CL: Do you think it’s harder for a white church to embrace a black church or a black to embrace a white?
TE: Oh, I think it’s much harder for whites to embrace black churches because the issue of interracial dating and marriage is a huge issue, and that issue alone will cause whites not to come and stay, especially when the kids become teenagers.
CL: Well, what’s your personal thought on interracial marriage?
TE: It’s not an issue in the Bible. In the Bible, the issue is spiritual, you see. You’re not to wed a non-believer. The issue is spiritual. Moses married an African woman, and they caused a little chaos, but God straightened everybody out.
CL: Some people might say that racial reconciliation can easily become an agenda that sidetracks the mission of the church. What’s you reaction to that thinking?
TE: Biblical reconciliation is the mission of the church because Jesus died to make the two one. So that is the mission of the church; the problem is it hasn’t been defined properly. It can become a distraction when it becomes an end in itself, but Biblical reconciliation is not for the purpose of reconciling. It is for the purpose of impact. So you’re reconciling for a bigger goal. When that becomes your definition, now you’re not sidetracked.
