RRCON 2010 by Barney Murray

PURPOSE OF THE RACIAL RECONCILIATION COMMMUNITY OUTREACH NETWORK (RRCON) To reconcile and unify the body of Christ. To reveal stereotypes that hinder the body of Christ. To uplift godly cultural and ethnic diversity. VISION OF RRCON To break down racial barriers and bridge differences in a Christian manner. To address cultural differences in a godly constructive manner. To experience successful ministry. To experience new, exciting, different ministry. To experience the beauty of ethnic diversity in the body of Christ. To be open to what the Spirit of GOD is saying to the church. To enrich the body of Christ. To enhance the outreach to various ethnicities and cultures. To promote cultural and ethnic understanding. To provide a platform for constructive interactive dialogue GOALS OF RRCON To break down prejudicial barriers between the races. To help eliminate racial tension. To expose dysfunctional lifestyles. To heal scars from the effects of racism. To build godly self esteem.

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RRCON is a: 24th Annual • Vehicle for Reconciliation Racial Reconciliation Community • Vehicle for Transformation Outreach Conference • Vehicle for Unity • Vehicle for Cultural Diversity THEME: RUACH • Vehicle for Education Remember, Understand, Appreciate, Create and • Vehicle for Understanding Honor • Vehicle for Sharing Resources and Networking • Vehicle for Evangelism Host Church: • Vehicle for Creating New Partnerships 22nd Street Baptist Church • Vehicle for Receiving New Ideas 6620 East 22nd St. • Vehicle for Getting Spiritual Insight Tucson, Arizona 85710 • Vehicle for Discovering New Talents and Gifts Conference Hotel: Sheraton Tucson Hotel & Suites 5151 East Grant Rd. Tucson, AZ 85712 800-325-3535 Wednesday, June 9, 2010 The Fourth Annual Two Step Thursday, June 10, 2010 All Nations Night Friday, June 11, 2010 Fine Arts Festival Saturday, Saturday, June 12, 2010 MTW Reconciliation Banquet Featuring: “The Voice of Many Waters” Featuring Special Guest Speaker: Dr. Henry L. Porter Sarasota, Florida *All sessions will began at 7:30 p.m. except for Saturday which will began at 6:00 p.m. SUNSHINE MINISTRIES, INC. Racial Reconciliation Community Outreach Network (RRCON) P.O. Box 13324 Tucson, AZ 85732 Phone: 520-750-0787/520-790-0866 Fax: 520-519-8003 HIS GRACE Magazine • www.TucsonRRCON.org

Reconciliation: God’s First Priority Bishop Benjamin F. Reid

he APOSTLE PAUL declares that God has given to the church, “the ministry of reconciliation.” This means calling a broken, separated and estranged world to be reconciled to God. Jesus recognized that a broken, separated and estranged church could not reconcile a lost world. So he prayed that God would make the church one in him. He prayed that every racial, social, economic and cultural barrier be broken down, and that the people of God be one people! Jesus insisted that by positive and active reconciliation the world would see something different in us, his followers. “By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love one for another.” The fact that reconciliation was the heartbeat of the Savior, that he prayed for oneness and unity, ought to be enough to make it the major agenda of God’s church. All other goals—super churches, mass evangelism, world missions, church growth and edifice building— mean little unless the priestly prayer of Jesus becomes a reality. Reconciliation in the church on every level is God’s first priority for this hour. There is solid theological foundation for the Spirit’s call to reconciliation: “By one Spirit are all baptized into one body.” “Let there be no division among you, but be of the same mind and same judgment.” 4

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“I now perceive that God is no respecter of person, but in every nation he that fearest God and works righteousness is accepted with Him.” “For He is our peace, woo hath made both (Jew and Gentile) one and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us, having abolished in his flesh the enmity...that he might reconcile both unto God in one body ...now therefore, you are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints and of the household of God.” “I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you are called, with all lowliness and meekness, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace!” Such clear scriptural-mandate forces us to the inescapable conclusion that division, fragmentation and alienation in the body of Christ is sin. It is utterly contrary to the will, the plan, and the purpose of God. Above all, it hinders terribly the work of the church hi the world. How then do we-bring about reconciliation in the church? First, we must become committed to that which is scriptural rather than to that which is practical. What does this mean? All the experts tell us that it is easier for members of one race to minister to their own. They say it is more effective for middle-class whites to witness to other middle-class whites; black people really want to be together to themselves and they are happier that way; charismatics, classic Pentecostals, and Wesleyan holiness groups have different traditions and distinctives, hence there can be no real unity among them. The path to church growth is homogenous groups—groups with the same economic, cultural or racial characteristics. Suburban churches are different from inner-city churches and never the twain shall meet. So say the “experts.”

