Mississippi pastors promoting racial, denominational unity
by Jim Brown
February 22, 2007
(OneNewsNow.com) - - Promoting racial reconciliation through the Gospel of Christ is the focus of an upcoming event in a northeast Mississippi city. White and black churches throughout the state are planning a conference they believe will help to overcome manmade racial boundaries within the local and national Body of Christ.This summer, thousands of Christians from across the country are expected to take part in the event known as "Unifest." The week-long conference will be held in Tupelo and will feature speakers, times of worship with a 500-voice choir, and sessions on topics such as personal finance, marriage counseling, and workshops for youth.
Bishop Clarence Parks, pastor of the Temple of Compassion and Deliverance in Tupelo, is helping to organize the conference. Parks says there is a great need for races and denominations to work together to spread the message of Christ.
"We can make laws and we can legislate laws and we can come and meet together," the pastor says; "but except men's hearts are changed through the gospel and washed by the blood of Jesus Christ, we'll be meeting until Jesus comes back -- and we still won't get anything done."
The Mississippi pastor believes positive things can be accomplished -- denominationally as well as racially -- if Christians "come together under the same banner of Jesus Christ, focus on Him, and let Him be our center of attention ...."
Tommy Galloway, pastor of the inter-racial Word of Life Church in Tupelo, says the event could help erase many of the misconceptions people have about Mississippi. "I'm one who really gets offended when I hear other people from other states talk about the negative in Mississippi because they focus on the negative," says Galloway. "But I happen to be part of what God is doing [in Mississippi] -- I see it everyday.
"We worship together, we come together, [and] I believe that God has brought us together," he continues, using a scripture reference usually reserved for marriages. "... I really believe that God joins the Body together -- and where the Body's black or white or Hispanic or whoever it is, what God joins together, let not man put asunder."
Organizers say pastors and church leaders from throughout the nation are planning to take part in the Tupelo event, and they are encouraging other church leaders to hold similar events.
