Last Sunday was a highlight in Middle District, as more than three hundred people gathered at Branch's Baptist Church on the Sunday evening of Martin Luther King weekend.   You can ask anyone who attended - it was a great service and included a lot of Middle District youth. We partnered with the African American church, Faith and Family, and it was an evening we will all long remember.

When Pastor Calvin Duncan and I planned the service, we did it with youth in mind and I am so grateful that so many showed up. The feedback has been wonderful, not only from the adults, but just as much from the youth. (The only criticism was that we didn't order enough pizza for the youth fellowship afterwards.)

Having said that, I want to offer a possible next-step for the youth groups in Middle District. How about another youth event - a dialogue on youth race relations?

One possible way to do that is to partner again with Faith and Family and for the youth groups with different ethnics and minorities to get together to view and discuss a movie.

(Obviously, one such current movie that will soon be available for rent is Selma. While admitting the question about the film's accurate portrayal of President Johnson in this issue, the adult language that is realistically used, and the true-life mob violence; I personally feel that young people of this generation would benefit from viewing the movie in a group setting. They could receive an understanding of the amount of progress that has been made in America regarding civil rights; the price that was paid to win that progress, and also to go on to discuss how the young people themselves experience discrimination today.)

In making this offer, I fully realize that some may object to Selma, but there are other films that are possibilities, it's simply that the youth know that film is now being shown.

If you would like the youth of your church to experience this type of inter-racial experience and discussion, let me know and we can make it happen.

Jim Hamacher