LAKELAND — Faith leaders called for unity ahead of the seating of the 2018 Lakeland City Commission when four new members, including a new mayor, joined the governing board.
The event was hosted by Mayor Bill Mutz prior to him taking the oath of office at the RP Funding Center on Tuesday morning. The pastors led the audience cum congregation in prayers for wisdom, peace and integrity in office.
Tim Rice, pastor of Trinity Presbyterian Church, said political corruption was the result of self-interest and limited interest.
Elected officials must ask themselves, "Am I going to do this job ultimately for my own advantage or am I going to do this job for my neighbor?"
"As a servant of the city, do you exist to use your neighbors to advantage yourself or did God create you to advantage them?" he said.
He encouraged the elected officials to broaden their understanding of Lakeland and accept the leadership of not only those within the corporate limits of the city, about 107,000, but of the quarter-million strong greater Lakeland area — all those for whom "Lakeland" is home.
Rice was followed by the Rev. Arthur Johnson of St. Lukes Ministries, who said elected officials need to see through the barriers that separate the people of Lakeland — like race, geography, money — and recognize that they are the leaders of a vast, complicated body.
"If we reserve our thoughts to one segment of people, one area, we have already failed in the school of unanimity," Johnson said.
The prayer meeting was concluded by James Joseph, the founder of United City, a group for Christian civic participation.
He said "the residents are not residents, but citizens" and "divinely designated participants of God's plan for his city."
He said through unity the city is capable of achieving powerful things, like reinvesting in poor parts of the city, or creating spaces for families and civic places to gather like the Saturday farmers' market.
"All of it comes together and that's the beauty and power of unity," he said.
The event started at 8 a.m. As it ran slightly long, at 9 a.m. Mutz concluded the meeting and the City Commission met to begin the adjourning of the former commission and seating of the new commission.
Christopher Guinn can be reached at Christopher.Guinn@theledger.com or 863-802-7592. Follow him on Twitter @CGuinnNews.