Three Doctors and a Cure

                               Three Doctors and a Cure

               Published in Marietta (GA) Daily Journal 11/26/17

             An article in the Marietta Daily Journal last Sunday morning and a church service last Sunday evening should have boosted anyone’s spirits.  When bad news seems to abound, it’s good to be reminded there are people everywhere who still point the way to unity and neighborly love.        

            The morning article and the evening worship service involved three doctors.  Dr. Perry Fowler, Dr. Brien Martin, and Dr. Betty Siegel are not medical doctors, but they are all healers.  Fowler and Martin are pastors.  Siegel is an academician.  All three are people of vision who know how to love and lead.

            Perry Fowler is pastor of predominately white Kennesaw First Baptist Church.  Brien Martin is pastor of predominantly black Sardis Baptist Church in Kennesaw.  Betty Siegel has been a community leader for decades, her beachhead having been the presidency of Kennesaw State University.  The MDJ article detailing her many contributions and her current battle with dementia surely struck a chord with all who know her.

            Geographically, the city of Kennesaw is sandwiched between the churches pastored by Fowler and Martin.  Sardis Baptist sits on Main Street on the south side of town; First Baptist sits on the north side.

            Being good friends, the two pastors decided to have a joint worship service for their congregations on the Sunday evening before Thanksgiving.  The service brought a packed house in KFBC’s new Gathering Center.  Music from the joint choir was glorious.  The fellowship among worshippers was heart-felt.  The preaching of Dr. Martin was inspiring.

            A few months before this event, Pastor Fowler had delivered a message titled “The State of The Church.”  In the message he stated that typically Baptist churches try to reach and serve people within a three-mile radius of the church building.  He then added, “There are lots of blacks within our three-mile radius, so why do we have so few blacks in our church?”

            My wife and I were sitting toward the back.  Peering across the congregation, I observed both middle aged adults and many older heads (like mine) nodding their approval of their pastor’s point.  Perhaps they believed that if Heaven is multi-national and multi-racial, a local church should be also.

            The reason I group Betty Siegel with these two men is that I know she, too, reached out to everyone around her.

            Here is only one example.  A friend of mine who worked for a large Atlanta bank was assigned the task of informing employees they were being laid off as the result of a merger.  For three weeks she broke the news to the employees and lent them counsel.  Her difficult task moved her almost to depression.

            During this difficult time, one evening at Kennesaw State, my friend was getting out of her car to attend a night class.  Too distraught to walk on to class, she sat down on the curb and placed her head in her hands.  Within minutes, President Siegel walked by, but turned to ask my friend if she could be of help.

            “Not really, just a bad day at the office,” she replied.  With no more information than just that, the university president joined her on the curb.  Apologizing for not having much to offer, she pulled an apple from her purse and offered it to my friend who in turn explained why she was so distraught.  President Siegel gave her a hug.

            This occurrence reminded me of something Dr. Siegel said in a speech to a Leadership Cobb class.  Never with meanness but always with glee, she often challenged societal myths.  In this particular speech she challenged the notion that leadership is a lonely endeavor.

            “I don’t believe President Reagan is lonely.  I’m not lonely.”

            Neither are Pastor Fowler and Pastor Martin.  Like Dr. Siegel, they view leadership as an outward and upward endeavor that requires more engagement than isolation.  Thus, different races worshipping together.  How we need more leaders like these three.

 In introducing Dr. Martin, Dr. Fowler said, “God’s spirit is calling us together to break down racial barriers and to remind us that only one color matters, the ruby red blood of our Lord Jesus.”

            Sardis Baptist is 136 years old; First Baptist, 140; KSU, 53.  All three entities have been led by leaders who don’t put on airs and who aren’t too important to sit down on a curb.

            I’m grateful for these three leaders and others like them who know what the cure for disunity is and are not hesitant to prescribe it.

Roger Hines

11/22/17