WS Chronicle

By Busta Brown

When you’re in the presence of Frank Mickens, the spirit of love and peace are infectious. And boy do we need that right now more than ever! The former superstar news anchor at WFMY News 2 went from sharing worldly news to sharing the good news of Jesus Christ. 

Frank got a job offer in Indianapolis that he couldn’t refuse, the job that would eventually set him up for that national news anchor position he’s always dreamed of. It was no surprise to anyone in the news industry that Mickens became a superstar in Indianapolis, but when his contract was up for renewal, something hit his spirit like a ton of bricks. As he and his wife Chasattee sat in their brand new dream home, he asked her, “Do you feel like this is home?” And without hesitation she replied, “No I don’t.” 

Frank said, “And Busta that kicked off a two-and-a-half-year process of God taking us away from where we were in our lives, to do something totally different.” 

God’s purpose for Frank was clear and plain, but he fought it. “I had an argument with the Lord, because I felt like what I was feeling was a hero complex. Who am I to go out and save the world? God made it very clear that I was to drop everything I was doing and do ministry full time. Moment by moment, the Lord put things in my life that forced me to give something else up,” Frank said. 

Then the day finally came when he was forced to give up his 20-year career in TV and his hopes of becoming a national TV news anchor. As he was looking at a new lucrative contract from the CBS affiliate in Indianapolis, he couldn’t bring himself to sign it. “Something didn’t feel right. I know people can relate to when you’re doing what you love, but something’s not right. Then the Lord created a very uncomfortable situation and I had to ask myself, is this where you want me to be?”

He and his wife of 13 years eventually sold their beautiful dream home. “We’d only been there for two years and I felt the Lord say, save the money. So we moved into a rental home and saved. Before God spoke to me, my wife and I had a 10-year plan, but it was all based on stacking dollars. What I learned is, when you bring money into the picture, you cannot clearly hear the Lord. He wanted me to tune in to his heart and when I did, I started feeling so much better. Now, in order for me to put food on the table depends on my obedience. My margin for error is much lower now, because I gotta hear and do what he tells me to do. And it’s great, because instead being addicted to the things of the world and my past, I’m now addicted to sitting with Jesus.” 

Frank Mickens’ past is like most of us, one that we’d all love to forget and wished never happened. He also credits his wife’s love, support and forgiveness for his confidence to step out on faith. When they wake up each morning, both immediately begin to pray, “God what do you want me to do today and where do you want me to go? Every move I make is driven by God. I’m literally eating out of his hands every day and I absolutely love it.”

Frank’s journey wasn’t an easy one. He was out of work for a while, and every time it seemed like a door was opening, it would quickly shut. Yet, instead of complaining, he never stopped praying. Not to say he didn’t have some weary days, and even then he helped others. He and his wife purchased and then donated a ton of masks to nurses. “Remember early on masks were hard to find, so it was in our hearts to do anything we could to help nurses,” he said. 

I noticed he had an American flag bandana as a mask. With the extreme racism that Black men are experiencing in America, I felt compelled to ask if he was trying to make a statement. “When my wife and I went to purchase masks for the nurses, these were the only ones left, so we bought them all.” Then he followed that with a very controversial statement that’s extremely difficult for most of us to accept. “I believe the coronavirus is from the Lord. I’m not sure God is trying to kill us, yet he allowed it because he’s trying to do something with our country. So I’m praying into what God is trying to do with our country through COVID and through George Floyd’s unfortunate death. I believe through Jesus we’ll get the answers that we need. I’m all about prayer right now.”

Frank said, “There’s been a lot of sleepless nights. I’ve been up ‘til 4 in the morning most nights, disturbed after seeing the pain, hurt and anger in so many people because of what’s going on, and I knew the answer was Jesus Christ. I also designed a t-shirt that says ‘I love black, white, and all people,’ because the Lord said, ‘Frank, we can’t get into our separate corners. We have got to come together.’ And you got to do it even if the person on the other side doesn’t want you to. I was called to be an evangelist because God wants me to initiate conversations about unity, love, peace and humility, and initiate bringing God into it.” 

The former news anchor said his message is all about bridging gaps, and that he’s not the kind of person who likes to sit in controversy, “but the media loves controversy because it’s emotional and people love to watch it,” he said passionately. But in one of his Facebook videos, Frank is seen washing the feet of a white pastor. At that point, the controversy was hard to avoid. “God told me not to look at any of the comments after the post. He said, post it and let me work. And for four or five days I didn’t look at that post. A person of color that I know very well said the image of me washing my white brother’s feet was like me bowing to the slave master. And I can understand why they would think that. But when I washed his feet, the Lord immediately said, ‘Look at his face, Frank.’ I didn’t want to because it was kind of embarrassing, but in return, the pastor washed my feet as well. And God said, ‘That’s me in him washing your feet.’ God said when we serve one another, we’re really serving him as he served us. The Bible says in John 13, ‘as I have washed your feet, wash each other’s feet.’ We lost sight of that because the gospel message is the cross we have to bear in order to love others. It’s a sacrificial love that we all need to grow in,” said Mickens. 

His next comment didn’t leave much room for debate, if any at all. “They put him on the cross to crucify him. Yet, he still volunteered to take their pain. As they were mocking him, he said, ‘Father forgive them for they do not know  what they’re doing.’ So sometimes we can have blind spots because we’re bitter. Busta, I’m talking about all people, not only Black people. What the devil has brought into our lives makes us bitter. He’s using George Floyd’s video to separate us, because he knows pain hurts, and it metastasizes when it doesn’t get healed. So when something reminds us of that pain, we respond as if it was the first time. So when I see the police’s knee on George Floyd’s neck, I see me and Trayvon Martin. And now I’m reliving the pain, rejection and oppression in a very negative emotional moment. And I’m angry now, and we cannot love from that place. We cannot do it,” he said nearly in tears. 

I felt his pain and passion. Frank smiled as he quoted Mathew 7:14, “The Lord Jesus said himself, how can you take the speck out of your brother’s eye if you have a plank in your own? One of the things I got from that, you cannot see a person accurately if you’ve got stuff going on in your heart. What if what happened that day had nothing to do with George Floyd’s race? What if the officer was going through something terrible before he got that call? No one knows for sure. I don’t know what was in that officer’s heart, but because many of us as Black people are hurting from all the things we’ve endured before, we now cast assumption on this entire situation and the devil gets what he wants, division and hate towards one another. So for our own spiritual health, we gotta pray for even that officer, to make sure our anger is not coming from a place in our hearts that’s not healed. Jesus is the healing, so let’s search for him with all of our heart so we don’t miss out on everything he has for us,” he said with a huge smile. 

A man after God’s heart! My Person of the Week is evangelist Frank Mickens. If you’d like to hear more from Frank, join him for Noon Prayer this and every Friday at the Governmental Plaza in downtown Greensboro. If you’d like Frank to visit your church or organization, call 202-735-1347 or on social media @Frank Mickens.