Welcome. We’re glad you’re here.
Read on to see how leaders like you are creating unity and lighting our path forward.
About This Project
It is more important than ever for us to embrace what unites us. This is especially true as we continue to see messages around us that fuel division instead of quelling it. Across Alabama, people have found common ground across backgrounds, identities, life experiences, zip codes, and political beliefs, even with attempts to pit us against each other.
Our church fans share some of these stories. The poems you see below are based on firsthand accounts we received from Alabama leaders and community members. Each poem is paired with a Bible story, with associated chapters and verses listed. These stories reaffirm what we know: when we find common ground with one another our communities are stronger.
These church fans tell a story of who Alabamians are instead of what divides us.
Read Their Stories*
Quinn
Quinn, a Black mental health professional, shared the story of his first client: an older, white gentleman and former member of the Ku Klux Klan. This poem is based on Quinn’s story.
“I’ll never forget”
the man who followed his father into a thicket
of white hoods. Even as history clenched
its fist, Quinn saw a man deserting hate
like dawn sheds darkness.
Even unsettled and
grappling, Quinn
gave grace.
The Conversion of Saul to Paul (Acts 9:1–19)
Following in the footsteps of those who raised him, Saul persecuted the early followers of Jesus, convinced that they led a dangerous way of life. One day, on the road to Damascus, he was struck by a blinding light. Christ asked him, “Why are you persecuting me?”
Like the client in Quinn’s story, Saul then realized the harm his beliefs had caused. Saul turned from inflicting violence to building up the very community he’d tried to destroy.
Like Quinn, those who had encountered Saul had to choose whether to extend grace. But just as they trekked the long and difficult road to reconciliation, Quinn and his client were able to break a cycle of harm – and begin something new.
Misha
Misha shared a time they had a difficult conversation about politics with their grandmother that would cause a rift between them. A moment of levity and a simple act of love helped to bring them back together. This poem is based on Misha’s story.
“Did You Spit In It?”
Laughter bursts like jumping candle flame
when her grandmother says it. The plate of food,
an offering, still sits in Misha’s hands.
Pain / politics / months of silence
melt.
Later, they talk about grief. Her sister.
Missing each other.
Now, the quip cracks the tension
open like lightning.
Peter’s Restoration (John 21:15–19)
After Jesus was arrested, fear and confusion overtook Peter, one of Jesus’s closest friends and followers. Peter denied knowing Him three times. When the rooster crowed, Peter remembered Jesus’s words and wept bitterly.
After the resurrection, Jesus appeared to the disciples on the shore, cooked them breakfast, and invited Peter to sit with him.
Three times He asked Peter, “Do you love me?” Three times Peter said yes, and Jesus replied, “Feed my sheep.”
In a moment of restoration, not punishment, Jesus turned Peter’s shame into belonging through a simple act: sharing food. Likewise, after a painful conversation, simple acts – a plate of food made, a laugh shared – became a bridge between Misha and their grandmother.
Like Peter and Jesus, Misha and their grandmother reconnected through love expressed in the ordinary – a plate offered, a heart reopened.
* Pseudonyms are used to protect the confidentiality of our storytellers.
About Alabama Leads
At Alabama Leads, we know there are leaders who are already working to create peace, equity, and inclusion in our state – our goal is to support leaders in sustaining that work.
Alabama Leads is a partnership between Over Zero and longtime advocates Natilee McGruder Kyle and Rev. Karen Shuford. Our program supports community leaders by offering spaces for thought partnership, collective action, and belonging.
It is through shared spaces that we are able to create opportunities and provide frameworks to support leaders as they become more strategic in their work to build community infrastructure needed to effectively identify, prevent, and defuse political and identity-based violence.
To learn more, visit our homepage.