Welcome to the Bishop’s Table, where 'enemies meet' to make Louisville better

It's just before 9 a.m. on a Friday and people are slowly trickling into Gospel Missionary Church.

A woman at the front sings into a microphone as others take their seats around two tables that run down the center of the room — more rec hall than sanctuary.

There are the regulars, who greet each other with smiles at the door. Then there are the new faces, who slip into chairs quietly, unsure what to expect.

For the next hour, they're all guests at the Bishop's Table, a weekly breakfast and community forum that draws everyone from police to activists, putting those who have information and answers in contact with those who need them.

The Bishop's Table got its start as an impromptu gathering between several preachers and city officials at a Cracker Barrel in early 2021 amid protests over the police killing of Breonna Taylor — a Black woman who was shot in her apartment during a failed drug investigation.

In the three years since, the Bishop's Table has become a go-to place for getting the pulse on community issues, from gun violence to public school changes. And while those present may seem diametrically opposed, it's created a space where anyone can come together in pursuit of solutions.

At just after 9, the bishop himself arrives, sweeping into the room in a three-piece suit and cape.

"Alright, the man of the hour, Bishop Dennis Lyons," a church member announces. "I love the way he makes his entrance. I love it. Like James Brown."

"Welcome to the Bishop's Table," Lyons says as he reaches a head table, where he presides over the meeting until the strict 10 a.m. cutoff.

Smells of bacon and eggs waft into the room as Lyons calls on people in the audience to share why they're there.

There's a representative from Norton Healthcare, who says the nonprofit will soon have a career fair for its new west Louisville hospital.

There's a volunteer with Simmons College, who promotes the institution's Second Chance Pell Program, which offers education to inmates in three correctional facilities.

There's a Louisville Metro Police sergeant, who asks people with information about neighborhood shootings to call him directly to help get them solved.

And there are people who just come to listen, like Wanda McIntyre with King Solomon Missionary Baptist Church.

"I'm just grateful today," McIntyre tells the group of about 50. "Sometimes it's just good to tell God thank you. Thank you for the police and thank you for us being able to work together, looking past our differences but being able to say, 'God help us. We did some things wrong, now we want to do them right.'"

Everyone has something to contribute, Lyons says. And while tensions continue to run high between residents and police in the predominantly Black neighborhoods surrounding the Shawnee church, the Bishop's Table has become a space where everyone feels welcome and respected.

"There is a spot, the Bishop's Table, in the middle of all this rioting and protests and bitterness and hatred," Lyons said of the first meetings. "There is a spot in Louisville that the enemies meet."

"It's pure love and everybody here has a concern about the community," he added, likening the breakfast to "being at granny's house. Every Sunday, after we got out of church, everybody went to granny's house. We got caught up on what was going on with the family at granny's house."

Kathleen Parks, president of the local chapter of the National Action Network, says she doesn't see anything else like the Bishop's Table happening in Louisville.

"I've seen people come here who are mentally ill, who have drug problems, and they come to the Bishop's Table and they get redirected to a positive, spiritual life," she says. "... When they come to the Bishop's Table, they walk out a different person. Where else can you do that?"

Parks, a long-time civil rights activist, attends the Bishop's Table regularly as a way to better connect with the next generation of protesters and called it "good therapy, just to be heard."

Jerry Collins, director of Louisville's Department of Corrections, has personally felt the emotions that can arise every Friday.

After several speakers talk about the importance of suicide prevention, Collins tears up.

"You know, God puts you where he wants you to be," he says, before pausing.

"Take your time," someone encourages from the group.

"I got a special place for prayer and trying to help the community," Collins continues. "We need help. We need prayers. The violence and the drugs that's going on, we have to all pitch in. And the Table makes a difference."

Anyone is invited to attend the Bishop's Table at 9 a.m. each Friday at Gospel Missionary Church, 3226 Vermont Ave.

Reach reporter Bailey Loosemore at [email protected], 502-582-4646 or on Twitter @bloosemore.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: How the Bishop's Table is building community in west Louisville