WHAT THREADED DOES

Threaded is a resource organization. We help individuals like you bring the gospel to racial conflict through education, and training. We design tools for organizations and people like you that can be used to connect and build multiethnic relationships and collaborative opportunities for change.

EDUCATE

We resource and educate individuals and organizations about historic and modern day issues of race and culture.

TRAIN

We train individuals and organization on how to engage issues of race and culture using Christian values, gospel-centric values.

DESIGN

We design opportunities and tools for safe reconciliatory engagements in diverse environments.

FACILITATE

We facilitate pathways to building multiethnic relationships and partnerships.

THREADED VALUES

KINGDOM ORIENTED

The eternal vision of heaven is a multi-ethnic church (Rev. 7:9-12). Jesus leads us to pray, seek, and serve for that kingdom reality on earth now as it will be in heaven (Mt. 610; Eph. 2:14-22). That is aim of our hearts and efforts together. This group is not about a church. It is about The Church, beautiful in her diversity, united in the life of her head Jesus Christ, and more exciting and satisfying than we can imagine.

CONFESSIONAL CONVERSATIONS

There is no resurrection without a cross. No healing without addressing the pain. Vulnerability breeds vulnerability. So, in moving forward together the first steps must be in humility, with a willingness to confess how we have sinned in the area of race relations, and a readiness to share and listen to personal stories Christ is redeeming.

GRACE EXTENDING

The Grace of Jesus Christ has been lavished upon us. Therefore we must extend it to others as we entertain this conversation. There are no tokens at the table. Everyone is welcome, and adds meaningfully to our growing understanding. We are not all at the same point on the journey and there is nothing that makes someone want to quit like the lack of Grace.

COMPASSIONATE/COURAGEOUS CONTENDING

Everyone’s experience and contribution is valid, so we will fight to let their voice be heard and show empathy and compassion even if we do not agree with them. Compelled by the love of Jesus Christ we will suffer with, speak truth lovingly, and move into conflict and injustice for sake of others coming to know the reconciling power of Jesus Christ.

REJOICE ALWAYS

In a broken world of difficulties and divisions, the Spirit leads us to celebrate any places where the kingdom advances against the walls of racism. Things may be bad and they are certainly are not perfect but we seek to rejoice at the victories we can find and pray for the power to carry on through the defeats.

OUR FOUNDER, MARKUS LLOYD

Markus Lloyd is a speaker, writer, performer, husband, and father committed to using his passion, creativity, and magnetic leadership to weave the Body of Christ back into a unity that makes the world run to Jesus.

The ministry of Church unity and collaborative cross-cultural community engagement has been a calling on Markus’ life since his family moved to a predominately White suburb in Houston, TX when he was three years old. Since that time Markus has worked to maneuver the major cultures of Black and White, as well as other ethnic cultures with a primary identity centered around His Faith and commitment to Jesus Christ.

As a creative, he found himself working in culturally and ideologically diverse spaces which helped him see the world and his faith through many different perspectives. It was in this environment that Markus met his wife Lisa, a White woman, and the two, along with their two Biracial sons, Markus Jr. (Deuce) and Solomon, have committed themselves and their family to the work of racial reconciliation and unity in the Church.

Markus has worked in vocational ministry at churches for over 15 years. Some of his roles include Creative Director, Worship Leader, Children’s Minister, Youth Minister, and Director of External Focus. This diverse interaction with Church and community life and his degrees and concentrated studies in international studies, cultural intelligence and diversity, equity, and inclusion, have given Markus a passion for Church people and Church leaders which allows him to lead a team committed to inspiring relationships, reconciliation and collaborative action amongst the diverse Body of Christ.

THREADED ORIGIN STORY

In 2011 Markus Lloyd walked down the Tapestry Hall in the Vatican and, while examining a tapestry, got an idea of how to describe racial unity to God’s people.
In 2014 Michael Brown is murdered by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri. John Stanley, a white pastor in Plano, struggling with the aftermath, contacts Markus Lloyd, a Black pastor from a church down the street, to go to lunch and talk about what he is seeing.
The two go to lunch at Lockhart’s BBQ in Plano, Tx to talk and find that, despite their shared faith in God, they had very different perspectives on what was happening.
Despite their differing opinions, they enjoyed their time together and decided to work together for change.
They asked: “What if something like this happened in their town? Would the churches have enough relationships across cultures to stand together between the police and the protestors?
Markus and John gathered twelve pastors from the city from different ethnic groups and went to have a meeting with the City Manager, the Chief of Police, and the Mayor.
In the meeting, the city officials told the group of pastors they felt the city was racially in good shape and shouldn’t worry.
After the meeting, the pastors met for a debrief, and a local Black pastor shared a horrifying and humiliating situation he had recently faced with a police officer. Upon hearing this story, Markus and John decided that, despite what the city said, they would continue to build relationships across cultures within the Church.
They started gathering pastors at a local diner monthly to talk. They soon started meeting to go through the book “Letters To the Birmingham Jail.”
The group members ebbed and flowed over the next year and went through the book twice. Soon a core group emerged, and deep friendships began developing.
In July 2016, five police officers were killed at a Black Lives Matter rally in Dallas. In the aftermath, the group decided they needed to share what they were experiencing with the world so that others could experience it.
In August 2016, the multiethnic group of pastors and leaders voted to call the group Threaded. Soon a logo, Vision, Mission, and Core Values were created, and the group had an identity.
Over the next three years, the group held panel discussions and created collaborative city-wide Church unity events and national prayer campaigns. They consulted and spoke with schools, colleges, seminaries, and churches, created a small group curriculum, and started a podcast.
Then in August of 2019, they filed and received their 501c(3) status. Threaded was now official.