It is sad that most evangelical and Pentecostal churches have bought into this sociological sectarianism. The church must reject these sociological and practical observations that are rooted in the carnality of unregenerate and unsanctified people. Loudly enough to shake this world, we must shout. “By one Spirit we are baptized into one body!” Christ does not have a black church, white church, rich church, poor church, cultured church, uncultured church. Christ declared, “I will build my church.” Since he has only one true church, that church must open her doors, atmosphere, liturgy, style and spirit, to whosoever will! Only after we have gotten the priority right can we move to the practical level. Here in Los Angeles, for instance, we advertise in various ethnic newspapers. We have services at different times and with varied worship styles to appeal to different racial and cultural groups. We make special efforts to include all ethnic and cultural groups in all phases of the church’s activities so that everyone feels accepted. We have decided to make scriptural unity our standard rather than humanistic exclusivism. Second. We must reach out to churches and ministries that are different from ourselves. The barriers of traditions, customs, liturgies, polity and style must he broken down and real spiritual cross-pollination must take place in the body of Christ. Those with the episcopal form of church government must learn from the Congregationalist who need to learn from the presbyterian form, and so on. The classic Pentcostals need to be open to certain holiness groups who, while sure of the need of baptism in the Spirit are not totally convinced that the “initial evidence” is necessarily tongues. The “oneness” Pentecostals ought to be accepted by Trinitarians Pentecostals and not considered renegades. The baptizers in Jesus’ name only must learn not to exclude those who baptize in the name

of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Those who pray in heavenly language should not discount those who pray only in their native tongue. Those who dance “in the Spirit” should not refuse to accept those who “dance before the Lord.” Greater than any errors in doctrine or practice is the sin of fracturing the body of Christ. In my thirty-five yen in the ministry, I have discovered that quiet, prayerful and thoughtful discussion among brethren who honor the word and the Spirit usually bring enough unity and harmony for effective witness for our Lord. Many of us are simply being contentious for one point of view while we think we are contending for the faith. When we realize the monumental task facing the church of Jesus Christ in this century, we will be forced to face the need for true reconciliation. No one ministry, church, organization or denomination can meet the terrible sin-challenge ahead of us now. No one segment of the church can bind all the demons, witness to all the lost, heal all the sick, feed all the poor or deliver all the oppressed. Resources, energy, ammunition and attack that we have wasted on our brethren of different races, practices, or persuasions must now be focused on our common enemy, the destroyer of men. Only by uniting our leadership and combining the strength and gifts of our congregations can we begin to “move like a mighty army.” Let us remove all barriers, then and stand shoulderto-shoulder in the fight of faith. It is our Master’s will. No one segment of the church can bind al l the demons, heal all the sick, feed all the poor or deliver all the oppressed. Resources and energy that we have wasted must now be focused on our common enemy, the destroyer of men. Reprinted with permission of the Bridgebuilder Magazine Seprember/ October 1987. Bridgebuilder “Committed to Racial Unity in the Church.

