Crossing the bridge

For pastor Johnny Thomas, inspiration grew out of tragedy.

In the fall of 2000 Thomas officiated the funeral of Jesus Sides, a young black man with a savior's name who was dead at 19 -- another casualty of what he saw as an increasingly violent and seemingly lost south-side community.

"That really got to me," said Thomas, who is pastor at New Bethel Baptist Church. "But that inspired me, too. I thought, 'This has got to stop.'"

Now, five years later, Thomas' dream to take his ministry to the streets of south Cape Girardeau has blossomed into an effort of like-minded black and white Christians who want to reach out to a community in desperate need of faith, friendship, love and guidance.

For the past year, members of New Bethel -- a predominantly black church -- and the largely white La Croix United Methodist Church have joined forces to hold block parties on a vacant lot at the corner of Henderson and Jefferson avenues on the third Saturday of every month.

There, all were invited to enjoy barbecue, sing praises and pray, as well as receive free things that many in south Cape Girardeau do without -- such as food, toys, bicycles, kitchen items and clothes.

But the block parties -- which drew 200 to 250 people -- could be held only in the warmer months. Now, La Croix has bought the former Second Missionary Baptist Church at 428 S. Frederick St. and plans are underway to fix it up so that a program called The Bridge can be open to the community year-round.

But when the building opens, perhaps next spring, it's going to be more than block parties. Thomas said he hopes that The Bridge will be open every day and offer a breakfast program for students and reading classes for adults and children.

"There are parents who need teaching, children having children, there's a lot of drug activity going on," Thomas said. "Lot of these kids need a trade. One of my big goals is to teach these kids a trade, even if it's welding. If they can make it on their own, they need to know how to work. They also need a place where they can go."

On Saturday morning, carpenters from La Croix's membership descended on the building to work. At noon, the day switched gears to a block party with dozens of people of all backgrounds turning out.

New Bethel member Arthur Smith was grilling hamburgers and hot dogs. He said that, according to Scripture, once you become a Christian, color doesn't matter.

"It doesn't matter if we're black or white, we're all believers," he said. "The only way we can change this neighborhood is by working together."

The timing for positive relationships couldn't be better, Smith said, with so much negative publicity stemming from south Cape, such as the July 4 incident between police and residents.

"People need to see that good things are going on over here, too," Smith said.

La Croix member John Christensen said he felt compelled to come after he learned of the event.

"I feel like there's a mission trip right here in Cape Girardeau," he said. "We don't have to go out of the country to help people. There are people right here to help."

Thomas is proud about how far his mission has come. But he said it's no longer just his dream and that much credit should be given to those at La Croix. Thomas will be the first to say he couldn't have gotten here without them and that he was struggling to keep the ministry going until they came on board.

"I was real close to giving up," Thomas said.

'She was a giant'

After Jesus Sides died, Thomas took his message to the street. He and members of his church held block parties at first at Indian Park, where Sides was shot.

But participation waned. Thomas admits he grew discouraged and was about to quit.

That's when, about a year ago, he met Shari Stroup, who is an organizer of La Croix's Helping Hands outreach program. Stroup was looking for a partner to help get a "garage sale giveaway" started in south Cape Girardeau.

Thomas said it may be old-fashioned, but in his day, the church was made up of male leadership. So he didn't know exactly what to expect when he met Stroup.

"Instead of a man, God sent me this little white woman," he said. "It turned out she was a giant. Meeting her increased my faith and re-energized me."

Stroup's plan to reach out to the south side mirrored what Thomas was doing.

"It was perfect timing," she said. "God calls us to be disciples of all nations. But we can never be disciples if we never leave our front yard. We, as a church, wanted to be where the people are."

Ron Watts, the pastor at La Croix, said both churches are needed to make it work.

"It was important we not go to south Cape on our own," Watts said. "We needed a partner that was already there. We needed to know somebody that knew the people, that knew what was going on. It was just a relationship that naturally developed."

Watts said skin color never came into play.

"There are people in need in south Cape," he said. "We felt drawn to that need. There are things we lacked, though, and that's where Pastor Thomas comes in. It just so happened that our needs and our gifts were complementary."

Watts said he hopes the program will draw people together, regardless of race, socio-economic backgrounds or religious differences.

"We hope the cultural divide in our city will be lessened," he said. "We hope that this truly is a bridge that brings us all closer together."

smoyers@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 137