By Gabrielle Terrett

The Vicksburg Post

For many, family is the most important thing in their life. However, sometimes families begin to forget what their purpose is. King Solomon Baptist Church worked diligently to remind people of the importance of family this weekend with their annual Family Empowerment Weekend.

“This play is a part of our Family Empowerment Weekend,” said Rev. R. D. Bernard of King Solomon Baptist Church. “It is designed to strengthen and encourage families.”

The festivities included a Bible quiz bowl, a campaign forum and a play entitled “Consequences: The Big Playback.”

The play was held at the Vicksburg City Auditorium and began with a big bang as one of the lead characters, Carla, shot a blank into the air with intentions to scare her unfaithful husband, Mike, and his mistress, Keisha.

The storyline continued as issues arose in the church among the congregation of the church in which Mike was a deacon.

“The play is about something that plagues much of the community and that is sexual immorality, which destroys and damages people and hurts people and families and showing the consequences behind them,” Bernard said. “How the children hurt, how the wives hurt, how the husband hurts and keeps the police department busy and keeps the jails full. So it’s about all the consequences that can come from infidelity.”

Preparation for the play was strenuous, but the actors pulled it off for the educational night.

“We’ve been preparing for this play for about eight months,” Bernard said. “All of the actors are volunteers so no one is paid and no one is a professional actor. It’s comprised of the church community from across the Warren County.”

Along with entertaining the audience, the play also informed them.

“The lesson that people can get a chance to learn is they get a chance to see what happens to others because of their actions,” Bernard said. “All of us that are watching can see what happens when we make bad decisions and how it hurts our spouses, our children and everyone involved.”

King Solomon Baptist Church has been conducting their F.E.W. since April 2011 and each year puts on a production to encourage and empower the families of Vicksburg and surrounding areas.

Members have held banquets, parades, family empowerment workshops and a number of other events over the years.

“We believe that the more people we can get to come out and view this production the better we can strengthen our communities,” Bernard said.