1. NEWS
Scott Olson / Getty
A Sanford prayer vigil, days after George Zimmerman was acquitted.
Can Sanford Pastors' Success Work in Other Cities?
Why George Zimmerman’s acquittal in the Trayvon Martin case created racial
havoc across America—but not at the trial’s epicenter.

2. Angela G. King/ AUGUST 22, 2013
diverse group of 40 pastors gathered in a Detroit hotel today to
hear a remarkable tale: how the pastors of Sanford, Florida, spared
their city from the racially charged protests that erupted nationwide
last month after a jury acquitted George Zimmerman of murdering Trayvon
Martin.
A
Sanford could have understandably been the epicenter of outrage over the
controversial July verdict, which inspired significant protests—some marred
by vandalism and violence—from New York to Los Angeles. Instead, this
commuter suburb of Orlando weathered the aftermath so successfully that its
pastors are now on a mission to spread the progress they've made toward
calm and reconciliation to urban centers nationwide.
Already on the list after Detroit: Toledo, Charlotte, New York, Denver, and
Minneapolis.
"The timing is absolutely right for this. There is no question about it," said
Derrick Gay, pastor of Sanford's Dominion International Church and an
organizer of the tour. "We as the church have been given, according to 2
Corinthians 5, the ministry of reconciliation. There's no other institution on
earth that has been given this authority—not the government, not the banks,
not the education system that we have."
The collaboration, in which pastors across racial, ethnic, and denominational
lines meet to eat, pray, and candidly air racial concerns, is even more notable
in a city with the historical distinction of being where Jackie Robinson was
ousted from minor-league baseball training in 1946.
Leading the charge is Sanford Pastors Connecting (SPC), the interracial,
cross-denominational group first organized by the United States Department

3. of Justice (DOJ) to help the city of Sanford navigate fallout from the shooting
death of unarmed, 17-year-old Martin there in February 2012.
The Department of Justice sent veteran mediator Thomas Battles to Sanford
to help keep the peace after Martin's death. He, in turn, organized pastors to
form SPC. The pastors were given four reserved seats daily in the local
courtroom during Zimmerman's trial. The pastors rotated through to witness
the proceedings firsthand and to relay what was going on to courthouse
crowds and to their own congregations.
SPC pastors agreed to support the jury's verdict, whatever it was, and keep
the peace afterward. When the jury acquitted Zimmerman of second-degree
murder and manslaughter charges, it seemed it might be a problematic
promise to keep.
But solidarity and prayers played a big part in diffusing any violence that
might have broken out in Sanford, either during the initial unrest over
Martin's death or when Zimmerman was ultimately acquitted, said Joel
Hunter, a SPC member perhaps best known as one of President Barack
Obama's spiritual advisors.
"We had already built up a very solid core of people who were committed to
not just reacting to a verdict, but sifting through how we could improve the
community because of this," said Hunter. His congregation, Northland: A
Church Distributed, near Sanford is predominantly white, and is the largest
evangelical church in central Florida.
Hunter said that sitting together through the somber, racially charged
Zimmerman trial ironically helped to bridge some of the long-entrenched
disconnect between Sanford's black and white clergy.

4. Positioned side by side, chatting before and after court proceedings, and
having lunch together during breaks "has built a much closer relationship
between many of the African-American pastors and Anglo pastors," said
Hunter. "You can say talk is cheap. But when you go through something like
this and you have an ongoing dialogue, the closeness of relationships that
happens is really remarkable."
Despite their different races, genders, and religious backgrounds, 30 to 40
clergy have continued to meet monthly for breakfast at Sanford's Cracker
Barrel restaurant since the start of the trial. That's no small feat, given that
getting any group of pastors to work together can be "like herding cats," said
Jeffrey Krall. The Assemblies of God pastor chairs SPC alongside pastor
Valarie Houston, whose Allen Chapel AME Church is regarded as "Ground
Zero" for the public outcry over Martin's death.
Krall, lead pastor of Sanford's mostly white Family Worship Center, said the
seeds for this momentum were actually sown 22 years ago.
"It's always been racially divided down here," said Krall of his city's 55,000
residents. (Today, 30 percent are African American, 20 percent are Hispanic,
3 percent are Asian, and the rest are white.) In response, he launched the
Sanford Ministers Fellowship in 1991. Though the group has been working to
cultivate reconciliation in Sanford a lot longer—and is just as steadfast in
praying and interceding toward that end—Krall conceded the fellowship
never became as large, high-profile, or diverse as SPC has become over the
past year.
"I actually feel like Thomas Battles used his leverage to accomplish what I
have been trying to do for more than 20 years," Krall said of the DOJ
regional director, who is African American. "I'm rejoicing that he got
involved. There's just a great humility and fear of God on everybody."