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Reconciliation Guide 1. PRAY DAILY FOR RACIAL RECONCILIATION WITHIN THE CHURCH. (I TIMOTHY 2:1-2) 2. ENCOURAGE AND MOTIVATE OTHER CHRISTIANS TO PRAY SPECIFICALLY FOR RACIAL RECONCILIATION^! TIMOTHY 2:1-2) 3. UNITE WITH OTHER CHRISTIANS IN YOUR LOCAL CHURCH TO PRAY SPECIFICALLY FOR RACIAL RECONCILIATION. (II CHRONICLES 7:14) 4. BECOME AN AGENT OF RECONCILIATION IN YOUR COMMUNITY AND ON YOUR JOB. (MATTHEW 5:9) 5. RECOGNIZE THAT GOD HAS GIVEN YOU THE WORD OF RECONCILIATION, THE MINISTRY OF A RECONCILER, AND THE OFFICE OF AN AMBASSADOR.(II CORINTHIANS 5:18-21) 6. PRAY FOR HEALING FROM RACIAL BARRIERS WITHIN THE BODY OF CHRIST. (GALATIANS 3:28) 7. PRAY FOR REPENTENCE OF ANY NEGATIVE ATTITUDES TOWARD ANGLOS AND PEOPLE OF COLOR. (ACTS 15:8-9) 8. DO NOT GIVE EAR TO ANY RACIALLY SLANDEROUS COMMENTS AIMED AT ANGLOS OR PEOPLE OF COLOR. (EPHESIANS 4:29) 9. ALLOW THE HOLY SPIRIT TO CLEANSE YOU FROM ANY UNFORGIVENESS, HURTS, BITTERNESS, OR APATHY FROM YOUR PAST. (II CORINTHIANS 7:10-11) 10. ACTIVELY SEEK FELLOWSHIP WITH ANGLOS AND PEOPLE OF COLOR, ESPECIALLY IN THE BODY OF CHRIST.

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A Pastor’s Heart

omeone once said that the closest inter-personal relationships between blacks and Whites occur between athletes, entertainers, and homosexuals. Strangely, missing from this group are Christians and yet the only group that can really embellish interpersonal relationships are Christians. Being Christian by definition makes us of a different sort, a different order. As Christians [ those who have confessed Jesus Christ as savior and Lord and believe that God DID raise him from the dead] we aft are in the same family; we all are part of the same Kingdom; and we all are immersed Into the same body. In Jesus, I am pan of you and you are part of me. Therefore, as it refers to racial delineation, a White Christian brother is much closer to his black Christian brother than any unregenerated white person; AND a black Christian brother is much closer to his white Christian brother than any unregenerated black person. Race is important but one’s relationship to Christ is much more important. In order to make a real impact upon this ungodly society, we must realize that in Christ we all are (racially speaking and otherwise) one. We must not only speak it rhetorically; we must not only think that it is just a good idea; and we must not plagiarize someone else’s view on this subject. WE MUST KNOW AND THEN LIVE AS THOUGH WE ARE ONE!!! We must also understand that this oneness we experience in Christ Jesus is a defining factor in our Christian Witness to the World. Racism is sin and as such it has legal right to exist in this unregenerated World. However, sin has no legal right to exist in the Kingdom of God; therefore, racism must be expelled also. As Christians we must endeavor to leave our comfort zones and reach out to others in the body who are not racially or culturally like us. We must also eliminate the attitudes that allow one racial group to deem itself superior to all others. 8

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We have to realize, that in our uniqueness, God has made us able to meet each others specific needs by the several unique giftings that he has given us. A beautiful picture of the risen Christ is when believers of different backgrounds, cultures, and camps do things together that focus on Jesus as the center of what they are doing. In this age, we are seeing a movement toward this end, but; we need to see more of it happen and we need to see it happen more often. If we do not learn to walk together as one, the results of our negligence will be alarming. The spiritual seeds which allow hate crimes, gang violence, abject poverty, internal terrorism, and city wide riots will germinate into an ugly monster that we will not be able to handle. We must make it a priority to destroy the images now seen, by the secular world, of black-white Christian relationships. We must show that athletes and entertainers can only have a reasonable facsimile of committed inter¬racial relationships. THE REAL DEAL IS IN CHRIST. In him, and only in him, can real racial reconciliation take place. I trust that this conference and others like it can help us see the error of our ways; help us learn how to correct these errors; and help us learn to be stronger committed Christians busy doing Kingdom Work. Someone once said that the closest inter-personal relationships between blacks and whites occur between athletes, entertainers and homosexuals. Someone else said, “THAT IS THE VERY REASON WHY WE NEED RECON¬CILIATION: NOW MORE THAN EVER”!

