It was a day that the Lord made for history on August 28, 2018.
More than 10,000 individuals gathered at OneRace at Stone Mountain, Ga.in order for followers of Christ to repent of racism, overcome it with reconciliation and assert the Church’s role in leadership in overcoming past issues of racial division in America. These numbers include more than 560 pastors and more than 2,000 millenials, according to www.alarryross.com.
The date of OneRace at Stone Mountain is a historical event in that the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) burnt its first cross on top of Stone Mountain in 1915. Approximately 55 years ago, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his, “I Have A Dream,” speech in which he dreamt that freedom would one day ring at Stone Mountain.
“Where in 1915 [the KKK] started burning crosses to the ground, we’re changing that now,” said Billy Humphrey, co-director of OneRace. “Reconciliation is not a matter of a moment but a matter of a movement. It takes time, intentionality and turning hearts toward one another. We are starting that today.”
“Reconciliation is not a matter of a moment but a matter of a movement. It takes time, intentionality and turning hearts toward one another. We are starting that today,” said Billy Humphrey of OneRace said.
OneRace began as a a movement in the Summer of 2016. Its purpose is to end the spirit of racism and release racial reconciliation across Atlanta, the Southeast and America as a whole.
OneRace consists of peoples of many races, such as African, White, Hispanic and several other races. It has two goals: to end dead religion and bring an end to racism.
According to co-operations director of OneRace, Hazen Stevens, dead religion is the practice of a dead relationship with God while racism is the opposite of living out a heart for God and for each other.
“The purpose of OneRace at Stone Mountain is to unify around the person of Jesus,” Stevens told Atlanta Christian Voice. “We felt like this time was a time to express our unity through prayer, worship and build our depth through relationships.”
“We felt like this time was a time to express our unity through prayer, worship and build our depth through relationships,” Stevens told Atlanta Christian Voice.
Many guest speakers came to OneRace at Stone Mountain, including Dr. Alveda King, the niece of Dr. King, Bishop Harry Jackson of The Reconciled Church, Dr. Doug Stringer of Somebody Cares and Rev. Tony Suarez of the National Christian Hispanic Leadership Conference.
Worship was led from various musicians at OneRace at Stone Mountain, such as Influencers Worship, Eddie James, Shane & Shane, Perimeter Worship, Victory World Music, Travis Greene, United Pursuit and Tasha Cobbs Leonard.
Throughout the event, church leaders and attendees were reminded of the Church’s important role in leading the way for reconciliation, according to www.alarryross.com.
“We choose to love beyond our own race, culture and ethnicity,” said Bishop Garland Hunt, co-director of OneRace. “We commit as a generation to love one another.”
OneRace at Stone Mountain ended with a focus to encourage attendees to spread OneRace across America and commmit to unity and brotherhood.
“We want to be a reconciling people to be revived in heart and to have a heart that loves God through our own lives,” Hazens said. “Wherever unity is present, there is strength. We want to honor God through honoring each other.”
