King Solomon Baptist Church is working to return the traditional family.

The church kicked off its fifth annual Family Empowerment Weekend Friday night with a banquet, comments from local officials and the third part of its drama “Consequences III,” which examines how someone’s behavior can affect their family.

Several local officials commended the church on its efforts and the program.

“When you have God at the center of the family, all things are possible,” Warren County Assessor Angela Brown told the group.

Vicksburg Police Chief Walter Armstrong discussed the problems he has seen in the community and said the recent shooting of nine people at a Bible class in Charleston, S.C. “shows you the disconnect (some people have with society) and what happens when people try to acquire power outside of God.”

King Solomon, he said, “Is making an impact for the betterment of the community.”

“If families could be what they’re supposed to be, we would not have near the problems we have in our county, city and state,” said the Rev. Robert Conrad, pastor of Wilderness Baptist Church, while Warren County District 3 Supervisor Charles Selmon said the church “has the favor of God.”

The Rev. R.D. Bernard, King Solomon’s pastor, said the weekend program began in 2011 when President Obama first indicated his support of same sex marriage.

“From our perspective, not enough encouragement was being given young couples and young people and young families who are trying to live according to biblical standards,” he said. “It was our desire to host family empowerment weekend for the Vicksburg and Warren County community to support and strengthen and educate regarding biblical family.”

The weekend, he said, is funded by contributions to the church and from by church members to bring an awareness of what the biblical family ought to be.

In the past, he said, the three-day event has featured parades, banquets, picnics and joint church services as part of the observance. This year’s event included the banquet and play, a Saturday Bible quiz bowl at King Solomon’s building on Farmer Street, and a panel discussion that night on the Moynihan report on African-American families done in 1965 by former U.S. Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, also at the Farmer Street building.

Sunday’s events will feature a service at the church on Oak Ridge Road followed by dinner on grounds, which is open to the public.

Bernard said “Consequences III” is the conclusion of a three-part play that shows the effect of not doing God’s will on subsequent generations.

“We started with the parents three years ago, and now we’re dealing with the children and grandchildren, showing how poor decisions in one generation affects the succeeding generations,” he said.

“So even though we wonder why things are the way they are in the present generation, often times the sins of the parents and forefathers fall on the children.”

He said the effect of Friday’s U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing same sex marriage will not fully be known for another generation.

“The fact that public opinion is solidly in favor of it is also a fruit of prior generations — the (moral) looseness in prior generations,” he said.

Besides showing the final consequences to the family, he said the play highlights the denegration of the American church, “which should have been preaching and teaching to a standard (but) have lowered the biblical mandate to preach to public opinion rather than God’s word.”