When Kevin Swann and Randy Shepley agreed to serve on a panel of community leaders discussing the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder, neither of them knew how God would use that Zoom meeting to bring them together around their common passion: racial reconciliation in the Church.

Kevin Swann is the Senior Pastor of Ivy Baptist Church, and Randy Shepley is the Senior Pastor of First Baptist Church, both of which are located in Newport News, VA. While both churches have different races represented in their membership, Ivy Baptist is a mostly Black congregation; First Baptist is predominantly white.

Though they’d never met each other before that Zoom call, both Kevin and Randy were intrigued by each other’s engaging comments during the panel discussion—so much so that they reached out to each other using the private chat feature during the conversation. They immediately made plans to have lunch together.

“That lunch was just a fantastic time,” Randy recalled, “We felt like we’d known each other forever.” They talked about everything from football to their families to racial issues facing the Church. “We just really connected, and we shared this idea about our two churches coming together in small groups and having real conversations about issues related to race, about racial justice, about what it means to be ones white and Black who love our neighbor.”

“At that lunch we really hit it off,” Kevin remembered, “and we understood that we had some similar passions and interests about race and racial reconciliation. I thought that was very refreshing.” He recalls Randy suggesting they bring their churches together, and “I was already in,” he said. “I’m glad our paths have crossed and that we’re doing this work. Let’s see what God is going to do with it.”

Kevin and Randy approached several leaders in their congregations to gauge interest and to learn whether they’d be willing to commit to participating in small groups together. Everyone they asked was interested and wanted to move forward with the idea. They used a curriculum called “Be the Bridge” and planned a seven-week course that took place online via Zoom meetings because of Covid-19 pandemic health considerations. At the group’s initial meeting, the facilitating leaders made sure to establish goals and expectations clearly, so all participants knew what they going to be doing. “We talked about what racial reconciliation is—defining it and what churches can do in helping to address this issue,” Kevin explained. “That was the first step, and the rest of it was us meeting in a small group on a weekly basis, relying on small group leaders to further facilitate discussion.”

The group was able to have one shared meal together, being careful of Covid protocols. “We’d have much preferred to do the whole thing in person,” Randy lamented, as he recalled the Zoom meetings, “And we’re going to do that someday. But one good thing about the way we did it was that we started each session together to introduce the theme, and then we split up into breakout sessions—with the same small groups each week, so people got to know each other—all led by two facilitators, one from Ivy Baptist and one from First Baptist. They went through the same questions together, and our charge to them was to have conversation and to tell their stories.”

And that’s exactly what they did. Conversations happened. People shared their personal stories about times when they’d experienced a racism moment or when they’d experienced prejudice. They talked about repentance, and according to Randy, “At times, we even got to some points where if we were honest, we talked of how we’d even participated as individuals—with our own prejudicial thinking.”

“The biggest thing—what Kevin and I wanted them to do,” recalled Randy, “was to talk to each other. Pray with each other. Learn how to connect with each other. And that’s what happened.”

Kevin further explained, “Many times, though we’d planned for 90 minutes, we got to 90 minutes and people said, ‘We need more time.’ We realized that we’d created the kind of atmosphere and environment where people could come together and really talk and share. It worked really well.”

“It was powerful,” commented Tonisha Darrell, a member of Ivy Baptist, who participated in the conversations. “Initially we just tried to build relationships, but then we talked further about awareness, and we acknowledged that Christ can bring about change through us. We were transparent, but we did it in love.”

She recalled, “I agreed to do this because I felt like I was living in a bubble, and I wanted to understand more about what was really going on. I’d never had any racial issues or dealt with prejudice myself,” she said. “This process helped me see how so many people don’t even understand what they don’t know.”

“And what you don’t know, you continue doing,” Tonisha explained further. “More conversations help people learn and then decide, Do I want to keep doing what I’m doing, or do I want to change?”

Walter Satchell has been a member of First Baptist since 1981, and he’s been the Associate Pastor of Pastoral Care there since 2006. Walter’s background afforded him yet another perspective as he participated in the conversations: he previously served as an auxiliary police officer for the city of Newport News for 11 years, and he has been a police chaplain there for the past nine years. “During that time, I could see a lot of prejudice between people of different races and different nationalities,” he recalled.  

When Randy, his pastor, asked Walter if he’d be willing to participate in the conversations with leaders at Ivy Baptist, Walter readily agreed. “I did this because of the opportunity for people to have honest conversation without judgment.” He described how he learned so much from people’s personal stories about how different things were for Black and white people in the past in his own city. He also said that “Hearing Christian friends in the Black church talking about the conversations they have with their children about what to do if stopped by a police officer, and hearing about profiling—as a Christian and a police officer, it made me angry. I’d not seen discrimination in my own family, so I just couldn’t understand why some people would treat others differently—just because their skin was of a different color.”

“The Church has got to speak up about these issues,” he added.

“The idea of racial reconciliation intrigued me,” remembered Rueben White, a member of Ivy Baptist. “I wanted to be a part of the dialogue we could create.” He said that while they had some very candid conversations about people’s personal experiences, they centered their conversations on how the Church could be the bridge—the example for the community—to bring about reconciliation. “For me it starts with dialogue—honest conversations—and then we can use biblical examples of what Christ did to reconcile. We have to be willing to have some of those tough conversations.”

Rueben said what was most eye opening to him was the openness of the people in his group. “They were open to hearing stories I had as an African-American man who’s former military. I was able to be my true self and share life from my point of view, and they were willing to receive that. I was glad to be transparent and open and not receive any judgment. It was truly an awesome experience.”

Kevin and Randy felt it was important to begin these conversations and experiences with leadership from their congregations—both lay and staff leaders—knowing that if it worked well among leadership, it would trickle down and touch all parts of both congregations. They discovered that it was yet another touchpoint between the participants when they talked about similar roles they have in their congregations—sharing the similarities and differences in what it's like to be a deacon, teacher, or other leader in their respective churches. The two pastors hope to offer more of these small group experiences in the future to continue these important conversations and to connect more people, especially once it’s feasible to meet together in person. As individuals and as pastors, their personal friendship continues to grow.

“I think we’ve developed a partnership between the two churches,” concluded Rueben White. “I’d like for our two churches—who don’t appear that they should be coming together—to consider, ‘How can we be an example for others? How can we bridge the gap?’ Maybe others in the community will see what we’re doing and say, If churches can do it, why can’t we?”

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