And the City Came Together

Reverend Pitts was advertising a prayer walk for the city of Shelby, under the slogan of “And the City Came Together.” It was to be a walk through town starting at city hall and ending at the high school. Once we arrived at the high school there would be a short healing session given by a panel of Reverends. Reverend Pitts had secured guarantees that all the influential people in town would be in attendance and since these same people are also Shelby Fest shareholders, I would without fail be in attendance as well. The Mayor, Police Chief, Shelby Women United, Superintendent, School Board members and Board of Alderman were all present at the event. I was excited to participate in a moment of solidarity for the town of Shelby. I enjoy being involved in the community and as I have written before I think Reverend Pitts is a captivating speaker. However, my brain must have shut down when I heard about the event. When Rev. Pitts said short, I figured and hour and a half. I don’t know how I overlooked the obvious disconnect between the words panel of preachers and short. Clearly this was going to be a three-hour event. PANEL OF PREACHERS. These men live to talk. When they pontificate people say things like, “He’s preachin’ now and go preacher.” So I sat through the event and listened to the healing service, which was in fact three hours long. It was absolutely worth my time. The people I had been working with to ensure the occurrence of Shelby Fest recognized my efforts and provided shout outs. “And we call him Mr. C because we can’t pronounce his last name, but he is working very hard to assemble a community festival to send the fourth grade on a field trip.” My last name is a tongue twisting four syllables long, but it doesn’t matter, the town and its leadership are supportive.

Let me point out my favorite part of the event. One of the preachers was delivering his message and prepared the audience for an upcoming bible passage by acknowledging the author and verse before he started quoting it. Once the verse was known another pastor on the panel nodded his head and said, “hear it comes” like a ball of fire was about to explode into the room and engulf the entire audience. And as the verse began he hung his head, consumed by his faith and quoted along. The passion exhibited in his instinctive reaction to the upcoming biblical verse was intense.