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9-1-1-: Lone Star's Sierra McClain partners with Mercy Ships and Glorify app on devotional series

“My relationship with God has become something incredibly personal and very real.”

Image courtesy of Sierra McClain

Actress Sierra McClain launches new devotional with Glorify app.

Actress Sierra McClain’s Hollywood career has come full-circle with her personal faith journey. In McClain’s role as Grace Ryder on FOX’s 9-1-1: Lone Star, her character left her former life and family to serve a higher calling with Mercy Ships, the global nonprofit delivering free, life-changing medical care to underserved communities via hospital ships.

And now, McClain has partnered with Mercy Ships in her real life to help write and narrate a seven-day devotional series called Moments of Purpose through the Glorify app, which launched on June 23.

“It feels unconventional,” says McClain. “My relationship with God has become something incredibly personal and very real.”

McClain and her family lived in Atlanta in her early years, where her dad worked at a church. “We went [to church] every Wednesday and Sunday, we went to Bible study and then service. It was beautiful, I loved it,” she shares.

Her family soon moved to Los Angeles, where McClain’s career was further established with roles on FOX’s series Empire, Netflix’s Mindhunter, and later her pivotal role as Grace Ryder on FOX’s 9-1-1: Lone Star in 2020. During her time on 9-1-1: Lone Star, McClain says she had a “spiritual epiphany."

“That’s what this whole journey felt like. Certain things took a backseat, and I talk about it in this devotional series. I was working on Lonestar, and everything was moving [professionally]–but spiritually, everything kind of stopped. And I realized, ‘Wait a second? What’s happening?’ And the realization hit that I had been on autopilot.”

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McClain shares it was then that that God started working in her heart as her work began slowing down. “My surroundings became a mirror through my family members and having to sit with myself–to understand what was happening in my soul. I felt stuck.”

McClain soon embarked on a healing journey that “reshaped my entire understanding and perspective and relationship with God.”

She dug deep, finally taking her pain regarding relationships and family to God. I said, ‘God I don’t know where to go from here. I’m upset, I’m in pain.’ And then He would talk to me and give me direction, or things to do in little moments.”

The journey inspired her new devotional series. McClain was approached by Mercy Ships who saw her role as Grace transpire on TV, and quickly dove into creating the devotional.

 mercy ships, mercy ships vessel, the global mercy, mercy ships charity, hospital ship Photo of Mercy Ships vessel The Global Mercy.  Mercy Ships - Photo Credit Jose Pablo  

“It poured out of me,” she explains about the writing process. “I had so much to say and so much to pull from. And so much I’m actually living. It was cathartic for me.”

The devotional covers themes of calling, identity, stillness, and choosing God over performance.

“My goal was to make this as real and as personal and as connected as possible. I wanted it to speak to anybody from wherever they are in their life–whether things are spinning, whether nothing’s moving,” says McClain.

With the devotional’s release, McClain is eager for people to experience it.

“I'm excited for people to listen to it and to see how it impacts them. This devotional details my own experience of discovering what my purpose was and what it can be and what it can turn into. The possibilities are much more endless than we realize,” she says, referring to Ephesians 3:20-21: “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”

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It all started when the Memphis Islamic Center purchased land across the street from Heartsong Church.

It took Pastor Steve Stone of Heartsong Church by surprise. "When I saw that, my stomach kind of tightened up. ... I felt that ignorance and that fear," he said.

He wasn't sure how to respond. But more than that, he wasn't sure how his congregation would respond. Would they welcome their new neighbors with open arms? Or would their arrival only lead to backlash?


Like Stone, Dr. Bashar Shala of the Memphis Islamic Center was unsure of what to expect.

The goal of the Islamic center was to create a place for people to "pray and play" and have a sense of community, but he knew they'd likely face resistance from the other churches in the area. The site would be surrounded by more than five Christian churches on what's been referred to as "Church Road," so the newcomers were sure to be noticed — especially at a time when mosque construction projects across the country were facing opposition.

"It is a difficult time for Muslims in America," he said. "We did not expect to be welcomed."

Some members of Heartsong Church were clearly uncomfortable.

"Me and my wife both were thinking about leaving church because I just did not accept what was going on," said Mark Sharpe, a member of the church.

Sharpe looked to Stone and asked him what he should do. The reply? Just read the gospels. Which Sharpe did. And they helped him reach a pretty emotional realization about the situation.

"I figured out I was the problem," Sharpe said. "What was going on with the world today, I was the problem."

Things started to take a turn during the holy month of Ramadan.

Shala wanted to kick it off with the grand opening of the new complex. But with delays in the construction, he knew they weren’t going to make it in time. So he reached out to Stone, asking if they could pray in Heartsong Church while they waited. He figured his congregation would only pray there for a few nights.

They ended up staying at Heartsong Church the entire month of Ramadan.

All images via Starbucks.

The experience brought both communities closer together unlike anything else.

"Ramadan brought us much closer. People started knowing each other on a personal level," Shala said.

Interacting with a group of people they probably wouldn't have otherwise and getting to know them as individuals helped some members of the church confront biases and prejudices. Sharpe explained, "It's kind of like my world got bigger."

Now the two groups work and socialize together frequently.

They support those in need by doing coat and food drives together.

In honor of 9/11 every year, they have done a blood drive and shared their facilities.

They’ve even combined their Thanksgiving dinners into one giant celebration.

And in spring, they throw an amazing picnic to gather the entire community.

Their inspirational friendship serves as an important reminder for all of us.

Even though about 1% of Americans (3.2 million people) are Muslim, they're still a very polarizing topic in the United States. But at the end of the day, who we pray to (or pray with) shouldn’t get in the way of loving and accepting each other.

Simply put, we’re all just people, ready to welcome new friends into the neighborhood.

Before Sunday's game against the Detroit Lions, the Green Bay Packers asked their fans to observe a moment of silence to honor the victims of Friday's deadly shooting in Paris.

Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images.


While many did, one fan took advantage of the quiet moment to yell out something obnoxious.

Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images.

"Muslims suck," is what many heard, according to a report in The Washington Post. Including Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers.

Rodgers was asked to respond to the comment after the game, and respond eloquently he did.

 


"I must admit I was very disappointed with whoever the fan was who made a comment," Rodgers said.

"I thought it was really inappropriate during the moment of silence. It's that kind of prejudicial ideology that I think puts us in the position that we're in today as a world."

Rodgers is right to call out the fan's bigotry, and it's a lesson much of the world could stand to hear right now.

Photo by Bulent Kilic/Getty Images.

Following the attacks, talk of tightening — or even closing — state and national borders in Western countries to refugees from the Middle East has increased, even though many of those refugees are fleeing the exact same people who committed the horrible act of violence in Paris last weekend.

Some have even gone as far as to suggest that the United States should focus on admitting Christian — not Muslim — refugees.

Good guys and bad guys can't be sorted by their religion.

Radical extremists come from all religions and all nationalities and threaten people of all religions and all nationalities — as last week's far-less-heralded, but similarly deadly bombing in Beirut makes abundantly clear. Presenting the current conflict as a clash of religions or civilizations only makes it easier for them to victimize more of the world's most vulnerable people.

That's why Rodgers' comments are an important wake-up call.

Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images.

The only way to defeat the bad guys is by standing together. Not apart.