A Look Back: F.R.E.E. Class Visits Burnett Avenue Baptist Church

F.R.E.E. Class Visits Burnett Avenue Baptist Church

On July 15, The F.R.E.E. (Faith Reaching Every Edge) Sunday School class visited Burnett Avenue Baptist Church, a predominantly African-American Church on Hurstbourne Ave. The pastor from Burnett Avenue, Rev. Corrie Shull, led a book study on Jesus and the Disinherited by Howard Thurman. We received a very warm welcome. The focus was on fear and how it prevents us from living an abundant life. Rev. Shull shared many personal situations where fear created a barrier in his life, as did many in the congregation. In visiting with him after the study, we discussed the applications in our own lives. I immediately thought of my students and how I interact with them, and how it is important not to manage them by using power to create fear. I also thought of the fear that many of my students, mostly coming from the West End, deal with every day. The opening lines from the chapter captures it perfectly, “Fear is one of the persistent hounds of hell that dog the footsteps of the poor, the dispossessed, the disinherited.” We left after a long talk inspired and with hopes of building relationships with the young people there. 

~ Cassie Lyles