FORT WORTH—With frequent allusions to the recent presidential election, worshippers at an African American Fellowship of Texas worship event celebrated changes in racial attitudes throughout the country as well as among Texas Baptist churches.
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Joseph Parker, pastor of David Chapel Missionary Baptist Church in Austin, preached at an African American Fellowship worship rally.
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“We are no longer in the good old days,” Joseph Parker, pastor of David Chapel Missionary Baptist Church in Austin, told the fellowship event, held at Greater St. Stephen First Baptist Church in Fort Worth prior to the Baptist General Convention of Texas annual meeting.
“We are in a new day, and God has presented us an opportunity to build and advance the kingdom of God,” said Parker, the first African-American to graduate from Baylor University’s Truett Theological Seminary.
Parker, using an illustration from Haggai 2, stressed co-operation will enable churches to use lessons from the past to create new opportunities today. Churches must communicate and support one another, excluding no one, he said.
“Walking alone, spiritually, can be deadly to our faith,” Parker said.
BGCT Executive Director Randel Everett agreed, saying the diversity among BGCT-affiliated churches encourages him.
“We need to figure out how to value who we’ve been in the past but find new, fresh, dynamic ways to reach people for Christ,” Everett said.
President John Ogletree said the African American Fellowship exists to provide specific community for African-American churches within the larger BGCT.
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