BEREA—Citizens heard a sermon by a prominent civil rights activist calling for people to vote and “get their power out of their pocket” during a special service at Union Church Wednesday evening. 

The Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II, founder and president of Repairers of the Breach, a North Carolina-based nonprofit ministry focused on what its website claims is the reclamation of "the language of morality from religious extremists" and on uplifting those who are systematically oppressed, spoke about the need to abolish poverty and provide access to free healthcare.

Barber, who is a bishop in The Fellowship of Affirming Ministries, also warned of the dangers of a “moral crisis” currently facing the nation and the world.

“We’re not in a fight for democracy, we’re in a fight for civilization. This is bigger than just tomorrow, this is bigger than just the midterms, this is a moral moment,” Barber said. “We have to ask the question that a sister up in the mountains of Kentucky asked when the sheriff and the coal mine boss came to arrest her husband. She said, 'Which side are you on?'” 

Repairers of the Breach and Union Church organized the event, part of a national tour featuring Barber encouraging voters to turn up at the polls for the upcoming election. Barber told The Edge that he stopped in Berea because it is “sacred ground”, referencing the town's history of inclusion as a "Land of Promise" for freed slaves, and as the site of the South's first racially integrated campus.

“Berea is kind of a holy grail when [talking] about people who do more than just resist, but build in the midst of times of struggle,” Barber said in the interview. 

US Senate candidate, Charles Booker (D), made a surprise appearance during Barber's sermon, taking his seat in the front pew.

“I’m just here today to be with family," Booker told The Edge in an interview after the event. "It’s always inspiring to be around the great Reverend as he speaks to the power that we have as people to stand up and use our voices. I’m trying to reflect that in my work and I know that together, we can bring the change we deserve, all of us, from the 'hood to the holler, regular people standing up.” 

Event organizers were unaware Booker would attend, according to Tanya Fogle, tri-chair for the Kentucky Poor People’s Campaign, a subsidiary of Repairers of the Breach. Fogle spoke with The Edge after the event.

“This is not a Democratic rally,” Fogle said in the interview. She referenced Barber's sermon which she indicated was about immoral policies, not politics. "He talked about policy because we’ve had some other people in office. And if it didn’t get any better, it didn't get any better.”

The organization Repairers of the Breach claims on their website to be bi-partisan. No particular candidate was endorsed during the event and the public was never directed to vote for a certain political party, although Barber was critical of the current administration’s immigration, healthcare, education, and economic policies and implied that a change in leadership was needed.

“Trump won by 1.2 million voters—90 million Americans didn’t vote,” Barber said. “I don’t say that to discourage, I say that to say, We got more power than we think.” 

Barber’s wife, Della Owens-Barber, read a poem that referenced cuts to federal nutrition programs, immigration policies, and high gas prices. “Go vote, don’t cry,” she said.

US Census data indicate 63.2% of Kentuckians voted in 2024, besting the national voter turnout of 59.3% in the same year.

Other data indicate US voters feel a sense of unease. A 2023 study from the Pew Research Center found that over three-fourths (79%) of voters negatively viewed the political climate in the US. Additionally, a survey released earlier this year by the University of California, San Diego, found that trust in the election process has decreased across party lines by 17% since 2024.

Voter confidence in election results has been further weakened, according to the survey, by expectations that polling locations will be policed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers this year.

But Barber warned against letting negativity lead to disenfranchisement.

“Whenever you're at a time of deep injustice, yes, we have to critique it. But the consequence of saying such and such a person is so bad, they've done so much, can undermine forward movement because you can over exaggerate their power, and under evaluate your own,” Barber. “You know in the Bible, God never let his people in the Old Testament fight unless they were outnumbered.” 

Barber made other Biblical references.

“David understood that Goliath will never lay down his sword because you ask him politely,” Barber said, urging the audience to vote because doing so has the power to “bring a giant down.”

“All of us are made from one blood, is the very message that we need right now in a time of so much nativism, nationalism, racism, xenophobia, discrimination, and hatred for immigrants,” Barber told The Edge when asked what he hoped people would take away from his sermon.