5. "That doesn't mean that the issues have all gone away. We have a lot of work
cut out for us," said Charles Holt, rector of St. Peter's Episcopal Church and
School in neighboring Lake Mary. "But what's changed in Sanford is the
communication taking place [between] various churches across the spectrum,
and between the church and the community. That's a huge step in the right
direction."
Another local Christian leader who has been very ambitious in mobilizing
pastors to seek racial reconciliation is Steve Strang, founder and CEO of
Charisma Media. From his headquarters in Lake Mary, a city barely more
than 2 miles from where Martin died last year, Strang has rallied Sanford-
area pastors to hold special prayer meetings and forums in the wake of the
shooting.
Last year, his company produced Sanford: The Untold Story, a documentary
of Sanford-area church leaders speaking out on race relations. In July, Strang
brought together 30 faith leaders from around the country to publicly issue a
covenant of racial reconciliation. Called The Sanford Declaration, the July 31
announcement at Charisma Media served as a prelude to the National
Reconciliation and Relationship Initiative now being mapped out.
"We invited some pastors from different cities that actually came on their
own dime to see what's happening in Sanford," said Gay, who is African
American. Attendees included Promise Keepers president Raleigh
Washington and such megachurch leaders as Touré Roberts of One Church
International in Los Angeles, Dale Bronner of Word of Faith Family Worship
Cathedral in greater Atlanta, and Harry Jackson of Hope Christian Church in
suburban Washington, D.C. The plan is now for Sanford pastors to visit these
urban centers with their message. The first stop: Gay keynoted Promise
Keepers' Reviving Detroit Summit today at the struggling city's iconic Hotel
St. Regis.

6. A former star football player at Florida A&M University, Gay has become
key among Sanford ministers in pushing for racial reconciliation. In
November 2011, he moved his multicultural, nondenominational
congregation to the Sanford area from Altamonte Springs.
"It was a tough decision because in the transition, we probably lost a third of
our church," said Gay. "However ... as a 34-year-old, for the first time in
ministry, I feel like I'm in the right place and God has ordered this thing. ...
When everything began to jump off, I really felt strongly that this city needed
someone who was not from this city, and could identify with the people there,
particularly the young people."
Despite the enthusiasm SPC pastors have for their undertaking, some counter
that there's still a long way to go to forge any kind of lasting, substantive
advances in race relations in Sanford, let alone nationwide.
There are still "layers and layers of issues" that need to be addressed, said
Bridget Watson. Involved with SPC when it first got off the ground but no
longer, she and her husband lead Dunamis Community and Outreach
Ministries, a small multiracial church near Sanford.
"I have a 17-year-old son and a 14-year-old son, both who are excellent
students and very mannerly," said Watson. "We have to teach them to never
appear in such a way as to [seem] threatening. I know my white friends don't
have to worry about that."
Parris Baker is not a minister, but the charismatic Northland attendee was
invited to work with SPC at its onset. However, the 25-year-old African
American said he eventually cut ties with the group, frustrated by their steady
calls for meetings about reconciliation, healing, and prayer.

7. "While I appreciated those efforts, they were inadequate," said Baker, a
Sanford actor and rap artist who is studying to become a teacher. "As a young
man, I am painfully aware of how young people, by and large, are
unchurched. Conscious of how deeply I and other young people were
affected by Trayvonʼs killing, I knew we needed to be reached, but it could
not be accomplished through church or youth conferences."
But SPC wants to go beyond Cracker Barrel meals. After Zimmerman's
acquittal, they started prayer meetings at the Sanford police station and issued
a joint proclamation for peace. Next they hope to launch a Swap-A-Pulpit
Sunday, a monthly youth worship service, and develop sports programs and
other after-school activities so that Sanford youth and law enforcement can
interact.
Meanwhile, other faith-based groups are also trying to unite the community.
Examples include the Love Sanford Project, headed by community activist
Paul Benjamin Sr., and a youth mentoring project for inner-city youth that
Benjamin's Central Florida Dream Center is developing with St. Peter's.
Krall says he's finally witnessing the manifestation of a breakthrough he got
wind of decades years ago. "I was on a fast when the Lord [revealed to] me
that he wanted to do something very, very significant in the city of Sanford,"
he said. The experience led him to create the older Sanford fellowship.
"People would actually fly into our little airport to see what God was doing
here." He thinks the cooperation could offer a glimpse of heaven a la
Revelation 7:9-10, with "a great multitude, which no man could number, of
all nations and kindreds and people" praising Jesus.

8. Gay admits that visions differ a bit between members, just as they differ in
other areas. "In all honesty, we may [still] be divided on what we feel justice
should be in this situation," he said. "But we're not going to allow this thing
to have a negative impact on this city.
"Our feelings were put on the back burner for the sake of this community," he
said. "This is the way that we believe Christ would operate, and we've seen
tremendous things happen. It is essential for us to now move forward."
TAGS:
Ecumenicism / Florida / Pastors / Racism / Reconciliation
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