ASHLAND — The sanctuary of First Baptist Church soared with song on Sunday evening.

Native daughter Naomi Judd, along with her husband Larry Strickland and the Palmetto State Quartet, were in town to lend star power to the evening, a charity fundraiser for The Neighborhood charities.

The theme of the night was a celebration of God’s love and the diversity of his children with gospel music by a range of artists.

First Baptist Church Pastor Harold Moore kicked off the evening with several selections, including “Lean on Me” in which he was joined on saxophone by the Quartet’s keyboardist and arranger Casey Martin.

The trio of Still Water Sonnet, which got their start as students at Kentucky Christian University, followed playing a selection of old and original tunes including their very powerful, spiritual song “Legacy.”

The Palmetto State Quartet followed, picking up the pace and energizing the crowd with several rousing numbers including “I can call Jesus anytime,” which brought the house to its feet.

Judd spoke near the end of the performance and encouraged others to feel the music of the night and respond however they felt called to.

“Music is the breath of God. Music lets us express emotions that words, that words can’t describe,” Judd said. “It lets us express our emotions that our words can’t find.”

As Judd wandered through the crowd of more than 100, she greeted family members who came to see her and individuals she remembered from her days growing up at First Baptist Church.

What seemed to strike Judd the most about her return to her former church was finding a black pastor leading the congregation. She recalled First Baptist not having a single member who was not white in her day, saying, “It always bothered me that there were no blacks in this church.”

Someone in the crowd shouted, “There are now!” Judd continued with her message: “Harold (Moore) you are a very special man and I can not imagine what you went through to take a chance on this white Christian community.

“You know when I was your age, I sang a song in Bible School in Sunday School called Jesus Loves me and there is a line in it that says ... ‘red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in his sight.’ Why don’t we have these children in this church? Why aren’t we sitting next to our brothers and sisters?” she asked.

Although all performers and the crowd gathered in the church included blacks and whites, both old and young, Judd issued a challenge to the congregation. “Now I’m going to come back. But I’m going to make a deal if I come back, I want to see our brothers and sisters that have darker skin than we do. Is that a deal?” Judd asked. The crowd responded with applause.

“Even if you have to ask a stranger, take a chance and say Naomi Judd encouraged me to take somebody with me to my church. I will be back with these guys if you promise to bring in our community. In other words, come in unity. This is not a microcosm of our community. This is not what is out there,” she said.

The diversity at First Baptist Church is what drew Reginald McDade, 49, and his wife, who are relocating to Ashland from outside St. Louis, to the show.

“I enjoyed it,” he said. “One of the things — we’ve been visiting churches since we’ve been here — that was surprising to us was that there was a black minister in a white church. We just wanted to experience what’s going on there. We came out tonight just to,” he said.

McDade said he liked Judd’s challenge. “This general community, as in most communities, has a long ways to go as far as just getting people together,” he said.

“Another thing about this area is there isn’t a huge minority population. This area has also been through a lot of economic downturn, but as that swings up, I think that opportunity is there to extend a hand and get some different things to occur, bring in some different views. It should be pretty good,” McDade said with a smile.

Ashland resident Janet Jarvis, 72, said she also believes the community has made “some” progress in creating diverse congregations but that “some barriers” still exist.

“Maybe more get-togethers like this, where both sides, both colors — any color — is welcome,” she said. “It’s just too much in the past,” said Jarvis, who attended a desegregated school long before others were integrated.

“We’ve got a long way to go, but we are making progress,” she said. Leonard Knight, 63, and Fawn Knight, 60, of Grayson, said they came to the event “partly for fellowship with our friends and partly to hear good gospel music.”

The quartet was the highlight of Fawn Knight’s evening but the couple, who are both educators at KCU, said they also came to support Still Water Sonnet and hear Moore, who also once worked at the university, sing.

“He has a marvelous voice. Very powerful,” Leonard Knight said.

“I thought Naomi was really speaking from the heart and speaking directly to people who were her family from a long time ago and sharing with them what God had put on her heart about what they could do to be greater servants to his kingdom,” Leonard Knight said of Judd’s remarks.

“I think that that is true, in the sense that although in our communities there are people who are from diverse ethnic groups and racial groups but there are still, to a large percent, the barriers that have always been there and we have to make a conscious effort to step past those barriers and connect, interact with those people,” he said.

CARRIE STAMBAUGH can be reached at cstambaugh@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2653.