Nothing surprises God. He knew this would happen long before it did and He’s got a plan,” said Darren Williams, youth pastor of Stave Creek Baptist Church, Jackson, in Clarke Association.
The members of Stave Creek and several other churches in the Jackson area, have spent much of April and May fighting to keep Jackson free from alcohol. On May 10, they lost that battle.
With a vote of 1,175 in favor and 893 against, totaling 54 percent of the 3,800 registered voters, the city of Jackson will begin selling alcohol in area stores as early as July.
While Mayor Richard Long and members of the town council are celebrating what they consider a victory, area Christians are reflecting on the fight. But they are not just talking about the anti-alcohol effort. They are talking about the campaign that brought their community together.
“This has had an impact on me, on a lot of us,” Williams said. “As Christians, it has brought us together in a way that we have needed to be for a long time. Ministers have challenged their congregations to fast and pray.”
Area churches began the fight to keep Jackson dry by organizing the K.I.D.S. (Keep it Dry for Students) campaign after a petition to bring up the referendum for alcohol sales drew enough signatures to place it on a ballot.
The effort to legalize alcohol sales in the city began to gain momentum after the Alabama Legislature lowered the population requirements to 5,000 residents for a city in a dry county to become wet.
Clarke County, as a whole, remains dry. Only Jackson, with a population of about 5,400, is now wet, with other towns considering similar efforts to legalize alcohol.
“Not all business owners want this,” said Jerry Bradley, owner of Jackson Glass. “No one would agree to legalize drugs. But that’s what they are doing.”
Much of the K.I.D.S campaign focused on swaying voters through information about the damaging effects of alcohol. Organizers hit the streets, often going door to door to distribute literature.
The campaign included large rallies at area churches and a citywide ‘Crosswalk’ rally that drew more than 250 people.
Area youth, proudly wearing T-shirts with the K.I.D.S. logo, were directly involved in the effort. Much of the campaign focused on the potentially harmful effects of alcohol sales on their age group.
Despite their loss in the voting booths, Williams and other area ministers said they will continue the movement of Christians and the spiritual renewal among churches that came about because of the campaign.
“God’s got a plan in all this,” Williams said. “I’ve realized that it’s all about working together, and we should have been working together to reach the people in this area long before now. Maybe it was to bring us back to where we needed to be.”
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