The Twin City Area Ministerial Alliance and other local groups are teaming up to present a series of panel discussions regarding race relations and cultural diversity in Jefferson County, with the first half-hour session to debut at 6 p.m. Sunday evening (June 21).
The four-part discussion series, titled “New Answers for a New Day,” is open to the public and may be viewed on the Twin City Area Ministerial Alliance’s Facebook page.
The Cultural Diversity Committee and the Giving Something Back to the Community (GSBTTC) organization, which also are based in southern Jefferson County, are helping with the project.
Three other discussions will be held on subsequent Sundays – June 28, July 12 and July 19, all starting at 6 p.m. Each session covers a different topic.
The first topic, on Sunday, is “Growing Up Black in Jefferson County.” Other topics include “Perspectives on the Overall Racial Climate of Jefferson County” on June 28; “Policing in Jefferson County” on July 12; and “Race and the Church” on July 19.
The sessions will include a host – a local pastor representing the Ministerial Alliance – as well as a moderator and panelists. The sessions will be pre-recorded, but during the initial presentation of each one on Facebook, live, online chats will be held, allowing the public to comment and ask questions.
“If you watch them during their debuts, members of the Ministerial Alliance, Giving Something Back to the Community and the Cultural Diversity Committee will be available to participate in the online discussions. Some of their leaders are serving as panelists or moderators,” said the Rev. Leslie Limbaugh, pastor of Selma American Baptist Church south of Festus and past president of the Ministerial Alliance.
After the initial presentations, the sessions will remain available for viewing on the Ministerial Alliance’s Facebook page.
Limbaugh said the sessions are being held to provide a forum for discussion about the racial tensions in the country.
“The Twin City Ministerial Alliance is a group of pastors who get together. We were very concerned about unrest in our country,” she said. “We are a mixed-race group. We wanted to see what we could do as pastors to facilitate discussion. A small group put their heads together and came up with a series of panel discussions.”
Alvin Riney of GSBTTC and Jim Sparling of the Cultural Diversity Committee will serve as the moderators, Limbaugh said.
“The guests (panelists) are members of the community. They are people from the community who we feel have something to say or there’s something we can learn from them.”
For example, Levi Terrell and Sara Cordray, who will be panelists for the June 21 installment, will share their insights as young, black adults who grew up in Jefferson County, Limbaugh said.
Sharon Riney of GSBTTC and Ken Waller, the Jefferson County Clerk who previously served as county executive, will be panelists for the June 28 session.
Limbaugh said panelists for the other sessions are still being confirmed.
She said there are no plans for the sessions to continue beyond the fourth one.
For more information, contact Limbaugh at Selma American Baptist Church at 636-937-6515 or visit the Twin City Area Ministerial Alliance Facebook page at facebook.com/TCAMAJeffcoMO/.