This past Monday on January 19, 2025, a remarkable community worship service was held at First Baptist Church of Elkin, North Carolina. During the 80 minute service, pastors, priests, and lay leaders from multiple church congregations around and outside of Elkin participated, sharing their experiences and perspectives, as well as leading different sections of the worship service. This service both remembered and celebrated the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and was the result of a five year, ongoing partnership between pastors and church congregations in Elkin called, “CommUNITY Connections,” led by Rev. Rebecca Husband Maynard.
Instead of a sermon, the service showcased two oral history and digital storytelling projects created by Erin Johnson, a staff member at First Baptist Elkin. Erin worked closely with the pastors and congregational leaders of the churches represented in the “Community Connections” group. The short video documentaries were shown in their entirety during the worship service.
The first video, Sit in at Elkin High School: 1974, features an interview with Wallace “Wally” Hairston. Many long-time members of the Elkin community do not know the story of this event in 1974 which followed tumultuous events in the 1960s and early 1970s in the United States with the Civil Rights Movement.
The second video, Feed the Elderly: Remembering Ruby T Bryan of Elkin, North Carolina, shares the backstory to the ongoing ecumenical ministry in Elkin, “Feed the Elderly,” which continues to serve thousands of meals to area residents each year. It was started by Ruby Bryan, an African-American citizen of Elkin, in her home, and grew into an ongoing, multi-church, community-wide service project.
The byline of “CommUNITY Connections” in Elkin is, “Dismantling Racism. One Relationship At A Time.” Both of these videos demonstrate the powerful ways “digital stories” and “digital storytelling” can be used to promote racial reconciliation and racial healing. This story from the Elkin community is much more than just a tale of shared videography, however. The five years of meetings, collaboration, trust and relationship building which the “CommUNITY Connections” group has experienced are the real key.
What an inspiring story and example of building authentic community across racial, demographic, denominational, and historic boundaries this is! I encourage you to watch the entire 80 minute worship service. It is still rare (unfortunately) in the United States of America to have church services whose participants and leaders well represent their diverse communities. This service on January 19, 2025, in Elkin, North Carolina did, however. They are an inspiration and a light of hope for us all.
If you need / want to watch shorter clips of the full service, check out the presentations by Erin Johnson (at 20:10) and Rebecca Husband Maynard (at 36:40) to learn more background.
You can find these two videos on the “Racial Healing” examples page of Storychasers.org. Let us both hope and work for days in the future when more oral histories and digital stories like these can be co-created and shared in our communities to promote understanding and racial healing.
Building community together in authentic ways. It’s a tangible and important way that we CAN “heal our culture.”
Let’s get to work!
Thank you to the leaders of “CommUNITY Connections” in Elkin and everyone who made that January 19th worship service as well as these video projects possible. You have moved and inspired us.
That work of HOPE is very important today, indeed.
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