'That's where change happens' 

It took a few minutes for Rev. Dr. William Barber II to climb the few steps up to the pulpit at Union Church.  

"There's no way I was going to... sit down there when people have climbed so far for us in the past," he said as he reached the stage. "If the abolitionists could take the pain of being dismissed, and sometimes denied, and sometimes destroyed, then I can take the pain of just walking up these steps." 

Barber, co-chair of the Poor People's Campaign, was diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis in his early 20s.  

Now 63, the Protestant minister is touring states around the nation for 1,000 Marches to the Polls, a campaign calling on churches, universities and others to join together and march to their polling places to vote. He visited Union Church as part of the tour on Thursday.  

We're "not marching on DC," he told the packed nave. "We're marching to the polls because that's where change happens." 

Though Barber's ascent to the pulpit Thursday might have been shaky, the speech that followed was anything but.  

His powerful voice, sometimes soft, sometimes ringing loudly and forcefully, held the attention of those assembled for more than an hour, drawing thunderous applause. When he finished, nearly everyone rose to their feet for a standing ovation.  

He compelled action to fight poverty and other social ills, saying that opportunities to stand up effectively have been missed.  

"Part of the reason authoritarianism was set loose in this country was not because the authoritarians were too strong, but it's because, when we had some chances to turn it around, too many were too comfortable," he said. "Too many politicians were placating. Too many pulpits were quiet." 

Among other instances, Barber cited the gutting of the Voting Rights Act in 2013, and the failure to include living wages and universal healthcare in the American Rescue Plan Act as examples.  

"What if the so-called moderates didn't tell them to hold off and back up?" he said.  

He said people cannot wait any longer.  

"Now's the time that you nor I can refuse to be on the frontlines," he said.  

He compared the fight for equality and human rights to the Bible story of David and Goliath. 

Everyone was focused on Goliath's strengths, but David saw his weaknesses, Barber said.  

"He was loud, he was lewd, and he was lying," he said of Goliath. 

The intimidation worked on almost everyone.   

"They're locked in the paralysis of fear," Barber said. "They're shivering. They believe his hype." 

But David had compassion, and felt the need to take action.  

"He had care for people," Barber said. "He had a responsibility to not let someone or something just run roughshod over his people." 

The fight was a moral one, Barber said, and likened it to today.  

"Right now, we're not in a crisis of democracy," he said. "We're in a crisis of civilization. This is a moral moment." 

He said the impetus that drove David rings true today.  

"David asked the question that is the question of this moment, and it echoes through the corridors of history and it falls right here at this place," Barber said. "Is there not a cause?... When the giants of poverty are raging. Eight hundred people dying a day from poverty—poverty by America not just poverty in America.' 

Calling it a watershed moment, Barber said the time for lamentation without action is over. 

 "It's time to get over crying about what happened and let what happened intensify and embolden (us) at this moment," he said. "The giants of injustice and racism have gone too far." 

"Yes, we are facing some Goliaths, and, yes, a Goliath is sometimes necessary to get us up, cause people say I'm woke, but are you still in bed?" he said.  

He likened the power that lower-wage and poor people have if at least 15% make it to the polls to the power of David's stone.   

"That's too much power to keep in our pockets," he said.  

"Let's march to the polls. Let's do it."