When I moved to Kansas City in 1994, I landed a job as a patient escort at Saint Luke's Hospital. My job consisted of transporting patients from their rooms to various departments in the hospital for medical tests. In addition to getting plenty of exercise, I got to know plenty of employees in the hospital. The most memorable employee I met was a very dear woman named Rosie. She was a technician in the Neurovascular Lab. In addition to being very smart, I found her to be uniquely kind and different from most. What I would come to discover about her was that she was a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ and was praying for my salvation regularly. As she proclaims to this day, "I knew you would come to faith in Christ and be used of God." Eventually, she invited me to church and I accepted.

A few weeks later on a very warm summer day, I arrived at her church and parked in the massive parking lot of Kansas City Baptist Temple (KCBT). I exited my vehicle wearing a sharp three-piece suit with a carefully coordinated tie, handkerchief, and shoes to match. If I must say, I looked good! As agreed upon, Rosie met me in the lobby of the massive church. After exchanging a few pleasantries, I found myself in a somewhat perplexed state as I beheld the scene of the lobby.

Standing directly in front of me was a middle-aged African-American woman, and out of nowhere a white boy excitedly ran up to her, hugged her, and kissed her on the cheek! I was stunned. As I looked around the lobby, I saw several flags from countries all over the world hanging on flag poles. My perplexity increased when I realized the lobby was bustling with a mixture of African-American and white people. The vibe in the room was one of harmony, peace, and love. I thought to myself, "Where on earth have I landed, and what is this place?"

The Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. once said, "It is appalling that the most segregated hour of Christian America is eleven o'clock on Sunday morning." Growing up in South Decatur, a suburb of Atlanta, I understood where Dr. King was coming from. Not that I went to church a lot as a kid, but I did recall once staring at a white man who was in attendance at the predominantly black church we occasionally attended. I kept looking at him, trying to understand why he was there or what was wrong with him. I didn’t dislike him because he was white; I just couldn't understand what could have compelled him to be amongst us. It was simply abnormal for my neighborhood. The only white people I saw in my neighborhood were business owners, police officers, firefighters, or drug users visiting to purchase illegal narcotics. So when Rosie, an African-American woman, invited me to her church, I assumed it would be a church of people who looked just like us.

A few weeks later, on June 6, 1994, after a Monday night Bible study, Rosie and her husband, Dave, invited me to their home to speak with me in greater detail about the gospel. Dave sat across from me at their kitchen table and explained that the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ was for me personally. Being in complete agreement with God that I was in fact a sinner deserving of eternal punishment, I confessed my sin and trusted Christ alone for salvation. My life was forever changed. A few weeks later, I was baptized and started the process of biblical discipleship with Dave.

For the next year, I sat with Dave at the same kitchen table where I met Christ as he faithfully taught me the word of God. In addition to learning God's word for myself, the people of KCBT were becoming more than my friends; they were becoming my family. I worshipped with them, studied with them, served with them, ate in their homes, and played and attended sporting events with them. Before I knew it, a white brother in Christ, Eric, was becoming my roommate. And without realizing it, I no longer viewed the brethren of KCBT as white or black. They were simply my brothers and sisters in Christ, and I couldn't have been happier about that.

As the years progressed, a woman named Lori relocated to Kansas City and was eager to join KCBT and get discipled. From the first moment I laid eyes on her, I was only impressed. She was draped with beauty, chastity, and modesty. Her countenance was godly, and I wanted to learn more about her. Thankfully, I made her acquaintance and by the grace of God she would become my wife on November 7, 2002. Though she is white, that has never been (nor is now) her defining characteristic to me. She was first my sister in Christ who became my wife later. In nearly 18 years of marriage, not once have we ever had a point of contention that was the result of her being white and me being black. Contention of any kind in our marriage has always been the result of two people who are simply imperfect in their flesh (Pro. 13:10).

Over time, the Lord would move the leadership of KCBT to plant a church (Midtown Baptist Temple) in the urban core of Kansas City under the leadership of Pastor Sam Miles. Sam is white, hails from the hills of southern Missouri, and has a heart for all people that is larger than the state. He was a key man God used in my development as a leader and, eventually, a pastor. For many years, I was a staple at Sam's kitchen table. I truly felt part of the Miles family. His mother made the best biscuits and gravy one could imagine. His firstborn, Sophie, affectionately referred to me as Uncle Kenny as a toddler. Sam performed mine and Lori’s wedding ceremony and means more to me than words can adequately capture.

Under Sam's leadership, Midtown Baptist Temple has become a soul-winning, disciple-making, leadership-equipping, missionary-sending church. From the pastoral leadership team to the congregation, MBT is a reflection of all nations (Matt. 28:19). On any given Sunday or Tuesday night, the nations are represented. Our pastoral team consists of white pastors, a black pastor, a Latino pastor, and a Malaysian pastor.

Like any church, we have our problems. However, we do not have racial or political problems. This is because, at MBT, we prioritize the Bible and a laser-focus on making true disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, regardless of race, gender, or class, as people find their way to MBT and get discipled and established in the church, Christ eventually consumes their identity. They love Him, His word, His people, and His work. They routinely linger for hours after services have concluded. They eat dinner together as a church every Tuesday evening before the prayer service. The people of MBT have traveled and served together in Malawi, Vietnam, Cambodia, Costa Rica, India, Israel, Dominican Republic, the Middle East, and Hungary. As a church, we are always a work in progress, but I am deeply grateful for who we are and what we have in Christ. We are a very diverse and unified spiritual body.

This impacts my view of the ongoing racial unrest significantly. I can't help but think that the world would give anything to see people from all walks of life live together in genuine love, unity, and peace. This is what Christ has given us, and it is so very precious.

My grief is twofold these days. I grieve over the loss of human life at the hands of injustice, and I grieve over a nation trying to respond to it without Christ and His word. Regardless of the best intentions and efforts of various groups, it is Christ, His word, and His Spirit at work in a person that radically changes their heart and unifies them with people who are nothing like them in the flesh. That was the testimony of the Apostle Paul who once persecuted Christians unto death (Acts 22:4; 1 Cor. 15:9; Gal. 1:13), but after a genuine encounter with the risen Christ was a changed man to the extent that he was willing to give his life for those very people (Phil. 2:17).

This is why the gospel of Christ is the power of God unto salvation (Rom. 1:16). Hatred, racism, and injustice are no match for a gospel that is powerful enough to renovate an evil heart. This is why disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ are told to go into all the world and preach the gospel (not political reform) to every creature (Mark 16:15). The gospel has the power to both save and renovate the wicked human heart (Jer. 17:9).

I'm so very thankful to be in the body of Christ, and my desire is that all nations find Him, join His body, and experience the love, unity, and peace that only comes from being in Him with the nations. What a blessing to be a member of the body of Christ!

To hear more on Pastor Morgan’s heart concerning social issues and how they impact the church, check out this interview on the Postscript.