves to just my group of people or the people at church. When it's not just for those people, it's for whomever. But if we're not in right relationship with him and hear his voice clear, we won't know and I'll miss the mark on who I'm supposed to help. And so I'm real careful about listening to his voice and who he says send it to.
Speaker 2:So I just had a friend who lost a husband last week. It's somebody that I went to school with and she's white, and throughout that entire journey God just kept having me send things to her and I didn't realize how bad it was until she texted me back and said this is so on time. And so I understood then and so I had to continue. So I'm always about helping, encourage somebody. If we can just give that hope, just one word can change somebody's life.
Speaker 1:When you're going through the valley and I've been through the valley a few times you don't forget folks like you that God sent to encourage you, and I thank the Lord for you and for the encouragement you have been to me and I pray that I can be that same encourager. I love the Bible verse that God comforts us so that we can yet be comforters and I can testify God is faithful.
Speaker 2:He provides all that we need and then we can then be used to comfort others Absolutely, and I think he takes us through those valleys to strengthen us, to make us become closer to him, to draw us not to him as he draws close to us and to realize that he's the vine with the branches and to produce fruit from that. And so that is so exciting, to know that he chooses to use me. Sometimes it doesn't feel that good, but it's going to be for my good at the end of the day and so I'm good with it.
Speaker 1:Okay, one gift that you have that I absolutely love is your ability to play that piano and sing. How did you come to do that?
Speaker 2:It's a gift really. I started playing when I was four years old.
Speaker 1:Really.
Speaker 2:Yes, I had an older brother who's 14 years older than I am. He was playing, and then I just started playing the piano he was playing, and then I just started playing the piano.
Speaker 1:Well, man, you have a gift, so what is your favorite music to play? I know you've got some award. Tell me a little bit about the awards thing and then we'll talk about your favorite music.
Speaker 2:So I have the Zamar Awards ministry that I do every year now and that is Z. Zamar is the gift of music, sharing the gift, and it's part of the seven praises. You've got Zamar, torah, yadah, several others, but it is Zamar is musical, and so what we do is there are different people that God shows us and we celebrate them. We celebrate the works that they've done and that they're doing in the kingdom, here in Mississippi, and so what we're trying to do is just show and appreciate all of the people that are working for the kingdom, whether it's local or whether they've gone international. We want to honor them and that's what we've been doing the last couple of years. And when I tell you it has been amazing, it's absolutely amazing.
Speaker 2:So just to see the smile on folk faces. So the first year there were several older people that just in the community that we celebrated and we honored, and they don't have a CD or anything, but they've just done music in their church all their lives Just never being honored, cd or anything, but they've just done music in their church, all their lives, just never being honored. But we honored them with that award. And just to see their smile and they were like 89 and 86, it's something that they can remember, that, hey, my life was not in vain. Somebody remembered me. They gave me my flowers while I was alive and I could see it.
Speaker 1:We serve, in part because we want to serve God right, but it is good to be able to recognize when folks have made the world a better place because of their service. So I think that is so wonderful and it's got to be an incredible, inspiring thing to attend that gathering. Now, music in general you just amaze me, but what's your favorite music to sing?
Speaker 2:Well, I'm a worshiper. I love hymns because I grew up on hymns, but I really love the contemporary. Just the worship time, the intimate music that is just me and God. So a lot of times when I'm at home I get on the piano and I just start playing and he gives me a melody and I just think of his goodness in my life and how he loves me in spite of me, because I live with me. So, and to know that he still blesses me and continuously, and I just can't help but sing praises back to him, and so I love to get in his presence so that the worship time with him is so incredible for me.
Speaker 1:You do a great job of leading your church family in that same type of worship experience we talked earlier about. Clearly, the Holy Spirit is in your church and that praise is part of welcoming that spirit in, isn't?
Speaker 2:it, it is, it is.
Speaker 1:When we think about music, there's healing in music as well, would you not agree?
Speaker 2:I do.
Speaker 1:You mentioned the hymns. What are your favorite hymns?
Speaker 2:Well, amazing Grace is one of them. And then he Looked Beyond. My Fault is another one. What a Friend we have in Jesus. That's one of my them. And then he Looked Beyond. My Fault is another one. What a Friend we have in Jesus. That's one of my favorites. So it's just several. My mother loved hymns, so she would make me sing all the hymns growing up.
Speaker 1:I bet she did, and don't you know, she's singing hymns in heaven today, yes, yes. I know my mother is too. When we have hope in our heart. To me, god puts a melody in your mind and in your heart. I oftentimes wake up at night and in my mind playing how Great Thou Art or hymns, and they're just reaffirming of that relationship and that conversation that we have with God. God wants to be praised right, he does.
