FORT WORTH, Texas — To understand the magnitude of Rev. Dr. Nelda Barrett Murraine’s September 29th sermon at Fort Worth’s historic Broadway Baptist Church, you have to take a look at the past.
“We’ve been on a long, long journey,” said Broadway’s lead pastor Rev. Ryon Price.
It’s a journey that began quite literally in black and white. Price started digging into it shortly after he took over the church in 2017.
“We've been around since 1880 that means we've got a lot of history,” Price said. “Rarely do you find the church janitor mentioned as many times as Mr. Thomas”
John Thomas was a black man and World War I vet hired 100 years ago in 1924. He spent 35 years as the lead custodian for the all-white Southern Baptist church.
“He opened a lot of hearts and minds about race in some really important ways in this church,” Price said.
It was the most apparent when he died and more than 1100 Blacks and Whites filled the sanctuary for his funeral.
“Which is absolutely unheard of in 1959 for a black man to have a service in a then all-white church,” Price said.
It was a sign of progress for the times, but there's a contradiction Pastor Price found unsettling. Thomas was never allowed to worship with the congregation.
“While on one hand, he was deeply honored on another hand he was mistreated and was made to sit up in the Baptistry, rather than in the pews on Sunday morning,” Price said.
That’s why this portrait memorializing the beloved custodian sits outside the sanctuary doors.
“It's representative of the church in general's mistreatment of people of color for so long and it's intended as an acknowledgment and a confession,” Price said.
Commissioned by the church and painted by renowned Fort Worth artist Sedrick Huckaby the piece is titled "Mr. Thomas, Please Come Up Higher To Sit."
The oil painting depicts Thomas in a navy blue suit, making his way towards the front of the sanctuary. A diverse congregation fills the rows behind him.
And the woman asked to preach the sermon at the portrait’s dedication - Rev. Dr. Nelda Barrett Murraine - that’s Thomas’ granddaughter.
“Actually, as I stood there on Sunday morning, I just felt his presence,” said.
She says it was an emotional, full-circle moment.
“I doubt if he ever thought his granddaughter would stand in the same pulpit that he listened to Pastor Smith from the Baptistry from,” she said. “So it was a really moving experience, a very powerful experience.”
And an experience she, and the church hope others for generations to come will see and use as an example of how to push for progress.
“It's a sacrament of reparation and hopefully, reconciliation,” Price said.
Uncovering Thomas’ story from Broadway’s past is one part of a broader effort by the church to address racial injustice and its desire to become a more diverse and inclusive congregation. The church formed the ACT Council which stands for Acknowledge, Confess, and Transform in 2020 following the murder of George Floyd. The group’s stated purpose is to lead the church to “acknowledge our sins and the sins of our society; confess our wrongs; and commit ourselves to transform through the process of deep personal and institutional change.”
The group spearheaded the effort to reach out to Thomas’ family and commission the memorial.