“Now is the time” to proclaim a gospel that sets people free, activist and theologian Traci D. Blackmon told participants at the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship’s Dr. Emmanuel McCall Racial Justice Trailblazer luncheon June 25 in St. Louis.
The annual event honors McCall, a Baptist leader who has devoted most of his life to seeking racial justice. It is sponsored by CBF’s Pan African Koinonia.
During the luncheon, CBF presented its Dr. Emmanuel McCall Racial Justice Trailblazer Awards to Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas, and to Fellowship Southwest.
“In this day and age, annihilation is the way of the world, but reconciliation is the way of God,” Blackmon said, launching a fiery sermon that called the Fellowship to participate in a larger movement of reconciliation.
“Annihilation is the way of the world, but reconciliation is the way of God.”
Blackmon is the founder of Hope Builds in St. Louis, theologian-in-residence at Eden Theological Seminary and chaplain of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority’s central region.
‘You know what time it is’
She preached from the 13th chapter of the Book of Romans, where the Apostle Paul writes, “You know what time it is. How it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep, for salvation is nearer to us.”
“We are not gathering in a routine time,” Blackmon said. “An unhealed past is why we find ourselves mired in an uncertain and unstable present. And yet we are not without hope.”
Blackmon confessed she struggled to preach from a passage in which Paul tells the church to “be subject to the governing authorities.”
Rather than merely instructing Christians of his day to go along with the oppressive Roman government, Paul was telling them to “do what is necessary to survive,” she insisted, noting that admonition remains wise.
“I understand this intimately, as I am the mother of two Black young men,” she reported. “And I still remember sitting them down at the age of 16 with their father to have what we in Black communities call ‘the talk.’ I remember having to tell these Black boys that I raised to be strong and independent and thinkers of their own mind and not bend down, but be respectful. I now have to sit them down and talk to them about doing whatever you have to do to get home alive.
“I didn’t do that because government was right. I didn’t do that because law enforcement was right. I did that because I wanted my children to live to see another day.”
Similarly, Paul tells the church to do what is necessary to keep on fulfilling its mission, she said. And Paul says the church must understand the times — to know what time it is.
“We know what time it is,” Blackmon insisted. She cited a litany of woes that mark the time — when “babies are buried before they have a chance to bloom,” systems squelch thriving, masses of people disappear without due process, misogynistic laws keep men in power, and Black votes are being suppressed while Black bodies are being surveilled.
“We know none of this is God’s doing,” she said.
‘Put on the armor of light’
But knowing about injustice is not enough, she added. “God is asking the church to be shaken awake and lose all those things that are keeping us bound and separate from one another. Now is the time to put on ‘the armor of light.’ … The armor is so that we can stand up straight. It is to protect our witness in a world that is addicted to power, without love. We don’t need armor to hide. We need armor to stay. …
“If your theology doesn’t make you do something, it’s not the gospel.”
“And let me say this plainly: I didn’t come this morning to play with the enemy. If your theology doesn’t make you do something, it’s not the gospel. If your Jesus only saved your soul and not your neighborhood, that ain’t the gospel. If your faith keeps you comfortable while others are crucified by systems, you need to read the book again. It is time to repent and reimagine what following Christ really means.”
Blackmon called for the church to “rise again” to take on spiritual warfare.
“If it’s political warfare, the goal is to eliminate the enemy. But in spiritual warfare, the goal is to make the enemy a friend,” she explained. “Our goal is not to lose anybody. Our goal is to reconcile, to reunite, to help offer redemption and repentance.
“We are fighting despair. We are fighting disinformation. We are fighting a death-dealing theology that masquerades as righteousness while it crushes the enemy. But we are not without power.
“Now is the time, church, to remember who we are. Now is the time to rise in sacred resistance. Now is the time to declare the boldness that the night is far gone and the day is near.”
Blackmon called on the Fellowship to work with a sense of urgency.
“Patience is a luxury of privilege.”
“Patience is a luxury of privilege,” she declared. “We can’t afford to wait. We can’t afford to see what’s going to happen next. We have to act on what we know is true about the God we serve. It is impossible to wait patiently while struggling to breathe.
“Don’t wait for another election to get involved. Don’t wait for another tragedy before you speak up. Don’t wait for permission to be who God has called you to be. Now is the time to build coalitions. … Now is the time to preach justice.”
Offering hope, Blackmon insisted, “Another world is possible.”
“We are family. We are not scattered, we are set. We are not powerless, we are prophetic,” she said. “And now is the time for us to stand together, to rise together. Let me be clear: The world is on fire; democracy is being dismantled. …
“Don’t wait for another sign. Don’t wait for another miracle. You are the miracle. … Now is the time to preach, to protest, to plant, to prophesy, to live a gospel that sets people free, and to do so together across nation, across cultures, across oceans, as one people, one power.”
“We don’t need just a revival in the church. We need a revolution in the world,” she stressed. “Now is the time, and we are the ones.”
CBF Executive Coordinator Paul Baxley poses with Broadway members Ryon Price, Mattie Compton and David Grebel, along with Lynn Brinkley (CBF photo)
Broadway honored
The McCall Racial Justice Trailblazer Award recognizes churches, organizations and individuals for battling inequality and injustice while working for equity, opportunity and positive outcomes for all people.
Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth began its racial justice ministry in 2020 as a response to the murder of George Floyd. It launched the ACT Council — an acronym for acknowledge, confess and transform — to recognize and respond to the church’s own history of racism. Its goal is not only to seek reconciliation but also to make reparations for wrongs.
Broadway has formed a justice committee to carry out the work, advocating not only within the church but in the community. It has investigated unexplained deaths of Black inmates in the Tarrant County Jail. And Pastor Ryon Price has spoken at civic and government meetings regarding racism.
Heeding its own advice, Broadway honored John Thomas, a Black caretaker of the church from 1924 to 1959. Even though he was beloved by the congregation and was the second Black man in Fort Worth to have his funeral in a predominantly white church, he never was allowed to worship with them in the sanctuary but sat in the baptistery. The church commissioned a painting of him — placing him in the sanctuary during worship — to honor his memory and to attempt to atone for its racism.
“It is very important for historically white churches to tell the truth about our history of white supremacy and racism,” Price said at the luncheon. “Our hand is still on the plow, and we are not turning back. We’re going to keep on walking, keep on talking and keep on marching together to freedom land. Broadway promises that. May you promise it as well.”
Fellowship Southwest staff with their award: Lori Gooden, Cintia Aguilar, Anyra Cano, Zion Williams, Stephen Reeves, Cameron Vickrey (CBF photo)
Fellowship Southwest honored
Fellowship Southwest is an ecumenical organization launched by and affiliated with CBF. It works with and on behalf of vulnerable people across Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Southern California, Texas and the borderlands of Mexico.
Fellowship Southwest began in 2017 and immediately started supporting communities — many of them composed predominantly of minority groups — devastated by Hurricane Harvey.
In 2018, Fellowship Southwest launched ministries to help pastors and churches that were feeding, sheltering and protecting migrants who flooded the U.S.-Mexico border. Its ongoing work emphasizes ministries for immigrants, native peoples and racial justice.
Executive Director Stephen Reeves expressed gratitude to receive the McCall Award alongside Broadway, “one of our strongest and most active Fellowship Southwest churches.”
“Racial justice is absolutely at the heart of what Fellowship Southwest is all about,” Reeves said. “I want to encourage you to keep showing up. It is so important to build trust, build relationships and keep showing up in communities that are marginalized and, too often, ignored. And show up for advocacy and justice work.”