Speaker 2:He inhabits the praise of his people. That's what his word says. He enjoys it when we come to him.
Speaker 1:Let's talk a little bit more about Lincoln Park. Y'all are talking about doing an activity center there. Tell us about the dream a little bit of the history, because we're fixing to celebrate 12 years, Is that right?
Speaker 2:12 years. Yes, it started off when we got the building or went back into the building. It was God blessed us and we were able to pay the building off, and then we were able to get a youth center, a double wide trailer, and so we're actually we've grown out of that, to be honest, which is a good problem, and he's blessed us with some land and just got another house behind the trailer, and so we're just trying to make room for ministry, and so now the activity center is about that's our next goal. That is to have several things a shelter, feeding program so we can feed on Wednesdays.
Speaker 2:We used to feed in the community. We just don't have enough room in the kitchen. We have a little small kitchen right now, and so that is the goal to start back feeding and have a food bank that we can help people who need food Again. Have a shelter and then a place for our kids. An after-school program just want to make sure that they're educated and then give them something to do, making sure we help them develop their dreams and goals and aspirations out of life, but from a spiritual standpoint as well.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. You know our children are our greatest resource. I'm reminded of the statistics One in four of our kids in Mississippi lives in poverty. One in five is food deprived. So when we're talking to folks out there and acknowledging the challenge, what is your message to them about how they can bring hope throughout Mississippi?
Speaker 2:I think that we probably should acknowledge where we are and then not be afraid to ask for help. Do an assessment and again find out where help is and don't be afraid. I think we walk in pride, so to speak, and I don't want to say it's pride. Maybe it's a little ignorance, because we don't want anybody to know that we're suffering. But the Bible says you have not because you ask not, and we need to ask and that's only we're going to help each other. I don't know if there's a need, unless you tell me, but now we got to be approachable so people can come to us, and I think, as the body of Christ, we got to make sure that we extend that love and that hope, that, hey, you can come talk to Scotty, he's reachable, he's touchable. We can't be so holier than thou that they feel afraid to come talk to us.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. There are folks that have needs. We all have needs at some point in our lives, and so we need the humility to say I have a need and let your brother serve you in that manner. But also we have people out there that have gifts. It may not be the gift of singing the good Lord I can hum, but that's about it. But he gives all of us gifts, and I'm reminded that we can accomplish so much more when we work together whether that be the body of Christ in a specific church or the body of Christ being the pine belt area that as we work together, we can be God's hands and feet. God says that when we've done it unto the least of these, we're doing it to him. So let's talk to those folks out there that may be thinking what could I do?
Speaker 2:You don't necessarily have to be in the four walls of the church. We call it evangelism. Let's get out of the four walls and get out in the highways and the byways and compel all men, as the Bible would say. Let's get out there and meet the needs of the people. Everybody is not going to come in the walls, but can we bring the church to them Because I'm the church? Can I bring who I serve to those people and serve them where they are?
Speaker 1:And that's how Jesus did it. He gave us the example of how we were to share Christ. First you meet their physical need and then you meet their spiritual need, and that's where true hope and peace come from.
Speaker 2:A friend of mine said if you call and tell me you need your light bill paid, you don't need me to pray for you. You need your light bill paid. Well, you need help. You don't need me to say, okay, well, I'll pray for you. No, your light, your babe, well, you need help. You don't even say okay, well, I'll pray for you. No, I need you to help me, and I think if we start helping people, listening and help the people where they are, then we'll be a better people.
Speaker 1:I totally agree with you.
Speaker 2:Because at some point we may have been not in that particular situation, but we've been in a place where we needed help and I think if we remember back when we were at some point, then we should have enough grace to help somebody else.
Speaker 1:You know and it's not just that, I'm reminded a judge one time told me your greatest joy will come in serving others. That is so true. You know, the Bible talks about the joy of giving, and so you're missing out twofold One, you're not using the gift God gave you, but two, you're missing out on the blessing of giving.
Speaker 2:And I think the Psalm says serve the Lord with gladness, Serving with gladness. How do I do that? I serve his people. If I serve them, I'm serving him.
Speaker 1:So if you're listening today, when we're glad you joined us, our hope is for you to take away from this conversation another conversation with God to say how can I be a blessing? If you have gifts, get involved in meeting those needs and if you are hurting, know that there is a body of Christ all around you in Mississippi that is available to meet those needs. Thanks so much for joining me, scotty.
Speaker 2:Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1:Thanks to our audience for sharing this time.
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