Warren, USA - A pastor of a church is raising eyebrows for his use of the n-word 30 times during his Sunday sermon.
The Rev. Jim Lee, the pastor of Renaissance Unity, said it was "by design."
"I knew it would get a reaction," Lee told The Detroit News on Monday.
Lee, an African-American, used the racial slur as he preached Sunday about loving one's neighbor, several worshippers said.
In one segment of the sermon, Lee refers to the Ku Klux Klan not inviting him to dinner.
During his message, he joked about how they would tell him they didn't serve blacks.
"We hate (the n-word)," joked Lee while using the actual racial slur. "I would say I don't eat them either."
During his sermon, Lee breaks off into a repetitive use of the word reminiscent of the late comedian Richard Pryor's famous rant about the racial epithet during a skit in the 1970s.
Lee said he was using the word to make a point about how hurtful the word has been to him.
"At one point if you said that word to me that would be absolutely fighting time," said 62-year-old Lee.
"I would get so angry. I would get so upset, but now I know the truth of whom I am," he said. "The truth is I'm a child of God."
Lee told The News that he will not use the word again and that he only used it Sunday to punctuate his message of God's love.
"I'm not advocating that we should use it, tolerate or accept it," said Lee on Monday.
In July 2007, the Detroit branch of the NAACP officially "buried" the use of the n-word during a "funeral" attended by thousands at Hart Plaza.
The word still stirs hate no matter who uses it, say local civil rights activists.
"He's using the wrong format. The pulpit is the wrong format to use hate words and that is a hate word," said Jim Netter, a western Wayne County resident who is African-American.
"I'm disappointed."