TEXARKANA, Ark. - Using Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s statement on "color of skin" compared to a person's "content of character," Mount Grove Baptist Church Pastor Kenneth Reid knew where to place the spotlight Saturday.
While speaking before a congregation of at least 200 people gathered at Lonoke Baptist Church during a prayer breakfast and worship service honoring King, Reid directed the audience's attention to Romans Chapter 13, verse 11. The verse states, "The hour has come for you to wake up from your sleep, because our salvation is nearer now than we first believed."
Reid used the verse to show that a person's content of character is now more important than it has ever been.
"Usually when I wake after hearing the alarm clock I just hit the snooze button and think that I can just sleep a little more, but I've come to realize that the alarm isn't the problem - it's the person hitting the snooze button," Reid said. "I was just 11 months old on April 4, 1968, when Dr. King passed from this earth. My generation really didn't learn too much about segregation and today's generation really knows nothing at all about segregation.
"But since that time, we've been hitting the snooze button and going to sleep. We need to realize that it's now the content of character that applies to everyone."
Reid went on to say that content of character has a special value to it because it's often built by adversity.
"There were times when I have been turned down because of the color of my skin. But, more importantly, I've been turned down because I just didn't have what people were needing" he said. "Today, more people look at content of character."
Reid added that much of a person's positive character development is still built by having a strong family upbringing.
"Today, the family structure is changing," he said. "Men need to go back to being fathers and take control of their families."
Reid went on to say that because of family neglect, kids of today compete based on the kind of cellphone that they have.
"The culture is changing the mindset and where our finance goes, but what we really need to be investing in is character," he said. "We also celebrate Black History, but what we really need to work on now is Black Future. We have to design a better future by waking up and that means don't vote for skin color this year - vote for content of character."