By Curtis May and Floyd Tanoue
HONOLULU--Members of the Hawaii church met for a racial and interdenominational reconciliation conference Jan. 25.
Regional pastor Curtis May, his wife, Jannice, and Mark McCulley, Festival Administration manager, conducted the conference.
The weekend began with a dinner meeting with pastor Wayne Cordeiro and his wife, Anna, of New Hope Christian Fellowship. Mr. Cordeiro is the representative of the Foursquare Gospel church in Honolulu. Present at the dinner were the Mays, Mr. McCulley and local church elders and wives--Frank and Karin Baker, Leonard and Fern Ballard and Floyd and Angel Tanoue.
The New Hope Church, which has been in Honolulu 16 months, started with a handful of members, but now has 2,900 attending. Mr. Cordeiro was enthusiastic about our desire to reconcile with other Christian denominations and offered his help to the Honolulu members.
Hawaii is often referred to as the melting pot of the Pacific and a model for racial harmony. However, the appearance of racial harmony is rather deceptive.
"Racism is just beneath the surface," according to Richard Parker, former Honolulu pastor.
The church membership reflects Hawaii's ethnic diversity. The racial reconciliation service began with the viewing of a videotape of a racial reconciliation conference conducted in Southern California in 1996. The videotape helped demonstrate how racism can be subtle.
In the first message Mr. May spoke of his experiences with racism. Mr. McCulley then emphasized how we are all joined together in the body of Christ and need to overcome racial barriers.
The afternoon service welcomed Mr. Cordeiro and about 25 members of his church. Mr. Cordeiro spoke on the relationship we can have with our Father and Jesus Christ.
Feb. 18, 1997, WN, page 8
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