Texas ministers work for reconciliation The Presbyterian Layman Volume 32, Number 5 Posted November 11, 1999 A reconciliation movement is spreading across parts of Texas in the aftermath of the brutal murder of James Byrd Jr., who was beaten by white supremacists and dragged behind a truck. The central figure in the reconciliation movement is Charles Burchett, a white Baptist pastor, who has preached on forgiveness/repentance themes and has opened doors to reconciliation between blacks and whites. Burchett, 50, faced his toughest test shortly after Byrd’s murder. He spoke at a NAACP forum on justice which was attended by a large number of angry black residents. Many walked out when he began to speak, but more remained when he began confessing sins that whites had committed against blacks. The meeting wound down with a throng of weeping blacks gathered on their knees around a repentant and sobbing Burchett. A Presbyterian minister, Bill Benner of First Presbyterian Church in Greenville, has also been involved in the reconciliation movement, both with Burchett and through Benner’s ongoing work through the Clean Greenville program. With Benner’s support, Burchett spoke at a meeting of the NAACP in the Greenville Civic Center and apologized for a racist sign that for years welcomed people to Greenville “where we have the blackest dirt and the whitest people.” Although the sign was removed a few years ago, Benner said, it has continued to cause bad feelings. Benner, a retired Navy chaplain who has been at the 200-member First Presbyterian Church for four years, said Burchette’s Biblically based, Christ-focused message of reconciliation has had a powerful effect throughout Texas and even nationally. Benner and members of his congregation are active in Clean Greenville, a ministry in the predominantly black area of the town. On a recent Saturday, for instance, with the help of numerous volunteers, they painted nine homes occupied by elderly blacks. Benner and other ministers, black and white, also helped raise money and support for rebuilding two black churches that were destroyed by fires caused by an angry young black man. Some people’s hearts have changed in East Texas, Burchett said. Jasper’s First Baptist Church, which never had a black member, “wholeheartedly received” a 20-year-old black man for baptism and church membership in January, he said. The wrought-iron fence that had divided the Jasper Cemetery into black and white sections was pulled down and hauled away three days later as a crowd of white and black civic leaders and citizens held hands in prayer.

Respond to this article

Home · News · PLC Publications · The Presbyterian Layman Online Reviews · Archives · History of the Lay Committee · Feedback · Links