CHURCH DIVERSIFYING:
Brown Missionary Baptist adds white pastor to staff for first time in history.
Sometime around 2000, Bartholomew Orr and Wade Steelman shared a class at Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary in Cordova.
“He was like every other guy in the room except that he and I shared an interpretation of Scripture that maybe was a little different from everybody else who didn’t see it quite as literal,” Steelman said. “So we developed a friendship over that. I didn’t really see him as a black guy but as someone who shared the same faith story as me.”
That shared vision of something higher allowed their bond to endure over the years as they collaborated on work to varying levels until finally, the beginning of July, it came full circle.
“Bart called and said, ‘Wade, I think it’s time we put you on staff full-time,’ ” recalls Steelman, who as a church consultant had been on retainer doing work for Orr’s Brown Missionary
In the Body of Christ, there is no color. We’re to see one another as brothers and sisters. The lines are not blurred — they’re gone.” Wade Steelman, new Discipleship Pastor at Brown Missionary Baptist Church
Baptist Church in Southaven.
That, in a nutshell, is the story of how Steelman, a white former regional leader in the Southern Baptist Convention, became discipleship pastor at Brown, a historically black megachurch with few white members.
It’s by no means unheard of, Orr and Steelman both point out. Many other Protestant churches are making strides in racially blending their pastoral staffs. Still, they hope Steelman’s historic addition to the Brown staff — he’s the first non-AfricanAmerican pastoral staff member in the church’s history — is just one more step toward fully integrating what Orr notes, like many before him, is one the most segregated places remaining in America: the church. Or as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. famously put it — 11 a.m. on Sunday is the most segregated hour in America.
“I think churches are slowly becoming more diverse,” Orr says hopefully. “I think it (integration) is harder in the established churches that have a tradition.”
Statistics show that in the historically white Southern Baptist Convention, while about 20 percent of congregations are nonwhite, only about 1 percent are multiethnic. Most Southern Baptists, in other words, attend a church where virtually everyone is of their own race — whether in the majority of virtually all-white congregations or the 20 percent of congregations made up of other ethnic groups. Most other Christian denominations follow the same pattern.
And at Brown, established in 1882, there are, as Steelman puts it, only “a handful of Caucasians” among the roughly 10,000 members.
Many church leaders, cognizant of the lingering segregation in houses of worship, are speaking out.
Virzola Jo-Nan Law took over last October as the first African-American and first female pastor of historically white Lindenwood Christian Church in Midtown Memphis.
“It gives us an opportunity to counteract an original sin,” Law said of integrating not just congregations, but pastoral staffs of churches. “We have to be honest about our participation in the most segregated hour.”
She said Lindenwood, a member of the Disciples of Christ denomination, has made great strides in diversity. The church, with about 750 permanent members, has a mix of white, black, Hispanic and Asian.
“We are called to be a witness,” Law said. “To transcend our human boxes.”
The Rev. Russell Moore, head of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, hopes to see more multiethnic congregations in the future as well.
“In the church,” Moore wrote, “a black Christian and a white Christian are brothers and sisters. We care what happens to the other, because when one part of the Body hurts, the whole Body hurts . ... When we know one another as brothers and sisters, we will start to stand up and speak up for one another.”
Moore’s writings echo the feelings of Steelman.
“In the Body of Christ, there is no color,” Steelman says. “We’re to see one another as brothers and sisters. The lines are not blurred — they’re gone.”
It’s a message of hope that resonates with many in a time of turmoil in the world, both domestically and internationally, and Orr hopes it sends the message that the church will be a leader.
“I hired Pastor Steelman because he is a knowledgeable, experienced and humble spiritual leader, but I also pray that this is the beginning of more diversity in churches like ours,” Orr said in his statement announcing Steelman’s hiring.
Steelman said despite there only being a handful with his skin color when he steps through the doors at one of Brown’s two campuses — the church has its original State Line Road campus and a south campus on Swinnea north of Goodman Road in the former home of a white Baptist church — he doesn’t think about race once he’s in the church.
“Once I’m in the door, race never crosses my mind,” he said. “It (Brown) has more joy than any church I’ve ever been a part of.”
And Steelman has been a part of many churches. He served as a regional denominational leader for the Southern Baptist Convention in its Xtended Missions Network in Northwest Mississippi. He’s worked in missions in various countries abroad, including Bangladesh and Poland, and he was serving in a church in Maryland before returning home to DeSoto County when he received Orr’s call.
“When my house (in Olive Branch) wouldn’t sell, I think that was a sign from God that there was work for me here,” said Steelman, who still owned his Olive Branch home while working in Maryland. “So I resigned up North, leaving behind some people who I think were disappointed to see me go, and came back.”
Together, he and Orr hope they can now continue blazing a trail that will lead to ever-increasing diversity in area churches — and Steelman thinks music, of all things, may be one of the last barriers.
“When music styles start looking more familiar, you’ll see a huge integration,” Steelman said. “The choice of music is the only barrier.” Associated Press
When Arkansas’ delegates gather in Philadelphia for the Democratic National Convention this week, they’ll cast votes for a nominee the state claims as its adopted daughter. They also hope having Hillary Clinton at the top of the ticket will energize a state party that’s been routed by Republicans over the past three elections.
Arkansas hasn’t gone Democratic in a presidential election since native son Bill Clinton won a second term in 1996.
But, while stopping short of predicting a victory in the presidential election, top Democrats headed to the convention say they hope Hillary Clinton’s nomination could help reverse the party’s recent fortunes.
“On a statewide level, I think sometimes folks ought to take into account the benefits a home state gets from having a personal connection to the White House,” state Party Chairman Vince Insalaco said. “I think it will be very helpful for us in terms of getting some things done for the Democratic Party.”