SPRINGFIELD, Ohio (BP) — Springfield can rise above the bomb threats and vitriol suffered since the city was thrust into an unfavorable spotlight on the Sept. 10 presidential debate stage, Florida Pastor Keny Felix said after collaborating with diverse Springfield leaders.

“It’s great to see different aspects of the community, from the mayor, to the NAACP, to the pastors all coming together — to the Help Center, to churches like Northside (Baptist Church of Springfield), to churches like the Haitian churches we went to there, all coming together to respond to the need,” Felix told Baptist Press on Sept. 18 after two days of meetings in Springfield. “And what we’re seeing is that through that collaboration, I see hope there and an opportunity for the community to thrive above the division and the divisiveness that’s been spread.”

Felix and a delegation from Florida met with Southern Baptist denominational leaders, pastors, ministry leaders, and community and civic leaders to discuss ways to serve as many as 15,000 Haitians living there as legal immigrants.

Northside Baptist Church Senior Pastor Christopher Wilson, who has worked to minister to the Haitian community since he began his pastorate there in March 2023, hosted a meeting Sept. 17 with Felix’s delegation, Greater Dayton Association of Baptists Associational Missionary James Risner, Cincinnati Area Baptist Association Director of Missional Leadership Mark Snowden, State Convention of Baptists in Ohio State Catalyst for the West Region Chad Keck, and others.

Tensions rose in the city after the Republican presidential ticket spread claims on social media and during the presidential debate that immigrants in Springfield were eating people’s pets. Bomb threats forced the closure of city buildings, schools and hospitals, and made the city the subject of national and international news for a week or more.

“With all the publicity in the news we’ve been getting,” Wilson told Baptist Press, “we’ve been getting a lot of phone calls, and that was really encouraging to hear from Baptists all over the country really, just calling to see how they could help.

“It was just great to sit down with all of them, to have the desire to help coming from a lot of Baptist churches around the country,” Wilson said, “and to have especially the expertise and insights of the wonderful Haitian pastors that were able to join us.”

Included among those who called was Felix, one of two vice presidents of the Haitian Christian Leadership Coalition and president of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) National Haitian Fellowship of about 500 Haitian churches.

“I just offered to take him around town and show him around town and show him a few things and connect him with some people,” Wilson said.

A diverse slate of leaders are collaborating on how to combine their resources to meet the humanitarian and spiritual needs of the Haitian community. About five Haitian churches serve the migrants, but none of those churches are Southern Baptist. Northside began English as a Second Language classes about eight months ago, Wilson said, and has made some inroads through the class. The church has Haitians in worship most weeks, he said, with those attending having varying degrees of English fluency.

Planting Creole speaking churches, sending Creole speaking ministers to join Springfield Southern Baptists in ministry and raising financial support among Southern Baptists in Florida and elsewhere are among many ideas the leaders said they are discussing.

Felix and his delegation met with African American pastors (non-Southern Baptist), Springfield Mayor Rob Rue, NAACP President Denise Williams and non-profit leaders to collaborate on ways to provide essential services and increase government revenue for housing and infrastructure to serve the community.

David Eugene, senior pastor of Haitian Evangelical Baptist Church in Miami and president of the Haitian Christian Leaders Coalition; Patrick Jules, pastor of Bethel Evangelical Baptist Church of Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; and South Florida civil rights attorney Marc Brumer accompanied Felix for the trip.

The pastors plan to meet with other Florida Baptist pastors to collaborate on ways to combine resources to help, Eugene said.

“We plan to meet with the other pastors that are a part of this network to debrief them on our visit,” he said, “and together come up with a plan of intervention based on what we’ve observed.”

Creole language speakers and cultural sensitivity training are prime needs, Eugene said, as well as a mentoring program “to ensure we have Haitians in that population who are equipped and can provide some guidance and will help the assimilation of the Haitian immigrants in that community.”

The leaders described their work as ongoing.

(EDITOR’S NOTE — Diana Chandler is Baptist Press’ senior writer.)