(The Dallas Examiner) – The Dallas Project Church hosted a special Wednesday night worship service Feb. 26, featuring Rev. Dr. Al Sharpton as the guest speaker as part of its month-long Black History Month celebration. Myron Butler, assistant pastor for Worship Ministry, led the praise and worship portion of service, which concluded with the congregation singing the Black National Anthem, Lift Every Voice and Sing.
Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price, District 3, was in attendance and addressed the congregation with the scripture Matthew 16:18 – “And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.” Using a play on words, Price pretended to mistakenly say “Washington” instead of Hades, referring to the erratic new administration in our nation’s capital. He then offered a word of comfort for those who may worry about what is to come in the next four years.
“We’ve seen these times before. The Bible says that there were 38 kings and only eight of them were good,” Price said, before challenging Dr. Carlton Byrd, senior pastor of The Dallas Project Church, not to forget about the communities outside of the church building, as is the church’s mission, according to Matthew 28:19.
Byrd later elaborated on the mission.
“The Dallas Project is to be more than just these four walls,” he said. “The ministry of this church is to go beyond the four walls, beyond Dallas, to reach and help people, and that people might see a Savior.
“This is more just Black History; oh let’s package church on Wednesday night, Dr. Sharpton’s going to be with us. But we’ve got some serious issues in our nation at this time. And on Friday, I’m hoping the good doctor will share with us on Friday what we’re going to do in terms of our economic power … We know that any movement that goes anywhere in our community begins in the Black church. So, tonight we are here to begin that movement and get our marching orders from our God through his manservant.”
The students of Southwest Adventist Junior Academy performed a recitation from a compilation of poems and essays titled Hey Black Child by Useni Eugene Perkins. The performance included the schools’ primary students, then a more complicated presentation from the older students. Musical selections were performed by The Dallas Project Mass Choir and Concord Baptist Church choir, who were dressed in the African flag colors of red, green, yellow and black.
Sharpton, renowned civil rights activist and founder of the National Action Network, then took to the pulpit to give the message of the evening. Much like Price, the subject of Sharpton’s message focused on the new administration in Washington, D.C. Sharpton warned that not only Black people, but all people are living in dangerous times.
“Anytime you got a man never elected to nothing, vetted for nothing, only because he’s rich, can stand up in the president’s office and his child tell the president to ‘Shut up,’” Sharpton said, referring to billionaire Elon Musk and the decision-making role that he appears to have taken on in the Oval Office.
Sharpton then addressed the congregation with encouraging words for those apprehensive about surviving another four years under a Trump presidency.
“We don’t know where we are. We don’t know what’s going on. But what I do know is if we find out who we are and where we came from and how we got there, then we can make it through,” he said.
Many churches have invited Sharpton to be a guest speaker, he said, under the condition that he not include politics in his sermon.
“Ok, that’s fine. Just tell me which Bible you want me to preach from,” Sharpton said of his response to these requests.
He then went on to give examples of politics in the Bible. The exodus of Moses and the Israelites from slavery was a Civil Rights Movement. David and Solomon being appointed as kings were political movements. Jesus was crucified for causing an uproar amongst citizens.
“If you take all of the movements out of the Bible, you won’t have anything left,” Sharpton continued.
His message then turned to the slave trade, which most Africans did not survive. He mentioned looking down at the ocean during his transatlantic flights to Europe or Africa and envisioning the many whose final resting place was in those waters. Others’ lifeless bodies remained alongside the survivors until reaching land.
“Only the strongest Africans made it here. We are the children of the strongest Africans that ever lived. In our veins runs the blood of strong people that took what no other human beings had to take in history,” Sharpton said.
Black churches were the foundation of our communities. Powerful organizations and movements began in the fellowship halls and basements of our churches.
“The rock that our freedom was built on was the Black church. All we could do was congregate. Our colleges, our fraternities, our businesses, everything Black folks started having, started in the Black church,” Sharpton said.
He went on to speak about those who have forgotten the Black church and where they’ve come from. In Exodus 12, the Egyptians were refusing to set the Israelite slaves free. Because of this, God sent the angel of death to kill the firstborn of any family that did not have the blood of a lamb on their front door. Sharpton preached that those in positions of power, particularly in Dallas, are in position because the “angel of death” passed over them after their predecessors marched and fought and put their blood on their doorposts.
“It’s the blood of Dr. King. It’s the blood of Medgar Evers. It’s the blood of those four girls in Birmingham that was on the doorpost that spared you to go where you went. Civil rights may not have written your resume, but civil rights made somebody read your resume,” Sharpton preached.
The Dallas Project is a member church of the Southwest Region Conference of Seventh-day Adventists and has made its home in the legacy sanctuary of the Inspiring Body of Christ Church located at 7710 S. Westmoreland Road. To learn more about the community events, visit https://www.thedallasproject.org.