[ATrain]

As the vast majority on this board knows, I grew up outside of Farmville, VA in the middle of nowhere. The church I grew up in is located in Prince Edward County, which is notorious for having closed its public schools rather than integrate them after Brown v. Board of Education. Next Sunday, the church is going to vote on whether to allow a black family to join, and it has caused some deep divisions between the really old farts who lack the mindpower to question anything they've been taught by their parents/teachers (racist ideologies) and those who feel that a born-again Christian should be allowed to join no matter the color of their skin.

Pray that the right decision will be made, and that time will heal the wounds caused by centuries of racism out there.

Thanks.

[Sly Fox]

Praying in Texas

[jmdickens]

Praying for the church. We are all children of God and hopefully the only solution will be acceptance.

[thepostman]

wow this is crazy to me...prayers for sure

[BJWilliams]

That is a very sad situation ATrain. I will pray that God works not only in the hearts of those who still harbor those tendencies but uses this situation to bring about a revitalization in the church (even if it happens to come by subtraction)

[FigurinItOut]

Lived a lot of places, but situations like this remind me regularly that I'm in the South now. I had naively come to believe that the church was largely over this issue. How surprised some people will be at the diversity we'll find beyond the Pearly Gates!
Praying.

[ATrain]

And in the update, it turns out they were only requesting baptism, not membership. Apparently they are planning to move to Delaware once the house sells. Still, I can't help but wonder if the noise reached their ears.

[Cider Jim]

Atrain, as unbelievable at your story sounds in 2012, I had a similar story in my Lynchburg church that happened maybe 15 years ago (before we joined).

We had an African-American family who wanted to join our church, and, according to our pastor, one of the older church members said he didn't want a "'nig---' in our church."

Thankfully, that family joined our church, the husband sang in our praise band, and he is even an employee of our church now. As for that older church member, thankfully I never found out who he was but hope he is gone now.