Pastors point to power of unity
By Kenneth Fine
Published in News on February 4, 2010 1:46 PM
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News-Argus/MITCH LOEBER
Pastor Bill Wilson talks about the power of the group as opposed to the individual, and the need for communities to work together during this morning's Goldsboro and Wayne County Inter-Faith Breakfast.
For those local leaders who showed up at the Herman Park Center this morning for casual conversation over a simple meal, the hour-long Community Affairs Commission Inter-Faith Breakfast was about much more than food and fellowship.
It was about inspiring each other -- and the communities they represent -- to come together to make Goldsboro and Wayne County a more prosperous place to live.
For Adamsville Baptist Church Pastor Todd Wiggins, the first speaker at the event, the gathering was an opportunity to spread a message about unity -- about self-sacrifice and its power.
He told a story about a young soldier who fell on a live grenade to spare his comrades the same fate he met that day -- a tale, he said, about "unity and love."
And he said that young man's actions should serve as an example to all.
"Though we have a variety of people ... we have a unity," he said. "We stand united ... to give a voice to the voiceless. ... So let us stand together -- even if it costs us our lives."
But Wiggins was not the only man of God who spoke to those who met for breakfast.
Pastor Bill Wilson of The Lord's Table said Jesus, too, knew "the power of unity," a concept, Wilson said, that should not be lost on those working day to day in the city and county.
"Unity is one of the greatest powers on the face of the Earth," he said.
He drew examples of that fact from nature.
"How can a snowflake stop a city?" he asked, before explaining that a million snowflakes falling in unison could shut down governments and businesses.
And he argued that like snow, residents of the place he calls home, when acting together, could become quite a force of change.
"If we will yield to each other, humble ourselves to each other ... there is nothing we can't do for Goldsboro," Wilson said.
It was just a simple meal -- and those who spoke only took a few moments each to pass along a message that was echoed throughout the morning.
But if those who attended took it to heart, those keynote speakers said they are certain that real change and come to a city, county and country they say desperately need it.