People came together in Gloucester and Mathews over the weekend to celebrate Black History Month.

A program in Mathews on Sunday afternoon highlighted the importance of active faith in the Black community, while a program in Gloucester on Monday reinforced the importance of strong family and community ties.

In Mathews

“Faith in Action,” a program sponsored by the Mathews Chapter of the NAACP and held at the Cobbs Creek Arts Center on Sunday, brought together seven local pastors for a conversation moderated by Pastor William Spencer of First Baptist Church Morrison in Newport News.

Spencer challenged the local pastors with a number of questions, including asking first what impact they’re having on the community.

“If your church burned down tomorrow,” he said, “would people even realize it?”

The Rev. Isaiah Smith of First Baptist Church said that “God requires us all to be the hands and feet of Christ and our mission is to save everybody. To do that, our hearts have to be right.” He said that pastors have to honor God in their everyday life and can’t be impactful if they don’t know how to relate. “If God can operate outside the church, we should be able to operate outside the church,” he said. “It’s as simple as loving everybody without limitation.”

Spencer said that before there was a Civil Rights movement, there was a church movement, and he asked the pastors what their predecessors understood that “we must not forget.”

Pastor Eric Robinson of Ebenezer Baptist spoke of a time when, if someone needed a quilt, “all the ladies in the neighborhood would come together and sew a quilt” and if a structure was needed “all the men would come together and build.”

Pastor Kevin Smith of Wayland Baptist said that people used to come together to have “real prayer meetings” and that “when they prayed, good things happened.” He said there is power in coming together, holding hands, and praying.

Pastor Angie Hoen of Mathews Chapel United Methodist Church said that people are isolating themselves with social media, but they need to get back into making better choices about how they stay busy, including reading scripture and coming together communally. “Powerful things happen when you start activating the Holy Spirit,” she said. “We need to turn off the television, go back to meditation and fill up with the word of God.”

In response to a question about where the disconnect between the church and the community happened, Pastor John Winston Redmond of Emmaus Baptist said that God had become entertainment in many places, and that pastors are sometimes chosen because they’re popular, not because they know the word of God. People have gotten away from God’s word, he said, but if the pastor leads the congregation, “you’ll get out of the pew and go someplace and help somebody.”

Spencer asked whether the church should still speak prophetically and address social issues, and the Rev. Vernon L. Woodard of Zion Baptist said that Christians today are afraid to push issues and tell their stories. The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. said that injustice anywhere is injustice everywhere, said Woodard, adding that preachers today need to “move from being comfortable to saying what’s happening in our community.”

Spencer asked where the church needs to show up in today’s world, and the Rev. Sean Cummings of Antioch Baptist Church pointed out the importance of ministering to young adults. “We have to encourage them to believe in themselves … to be somebody,” he said. “We need to get them to be involved in doing service, and we’ve got to stop hiding who we are.”

While the pastors’ answers to the questions were diverse and wide-ranging, they all made it clear that they were devoted to their congregations, eager to make an impact, and determined to embody their faith and serve God.
Edith Turner, president of the Mathews Chapter of the NAACP, gave introductory and closing remarks, and music was provided by pianist Wykeyda Brown and trumpeter Bunny Blake.

Gloucester

“Nothing New Under the Sun,” a program of stories and music presented by the Woodville Rosenwald School Foundation, was held on Monday at the T.C. Walker Education Center in Gloucester.

The guest speaker was storyteller Regina Jo Ellis Stuart, who brought family members with her to engage in a conversation about family and community.

Introducing herself as the fourth child of her parents, Florence and Werner Ellis, Stuart said she was raised on a hill overlooking the York River and was educated in Gloucester County Public Schools. She said that just introducing herself as Regina Stuart from Gloucester isn’t enough to tell who she really is.

Stuart said she cherishes the memories of being in a family of eight, of having loving parents, and of living in a neighborhood where the neighbors cared about each other. She named a list of teachers and community members who encouraged and supported her, and said that, after leaving Gloucester years ago and traveling various places, she discovered that “someone, somewhere was providing an experience much like ours. So, I came to understand that there is nothing new under the sun.”

Stuart and her husband John returned to Gloucester in 2020, she said, and became housemates with her brother, Pastor Anthony Ellis, and his wife, Minister Jakelynn Ellis. The four of them take turns preparing meals, she said, and she invited the audience to sit down at the table with them and experience “the love we share.”

After they sat down, the stories began. Regina told about learning to drive Anthony’s brand-new red Galaxy with a manual transmission and about sharing 47 years of marriage and seven children with John.

Jakelynn talked about being the first licensed minister in a family of men and women who worked with their hands, of being a spiritual adviser, and of how through it all she was “standing on the shoulders” of ancestors who were women of prayer.

John recalled being the first black person in a class of 300 at Robert E. Lee High School in Staunton. He said he was class president in grades 10 through 12 and “had the opportunity to cross the stage for graduation.”

“It was a big thing,” he said. “Fortunately, I’ve been blessed with the blessings of God.”

Regina said her most memorable year in high school was her junior year, 50 years ago, when her mother received a call from then-Delegate Harvey Morgan saying that Regina had been chosen to be the Snow Queen in the Christmas Parade. She expressed disbelief that a black girl could be chosen as Snow Queen, but it proved to be true. She said her mother made her a white velvet dress with a red sash to wear in the parade and she wore her hair in an Afro. She recalled sitting by herself in one convertible while a court of all white girls followed behind in a second convertible.

“It was a wonderful experience,” she said. “We need to remember it is okay to elevate people in the black community. It will not divide us.”

Anthony Ellis recalled being the first student to integrate a Gloucester school. He began first grade in 1964, attending Abingdon Elementary with Mrs. Shackelford for a teacher, and went through all 12 grades in Gloucester Public Schools. He said he had been told that Gloucester wasn’t integrated until 1965, but he said that was the high school and that elementary grades started a year earlier.

“It’s important for us to hold on to who we are, where we’ve come from, and what we’ve done, and share it with our children,” said Anthony. “Share the stories. Record them so they’re not wiped out of history and we know from whence we’ve come and how God has blessed us.”

Music was an important part of the program, with the Gloucester High School Choir flawlessly performing a contemporary African song in its original language and the traditional hymn “Hear My Prayer” under the direction of GHS music teacher Steven Martinez and the Descendants Community Chorus singing several hymns under the direction of Lenora Diggs.

Opening and closing remarks were provided by Rev. E. Randolph Graham, president of the Woodville Rosenwald School Foundation.