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01/14/2012

MLK talk will focus on renewing bonds within communities

By Mary Meehan — mmeehan1@herald-leader.com

Posted: 12:00am on Jan 14, 2012; Modified: 8:10am on Jan 14, 2012

 

 

Mack McCarter SUBMITTED

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  • Memphis King Avenuemlkday
    The Martin Luther King Jr. Commerative March travelled through downtown Lexington Monday morning.
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  • If You Go

    22nd Annual Disciples for the Dream events with Pastor Mack McCarter

    Community workshop: 3 p.m. Jan. 14. Central Christian Church, 205 E. Short St.

    Community worship service: 6 p.m. Jan. 15. Central Christian Church.

    Both events are free and require no reservations. For more information, call (859) 233-1551. For information about Community Renewal International, go to Sbrc.us.

    CALENDAR

    Martin Luther King Jr. Day

    Frederick Douglass Now, one-man show with Roger Guenveur Smith. 7 p.m. Jan. 15. Lyric Theatre, 300 E. Third St. $10, $5 students. (859) 280-2218. Lexingtonlyric.com.

    Lexington Unity Breakfast: Unity: Moving From Concept to Reality with speakers Gwen Joseph, Victor Sholar, Al Smith and Jane Chiles. Jan. 16. Doors open at 6:30 a.m., buffet breakfast 6:30-7:45, program at 7:50. Lexington Center's Heritage Hall, 430 W. Vine St. $20, $200 for table of 10. (859) 225-0370. Lexarts.tix.com.

    Woodford County Roots and Heritage Committee Community Breakfast with Rev. Darrick Briscoe.8:30 a.m. Jan. 16. Versailles Baptist Church, 125 E. Green St. $15 for breakfast buffet. Tim Middleton, (859) 806-3177.

    Lexington Program and March. 10 a.m. Jan. 16. Parade leaves from Lexington Center's Heritage Hall, 430 W. Vine St.

    Cynthiana-Harrison County NAACP march and program. Jan. 16. March begins at 10 a.m. followed by service at 11 a.m. at Ebenezer United Methodist Church, 305 N. Locust St., Cynthiana. John J. Johnson, Kentucky Commission on Human Rights executive director, will speak. Luncheon to follow. Free. Kenneth Newby, (859) 234-1818.

    Excerpts from Trent Tucker's Mahalia. 11 a.m. Jan. 16. Lexington Center's Heritage Hall, 430 W. Vine St. Presentation is in honor of 100th anniversary of the birth of gospel legend Mahalia Jackson's birth. Written by UK graduate Tucker. Free.

    Carnegie Center Celebration. 12:30-3 p.m. Jan. 16. 251 W. Second St. Lunch, workshops, service project. Free. (859) 254-4175. Carnegieliteracy.org.

    One World Film Festival screening of documentary Freedom Riders, with producer Laurens Grant. 2 p.m. Jan. 16. Kentucky Theatre, 214 E. Main St. Free. (859) 266-6073. Oneworldfilmfestival.org.

    Lexington Rescue Mission and East Seventh Street Center kids' activities. 3-5 p.m. Jan 16. The Gathering Place, inside Lexington Rescue Mission Thrift Store, 720 Bryan Ave. Activities and games for children.

    Lyric's Little Dresses for Lexington service project. 4-6 p.m. Jan. 16. Lyric Theatre and Cultural Arts Center, 300 E. Third St. Rasheedah El-Amin, (859) 280-2201. Lexingtonlyric.com.

    Winchester's March and Celebration. Jan. 16. March begins at 6 p.m. at courthouse on Main Street, continues to Broadway Missionary Baptist Church. Worship service follows.

    Convocation with former football coach Herman Boone, portrayed in Remember the Titans. 9:30 a.m. Jan. 19. Union College Conway Boatman Chapel, 310 College St., Barbourville. Free. Unionky.edu.

    A Song for Coretta. By Agape Theatre Troupe. 2 and 7:30 p.m. Jan. 28. Lexington Opera House. $17.50-$27.40. (859) 233-3535 or Ticketmaster, 1-800-745-3000 or Ticketmaster.com. Agapetheatretroupe.com.

Pastor Mack McCarter thinks communities change for the better one relationship at a time.

"Criminal activity, domestic violence, child neglect, substance abuse, high school dropout rates ... are all symptoms of a society with a fundamental lack of caring relationships," he said.

"Cities rest on a foundation of relationships," said McCarter. "When relationships disintegrate, a city begins to sink."

McCarter, right, saw a community foundering when he created Community Renewal International in Shreveport, La., in 1994. Ten years in the planning, the non-profit was aimed at building on the good that people already were doing and the relationships they had formed.

The first step was having people who were helping their community post "we care" yard signs, bumper stickers or buttons. From there the group helped put teams together to help with community projects.

"People were already out there caring, but we just didn't see them," said McCarter, who will present a workshop Saturday and a lecture Sunday at Central Christian Church in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

McCarter said King preached that all communities were bound inextricably, and that is a message Community Renewal International has adopted and built on.

One of its key programs is Friendship Houses, in which employees of the non-profit move into impoverished and embattled neighborhoods to help change the communities.

This reinforces the common bond of all humanity — caring for one another — that has been diluted as communities become more fractured and less connected.

"We can email people all over the world, and we don't know who is living and dying five houses down from us," he said.

The Friendship Houses become miniature community centers, offering structured activities such as tutoring and basic neighborly help.

"It's kind of like sending missionaries, but we don't send them overseas," he said.

Community Renewal International has been honored by the White House, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Pew Partnership for Civic Change.

Criminal activity has dropped as much as 50 percent in some of the neighborhoods targeted by the group, McCarter said.

His lecture and workshop are aimed at people who want to help change their communities for the better, he said. "The fundamental theme is to kind of share the challenge to all of us. Let's connect together in very concrete ways and reconstruct community foundations.

"When we rebuild the right relationships, "the dysfunction begins to fall away."

Reach Mary Meehan at (859) 231-3261 or 1-800-350-5697, Ext. 3261.
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