Posted: March 14th, 2010 Ken Garfield

Isn’t this the way it often works?

You set out to change the world, and the world gets changed one life at a time.

Such has it been with Xchange Sermons, a Crossroads Charlotte initiative in which clergy at 31 houses of worship have exchanged pulpits in the name of racial, religious and cultural reconciliation. While their sermons – and the richly symbolic act of delivering a sermon from another pulpit – have struck a positive chord across the community, it is striking a deeply personal, positive chord in many of the participants.

A forum from 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday, March 16, at Park Road Baptist Church (3900 Park Road) will bring together clergy for a conversation on building trust across the faith community. Several Xchange Sermons alumnae already have much to share.

The Rev. Tom Stinson-Wesley of Pineville United Methodist Church clearly crossed a divide when he preached to a largely African American congregation at C.N. Jenkins Memorial Presbyterian. But it was the similarities between the two church settings that struck him, not the differences, and the common challenges each face in reaching this often troubled world.

“I say this because we are both in a commercial, highly visible, neighborhood with lots of traffic all around us,” Stinson-Wesley says. “Both churches have a great history, a great past, and yet are not dwelling too much on that past to neglect the present and future. Mostly black, mostly white, what do these terms mean when we are all seeking to follow Christ and to be his disciples in a swiftly changing world? We have to seek out every chance to be together and work together and never let the world’s labels be our labels.”

The Rev. Dennis Williams of Faith Memorial Baptist Church has preached before at Grace Covenant Church in Cornelius and is scheduled to preach again there on March 21. Growing up in the black Baptist tradition in eastern North Carolina, Williams says he was moved by the depth of his welcome by the white congregation at Grace Covenant. It was the looks on their faces, he says, and the warmth in their worship.

“You could see the love,” Williams says.

The Rev. Al Cadenhead of Providence Baptist Church took away a deeply personal feeling of fulfillment from preaching at Masjid Ash-Shaheed (Mosque of the Witness). The Resident Imam there is Khalil Akbar, long an advocate for religious harmony in Charlotte.

“I assumed that I would be paired with someone from a dramatically different culture and have little in common with which to build a relationship,” Cadenhead says.  “My assumption was wrong. Instead, I was paired with Khalil, who was born in a county in Georgia not far from my home county. Khalil and I are exactly the same age, and we both have been married for the same number of years. On top of that, Khalil was converted to Islam from being a Baptist. I discovered not only someone with a mutual background, but have come out of this experience with a very good friend. I was reminded that most of us have far more in common than we have differences.”

Pastors appreciating the similarities in their houses of worship.

A Baptist preacher and a Resident Imam growing up in the same rural time and place.

It’s a start, says Maria Hanlin of Mecklenburg Ministries.

“I have been inspired by how many and how well the Xchange Sermon series has gone,” says Hanlin, executive director of the interfaith coalition which has been a driving force behind Xchange Sermons. “They have built many relationships across our community. However, we must do more than exchange pulpits once a year. True reconciliation means justice, equity, access – for all people. It means quality education for every child. We must be willing to wrestle together across our racial and ethnic differences with the serious issues that face our community – and that too often divide our community.”

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Ken Garfield, former religion editor of The Observer, is director of communications at Myers Park United Methodist Church. He often writes on faith and values for Charlotte magazine and other forums, and has been profiling clergy participating in the Xchange Sermons.

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