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Reconciliation between people groups: Only Love Can Drive Out Hate — Pastor Bill Evans

n the late 1960’s, Lois Mark Stalvey put together a book that would help change my life, called “The Education of a WASP”. In her landmark book, she changed from a naive Omaha housewife who thought that anyone in America could buy a house in any neighborhood, to a woman who understood true reality for minorities, and for those who would choose to stand with them and try to help them. The following quote sheds light on many issues, and certainly gives us a new way to look at the recently signed Arizona SB 1070 immigration law: “/ wish I knew how America, the one country created by people from all over the world, could realize its potential as the natural bridge between Europe and Africa. Our people have their roots in both these continents, and we are the human links through which the world could be joined. If the blood of the hyphenated Europeans-the Italian-Americans, the Swedish-Americans, and my own GermanAmerican blood—had mingled, as it should have long ago, with the Americans who were involuntary immigrants from Africa, we would look as Americans should look. We would, some of us, be dark Brown, and some of us pink, but most of us would be the golden color that would at last distinguish the genuine American.” The Education of a WASP. Lois Mark Stalvey, 1970 (reprinted in 1989), p. 326 Had such a thing taken place, we might not have any readily apparent way to decide who needs to carry papers in Arizona. And we might be a little closer to reconciliation of all people, instead of the marginalization of some by those who remain in power. Lois also quoted from a newsletter from a California congressman, George E. Brown, Jr, dated May 27, 1968 (shortly after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., when somehow many white Americans were turning around the pain and devastation to somehow worry about a violent 12

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uprising of black America): “In the mimeographed newsletter, Congressman Brown wrote of his concern that the House UnAmerican Activities Committee had recently suggested ‘detention centers” be used for “those planning guerilla-type operations.’ HUAC had stated that the Internal Securities Act of 1950 ‘provides for the detention of person when there is a reasonable ground to believe that such person probably will engage or probably conspire with others in acts of espionage or sabotage.” Imagining a world in which white fear might lead to detention of people who might rise up against their oppressors, a black woman named Karen said, “In Germany, they made the Jews wear yellow armbands. It will be easier here. We can’t take our identification off.” In my life, every time I thought we were making progress toward acceptance of people of all races, we continue to have setbacks such as the Arizona immigration law. When a white person like myself draws parallels to events during the civil rights movement, or the incarceration of Japanese people in camps during World War II, a number of my friends rebuke me as being too negative, and shouldn’t I instead be talking about all of the ways we get along? The privilege of being in the majority race, when there is systemic racism still dominating our country’s newswaves, is that many whites can live in an ideal world where there are no problems and we all get along. They’re not even sure why Rodney King ever asked his famous question. The tough road to reconciliation is always hindered by a majority of people wanting to turn a blind eye. Lois Stalvey had many people asking why she wanted to “stir up trouble”. Her problem was that she had an actual friendship with people like Russ Dale. Russ took his 6 children to a park at the edge of their neighborhood for a family baseball game. Then he drove home to start a charcoal fire for an evening cookout. While Russ was gone, 3 white teens told his son Pete, “Niggers aren’t allowed here. Go home.” The children couldn’t go home, of course, and Petey had the presence of mind to tell his 13-year old brother to take the 4 little children, crying and frightened now, behind a tree while he tried to hold off the 3 white boys. When Russ returned, he found Petey, bloody

