Pastor Asks His Church to Move Past Skit
By Steve Lyttle, The Charlotte Observer, N.C.
Jun. 11–The pastor of a Gastonia church dealing with a controversy over a recent blackface performance reassured his congregation Sunday that their difficulties will make them stronger.
The Rev. Thomas Holbrooks Jr. told worshipers at Pilgrim Baptist Church that “churches occasionally have tough times, but they keep on going.”
Holbrooks, who founded the church almost 16 years ago, also urged his congregation to welcome members of the Rev. Al Sharpton’s National Action Network who say they will visit the church next Sunday.
“This is a Christian church, a welcoming church,” Holbrooks said at the beginning of the morning worship service. “We are good people, Christian people. We will welcome those who say they are coming here next week.”
Holbrooks’ congregation found itself receiving unwanted attention last week after photos surfaced of a skit during a May banquet, in which three church members performed in blackface.
After the controversy erupted, Holbrooks said the skit, one of several at the event, was meant to honor gospel music history and was not meant to poke fun at anyone.
On Friday, John Barnett, a Charlotte-based representative of the National Action Network, called a news conference in Gastonia and said his group is seeking an apology from the church.
He said he had invited church leaders to attend the conference but never got a response.
There was no apology from the pulpit Sunday. But Holbrooks also wasn’t preaching combativeness to his congregation, which included a handful of African American and Latino worshipers.
Briefly discussing Barnett’s news conference, Holbrooks said in opening remarks from the pulpit, “I have heard what all of you have heard. If we have guests next week, we will welcome them, as we always welcome guests.”
Holbrook declined to discuss the matter with the media, and he and other church members asked newspaper and TV photographers to leave the property as they prepared to take pictures of worshipers leaving service.
“It wasn’t meant to be insulting,” one woman, who would only speak anonymously, said of the skit. “We’re not that kind of people.”
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