DALLAS - Church was in session outside the Dallas Police Department Headquarters Sunday afternoon.
The prayer service was a call to action.
“God has said Black Lives Matter and you can’t say all lives matter until you say Black Lives Matter,” Park Cities Baptist Church Senior Pastor Jeff Warren said. “You can love blue. You can love black, white, brown, everybody matters.”
Warren is teaming up with his friend, Pastor Bryan Carter of Concord Church, to tackle difficult conversations.
“It’s no doubt that we’re at a point of crisis, that we need to rethink policing,” Carter said. “Whether it’s criminal justice, whether it’s education, whether it’s business, whether it’s politics, we are dealing with systems and issues that need to be torn down.”
Carter’s congregation is mostly black, while Warren’s is mostly white.
The two feel that coming together can only strengthen their fight.
“Because it’s time for America to change,” said Edy Flippin, who attends Park Cities Baptist Church.
“Because we need someone to do it peacefully and we need to keep God at the forefront of everything we do because all of us have some type of love somewhere in our hearts,” said Robyn Gray, who attends Concord Church.
“We just want to be heard. We just want justice,” said Regina Lewis, who attends Concord Church.
“This is what the church is for. The church is supposed to do justice and stick up for the oppressed,” said Dylan Crawley, who attends Park Cities Baptist Church.
They feel the weight of social injustices.
“When we lost the black community, when we as a church lose them, then it’s like running a race with one leg. It’s like climbing a mountain with one hand and one arm,” Warren said. “We need to leverage our privilege and elevate these black voices and tell our black brothers and sisters, you know, we’re here for you.”
They feel that together, they can make enough noise to make change.
“We worship the same God, we just worship differently, so it’s refreshing,” Lewis said.