and still being beaten. The smaller children ran to the car. So did Pete, dazed and stumbling. Russ tried to help him. The teens now attacked them both. According to Craig, one of the white boys reached in the open window to hit his father on the side of the head. Russ drove Petey to a hospital emergency ward, then fell dead while Pete’s wounds were being treated. That would seem enough, wouldn’t it? But Lois heard what happened next. The hospital sent police back to the park, the 3 high school boys were found and identified, but not arrested. Petey didn’t spend the night at the police station identifying the attackers; instead, he was held there all night by detectives who tried to get him to say he had started the fight! Petey was slim, slightly built. Yet, when they finally brought him home, they told his grieving mother, “Just be glad the white boys’ parents aren’t pressing charges!” She was also told her husband’s body must be picked up immediately by an undertaker, (summarized from p. 214-215) Four decades later, we still see a wide divide in the United States. Some people think Hispanic people should be “happy to comply” when asked to produce documents proving their right to be in Arizona, even though many of them were born here. Many don’t realize how quickly they could be arrested, and the very real possibility of not being able to get in touch with people to bring those papers before they would be incarcerated or even deported. What is not seen is that anytime one person suffers from injustice, all people are affected by it. Those who don’t have to worry about producing papers have a larger sense of entitlement. They also have a lousy sense of history. As my brother-in-law Rico recently wrote about why he won’t be visiting Arizona soon, “I am sorry I can’t visit Arizona at this time, as I cannot afford a flak jacket or military headgear in case I encounter an open carry, concealed weapons person who wants his country back (Who by the way took it from my ancestors). I don’t have enough pockets in my cargo shorts or socks with my sandals, to carry my driver’s license, passport, birth certificate, finger and toe prints, letters of authenticity and letters of introduction. Sorry I won’t be visiting any time soon...” It was less than a couple hundred years ago that we who are white were the minority in Arizona. But it didn’t take long for many people to get a

sense of entitlement. And, as Tiger Woods recently lamented on a different subject, a sense of entitlement sometimes causes you to forget or even lose the core values that you were raised with. The core values of a Christian must always be challenged at the entry point of Jesus’ One Commandment when he taught his disciples: “This is my commandment, that you love one another, as I have loved you.” Everything Jesus taught began with love, and pointed to a love that He had modeled. Jesus loved Samaritans when most of his people wouldn’t even have a conversation with them, and certainly not with a woman such as he encountered at a well (John 4). Love changes every conversation about race. Love also is at the center of the issue raised later by the same apostle John who wrote of the woman at the well, when he wrote his epistle to first-century believers: If anyone boasts, “I love God,” and goes right on hating his brother or sister, thinking nothing of it, he is a liar. If he won’t love the person he can see, how can he love the God he can’t see? The command we have from Christ is blunt: Loving God includes loving people. You’ve got to love both. In the Civil Rights Movement that has brought the greatest changes to America, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was often challenged by people as to whether his commitment to non-violence and love could change anything. But it was that non-violent resistance, by people brave enough to put their lives on the line, that broke through centuries of prejudice and asking people to wait, to finally bring real change. These words of Dr. King still ring true today: “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” We live in a country that still has many divisions. In some circles, they are widening. Picking sides hasn’t worked. The sides are polarized, and more and more people are being marginalized in the conversations. The only thing that has ever changed this kind of marginalization of people is love. The love shown toward those who oppressed AfricanAmerican people defied all the pre-conceived notions, and belied all of the McCarthy era fear which warned of people going to war and escalating violence-such as in the ‘68 quote from California Governor Brown cited earlier. HIS GRACE Magazine • www.TucsonRRCON.org

Love will be the key. I find myself angry so often, that so much still needs to be accomplished. I grow weary of 2 steps back for every one step forward. I am tempted to shake people of my own race up, because I am so discouraged by their convenient blind eye to the needs of others. But I know, in my heart, only love can do the work that must be done. Only love can build a bridge between your heart and mine, multiplied across people groups and across the world. Defiant arguments? We’ve seen their results in nations locked in each other’s crosshairs for a thousand years or two. Love is the key. Love is always the key. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. accepted the Nobel Peace Prize not as a personal award, but as a recognition of an entire movement of people, to show the power of nonviolent resistance in transforming people. These words still ring true: “Sooner or later all the people of the world will have to discover a way to live together in peace, and thereby transform this pending cosmic elegy into a creative psalm of brotherhood. If this is to be achieved, man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.” Scripture concurs: “Many waters cannot quench love, nor can rivers drown it. If a man tried to buy love with all his wealth, his offer would be utterly scorned.—” Song of Solomon 8:7New International Version But he’s already made it plain how to live, what to do, what God is looking for in men and women. It’s quite simple: Do what is fair and just to your neighbor, be compassionate and loyal in your love, And don’t take yourself too seriously— take God seriously. —Micah 6:8, The Message

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THEME: RUACH REMEMBER The Journey UNDERSTAND The Pain APPRECIATE The Effort CREATE The New Path HONOR The Result