Racial Bridge Building in Matthews

My talk for Matthews UMC on the lynching of Willie Earle has been published on their YouTube Channel.

I wrote about the lynching, Hawley Lynn’s sermon afterwards, and what all that has to do with preaching against racism today in my book Who Lynched Willie Earle?

Who Lynched Willie Earle? Preaching to Confront Racism

Purchase from Abingdon Press

Effective 21st century preaching demands a more perceptive understanding of both race and Christian faith.

How do pastors of white, mainline Protestant churches preach effectively in situations of racial violence and dis-ease? Even though you long to address contemporary social crises, how do you know where to begin when it’s simply not possible to relate to black pain? Who Lynched Willie Earle? uses the true story of pastor Hawley Lynn’s 1947 sermon, a response to the last lynching in Greenville, South Carolina, to help pastors preach on race and violence in America, inviting and challenging the church to respond.