Two-Part Conversation About Racial Reconciliation

Tuesday, June 16th & Wednesday, June 17th
6 pm both nights

I welcome our church into a conversation about this old wound of race and division and how we might be agents of God's healing in this time. Politics is a tool, but ultimately it is not sufficient for the whole of the problem. It is a spiritual and moral crisis, of which the political is merely a way we express a deeper moral answer.

On Tuesday, in a panel discussion moderated by Mike McBrayer, Dr. Gary Furr will join two friends on the question of racial reconciliation. We've invited Dr. CeCelia Walker, who spoke during our Lenten series, and is the Director of Pastoral Care for the Brookwood Baptist Health System. We have also asked Rev. James Fields, an ex-Marine, who grew up in rural Alabama. He is a Methodist minister, served in the Alabama House of Representatives, and ran for Lieutenant Governor in 2014. Dr. Furr has found him to be a man of conciliatory spirit and Christian love, who is nevertheless honest about the issues before us.

The three of them will have an honest conversation for you to watch. We want you to send questions ahead of time for our panel to wrestle with. If you have a point of discussion, send it to martha@vhbc.com, and the panel will reflect on as many as time allows. The following night, Wednesday, June 17, we'll gather online as a church for a follow-up discussion. We'll ask a couple of members to help with responding and helping us talk together. This panel discussion will be posted on our Facebook and YouTube pages and is open to anyone. The follow-up discussion will be with our church family.