"I have

a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves

and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together

at a table of brotherhood," Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., said from

the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, Aug. 28, 1963.

In some ways,

I am a beneficiary of Dr. King's dream. Many more could be.

The only thing

that was on my mind in August 1963 was that I had to enroll in a new high

school because my family had moved across town in Columbus, Ga. Both high

schools I attended were all white. The church I attended was all white.

And the bare truth is that all my life has been predominately white. I

have pastored 99 percent white churches all my white life. Until ...

Until a national

conference of clergy sponsored by Promise Keepers held at the Georgia

Dome in February, 1996. At that conference, I faced the incompletion of

my life due to sticking to my denomination and my race. I had no friends

outside of white Baptist friends. I was an embarrassment to my Lord and

Savior Jesus Christ.

Many who know

me are aware that I adopted a word which would guide me in future endeavors.

The word, "intentional." If I wanted to be true to the words

of the Bible that "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither

slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one

in Christ Jesus," then I had to become intentional (Galatians 3:28).

If I wanted

my daughter to grow up without the prejudices of race and denomination

as I did, I had to become intentional. If I wanted my family to have friends

across denominational and racial lines friends who would add wealth to

our lives then I had to become intentional.

If I wanted

the church to please our Lord and reflect the true composition of heaven,

then I had to become intentional. I fully realize that I am no MLK Jr.,

but I believe Dr. King was counting on people like me to take up the dream

in practical ways.

Dr. King dreamed

that we would sit down at tables of brotherhood. Those tables could be

your home's dining table. Wouldn't it be wonderful to add a little color

to your dining room? Those tables could be your church's Lord's Supper

Table. Wouldn't it be a heavenly thing to see a Black Deacon and a White

Deacon serving the Lord's Supper to a congregation of ebony and ivory?

It won't happen

else to take up the working out of the dream. It took 113 years from the

time that slave owner Thomas Jefferson penned the words, "We hold

these truths self-evident that all men are created equal," to the

time that Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation.

It's been about

40 years since The Dream speech. Isn't it about time we all personally

and corporately in the organizations that we influence issue a Proclamation

of Intentionality?

The Rev. Dr. John Hatcher is pastor

of River's Edge

Community Church in Fayetteville.

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