For the second straight year, religious leaders in the Qcity are swapping pulpits for a day – all in the name of better race relations and ethnic understanding.

The 2011“sermon exchange,” as it is called, was kicked off Friday, Jan. 14, when the Rev. Ricky A. Woods of First Baptist Chuch-West delivered a message to the Jewish congregants attending Temple Beth El’s annual Martin Luther King Shabbat service. Then on Sunday, Woods surrendered his west Charlotte pulpit to Rabbi Judith Schindler of Temple Beth El.

The exchange is the brainchild of Mecklenburg Ministries, an interfaith organization; Crossroads Charlotte, a local organization that promotes tolerance and diversity; and Temple Beth El, a reform Jewish congregation.

Last year’s sermon exchange attracted 54 ministers from across various religious and ethnic lines. Organizers said they hope this year’s program will be just as successful.

As it did last year, the exchange kicked off during the weekend leading up to the Martin Luther King Day celebration and will continue through May.

Woods, who has worked with Schindler in the past on various faith-based initiatives, said he was thrilled to welcome a rabbi into his Baptist church.

“It’s a wonderful way for people of different faith traditions to come together in Charlotte to talk about the things we share in common as opposed to our difference,” he said after Sunday’s 11 a.m. service. “Charlotte ranks one of the lowest cities in the country in social trust. By having these kinds of events, I think it helps to build that social capital and social trust.”

At Temple Beth El, Woods compared King, the slain civil rights leader, with the Biblical prophet Moses. While each was given a vision and was allowed a mountaintop glimpse into the Promised Land, God did not allow either to enter, he said.

Schindler, speaking at First Baptist West, issued what she described as a wake-up call concerning race relations.

“Today, all of us need to wake up to the racial tensions that exist in our community,” she said. “We need to stop dreaming of racial equality and trust and make it so,” she said.

She noted especially what she called “educational inequalities” and “state and county budgets that put educational funding too low.”

Schindler said that in the 1940s, Charlotte banks would not lend money in African American communities. In the 1950s, city leaders allowed interstate highways to be built through black communities while white neighborhoods were spared. In the 1960s, she said, urban renewal tore down black communities and replaced them with skyscrapers. And in 2001, she said, local schools were re-segregated when a federal court struck down busing as a means to achieve racial balance in schools.

“We need to right that wrong,” she said. “We need to create stellar schools for every neighborhood in Charlotte.”

In an email exchange with Qcitymetro.com, Schindler said efforts to bridge racial and cultural divides must not end with the sermon exchange.

"Words and worship must lead to conversations, understanding, and collaboration," she said. "When we work together as partners to resolve the challenges of our city, that will be enough."

Mecklenburg Ministries is still seeking congregations to sign up for the sermon exchange. To participate, email maria.hanlin@meckmin.org.

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