Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

By Mike Barnhardt
Enterprise Record

When there is injustice, God works through great people to get things done.
And in these times, great people are needed.
Speaking at the Davie NAACP’s the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. celebration Monday at Chinquapin Grove Missionary Baptist Church, Dr. Serenus T. Churn Sr. gave a brief history of the struggles of Blacks in the United States, from filthy confinement in the bottom of ships, to slavery to the ongoing struggle for freedom.
“When you think of them (enslaved people captured and brought here from Africa) … that in order to treat people like that, there had to be a myth that people of a darker hue were not really human beings.”
But they persevered. And people like Harriet Tubman, Nat Turner and Dred Scott – stood up for what was right.
“God always has a man for the game,” Churn said.
And then King came along.
“God said to Martin … I’ve got a job for you. God had to have somebody who could articulate to the intellects … to the Black people … so they could understand it. He needed somebody who could put it on a philosophical level. He needed somebody to tell the common man that ‘I am the way’ and if you follow me, you will have the light of life.”
At the time, Churn said, the United States was a segregated nation in a world predominately occupied by people of color.
“God found someone in Martin. He trained him and prepared him … and He used him,” Churn said. “If God is on your side, He will not let you stand alone.”
King was put in jail 29 times and “God went his bail.”
“Nothing would turn him around. I’m going to keep on walking up freedom’s way.”
King’s assassination was a conspiracy, Churn said.
“By this time, King would have been dead anyway. God didn’t want him to be forgotten. He wanted him to be remembered because the battle isn’t over. God let him seal his testimony with his blood. If you do what God tells you to do, your work, your deeds, will not be in vain.”
•
Organized by Priscilla Williams, the day started with a community choir, which despite very limited time to practice, had folks shouting and singing praise to God.
Host pastor, the Rev. Anthony Woodruff, welcomed guests. “We’re here because we have overcome and we continue to overcome. We’re here to celebrate (MLK). We’re here to shout and praise.”
The Rev. Peggy Weir of Chinquapin Grove offered a prayer. “We appreciate and honor the work you did … for justice and equality for all. Our life is not over, and Martin Luther King’s dreams are not a reality. We are still enslaved by ideologies. Therefore, we ask you to remove these shackles from our heads and minds.
“We remember your promise that justice will flow. Help us to answer the call, and know that prayer is just the beginning.”
The Rev. Coker Stewart is the Davie NAACP Branch president, and a former student of Dr. Churn.
“We’re here because we recognize that someone very special came our way,” Stewart said.
Others on the program included Brother Channon Campbell of Cedar Creek Baptist, who shared scripture; Minister Jennifer Stephenson of New Life Apostolic, who led a litany of remembrance; and Alice Brown, who encouraged folks to register to vote and join the NAACP.