For African-American Leader, Reconciliation Rooted in Gospel
by Rebecca Grace
February 10, 2005
(AgapePress) - From a college basketball standout to a racial reconciliation activist, Dr. Dolphus Weary is a veteran among African-American pro-family leaders. He serves as executive director of Mission Mississippi -- a statewide unity initiative designed "to build relationships and to call persons of all races and denominational backgrounds to reconciliation."A renowned speaker and writer, Weary knows from personal experience just how harmful racial divisions can be to a person's well-being. After being deserted by his father and left to live a life of poverty, Weary longed to attend a Christian liberal arts college. Unfortunately, he could not find one that accepted African-American students.
Then in 1967, he became the first African-American to earn a scholarship to Los Angeles Baptist College where he played basketball. He soon left Mississippi for California to pursue his dreams, while escaping the racism that plagued both his past and present.
"But you know something?" Weary asked his audience during a 2001 theology and race workshop held in Oxford, Mississippi. "I got to California and I discovered that the racism beat me out there."
In other words, Weary realized that racism is a global problem and it is up to Christians, like himself, to reach a global solution. What better place to start than on a local level with an organization such as Mission Mississippi?
Dr. Weary is co-author of I Ain't Comin Back, the story of his journey out of Mississippi's racially turbulent past and how the discovery of God's love and mercy leads him back to Mississippi and toward a more enlightened path.
Mission Mississippi began about 10 years ago as a prayer movement in Jackson, Mississippi. The initial efforts involved a core group of 12 to 15 individuals who gathered to pray in a police precinct located in a rough area of town. Over the years, it has developed into a multi-faceted ministry that encompasses weekly prayer breakfast meetings, youth rallies and retreats, church partnership picnics, government-focused prayer initiatives and related activities.
Through it all, prayer remains a backbone of the ministry as its leaders seek to develop Mission Mississippi into "the leading resource and catalyst for Christian reconciliation and racial healing for Mississippi and the world."
"We try to act like there's not [a] difference [in races]," Weary said. " ... Some people say 'I don't see you as a black man.' I tell them, 'you're lying.'
"Loving me is not about blocking me out. Loving me is about loving me, and I want you to see me [for who I am]," Weary explained.
As a Scriptural basis for his claims, Weary cites the account of a slave named Onesimus in the Book of Philemon. The apostle Paul introduces Onesimus to Jesus, and Onesimus is converted.
"No matter where you are, you have the opportunity to be introducing people to Jesus," Weary said.
Although Onesimus' heart was changed, Philemon, a slaveholder in the Colossian church, struggled to accept him because of his past -- a parallel of present-day society.
"In our culture, we have learned to love the saints, but we have predestined who we want the saints to look like," Weary said.
He said it is disheartening to see people who are active in sharing their faith, yet those same people won't establish a relationship with someone of a different race. Those same people won't invite someone of a different race into their homes.
"Open your eyes. It's not something of the past," Weary admonished. "There's a problem, and I should be thinking how I can be part of the solution instead of standing back and judging.
"We have to cross those gulfs in growing together. [But] reconciliation doesn't mean we have to agree. It means we can disagree and still be in the same room."
Just like God used Paul to help Philemon see Onesimus as a brother and not a slave, Weary encourages other Christians to live out the love of Christ and love their neighbor as themselves.
"We are no longer white people, no longer black people ... but we're better than that," he said. "We cannot go forward until we leave the past behind.
"The bottom line is I'm a Christian. I just happen to be black."
Rebecca Grace, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is staff writer for AFA Journal, a monthly publication of the American Family Association. This article appeared in the February 2005 issue.
